This air fryer nachos recipe is the best quick snack to feed your craving! Customize these air fryer cheese nachos to your preference with veggies, chicken or beef!
*This post contains affiliate links — as an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Please see my disclosure for details*.
For more air fryer goodies, try my Air Fryer Naan Pizza, my Air Fryer Sweet Potato Chunks, or my Air Fryer Cinnamon Rolls!
Air Fryer Nachos Recipe
One of the best reasons to love your air fryer is the seemingly endless amount of treats and snacks that are even better in an air fryer! These nachos are just as cheesy, crispy, and satisfying as the ones at your favorite restaurant, and even more customizable!
Best of all, they come together so quickly! In just 5 minutes you could be enjoying a plate of cheesy nachos with all your favorite toppings. The perfect simple snack!
Jump to:
Can you heat up nachos in an air fryer?
You sure can! This recipe will show you how to make nachos that are absolutely delicious and so easy! Using your air fryer heats your chips and beans, and melts your cheese so perfectly! You can use this base recipe to add cooked meat or veggies to customize these nachos to your preference! See below for a few ideas for variations!
How to Make Air Fryer Nachos - Ingredients
- tortilla chips - I like to use a thicker variety of tortilla chips, like Calidad, or if you're in the Chicago area, El Milagro are my favorite! But really any store-bought tortilla chips would work! you could even use corn chips like Fritos!
- Monterey Jack cheese - or Chihuahua melting cheese. You can buy shredded cheese or for a better melt, shred it yourself with a cheese grater!
- refried beans - you can use canned refried beans or leftover beans. Or if you prefer, swap out the refried beans for canned black beans.
- pico de gallo - I love the simple shortcut of store-bought pico de gallo in this nachos recipe! If you can't find pico de gallo, feel free to use salsa instead.
- toppings of your choice - I added sliced green onions, fresh avocado, sour cream, black olives, and Mexican hot sauce. You can also make these nachos your own with shredded lettuce, guacamole, pickled red onions, jalapeño slices, fresh cilantro, or any other fresh ingredients you like!
Equipment Needed
Grab your air fryer and you're all set! Most air fryers should work, such as this Ninja air fryer. And the total cook time can vary depending on the model you use. But in general, most widely available air fryer models should work well!
I also like using this cheese grater to grate my Monterey Jack cheese for this recipe! And if you like cheesy recipes, you'll love my Cottage Cheese Alfredo or this queso fundido!
Nachos in Air Fryer Time
As I mentioned, the exact time you'll need to make this recipe can vary depending on the power and output of your air fryer model. But in general, these nachos will be ready in about 5 minutes. And your air fryer nachos temperature should be approximately 370 degrees Fahrenheit. So simple!
How to Assemble Your Nachos
To assemble, start by placing your tortilla chips in the basket of your air fryer (if your air fryer has a rack, just line it with some foil. Then drop spoonfuls of refried beans on top and sprinkle on your shredded cheese.
It'll all go into the air fryer for just 5 minutes, and then you can add all our favorite toppings! At that point your only issue will be whether you want to share them!
And if you love how easy this recipe is in your air fryer, you've got to try my recipe for Frozen Sweet Potato Fries in Air Fryer, or this amazing Air Fryer Sweet and Sour Chicken!
And if you're making steak to go with these air fryer nachos, try this carne asada marinade! I would also love to try them with sourdough discard tortillas!
Tips and F.A.Q.
You can change these up with seasoned ground beef to make beef nachos in air fryer, or you can make air fryer chicken nachos, air fryer chili nachos, or add fajita veggies!
And these air fryer nachos would be a perfect appetizer for some shredded beef enchiladas!
Yes you can! I would double check your air fryer model to make sure, but generally it's fine. I wouldn't say it's necessary for these air fryer nachos, but if you do use foil you may need to add to the cook time a bit.
Using an air fryer gives these nachos a nice crispy texture, and to make doubly sure that they stay crispy, you can add an additional layer of cheese under the refried beans to act as a barrier!
I store my nachos in the fridge in a heavy-duty food storage or freezer bag to keep the chips from getting too stale. Then you can reheat them so easily!
You can reheat these nachos in your air fryer at 250 degrees Fahrenheit or until the cheese is melted and the chips are crispy.
If you try this recipe, I would love it if you could leave a star review rating and comment below! It’s so wonderful hearing your feedback! And don’t forget to share your creations with me by tagging @chenee_today on Instagram!
More Savory Recipes You'll Love
- Smoked Mac and Cheese with Bacon
- Puff Pastry Pizza
- Havarti Grilled Cheese with Bacon and Caramelized Onion
- Boursin Pasta - Tiktok Viral Recipe
📖 Recipe
Equipment you may need
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup (173 g) tortilla chips - thick cut chips like Calidad
- 4 oz (113 g) Monterey Jack cheese - or Queso Chihuahua
- ⅓ cup (80 g) refried beans
- ⅓ cup (113 g) pico de gallo
Optional Toppings
- sliced green onions
- Sliced avocado or guacamole
- sour cream
- sliced black olives
Instructions
- In air fryer basket, or on a layer of aluminum foil if your air fryer has a rack, place tortilla chips, slightly overlapping.1 ½ cup tortilla chips
- Spoon refried beans evenly over chips and sprinkle shredded cheese on top of beans.⅓ cup refried beans, 4 oz Monterey Jack cheese
- Set air fryer to 370°F and cook for 5 mnutes, or until cheese is melted and beans are heated through.
- Top with pico de gallo and toppings of your choice.⅓ cup pico de gallo, sliced green onions, Sliced avocado or guacamole, sour cream, sliced black olives
Video
Nutrition
Pin this recipe for later!
Last Updated on February 22, 2025 by Chenée Lewis
Mimi says
Amazing, I love this quick snack!
Chenée Lewis says
So glad you liked them! 🙂
Stephanie says
I made these yesterday and they were so good! I love how crispy they were!
Chenée Lewis says
Thanks!! They're a go-to snack for me.
Mindy says
These were the bomb! Everyone gobbled it up when I made it this weekend for a party!
Chenée Lewis says
Fantastic! So glad you liked them!
Katherine says
Such a genius idea to cook up these nachos in an air fryer. I love all the toppings too.
Eni says
First time making nachos in an air fryer! They were perfect. Thanks for the recipe!
Chenée Lewis says
You're very welcome!
Sadia Malik says
Amazing, I have never made nachos in air fryer, thank you for the inspiration.
Chenée Lewis says
I'm so glad you like the recipe!
Kristen Wood says
Yum! This turned out perfectly! Thank you for the lovely recipe. 🙂
Chenée Lewis says
So glad you liked them!
Jess says
i love nachos!
Chenée Lewis says
Me too! These are my favorite!
Anjali says
Such a great idea to make nachos in the air fryer!! These turned out even better than nachos made in the oven or microwave - they were crispy and the cheese was melted perfectly!
Chenée Lewis says
Thank you so much! This is the only way I make nachos now!
Sharon says
Holy cow this was sooooo good! I never thought to make nachos in the good old air fryer. Is there anything it can't do? Thanks for the inspiration!
Chenée Lewis says
So glad you enjoyed them!