Chimichangas are a Mexican entre that is a tortilla filled with ground beef, chicken, or beans, and deep-fried. Save on extra fat and calories and air fry them instead. Top them with your favorite zero point ingredients such as Greek Yogurt, tomatoes, scallions, lettuce, and fat-free refried beans.
These are the chimichangas I made in my latest meal prep video. With the tortilla that I used one chimichanga is only 3 smart points. It is very filling with some fat free refried beans and you can top off the chimichangas with cheese, Greek yogurt and cilantro or scallions. The tortilla I used was Mission Carb Balance tortillas. They are 2 smart points for 1 tortilla. The chicken mixture is 1 point.
I have been craving chimichangas for the last couple of days. The Taco Shop down the road from me makes some pretty awesome chimichangas but those are unhealthy and deep fried. I wondered what it would be like making those in my air fryer and I loved the way they came out! The tortilla gets super crispy after spraying it with some cooking spray. I just took about 1/2 a cup of the chicken and placed it in the middle of the tortilla then rolled it up and If you don’t have an air fryer try baking these in the oven for 20 minutes at 400 degrees.
You can serve these with some Fat Free refried beans for 0 smart points and use greek yogurt instead of sour cream!
How to make Air Fryer Chimichangas
- Preheat air fryer to 400ºF. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray.
- Add onions and green chilies to pan and saute for 2 minutes. When the onions are soft add flour, salt, cumin, garlic powder, enchilada sauce, and continue stirring. When the sauce has thickened add in precooked shredded chicken. If the sauce looks too thick add in some chicken stock to thin it out. (2 tablespoons to start)
- Take off heat and begin preparing the chimichangas for cooking them in the air fryer.
- Assemble chimichangas by spooning about 1/2 cup of chicken mixture onto each tortilla; fold in sides and roll up.
- Spray the outside of each filled tortilla with cooking spray; place 4 in the basket of air fryer, seam side down. Set to 400°F; cook 4 minutes. Turn; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly browned and heated through. Repeat with remaining 4 filled tortillas.
Tips for Air Fryer Chimichangas
You can sub green enchilada sauce if you’d like.
I recently updated this recipe on May 30th, 2017. The recipe made way too much chicken (32 servings) and I cut it back down to 8 servings by using only 4 cups of cooked chicken breast.
Nutrition info below is for 8 servings.
Air fryer temperature settings vary according to brand and model. If your air fryer does not have the exact temperature setting called for in the recipe, consult your manual for suggested temperature settings. 400 is the highest temperature that my air fryer will go. If your air fryer doesn’t go to 400 degrees use the highest setting.
Air Fryer Chimichangas
- Prep Time: 17 min
- Cook Time: 17 min
- Total Time: 34 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
For the Chicken:
- 4 cups of deli-style cooked shredded rotisserie chicken or shredded chicken breast
- 1 large onion, finely chopped
- 1 4oz. can chopped green chilies
- 4 tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1 16 oz can of red enchilada sauce.
- ¼ tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp ground cumin
8 (6 in) flour tortillas
Toppings for Chimichangas (optional)
- Reduced Fat Cheddar Cheese
- Plain Greek Yogurt
- Cilantro or Scallions
Instructions
- Preheat air fryer to 400ºF. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray.
- Add onions and green chilies to pan and saute for 2 minutes. When the onions are soft add flour, salt, cumin, garlic powder, enchilada sauce, and continue stirring. When the sauce has thickened add in precooked shredded chicken. If the sauce looks too thick add in some chicken stock to thin it out. (2 tablespoons to start)
- Take off heat and begin preparing the chimichangas for cooking them in the air fryer.
- Assemble chimichangas by spooning about 1/2 cup of chicken mixture onto each tortilla; fold in sides and roll up.
- Spray the outside of each filled tortilla with cooking spray; place 4 in the basket of air fryer, seam side down. Set to 400°F; cook 4 minutes. Turn; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until lightly browned and heated through. Repeat with remaining 4 filled tortillas.
Notes
myWW points: Blue 3; Green 4; Purple 3
My WW Personal Points: 3 Click here to see in recipe builder (will have to log in)
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Air Fry
- Cuisine: Mexican
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 chimichanga
- Calories: 311
- Sugar: 3
- Sodium: 374
- Fat: 7
- Saturated Fat: 1
- Carbohydrates: 20
- Fiber: 2
- Protein: 43
Keywords: air fryer chicken chimichangas
Jenna says
This is a recipe for air fryer chimichangas. If that’s what you want to do then go for it, you don’t need to question my recipe. Thanks.
Linda says
Why dirty the skillet to cook chicken,etc and then the air fryer? Why not brown shells in skillet, put aside, cook filling, combine, put back in skillet to warm and then eat. Easy peasy
Michael Murphy says
These are delicious and easy too make!
★★★★★
Grace says
I didn’t see the instructions for the air fryer. Can you please send them to me Thank you.
www.primegroupfoods.com says
There is cerdtainly a lot to learn about this subject.
I really like all the points you made.
Jenna says
Yes. You could also just freeze the chicken mixture and take it out when you need it.
Karen says
Can I freeze the chimichangas? Cannot eat 30+ at one time!!!
Jenna says
Sorry, the recipe I used, used the oil and I didn’t update it to the air fryer version. I updated it with the air fryer instructions.
Liz says
I love the idea of using my air fryer to make chimichangas, and your ingredients sound great, but do you have any actual air fryer instructions (time/temp)? Your recipe instructions seem to have the user pan-fry the chimichangas in quite a bit of oil instead of using an air fryer which while it sounds delicious :), seems just as unhealthy as deep frying. Thanks!