Taquitos are everything you love about a taco, rolled into a dippable, easy to eat snack. Instead of deep frying them, though, you can achieve a similar crispy texture with far less oil! Skip the prep and use a frozen option to save time, like these Delimex taquitos in the air fryer.

Why You’ll Love This Recipe
Taquitos consist of a meat or bean and cheese filling, all rolled up inside a tortilla to form a tube shape. They’re typically deep fried to give a nice, crispy exterior, but can be oven baked or air fried as well.
The air fryer is the perfect sweet spot I think, where you get the crispiness and browning that you crave, without all the oil from the deep fryer!
Starting with a frozen taquito like these Delimex ones saves you all the time of cooking your filling and rolling them. Simply drop your frozen taquitos in the air fryer and you’re ready to go in no time!

If you don’t have Delimex as an option, I also covered how to make Trader Joe’s Chicken Taquitos in the Air Fryer!
What You’ll Need: Ingredients

- Delimex frozen taquitos, any flavor
- Toppings or dipping sauces (optional)
Ingredient Tips and Notes
- Any flavor of Delimex taquitos works great in your air fryer! They make a ton of varieties, like chicken, chicken and cheese, salsa verde, beef, beef and cheese, and even cherry for dessert
- Most typical grocery stores will sell Delimex taquitos in quantities of 23-56 depending on flavor, but you can find them in bulk stores in higher amounts. You can cook as many as you want at a time, so long as they fit in a single layer in your air fryer basket (mine fits 18 total at once)
- I typically serve mine with salsa and sour cream, chipotle sauce for some heat, or whipped cream for the dessert variety!
How to Make Delimex Taquitos in Air Fryer
- Preheat your air fryer to 400°F (200°C)
- Remove frozen taquitos from all packaging and place into the preheated air fryer basket in a single layer

- Cook on the air fry setting for 6 minutes at 400°F, pausing halfway through to flip the taquitos over
- Delimex taquitos are done when the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Add additional time in 1-2 minute increments if needed to achieve this
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauces for an appetizer or snack, or add sides for a complete meal!

What to Serve With Delimex Taquitos
- Sour cream
- Salsa
- Guacamole
- Chipotle sauce
- Hot sauce
- Cilantro lime sauce
- Lime wedges
- Green onions
- Street corn
- Avocado fries
- Jalapeno slices
- Queso
- Refried beans
- Mexican rice
- Nachos
There are lots of great dipping sauces, toppings, and sides to serve with taquitos!
Try these Delimex taquitos in the air fryer with my easy Microwave Refried Beans, creamy Air Fryer Queso, or just a dollop of sour cream and hot sauce. Yum!
Recipe FAQs
How Long to Air Fry Delimex Beef Taquitos?
You should air fry Delimex beef taquitos for 6-8 minutes on average, until an internal temperature of 165°F is reached.
This assumes a cooking temperature of 400°F, and will vary slightly based on your specific air fryer’s power level.
How Do You Air Fry Delimex Chicken and Cheese Taquitos?
Air fry Delimex chicken and cheese taquitos for 6-8 minutes at 400°F, or until they are browned, crisp, and an internal temperature of 165°F is reached.
Flip the taquitos halfway through cooking to ensure even heating and crisping.
What Temperature Should a Delimex Taquito Be?
Like many frozen foods, a Delimex taquito should be 165°F in the center, per USDA guidelines.
While they are fully cooked already, you should always reheat to this temperature for food safety before consuming.
What is the Best Way to Cook Frozen Taquitos?
Frozen taquitos may be cooked in the oven, microwave, or air fryer. The microwave produces a less crispy result but is very fast. The air fryer and oven both make a crispy shell, and the air fryer takes less time than the oven overall.
The air fryer also preheats in less time than the oven, making it nearly ½ the overall time required.
What Setting Do You Put Frozen Taquitos in the Air Fryer?
Typically, you use the air fry setting for frozen taquitos in the air fryer. Another common alternative is air crisp.
While the names may differ slightly between air fryer brands and the number of functions you have, there should be something similar to select.
Recipe Pro Tips
- Frozen taquitos come with some oil already on the tortilla, so you don’t need to add any additional oil for cooking. However, if you’d like an extra browned, crisp shell, you can add a mist of oil spray over them before cooking
- My Delimex frozen taquitos were perfect after 6 minutes in a Ninja air fryer, confirmed by an instant read thermometer. Other air fryers may vary
- Note that corn shells tend to take 1-2 minutes longer to get crispy versus flour so you can add additional time for a crispier shell if you’d like
- It’s normal for the seams or ends to leak a little as they cook, so feel free to use some parchment, non stick foil, or a silicone liner in your air fryer to make cleanup easier

Storage and Reheating
- Store any leftover Delimex taquitos in an airtight container or zippered bag in your refrigerator for up to 5 days. Do not refreeze
- Reheat taquitos in the air fryer for 2-4 minutes at 350°F or until heated through
More Mexican Inspired Air Fryer Foods to Try
- Trader Joe’s Arepas in the Air Fryer
- How to Cook Frozen Empanadas in the Air Fryer
- Trader Joe’s Tamales in the Air Fryer
- How to Reheat a Quesadilla in the Air Fryer
- Taco Stuffed Shells in the Air Fryer
Final Thoughts
These Delimex taquitos in the air fryer come out warm, crispy, and ready to enjoy in under 10 minutes!
They’re perfect for a snack, appetizer, or even paired with sides to create a complete meal. Since they’re so quick, I find it to be an easy weeknight dinner that everyone loves.
No matter what flavor you choose (or a variety) the air fryer does such a great job of cooking them to perfection right from frozen, which saves you so much time!
Of course, if you prefer to make your own, that’s definitely an option as well! Check out my recipe for homemade Beef Taquitos in the Air Fryer for a delicious preparation.

Delimex Chicken Taquitos Air Fryer Instructions
Equipment
Ingredients
- 5 Frozen Delimex chicken taquitos (or another flavor of your choice)
Instructions
- Preheat your air fryer to 400°F (200°C)
- Remove frozen taquitos from all packaging and place into the preheated air fryer basket in a single layer5 Frozen Delimex chicken taquitos
- Cook on the air fry setting for 6 minutes at 400°F, pausing halfway through to flip the taquitos over
- Delimex taquitos are done when the internal temperature reaches 165°F. Add additional time in 1-2 minute increments if needed to achieve this
- Serve with your favorite dipping sauces for an appetizer or snack, or add sides for a complete meal!
Notes
- Any flavor of Delimex taquitos works great in your air fryer! These are chicken, but they have other flavors like chicken and cheese, salsa verde, beef, beef and cheese, and even cherry for dessert!
- Most typical grocery stores will sell Delimex taquitos in quantities of 23-56 depending on flavor, but you can find them in bulk stores in higher amounts. You can cook as many as you want at a time, so long as they fit in a single layer in your air fryer basket
- I typically serve mine with salsa and sour cream, chipotle sauce for some heat, or whipped cream for the dessert variety!
- Frozen taquitos come with some oil already on the tortilla, so you don’t need to add any additional oil for cooking. However, if you’d like an extra browned, crisp shell, you can add a mist of oil spray over them before cooking
- My Delimex frozen taquitos were perfect after 6 minutes in a Ninja air fryer, confirmed by an instant read thermometer. Other air fryers may vary slightly
- Note that corn shells tend to take 1-2 minutes longer to get crispy versus flour so you can add additional cooking time for a crispier shell if you’d like
- It’s normal for the seams or ends to leak a little as they cook, so feel free to use some parchment, non stick foil, or a silicone liner in your air fryer to make cleanup easier
- Store any leftover Delimex taquitos in an airtight container or zippered bag in your refrigerator for up to 5 days. Do not refreeze
- Reheat taquitos in the air fryer for 2-4 minutes at 350°F or until heated through
- Exact nutritional values will vary based on flavor of ingredients, any sauces or sides added, and quantity consumed, so please consider this a guideline only
Nutrition

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