Air Fryer Tortilla Chips

You need this simple recipe for Air Fryer Tortilla Chips. You won’t believe how easy it is to make fresh corn tortilla chips in the air fryer, at home, and without deep-frying! 

Recipe Overview

Homemade tortilla chips in the air fryer are so much better than chips from a bag, and you can enjoy them fresh, in just a few minutes.

Air Fryer Tortillas are just like the hot, fresh chips at your favorite Mexican restaurant! I love them with salsa, and I love them as a simple, salty snack on their own!

If you love tasty dips, you might want to also make this hot corn dip to go with your chips.

Why you’ll Love This Recipe

It’s Easy: Making air fryer tortilla chips is really easy. You only need some corn tortillas, a small amount of oil, and salt. Tortilla chips in the air fryer are ready in just 6 minutes!

Less Mess: You can deep fry tortilla chips, but then you need to deal with all of that oil that will splatter all over your kitchen! Using the air fryer to make chips is a much neater experience.

Save Money: You’ll save money by making your own chips, rather than spending a fortune on processed chips that aren’t nearly as satisfying.

Healthier Chips: When you make tortilla chips at home, you can control the amount of salt and fat in them. You also have control over the portion size. You can make just 1 or two servings of chips instead of having a jumbo size bag in the cupboard.

Ingredients

• Corn Tortillas – Any brand or style of corn tortilla will work, but smaller ones make better chip sizes. If you only have large, burrito size tortillas, consider cutting them into square or rectangular pieces rather than wedges so they are more manageable.
• Salt – What is a chip without salt? Reduce the salt in the recipe if you’re on a low salt diet or just don’t want as much.
• Spray Oil – I recommend buying an oil mister and using your favorite oil that way, but an aerosol spray oil will work in a pinch. You can make tortilla chips with olive oil, vegetable oil, avocado oil, or any oil that you prefer

Steps to Make

1. Remove the desired amount of corn tortillas from the package. You’ll only be able to fit so many chips (I can fit between 3 and 6 cut tortillas) in the air fryer at a time, but you can cook them in batches if you’d like to make a lot of chips.
2. Stack the tortillas on top of each other. This makes cutting them into chips super easy and quick. Cut the stack of tortillas in half, then in half again and again until you have triangles. I typically get 8 chips from each tortilla.
3. Spray oil on your tortilla triangles, then salt. Put the tortillas into the air fryer basket or tray. You can stack them or overlap them as needed, but avoid layering them too much. Air fry at 250F/176C for 6-7 minutes. Shake mid way through cook time.
4. Enjoy your homemade tortilla chips with some salsa or your favorite queso dip!

How to Serve

As a Snack: These chips are great on their own as a snack, but go best with something else, like salsa or dip. Choose your favorite prepared salsa and get to dipping! Tortilla chips also go really well with hummus.

For Taco Night: I often serve tortilla chips with Mexican dishes, just like I’d enjoy at a Mexican restaurant. You could try our Air Fryer Taco Pie with these chips. I also think chips and salsa would be perfect with Air Fryer Mushroom Tacos, Air Fryer Tofu Tacos, or Air Fryer Fish Tacos.

As the Main Event: You know what tortilla chips are really great for? NACHOS! Leave the chips right in the air fryer basket, top them with cheese, meat, beans, or whatever else you enjoy, and warm the nachos in the air fryer for just a few more minutes to melt the cheese.

Storage Tips

You’ll probably eat these chips as soon as you make them, but if you happen to have some self-restraint and find yourself with leftovers:

Keep homemade tortilla chips in an airtight container or a ziptop bag at room temperature. They will stay fresh this way for about a week.

Flavor variations

This recipe uses just simple salt to season air fryer tortilla chips, but you can get creative with the flavors, and make your homemade chips extra exciting.

Seasonings sold for popcorn are great to use with homemade chips. I’ve seen nacho cheese (make your own Doritos!), parmesan garlic, and even sweet flavors like kettle corn seasoning. Kernel Seasons is the brand I see in my local grocery store, but there are others too.

Instead of pre-packaged seasoning mixes, add things from your spice rack, like garlic powder, smoked paprika, lemon pepper, or cajun seasoning.

Adding cinnamon and sugar would make these chips sweet and perfect for a fruit salsa. I’d suggest sprinkling cinnamon sugar on the chips after they’ve come out of the air fryer, but while they’re still hot. This way the sugar won’t burn but it will still stick to the tortillas.

A spritz of lime juice before cooking would elevate the flavor of these chips quite a bit. They remind me of the chips from Chipotle when I add a bit of lime and salt.

Tips and Tricks

• Are your tortilla triangles flying around too much? I didn’t have an issue with this, but some machines might have fans that blow harder and cause the chips to move around in the air fryer. Try placing a trivet or an air fryer rack on top of the chips to keep them from moving all the way up to the fan.
• Cooking time may vary. Different brands of tortillas and different brands of air fryers may cause the chips to cook faster or slower. Check your chips a few minutes early just in case. Add extra time in two-minute increments until the chips are perfect.
• Are your homemade tortilla chips sticking together? I didn’t have trouble with this myself, but if your tortillas are sticking to each other, try adding a bit more spray oil to the bottom layer. You may also need to do multiple batches so that there are less chips in the basket.
• Chips cooking unevenly? Because we’re stacking the chips on top of each other a bit, you may find that the overlapping parts of the chips are less crispy than the rest. Try gently stirring or shaking the chips halfway through the cooking time, or cook less chips next time.

More Air Fryer Snacks

We have lots of delicious snack recipes here that you can make in the air fryer.

Have you tried Air Fryer Chicken Wings yet? See our recipe for the crispiest wings. It’s not as complicated as you might think!

Another snack that will really impress your friends is Air Fryer Jalapeno Poppers. Make them for a football party or a holiday party, they are so easy and delicious!

For a really simple and quick snack, you should try Air Fryer Pizza Rolls. These frozen pizza snacks are fun for kids to make after school too.

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