Easy Air Fryer Chicken Tacos (Pollo Asado)
Love grilled chicken? These Air Fryer Chicken Tacos are made with a homemade Mexican asado marinade that’s so flavorful and delicious, and cooked in the air fryer in just 15 minutes. It’s the perfect dish for Taco Tuesday or any busy weeknight that the whole family will love.
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Serve these Air Fryer Chicken Tacos up with your favorite taco toppings like fresh cilantro, chopped onions, tomatoes, avocado chunks, shredded cheese, and lime wedges. Add Mexican rice and refried beans for a complete meal.Â
What is Pollo Asado?
‘Pollo asado’ literally translates to ‘grilled chicken’ in Spanish. It’s chicken marinated in Mexican spices and citrus juice that makes tender, juicy chicken that’s packed with flavor. The pollo asado seasoning typically includes salt, garlic, cumin, onion powder, and pepper. Usually either achiote paste or chipotle peppers are added for a spicy, smokey flavor. It can be spicy with achiote or chipotle peppers, which you can either omit or replace with smoked paprika.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Delicious marinade: The combination of Mexican spices plus citrus juices makes the flavor of this recipe. It can be customized to suite your taste and spice level, but you’ll find it packs a lot of flavor in every bite.
- Save time in the air fryer: Cooking the chicken in the air fryer save a lot of time. You don’t have to wait for the oven to pre-heat beforehand, and get dinner on the table so much faster. It also gives the chicken a crispy texture on the edges. It’s one of the reasons why I love using air frying. In addition, you it’s more hands-off because you don’t need to watch it cook over a stove. You can prep side dishes or do other meal prep while it’s cooking.
- Minimal prep work: All you need to do is mix the ingredients together, let the chicken marinate for at least 30 minutes, and then cook it in the air fryer.
- Easy to meal plan: Make a double batch of this recipe and use the chicken to meal prep lunches for the week. I love to pair it with Mexican rice or regular rice and add toppings like cheese, tomatoes, and onions and reheat the Mexican chicken bowls for lunch.
About the Ingredients
This Air Fryer Chicken Tacos recipe is pretty each to make. You just need a few ingredients to make the marinate for the chicken, and while it’s cooking in the air  fryer you can prep the taco toppings.Â
- Chicken thighs: Opt for boneless skinless chicken thighs for the juiciest, most tender bites of chicken.
- Cooking oil: Use a neutral oil like olive oil or avocado oil for this recipe.
- Citrus juice: Use for freshly squeezed orange juice and lime juice to mellow out the smokiness of the spices, and complement the flavors.
- Seasoning: Use a combination of salt, minced garlic, oregano, cumin, black pepper, white pepper, smoked paprika, and onion powder.
- Tortillas: Use corn tortillas warmed up over the stove to make them pliable for soft tacos.
- Taco toppings: Use your favorite toppings like chopped onions, fresh cilantro, tomatoes, avocados, and your favorite cheese.
Step by Step Directions
You could marinate the chicken overnight, and then cook the next day for an even faster prep time.
- In a large mixing bowl, add chicken thighs and marinade ingredients. Mix well and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Ideally, it should marinate for 4 hours or even overnight, but if you’re in a pinch 30 minutes will work too.
- Remove chicken from the fridge, and place in an oven-safe pan or dish that will fit in the air fryer basket. Cook at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes.
- While the chicken cooks, prep the taco toppings. Cut tomatoes, onions, avocados, lettuce, and lime wedges. Shred the cheese.
- When the chicken is done, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature is 165 degrees F. Remove chicken, and shred using two forks to pull the chicken apart.
Building the Tacos
- Warm tortillas over the stove.
- Optional: Spread sour cream across the center of the tortilla.
- Add 2-3 oz of shredded chicken to the tortilla.
- Top the chicken with the lettuce, then onion and tomatoes, and then finally finish with the shredded cheese.
- Serve with lime wedges and your favorite salsa or hot sauce.
Substitutions and Variations
- Chicken: Use boneless skinless chicken breast or chicken tenders instead if you prefer white meat.
- Seasoning: Adjust the seasoning to your taste. Add 1/2 to 1 tsp of garlic powder if you like. Smoked or regular paprika gives this chicken a reddish hue without adding much spice. Add 1-2 tsp achiote powder or 1-2 tbsp chipotle peppers for an extra kick if you like spicy food. I typically omit achiote and chipotle as my kids don’t eat spicy foods and use white pepper for a bit of smokiness, and top with spicy salsa at the end. Definitely keep the cumin powder, dried oregano, onion powder, salt, and pepper as the base seasoning or substitute your favorite or homemade taco seasoning. You could also add 1 tsp of Adobo seasoning, 1 tsp of chili powder, or 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper for added spice.
- Citrus juice: You could use lemon instead of lime juice, and opt for pineapple juice instead of orange juice but you may want to reduce the amount as it’s much sweeter.
- Tortillas: Use soft flour tortillas, gluten-free flour tortillas, or taco shells instead of soft corn tortillas. You could even forgo the tortillas, and make a rice bowl instead. Add the air fryer pollo asado and your favorite taco toppings. For a low carb option, use lettuce cups or cauliflower rice instead of tortillas.
- Toppings: Swap the suggested toppings with cabbage, fresh cilantro, red onions, pico de gallo, cotija cheese, queso fresco, or your favorite hot sauce or salsa.
Serving Ideas
Serve these easy air fryer tacos with:
- Instant Pot Refried Beans
- Gluten-Free Flour Tortillas
- Cauliflower Rice
- Mexican Rice
- Tortilla chips and fresh salsa
Have a fun taco night and serve up these Air Fryer Chicken Tacos with pork carnitas and salsa verde beef along with a taco toppings bar so guests can build their own tacos.Â
Storage
Store any leftover chicken in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. To reheat, place the chicken in an air fryer for 3-4 minutes to heat up.
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Air Fryer Chicken Tacos (Pollo Asado)
Equipment
- 1 Large mixing bowl
- 1 hand juicer
- 1 oven-safe dish
- 1 Air Fryer
- 1 cheese shredder
- 1 chef's knife
Ingredients
Chicken Marinade
- 1/4 cup orange juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tbsp lime juice freshly squeezed
- 2 tbsp avocado oil
- 2 tbsp minced garlic
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
Tacos
- 6 corn tortillas
- 4 oz lettuce leaves
- 1/3 cup sour cream
- 6 oz cheese shredded
- 1 tomato diced
- 1/2 onion
- 6 lime wedges
Instructions
Cooking the chicken
- In a large mixing bowl, add chicken thighs and marinade ingredients. Mix well and let marinate in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Ideally, it should marinate for 4 hours or even overnight, but if you’re in a pinch 30 minutes will work too.
- Remove chicken from the fridge, and place in an oven-safe pan or dish that will fit in the air fryer basket. Cook at 400 degrees F for 15 minutes.
- While the chicken cooks, prep the taco toppings. Cut tomatoes, onions, avocados, lettuce, and lime wedges. Shred the cheese.
- When the chicken is done, use a meat thermometer to check the internal temperature is 165 degrees F. Remove chicken, and shred using two forks to pull the chicken apart.
Building the tacos
- Warm tortillas over the stove.
- Optional: Spread sour cream across the center of the tortilla.
- Add 2-3 oz of shredded chicken to the tortilla.
- Top the chicken with the lettuce, then onion and tomatoes, and then finally finish with the shredded cheese.
- Serve with lime wedges and your favorite salsa or hot sauce.
