Warning! This dish is a bit spicy.
I fell in love with this recipe and made it for the second time. The crispiness of the tortilla made Air Fryer Chilaquiles much more interesting.
Though air frying is all about minimizing the use of oil, this dish is better with a small amount of it. It resulted in a crispier and more flavorful tortilla.
Table of Contents
Air Fryer Chilaquiles Ingredients
✦ You can find the exact measurements of the recipe ingredients and customize the serving size in the recipe card after the detailed step-by-step instructions section.
- Fresh tortilla
- Tomatillo salsa or salsa verde
- Queso fresco
- Sunny-side up
- Store-bought carnitas pork or chicken
- Cilantro
- Salt
Tortilla
Size won’t matter because you’ll cut it into quarters (or smaller). Not to mention, frying your own tortilla chips is much better than store-bought chips. More importantly, it’s cheaper!
Salsa
You can find tomatillo salsa or salsa verde in your local grocery store. But if you can’t, it’s super easy to make. Salsa roja is also a great alternative.
Egg
A crispier over-easy sunny-side up would complement the Air Fryer Chilaquiles.
To do this, use a higher temperature when frying your egg. If you don’t like a runny egg, you can fry it until it’s well-done.
Carnitas
You can make your own pork carnitas, but it’s a longer process than the Chilaquiles Air Fryer recipe. Store-bought carnitas will save you a ton of time.
If you can’t find one, use a shredded cajun chicken. You can buy a rotisserie chicken from Costco or your favorite grocery store. All that’s left is shred it into pieces and add some cajun flavoring.
Jalapeño Crema Ingredients
✦ You can find the exact measurements of the recipe ingredients and customize the serving size in the recipe card after the detailed step-by-step instructions section.
- Jalapeño
- Garlic
- Vegetable oil
- Water
- Sour cream
- Mayonnaise
- Salt
I couldn’t source a ready-made Jalapeño crema locally, so I made one from scratch.
By the way, a powerful blender is essential to make this sauce. Our personal ninja blender left pieces of garlic that kept getting stuck on our squeeze bottle. I had to take it out, and strain it.
But oh boy, it’s worth all the effort!
It’s the pièce de résistance of this dish.
Recipe Video
How to Make Chilaquiles in an Air Fryer?
Making Chilaquiles in the air fryer is a slightly complicated process. The first part is preparing the jalapeño crema (sauce). Then, the next order of business is making the chilaquiles itself. The whole process will take you half an hour.
If have that much time, let’s begin!
Step 1: Prepare the jalapeño crema.
🚨 Warning! Jalapeños will give off a spicy aroma. It’s ideal to blend the jalapeño crema in a well-ventilated area.
Making jalapeño crema is a straightforward process. The first part is to blend a few ingredients to get that spicy creamy goodness.
To begin, char the jalapeños however you want it. Air fry it, grill it or use a kitchen torch.
Then, peel and cut the stem of the jalapeño peppers, then blend it with four cloves of garlic and 1/4 cup of water. Then, add 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil. Blend until fully mixed.
💡 Pro Tip: Using a powerful blender will ensure that your the sauce will be silky smooth.
Sadly, I used a standard personal blender. There are tiny pieces of jalapeño that keeps on clogging my squeeze bottle. I fixed it by using a strainer.
This issue could also be fixed by just serving the sauce on a small bowl.
Now, let’s get to the second part:
The next thing you need to do is fold the jalapeño puree with the mayonnaise and sour cream while adding salt gradually. This step is essential to maintain its creamy consistency.
You could also blend it altogether, however, you will end up with a rather watery sauce.
Step 2: Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF (204ºC).
You can skip preheating by adding 2-3 minutes to your cooking time. Then check every 1-2 minutes to prevent your tortilla chips from getting burned.
Step 3: Cut your tortillas into small triangles.
The easy way to do it would be to cut it like a pizza at first. But as you go smaller continue slicing in such a way you’re making a semi-equilateral triangles.
Afterwards, put your sliced tortilla chips in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle it with oil, toss until all the tortillas are evenly coated.
Coating your tortilla chips with oil, is optional. You can skip this step if you want.
The oil, however, will help you achieve a golden brown, crispier finish.
Step 4: Air fry the tortilla chips until golden brown.
Air fry half of the tortilla for 5 minutes at 400ºF (204ºC) or until it turns golden brown. Do the same thing to the second half of your tortilla chips.
Flipping tortillas is more manageable when cooking in small quantities.
✦ I used a 6-quart air fryer to test this recipe. Cooking time and temperature may vary depending on your air fryer and the number of servings you are making. For optimal results, begin with the lower end of the suggested cooking time.
Step 5: Season the air fried tortilla with salt.
Transfer your tortilla chips into the same mixing bowl you used in step #2, then season it lightly with salt.
Step 6: Sauté tortilla chips, salsa, and pork carnitas.
In a large pan, sauté the tortilla chips, tomatillo salsa, and carnitas pork using medium to high heat.
💡 Pro Tip: If you want your tortilla chips to remain crispy, don’t sauté it for too long. The longer this process takes, the more the tortilla chips absorbs the liquid.
Step 7: Serve and enjoy!
And that’s how you make an Chilaquiles using your air fryer!
To finish the dish, we sprinkled some cheese, drizzled jalapeño crema, a little bit parsley, and fried egg.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, you can reheat chilaquiles in your air fryer. However, I would suggest using a liner to prevent the pieces of meat from slipping through the air fryer basket.
You can use your air fryer to cook the tortilla chips for the Chilaquiles recipe. Although, the final process requires sautéing in a pan.
This ingredients checklist is interactive; you can use it as your grocery list.
Ingredients
- 6 Tortilla wrap
- ½ cup Tomatillo salsa
- 1 cup Carnitas pork (optional)
- Jalapeño crema
- Oil
- Salt
- Cilantro chopped
- Egg sunny side up (optional)
Jalapeño Crema
- 2 jalapeños
- 4 cloves of garlic
- ¼ cup of water
- 3 tablespoon of vegetable oil
- ¼ cup of sour cream
- ½ cup of mayonnaise
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Prepare jalapeño crema. Char two jalapeños by grilling it, airfrying it or using a kitchen torch. Then, peel the jalapeño peppers, remove the stem and blend it with 4 cloves of garlic, 3 tablespoons vegetable oil, 1/4 cup of water. Next, place 1/4 cup sour cream, 1/2 cup mayonnaise in a large mixing bowl. Pour the jalapeño mixture, then fold all the wet ingredients while adding 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Then transfer the sauce in a squeeze bottle or serve it in a small bowl.
- Preheat your air fryer to 400ºF (204ºC) for 5 minutes.
- Slice your tortillas into small triangles. Place it in a large mixing bowl, then coat it lightly with oil for extra crunch.
- Air fry your coated tortilla chips in 2-3 batches for 5 minutes at 400ºF (204ºC) until golden brown. Don’t forget to shake or flip halfway through.
- After cooking the tortilla chips, season them lightly with salt.
- Heat your pan to medium-high heat. Add your tortilla chips, tomatillo salsa, and carnitas pork. Sauté until all the ingredients are thoroughly mixed.
- Serve and enjoy! Add some cheese, drizzle with jalapeño crema, sprinkle some cilantro, and top it off with a sunny-side up.
Recipe Video
Notes
- If your air fryer doesn’t have a preheat mode, you can simply set the temperature to 400ºF (204ºC) and then let it cook for 5 minutes.
- You can skip preheating by adding 2-5 minutes to your cooking time. Then check every 1-2 minutes to prevent your tortilla chips from getting burned.
- Any type of salsa available in your pantry will work.
- You don’t have to make the jalapeño crema since it adds complexity to the dish. However, the jalapeño crema is a signature sauce for this dish. As an easier substitute to the jalapeño sauce, you can garnish the Air Fryer Chilaquiles with pickled jalapeño and a scoop of sour cream on the side.
- Jalapeños will give off a spicy aroma. It’s ideal to blend the jalapeño crema in a well-ventilated area.
- Use a powerful blender to make your jalapeño crema silky smooth.
- Adding oil to tortilla chips is optional, considering they’ll still come out crispy from the air fryer without the fat. However, the oil gives it a more golden brown appetizing finish.
- If you want your tortilla chips to remain crispy, don’t sauté them for too long. The longer this process takes, the more the tortilla chips absorb the liquid.
- Depending on the number of tortillas, you may have to cook them in the air fryer by batch. It’s okay if your tortillas overlap, just don’t forget to flip or shake them halfway.
- Instead of a fried egg, you can also poach an egg. However, a sunny-side-up version adds more color to the dish.
- I used a 6-quart air fryer to make this chilaquiles air fryer recipe. Cooking time may vary depending on your air fryer and the number of servings you are making. For optimal results, begin with the lower end of the suggested cooking time. Continue air frying until you achieve your desired finish.
Nutrition
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