Crispy homemade air fryer taquitos with shredded precooked chicken and a creamy filling make a healthy snack or meal in just 30 minutes!
Homemade air fryer chicken taquitos are the best!
Our air fried chicken taquitos are crispy, crunchy, and golden brown filled with the BEST creamy and meaty (or chicken-ey) filling. I promise, you won't go back to frozen taquitos once you've learned how easy it is to make our homemade version. They are next level!
We made our recipe using cooked shredded chicken, but for variety using either our Chipotle copycat barbacoa, Crock Pot carnitas or canned refried beans would be great too.
These can really be either a snack or a meal, they're healthy, yummy, and easy to customize the fillings. Serve them on the side with rice, refried beans, and a simple side salad.
Ingredients list
- Cooked and shredded chicken - Save time by using shredded rotisserie chicken or any leftover chicken you may have. It would also be easy to use shredded beef, pork, or ground chicken, or turkey.
- Cream cheese - Cream cheese helps to bring this all together into a creamy filling. Room-temperature cream cheese is ideal.
- Monterey jack cheese - Monterey jack cheese adds a great flavor to these taquitos, however, you can use your favorite shredded cheese. Cheddar, Colby Jack, and pepper Jack are all just as delicious.
- Salsa - Any jar of your favorite salsa
- Spices - Chili powder, ground cumin, and garlic powder all add great flavor to taquitos. In a pinch, you could use a taco seasoning packet.
- Cilantro
- Salt & Cracked black pepper
- Corn tortillas - Either corn or flour tortillas will work here
- Olive oil cooking spray
** Please see the recipe card at the bottom of the post for the exact quantities **
Kitchen tools
- An Air Fryer- our favorite brand
- Inexpensive rubber tip tongs are handy for removing food without burning yourself.
How to cook homemade taquitos in the air fryer
The recipe starts with precooked shredded chicken. We meal prep this almost weekly so you can use our boiled chicken breast or tenderloins, pressure cooker frozen chicken, or baked thin chicken breast.
Then you can either shred the meat with two forks or use a hand or stand mixer.
Combine the filling. In a large bowl, combine the shredded chicken, cream cheese, shredded cheese, salsa, and spices, making sure there's no large chunks of cream cheese.
Roll taquitos. Briefly warm the tortillas to make them pliable, but don't overheat them. You can use a comal, skillet, or microwave.
Spread 2-3 tablespoon of the chicken filling down the center of the tortilla.
Fold one side of the tortilla toward the center, then tightly roll it to form a taquito.
Air fry. Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees F for 5 minutes.
Brush each taquito with olive oil (or spritz it with an oil sprayer) and place them in a single layer, seam-side down, in the air fryer basket or oven.
Air fry the taquitos for 9-12 minutes, flipping after halfway until golden brown.
Serve these warm with your favorite toppings like spicy or mild salsa, pico de gallo, cotija, queso fresco, sour cream, fresh avocado, or guacamole. Enjoy!
Jenni's tips
- You'll want to make sure the tortillas are warmed before filling to prevent cracking.
- Overfilling your taquitos can cause them to burst in the air fryer and cause a mess.
- Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the fridge, depending how long you've been hanging onto that shredded chicken. Reheat them in the air fryer for 2-3+ minutes until heated through.
- Make mini taquitos with street taco sized shells and cook them for less time.
How to keep tortillas from cracking?
Keeping tortillas warm is essential in keeping them from cracking, especially corn tortillas. Cover corn tortillas in a damp paper towel and place on a microwave safe plate. Microwave the tortillas for 20-30 seconds, adding more time depending on how many you're heating in a stack. Once warmed, keep them wrapped and covered.
More easy dinners
- Frozen Taquitos in Air Fryer
- Barbacoa Beef (Crock-Pot)
- Boiled Chicken Tenders
- 20 Second Shredded Chicken (Shred Chicken With Kitchenaid)
Be sure to join our healthy recipes email list to get lots of meal prep ideas, plus free meal planning printables. We're here to make meal time simple!
If you loved our recipe, please leave us a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ review and leave us a comment too! Connect with us on Pinterest, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube!
📌 Be sure to pin the recipe to Pinterest so you can easily find it again! ⬆️
Recipe
Air Fryer Taquitos Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups shredded cooked chicken
- 4 ounces Cream cheese room temperature
- 1 cup Monterey jack cheese shredded
- ¼ cup of your favorite Salsa
- 2 tablespoons Cilantro finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon Chili powder
- ½ teaspoon Ground cumin
- ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon Salt
- ¼ teaspoon black pepper
- 12 5-6 inch Corn tortillas
- 2 tablespoons Olive oil
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the chicken, cream cheese, shredded cheese, salsa, and spices. Mix well to ensure thorough blending, and make sure there are no large chunks of cream cheese.
- Warm the tortillas to make them pliable. You can use a comal, skillet, or microwave. Be cautious not to overheat them; 20-30 seconds per side is sufficient.
- Take each tortilla and spread 2-3 tablespoons of the chicken mixture down the center.
- Fold one side of the tortilla toward the center, then tightly roll it to form a taquito.
- Preheat your air fryer to 400 degrees F for 5 minutes.
- Brush each taquito with olive oil and place them in a single layer, seam-side down, in the preheated air fryer basket.
- Cook the taquitos for a total of 9-12 minutes at 400 F, flipping after halfway.
- Once cooked, serve the taquitos warm with your favorite toppings~
Notes
- We used chicken, but shredded pork carnitas or shredded barbacoa beef would be delicious too.
- Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the fridge. Reheat them in the air fryer for 2-3+ minutes to crisp the tortilla back up.
Leave a Reply