In search of a recipe to use up leftover shredded chicken? You’re in the right place. These air fryer taquitos transform 4 ingredients into a crispy, cheesy snack in about 20 minutes.
They’re also lower carb and highly customizable. I’ll run through everything you’ll need and give a few tips and tricks along the way. You’ll find the full printable recipe card at the bottom of the post.
How to Make Taquitos in the Air Fryer
You’ll only need 4 ingredients:
- extra thin corn tortillas
- shredded cheese
- cooked and shredded chicken
- cooking spray or oil
If you’ve made my cheesy beef baked tacos, you’re familiar with the extra thin corn tortillas. They crisp up beautifully, and each tortilla has just 40 calories. Though if you have trouble finding them, any corn tortilla will do the trick. My air fried chicken quesadillas call for a corn and flour blend, which I really love.
Shredded Mexican Chicken
I used my Mexican shredded chicken to fill these air fryer taquitos. It’s one of my favorite chicken recipes on this blog. Here’s a quick video on how to make it. (You can also do it in a Crockpot.)
If you’d rather swap it for shredded rotisserie chicken, I wouldn’t fault you for that. Though you might want to add a bit of seasoning if you go that route. You can also check out my baked chicken tacos recipe where I suggest more chicken options like my crispy carnitas style chicken, chicken al pastor and Traeger grilled chicken breast.
You could even swap the chicken for pork with my pork tenderloin carnitas or beef with my Ninja Foodi barbacoa beef and shredded Mexican beef.
Or if you’re having a Meatless Monday, check out my air fryer veggie enchiladas.
The Cheese
To keep these on the lower calorie end of the spectrum, each taquito has just 1/2 an ounce of shredded cheese. If you have some calories to spare or use a chicken that’s a bit lower in fat than my Mexican shredded chicken, you could bump the cheese to a full ounce (or more).
For an interesting twist, you might play around with reduced fat cream cheese like these chicken taquitos.
Important Tip: Don’t skip the microwave step or your tortillas will crack when you try to roll them. If you don’t have a microwave, you can warm them in a skillet.
Air Fryer Notes
I used a 6.5-quart Ninja Foodi for air frying, hence the 7 taquitos perfectly nestled in the photo above. If you’re using a larger air fryer, you can extrapolate the chicken and cheese out to fill more tortillas. The cook time may change between different air fryers, especially different sizes of air fryers.
Check on your chicken taquitos early and often if it’s your first time making these in a different air fryer. They can go from golden brown to burned pretty quickly. Also, the taquitos will continue to crisp up once you pull them out of the air fryer.
How should I reheat these taquitos?
I air fried from refrigerated at 300ºF for 8-10 minutes. Using a low temperature should bring them back to life and restore the crispness without burning your taquitos.
And because it’s always a question, I’m sure you can freeze these chicken taquitos. While I’ve not tested a reheat time, I’d use the same method of a lower temperature to thaw and reheat.
Can I make these air fryer taquitos without an air fryer?
You bet. I would do everything the same and place the taquitos seal-side-down on a baking sheet. Spray or brush them with oil all the same and bake for 20+ minutes at 400ºF. My beef and cheese baked taquitos recipe makes 16 taquitos and takes about 30 minutes at 400ºF. The time may vary based on how many taquitos you make, the size of your baking sheet, and all that good stuff. It may take a little testing to get them just right.
Serving Your Air Fryer Taquitos
I bet you can guess what I’ll suggest as a dip. That’s right, fat free Greek yogurt or yogurt + salsa. Guacamole works great as well. You could even do something like Greek yogurt + guacamole salsa like I used for my low carb chicken enchiladas, or my creamy jalapeño yogurt dip.
For the corn salsa you see in the photos, I cheated and went with store bought (Central Market has great stuff, okay?). Here’s a great corn salsa recipe if you wanted to make your own.
And that about covers it. If you have a recipe question I missed, hit the comments section at the bottom of this post. Enjoy your air fryer taquitos otherwise!
Cheesy Chicken Air Fryer Taquitos
Ingredients
- 7 Extra Thin Corn Tortillas
- 8 oz Shredded Mexican Chicken*
- 3 oz Shredded Mexican Cheese
- Cooking Spray or Oil
Instructions
- Spray an air fryer basket with cooking spray or brush with oil.
- Wrap the tortillas in a slightly damp paper towel and microwave for 30 seconds. This will prevent the tortillas from cracking when you roll your taquitos.
- Fill a tortilla with a little more than 1 ounce of chicken and slightly less than 1/2 ounce of shredded cheese.
- Tightly roll and place seal-side-down in an air fryer basket.
- Once you have all 7 tortillas in the basket, spray the tops with cooking spray liberally or brush with about 1/2 a tablespoon of oil.
- Air fry at 375ºF for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. You can turn the taquitos towards the end of cooking for even color.
Notes
For Oven Baked Taquitos
Bake the taquitos on a baking sheet for 12-15 minutes at 400ºF. Time may vary depending on how many taquitos you make.Reheating Your Taquitos
A low temperature should restore some crispness without burning. I used an air fryer at 300ºF for 8-10 minutes.Nutrition Facts Notes
- Each chicken taquito has 4 WW SmartPoints (blue).
- The nutrition facts for the 8 ounces of my shredded Mexican chicken are 400 calories, 44g of protein, 4g of carbs, 22g of fat, and 8 SmartPoints.
Kaleigh Beard
Tuesday 17th of August 2021
My husband and I both have fond memories of those frozen taquitos from our childhoods.Obviously they not the most healthy option. These were a yummy substitute and were very quick to make. I made the chicken in my instant pot using the slow cooker function and just seasoned with a pack of taco seasoning for convenience. The only thing I struggled with was catching them before they got to crispy (some burned) in the air fryer. Also, we tried greek yogurt as a sub for sour cream and I honestly cannot believe for they tasted the same!
Megan
Tuesday 13th of April 2021
I may or may not have skipped the step or warming the tortillas..... and they broke! But I just put them in a taco form to make it work and they were delicious. I’m going to play around a little more with the Mexican chicken recipe and add some more in my taquitos next time. I won’t skip the tortilla step next time! Very delicious recipe, def recommend!
Ashley Hevener
Tuesday 13th of April 2021
Warning: you won’t be able to only eat a few! These are so good, I could eat 100 at a time. Definitely go for the low calorie tortillas because you’ll want to keep eating them haha! I love the crisp they get and the size of them. Light but filling.
Susan Downard
Monday 12th of April 2021
I love making these when I have leftover tortillas from making other recipes. I use whatever shredded meat or poultry I have around (pork also works well). I cook and freeze and reheat in the air fryer as needed for a quick lunch. Nonfat plain Greek yogurt works great mixed with some salsa if I want a dipping sauce.
Heather
Monday 12th of April 2021
I don’t try Mason’s new recipes often or enough because I already love the recipes of his that I have in rotation. I decided to try the taquitos recipe after my husband and his best friend were reminiscing over the phone about how they use to hit 7-11 for terribly unhealthy taquitos. I decided to give this recipe a try and my husband and I both loved them so much that they are now in our weekly rotation. I use the bake in the oven option to make them in bulk and then we reheat in the air fryer. They freeze well too! Another winner in our home!