These air fryer taquitos are loaded with beef and cheese, crispy on the outside, and beyond simple to make in your air fryer! Dip these in salsa or queso for a fun snack or quick dinner.
If I had to choose a favorite food, it’d be tough. But if I had to choose a favorite type of food? It’d be Mexican, hands down.
I could honestly eat some form of taco or burrito every day of my life.
In the air fryer I have experiemented with air fryer flautas, homemade crunchwrap supremes, and even air fryer chicken fajitas!
Growing up I would sometimes eat those frozen taquitos that you warm up in the microwave. I may have eaten the taquitos on the hot dog warmer at a gas station a time or two. And my daughter? She still loves the frozen version and asks me to buy a box every now and then!
As much as I loved even those taquitos, I had to give a try at making my own homemade beef taquitos.
Ingredient Notes:
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Beef– We need a pound of ground beef. It doesn’t really matter how lean you go here, but I typically go for the 85% lean or near that.
You can substitute this for shredded chicken, shredded beef, or even pork if you want! Whichever route you go, just get a pound of it!
Filling ingredients– We keep it simple with a pack of taco seasoning, green chiles, and some shredded pepper jack cheese.
Shell– You will want corn tortillas for the wrap as they get the crispest!
How to Make Taquitos in an Air Fryer:
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- Cook your ground beef and drain the fat.
- Add your seasoning, chilis, and water to the beef and cook for 5 additional minutes.
- Heat up tortillas in the microwave with a wet paper towel on top to steam them up a little.
- Fill each tortilla with a couple of tablespoons of beef and roll tightly.
- Place the taquitos seam side down in an air fryer basket and spray with nonstick spray.
- Cook them for 6-7 minutes
- Serve warm with your choice of dipping sauces!
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Options for Dipping Sauces:
- Nacho cheese dip
- Salsa
- Guacamole
- Sour cream
- Queso dip
- Baja Sauce
- Southwest Ranch Dressing
FAQ:
7 minutes at 400 degrees F.
Use your air fryer! They reheat tasty, quickly, and efficiently. Heat them at 350 degrees for 4-5 minutes.
More Air Fryer Recipes:
If you love taquitos as I do, then you will also love these buffalo chicken flautas.
I got started using my air fryer with this simple baked potato recipe.
A more diet-friendly option is this air fryer pork chops and broccoli recipe. It is convenient and low carb!
Crispy fried pickles are super easy to make in the air fryer too.
For a quick and easy fix check out how to cook a frozen burrito in an air fryer.
Air fryer Taquitos
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground beef
- 1 packet taco seasoning
- 4 ounces chopped green chiles
- 1 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
- 15 corn tortillas
Instructions
- Brown the beef in a large skillet over medium heat. Drain fat.
- Add the taco seasoning, green chiles, and ¼ cup of water to the beef and simmer for 5 minutes.
- Add the tortillas to a microwave safe plate and cover with a damp paper towel. Microwave for 30 seconds.
- Fill each tortilla with about 2 tablespoons of the beef mixture, top with cheese, and roll tightly.
- Place the taquitos seam side down in an air fryer basket, being sure not to overcrowd the basket.
- Spray with nonstick spray.
- Cook at 400 degrees for 6-7 minutes or until taquitos are as crispy as you’d like.
- Serve with salsa, sour cream, and queso for dipping.
Video
Nutrition
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Comments & Reviews
Frank says
Made these and your tacos today. Outstanding. Simple and delicious. Non-plant based wife said she’d gladly have these in the rotation for meatless dinners. I’m very pleased with the results. Thank you for the recipe.
Karly says
So glad you enjoyed these, Frank! Thanks for the review. 🙂
Stefani Borg says
Can you freeze these? If so, what would be the process? Freeze after rolling? Freeze after cooking the taquito? Thaw? or put in air fryer frozen?
Karly says
Hi Stefani! I haven’t tried freezing these. We would probably freeze them after cooking and then reheat from frozen in the air fryer.
Alissa says
Could you leave out the green chilies? Or do they add quite a bit of flavor? Couple other things, what cheese do you use inside? And I see it says to spray with non-stick spray but then I’ve also read on most all of your recipes to not use non-stick aerosol sprays in the air fryers, can you clarify a bit there?
Karly says
Hi Alissa! You could leave the chiles out. It’ll be just like taco meat. The chiles add a bit of spice and flavor. The cheese is pepper jack, but you could use whatever you like. We use an oil spritzer to spray. So, instead of Pam, we just add oil to an oil spritzer and spray that oil.
Susan says
Was so excited to try these.Extremely difficult or next to impossible to roll these.The tortillas crack even when “steamed” in microwave.The few successful ones “flew” apart or became torn in air fryer.Any suggestions ?Also, instructons do not include cheese ingredient.
Karly says
Hi Susan! I’m sorry these didn’t work for you. Corn tortillas are definitely fragile and we get a few cracks as well, but they still hold together fine after steaming in the microwave. Make sure the tortillas are warm when working with them. Perhaps it was the brand or freshness of the tortillas used? You could also use flour tortillas, if you don’t want to fuss with the corn tortillas. 🙂