Air Fryer Tortilla Chips

Fresh Air Fryer Tortilla Chips are special, no matter how good your store-bought chips are. They’re easy to make in the Air Fryer, and crispy, crunchy, and delicious.

Your favorite Mexican tortilla chips made healthier with no oil using an air fryer!

We appreciate your support

Please let me know if you have any questions about this recipe. I read all the comments myself and I try to help as soon as I can. I have readers from all levels of comfort and experience in the kitchen on my site, and I’ve tried to answer some of your questions already in the post. But if I’ve missed anything, please feel free to leave a comment and ask.

What can I use these chips for?

You can make nachos with these chips, dip them in salsa, spread pepper jelly cheese dip on them, or in any tailgating snack dips you choose!

Serve them with Black Bean Dip.

I also like that making my own means I can control how much salt is on the chips. So many of the store-bought ones are loaded with salt now that I can barely eat them.

Can I gussy them up?

Sprinkle these chips with any spice mixture you want, like chili powder and cumin, or try a sweet mixture like cinnamon and sugar.

Or season them with a little seasoned salt.

Maybe just go nice and simple with some kosher salt.

I think it’d be really fun to make some Old Bay spiced chips for serving with fish.

If you love these tortilla chips, be sure to pair them with: Roasted Tomato Salsa, Chili Con Queso Dip, Rotel Dip, Mexican Street Corn, Queso Fundido, Candied Jalapeno Cheese Sauce, Nacho cheese, or Jalapeno Ranch Dip.

Recipe development

Corn or flour tortillas?

When I first decided to make some Air Fryer Tortilla Chips I wondered which would work better, corn tortillas or flour tortillas, so I decided to make some of each and see what happened.

I was very happy to see that both the corn tortillas and the flour tortillas work really well in the Air Fryer.

Both produced nice crispy crunchy chips. Both toasted up nicely.

I didn’t test any of the low-carb or whole-wheat varieties, but I’d bet they will work just as well.

Please let me know if you try them. I’d love to hear.

Different brands produce different results

I did several tests, and I did see a difference from brand to brand though.

Some brands of tortillas will toast up differently, so keep an eye on them as they fry.

I had one batch of corn tortillas come out very toasty, not burned, but not quite as nice as I’d like, so I should have cooked them for a little less time.

The first batch of chips

I made this first by brushing oil on the surface of each tortilla and then sprinkling them with a little Kosher salt.

These made nicely salted chips where the salt stuck to the chip. And, at first, the chips were crunchy and crispy.

But, after they sat out for a few minutes, they turned chewy.

That made me wonder if I could air fry the chips without any oil.

The second batch of chips

I tried a second batch of chips with no oil at all.

The biggest downfall of this method is that the salt and spices don’t stick to the chips.

Now, if you’re dipping the chips into a tasty dip, like maybe my Mexican Chili Cheese Dip, the salt on the chip really doesn’t seem to matter.

So, if I were making these chips for serving with dip, I’d totally go for this simple toasted tortilla method.

These plain chips stayed crunch and crispy even when they sat out.

The third batch of chips

My husband (who I like to say is the testing and tasting department of Life Currents) actually suggested this third batch of chips.

He asked me to try brushing the chips with water and sprinkling the chips with a little salt.

That way worked too!

They stayed crispy and crunchy as they sat out, and the salt stuck to the chips.

So, that’s the way I’m going to suggest that you make Air Fryer Tortilla Chip, with a brush of water and a sprinkle of salt.

Do Air-Fryer Tortilla Chips need to be in a single layer?

I have a 6-quart air fryer with a large square basket.

It’s helpful to use an air fryer that has a large basket.

You can use a smaller basket but you may have to cook the tortilla chips in smaller batches.

I placed all 6 tortillas worth of cut tortillas in the basket together.

I arranged them so that there was a little space around them, as much as possible, but yep, I just placed them all this the basket at the same time.

My air fryer has a shake setting, which is halfway through the cook cycle, and is super helpful.

I think this shaking the chips halfway through is the key to being able to fry all of them at once.

Take the basket out halfway through cooking and shake, and give them a little stir.

Try to get the ones on the bottom to the top, and vice versa.

Some will curl; some will fold. This makes them look cool!

Take a look at all my delicious Air Fryer Recipes

See what you can do with the air fryer?

From tasty appetizers to wonderfully quick side dishes!

The Air Fryer is my favorite kitchen appliance right now. It’s like a super quick mini oven with a great ability to make foods healthier.

Check out all my Air Fryer Recipes.

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Air Fryer Tortilla Chips Recipe