How to make chimichangas in an air fryer
The following is how to make from scratch chimichangas using an air fryer – not store bought pre made chimichanga.
- Preheat air fryer to 400F
- Add prepared chimichanga (see below) to air fryer
- Cook at 400F for nine minutes.
These recipes based on using the COSORI Air Fryer (5.8QT model, affiliate link).
As much as I miss my deep fat fryer from my college days, I don’t miss the mess, smell, fuss or lets be honest – calories. These days I let the air fryer do the work. Chimichangas work surprisingly well out of the fryer. Typically I find it you use most store bought burrito sized tortilla there’s enough fat already in the bread to allow things to crisp – no need to add oil or spray here!
Preparation notes
First of all, you’ll want to find the largest tortilla you can. Those marked burrito size, and hopefully one extra large, grand, deluxe or whatever. It’s really hard to not want to stuff your chimichanga to the max, which in turn makes wrapping and rolling it hard. Trust me, just go big on the tortilla and you’ll give yourself more leeway later on.
Next up, you’ll want all your ingredients pre-cooked. You can get away with maybe using the eight minute cook time to reheat, but don’t rely on it to cook from raw. In the pictures here I used:
- MorningStar Farms Grillers Crumblers veggie meat
- Seasoned SW Black Beans
- Precooked white rice
- Store bought pico de gallo
I cooked up the veggie meat and beans on the stove and the rice I had leftover out of the fridge from the night before. I put the rice into the chimichanga cold and reheated it as the tortilla crisped. Be real careful if you do this, remember check your temps always!
With everything ready to go, lay your tortilla flat and later the items on one by one. I aim for a central strip, leaving room at either side end for wrapping. There are many online instructions for how to roll a burrito, it’s a surprisingly not that easy skill – again though – my failure is probably overstuffing!
Carefully roll up your chimichanga and add it seam side down to the fryer. Cook as notes describe above. The heat should seal the chimichanga shut in my experience. Eight minutes should be enough to get the interior piping hot and the exterior crisp, with a medium finish. If you want a really ‘fried’ tortilla I’d cook a few extra minutes.
This preparation can be a little drier than a deep fat fried chimichanga, so be ready with the extra sauces, guac and fixings on the side!
This website and all recipes are presented as a reference only. Many variables may influence your own cooking times. Read this info on using our recipes.
Please scroll to the bottom of the page if you'd like to comment on this recipe, suggest an improvement or otherwise. You can also join our Facebook Air Frying group to talk to other like minded air frying enthusiasts!
