Air fryer beef taquitos
Crunchy rolled tacos filled with creamy, cheesy beef, crisped in the air fryer instead of deep-fried, and they freeze like a dream.
- 45 min total
- 35 min hands-on
- Follow-a-recipe easy
- Serves 4
- About $3.31 a serving
- 780 calories
- Good the next day
- Gluten-free
Dolly says: Make the full amount. It’s just as good for lunch the next day.
Ingredients
For 4 servings.
- 1 lb 85/15 ground beef
- ¼ cup salsa
- 2 oz cream cheese
- 1½ cups Mexican blend cheese
- 16 corn tortillas
- ½ cup guacamole
- ½ cup sour cream (optional)
From your pantry
- 1 tbsp chili powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tbsp vegetable oil
Each serving has about 780 calories, 39 g protein, 53 g carbs and 47 g fat, and costs about $3.31 at typical US grocery prices. Both are estimates from what the recipe uses.
Missing something?
- No 85/15 ground beef? 90/10 ground beef works.
- No salsa? Pico de gallo works.
- No Mexican blend cheese? Shredded cheddar or cheddar cheese or Monterey Jack cheese works.
- No guacamole? Avocados work.
- No sour cream? Plain Greek yogurt works.
Steps
Tap an underlined word for a quick explanation.
Cook the beef in a large over medium-high 7 to 8 minutes, breaking it up, until no pink is left. Spoon off the fat.
Skillet. A skillet is a frying pan: wide and flat with low, sloped sides. The shape lets steam escape, so food browns instead of stewing.
How you’ll know: It’s the pan you’d fry an egg in, and a 10 or 12 inch one handles most recipes.
Medium-high heatTimer: 7 min 30 sec
Food safety: Ground beef, pork and lamb are done at 160°F. When it’s cooked through there’s no pink left anywhere in the pan.
Turn the heat to low and stir in the chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, salt, salsa and cream cheese until the cream cheese into a creamy filling. Let it cool 5 minutes.
Melt. Melting means gently heating something solid, like butter or cheese, until it turns liquid. Low or medium heat keeps it from browning or burning.
How you’ll know: It’s smooth and liquid, and butter may foam a little but hasn’t turned brown.
Low heatTimer: 5 min
Stir in the shredded cheese.
Wrap the tortillas in a damp paper towel, 8 at a time, and microwave each stack 45 seconds, until soft.
Spoon about 3 tablespoons of filling along one edge of each tortilla, roll it up tightly, and set it seam side down.
Dolly’s tip: Roll them snug and keep them seam side down, and they’ll hold without toothpicks.Heat the air fryer to 400°F. Brush the taquitos with the oil and air fry in batches, seam side down, 6 to 8 minutes, until crisp and .
Golden brown. Golden brown is the color of good toast, somewhere between yellow and light brown. It means the outside is cooked and crisp but not burnt.
How you’ll know: It looks like toast and smells toasty; dark brown with a bitter smell means it went too far.
Timer: 7 min
Serve with guacamole and sour cream for dipping.
Dolly’s tip: To freeze, roll them, freeze on a tray, then bag them. Air fry from frozen for 10 to 12 minutes.
Plan this in Dollop, and get the grocery list
Dollop puts this dinner on a night that suits your week, lists only what you still need to buy, and walks you through each step while you cook.
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