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Air Fryer Mexican Potatoes

A slightly healthier, lower fat spin on baked or air fried Mexican potatoes. These potatoes are a great side dish or incorporated into ground beef, chorizo, and other proteins. Or they’re perfect served on their own with a dollop of fat free Greek yogurt or sour cream. It’s hard to go wrong with potatoes, right?

Mexican potatoes in a bowl tossed with cilantro

How to Make Mexican Potatoes in an Air Fryer

All you’ll need is a pound of baby gold potatoes, olive oil, and a handful of Mexican herbs and spices. I’ll run through ingredient notes below, and you’ll find a recipe card at the bottom of the post. If you skip down and have a recipe question, recheck the post and leave a comment if I didn’t cover it there. I’m happy to help!

Step 1: Wash and quarter 1 pound of baby gold potatoes before tossing with olive oil. 

quartered baby gold potatoes with olive oil

I doubt you have trouble finding baby gold potatoes but if you do, larger Yukon gold potatoes would work fine as a substitute. You could also use baby red potatoes or a blend of gold and red like in my rosemary parmesan potatoes recipe. And worst case, plain ol’ russet potatoes would probably work just fine.

Side note: If you wanted to learn more about different types of potatoes, check out this potatoes 101 guide from Serious Eats.

Can I use this recipe to make Mexican sweet potatoes?

diced sweet potatoes before and after air frying

I tested the recipe with diced sweet potatoes (skin on) and it worked great. Sweet potatoes can take on a bit more spice in my opinion. So you could probably add a bit more chili powder if you wanted.

Step 2: Air fry the potatoes for 10-12 minutes at 400ºF.

quartered baby gold potatoes in the air fryer basket

I use a 6.5qt Ninja Foodi for air frying. Every air fryer is different so take a look at the photo below to get an idea of what your potatoes should look like after the 10-12 minutes. You want some browning around the edges but not completely fried potatoes. If you notice too much browning after the first stint in the air fryer, reduce the cook time on the second round.

I’ve also included notes in the recipe card for baking these Mexican potatoes in the oven.

Step 3: Transfer the fried potatoes back to the bowl and toss with chili powder, dried oregano, salt, cinnamon, coriander, and garlic powder. 

air fried potatoes with the Mexican potatoes seasoning

I consumed more potatoes than I’d like to admit testing different seasoning blends, but it was worth it. After testing blends with things like cumin, granulated onion, and others, I landed on this blend that lets the cinnamon and ground coriander really pop.

I’m guessing you probably have everything in your spice cabinet except for the ground coriander. I’d urge you to pick some up before making these Mexican potatoes. It’s a small amount, but you can really taste it! Plus, you could use it for recipes like my Mexican shredded chicken thighs and sweet and spicy pressure cooker pulled chicken.

Spice level note: The 1/2 teaspoon of chipotle chili powder doesn’t provide a ton of spice, but I’ve been called spice deaf before. If you’re spice sensitive, you could reduce the chili powder or use something like sweet or smoked paprika instead.

Step 4: Air fry an additional 8-10 minutes at 400ºF until the Mexican potatoes are nice and crispy.

Mexican potatoes after air frying

You can’t really mess up here unless you burn them. Start on the lower end and extend the time in the air fryer as needed. The key to perfect air fryer potatoes in my experience is checking on them early and often!

Once you get ’em air fried, you’re done. You could toss the potatoes with cilantro straight in the air fryer basket before serving, if you wanted to.

Serving Your Mexican Style Potatoes

The first recipes that came to mind were my Mexican Smoked Chicken Breast, air fryer enchiladas, and copycat Torchy’s Brushfire tacos.

You could also swap the Mexican potatoes for rice in my Tex-Mex Meal Prep Bowls, tater tots for my Texas chili cheese tots, or plug them into my Chipotle Sweet Potato Nachos.

And it’s also worth mentioning they make a great snack or appetizer on their own. I had a serving or two or three with a little fat free Greek yogurt and was as happy as clam. And if you dig these, I think you’ll want to check out my air fried Greek lemon potatoes next!

All right, if you have any recipe questions I didn’t cover, drop a comment at the bottom of post. And even if you don’t have a question, I’d appreciate it if you came back to let me know your thoughts on these Mexican potatoes in a review. Onward! 

Air Fryer Mexican Potatoes

Air Fryer Mexican Potatoes

Yield: 4 Servings
Prep Time: 5 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 25 minutes

Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside golden potatoes air fried with a blend of Mexican herbs and spices.

Ingredients

  • 1 lb (448g) Baby Gold Potatoes, quartered
  • 1 Tbsp (16g) Olive Oil
  • 1/2 tsp Chipotle Chili Powder (or your choice of chili powder)
  • 1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
  • 1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
  • 1/4 tsp Ground Cinnamon
  • 1/4 tsp Ground Coriander

Instructions

  1. Wash and quarter the potatoes before tossing in the olive oil. Add to the air fryer basket and air fry at 400ºF for 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes start to turn golden brown around the edges.
  2. Add the potatoes back to the bowl and toss with all the spices.
  3. Return to the basket and air fry another 8-10 minutes at 400ºF or until the potatoes are as crispy as you'd like.
  4. Optional: toss with chopped cilantro or dried cilantro flakes and serve with a dollop of fat free Greek yogurt.

Notes

Each serving of Mexican potatoes has 4 WW SmartPoints (blue).

For Mexican Roasted Potatoes in an Oven

Toss the quartered potatoes in the olive oil before adding the seasoning. Stir to fully coat the potatoes in the seasoning. Add the potatoes to a large baking sheet, avoiding overcrowding. Bake for 30-40 minutes at 450ºF. You can use the broiler in the last few minutes for extra crispy potatoes.

Doubling the Recipe

Depending on the size of your air fryer, you can either cook in batches or shake the potatoes every 5 minutes or so during air frying. You'll likely need to extend the cook time by a few minutes as well.

Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Servings Serving Size: 1 Serving
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 115Total Fat: 3gCarbohydrates: 20gProtein: 2g

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Lmcx33

Monday 28th of December 2020

Quick & easy side dish that pairs perfectly with the barbacoa!

Mason Woodruff

Tuesday 29th of December 2020

Thank you! Couldn't agree more.

Josh

Sunday 29th of November 2020

We bought a new microwave that has an air fryer function and I knew the first thing I was going to make would be some of Mason's potatoes. I used the Mexican Potatoes recipe with sweet potatoes and they turned out amazing!! Now, what to try next?

Mason Woodruff

Monday 30th of November 2020

Have fun exploring the archives!

Lauren

Tuesday 21st of July 2020

Has anyone tried this with Sweet Potatoes?

Mason Woodruff

Tuesday 21st of July 2020

Great question! I just tested it with sweet potatoes and added some notes above. I tested the recipe as written and they turned out great. You may want to tweak the amount of seasoning since the sweet potato flavor comes through more, but I'd try it first and modify on future batches. Let me know what you think!

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