Air Fryer Flautas

Our air fryer flautas made with flour tortillas filled with ground beef get nice and crispy on the outside without any oil. Healthier than air fryer frozen taquitos and these are homemade which is always best.

Have you tried making homemade flautas yet? I bet you’ve had them at Mexican restaurants but never thought how easy they’d be to make, but we are here to help. Just follow our easy air fryer recipe below and change up the fillings if you like.

Yes we shared with you a while back how to cook these frozen, these are a bit different. Sometimes the term is used interchangeably but there is a difference. The biggest one is the type of tortillas you use to wrap them up. The insides can be whatever you want them to be too which is great.

Either shredded chicken, beef, or ground beef works for this. You can use your Ninja Foodi air crisp function to make these or any other brand you have like AirWave, Phillips etc… Here we go…

What are flautas?

Flautas are a Mexican dish made by tightly rolling a tortilla, around a filling like shredded chicken, beef, or cheese, then cooked it until golden and crispy. They’re typically longer and thinner than taquitos, served with toppings such as lettuce, salsa, sour cream, guacamole, and cheese.

Traditionally both are deep fried in hot oil but these are much healthier. You don’t need any at all but if you want the outsides to be really crispy crunchy you can use some olive oil spray in the last minute.

Can you use corn tortillas?

Yes you can certainly use “the other” but I will tell you that those don’t turn out as well. Reason I say this is they are firmer and want to unroll no matter what you do. Another is that to us the texture isn’t ideal, those are grainier and smaller too so you don’t get as much filling in inside.

Ingredient Notes

First off you’ll want to precook your meat and season it ideally. To make taco meat you can make it in your Instant Pot, on your stovetop or make air fryer ground beef and toss with a bit of broth and taco seasoning.

As for the other items you would use those traditionally found inside like maybe some refried beans, shredded cheese and salsa for the sauce.

As for the size of the flour tortillas, 6 inches is ideal so they fit inside the basket perfectly. Here we used the carb balance style which has less calories and carbs which was fine too. You could make your own air fryer tortillas and use those too.

Want to make them spicy? Many do and the easiest way to do so is add red pepper flakes or use half lb. of spicy ground sausage and half beef. Shredded chicken with jalapeno powder works wonderfully too. Use what you love.

This are the basics. You could add a can of diced green chilis if you like, bring up the heat with Tobasco, use spicy ground sausage for a ton of flavor and spice…. The filling is totally up to you, instructions here are how to roll and cook perfectly.

How do you roll flautas?

Once you have the filling mixed together well it is just a manner of filling each tortilla in the middle and rolling it up. Lay them on a baking sheet or paper towel with the seam side facing down until you’re done with this whole process. You could double this recipe if you were making a bunch for a party or something.

How do you keep flautas rolled when cooking?

If you make them this way and keep the end on the bottom they will be just fine. A toothpick can be inserted too but isn’t entirely necessary. If deep frying it would help to submerge one held by the tongs for a minute until the end sticks nicely and doesn’t unravel.

Tips for Success

Leave the top and bottom with some room so it doesn’t want to leak out. 2 heaping Tablespoons is about right, depending on how large yours are. Remember that they need to fit inside your basket so 6″ is just right. I always like to preheat my Cosori so they cook evenly the whole time they’re cooking. Do that while you’re rolling all these babies up, that takes about 5 minutes so it will be ready when you are.

You’ll follow these same steps no matter what kind of filling you use. Once they have a few minutes inside you can flip them over and they will stay in tact.

What do you serve with flautas?

Serve with additional Qdoba salsa verde, dipping sauces, sour cream, guacamole, etc. Let’s jump to recipe and I’ll tell you how we serve these up.

• Guacamole
• Sour cream
• Homemade pico de gallo salsa
• Hot sauce
• Bang bang sauce is great
• Queso fresca
• Slightly warmed cream cheese

How to reheat leftovers

You could throw them back into your machine for about 2 minutes. If you don’t want the outside to get too crispy then just use your microwave for about 30 seconds instead.

Honestly, it is easier and best if you just make what you want then and there. Then save the filling and tortillas separate. Refrigerate and reassemble the next day for another batch. They’ll turn out better that way. Have a different mixture you love inside yours that you think we might love too? Leave us a message below so we can try your combo!

Other meat filled rolls you’ll love

Whether you stuff these with shredded salsa chicken and a bit of salt and pepper or the mix we have below, it’s a quick and easy meal. Love these and looking for what else you should make next? Here are a few suggestions: Our air fryer chimichanga is always a huge hit (larger).

You can make some homemade air fryer egg rolls some night. The inside possibilities are endless. Our air fryer empanadas are fun hand pies essentially. You can stuff them with this same mixture if you wanted.