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! 

4.52 from 27 votes
Servings: 4 Servings

Air Fryer Mexican Potatoes

By Mason Woodruff
Crispy on the outside, fluffy on the inside golden potatoes air fried with a blend of Mexican herbs and spices.
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 20 minutes
Total: 25 minutes
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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 

  • 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.
  • Add the potatoes back to the bowl and toss with all the spices.
  • Return to the basket and air fry another 8-10 minutes at 400ºF or until the potatoes are as crispy as you'd like.
  • 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

Serving: 1Serving, Calories: 115kcal, Carbohydrates: 20g, Protein: 2g, Fat: 3g
Like this? Leave a comment below!
mason woodruff

Mason Woodruff

I’m Mason Woodruff, and I’ve been writing about fitness and food since finishing a nutrition degree in 2014. After working as a strength and nutrition coach, I realized cooking is a skill most fitness enthusiasts could use some help with. I’ve been creating recipes for home cooks ever since.

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4.52 from 27 votes (19 ratings without comment)

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16 Comments

  1. Ariel Zeigler says:

    5 stars
    When I was a kid we used to always get the potato wedges that were deep fried from the store as a side with our protein… I’ve wanted to have these for years… This recipe brought that to life! Make them they are golden and crispy and so amazing! You will not be disappointed

  2. Lauren says:

    Has anyone tried this with Sweet Potatoes?

    1. Mason Woodruff says:

      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!

      1. Lauren says:

        Thanks Mason! I missed that comment when I was reading 🙂

        1. Mason Woodruff says:

          I added it after your comment. Thanks for the question! 😀

  3. Annah Fischer says:

    5 stars
    Potatoes + Mexican seasonings = a match made in heaven. I don’t have an air frier (yet!!) but using the oven at 450 degrees for 35ish minutes was perfect.

  4. Katy forry says:

    4 stars
    Crispy potatoes are a favorite- add creamy dip and dinner or a snack is all set.

  5. Rosalie says:

    5 stars
    Making them right now, but I can smell how good they are going to taste. Might now share with the rest of the family.
    Rosalie

  6. Erin says:

    5 stars
    My husband and I made these as a side for our lunch today and they were delicious. The coriander and and cinnamon counter the smokey chipotle flavor. They were also ready quick! Definitely adding these to our side dish rotation.

  7. Tiffany says:

    5 stars
    I love this recipe and have made it at least 10 times! I used cumin since I didn’t have coriander and eat it with a bit of Greek yogurt mixed with lime juice. It’s the perfect side dish that’s quick and easy.

  8. Danielle Gerke says:

    5 stars
    I used to love getting cheesy fiesta potatoes back in my late night party days. They are off the TBell menu now so she. These popped up, I had to try. Sooooooo flavorful. The potatoes held the spices and eat potato was covered.

  9. Krista says:

    5 stars
    These are so good! They go great for meal prep to thri in a Buddha bowl 🙂

  10. Josh says:

    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?

    1. Mason Woodruff says:

      Have fun exploring the archives!