Are you wondering how long to cook frozen burritos when using an air fryer? If you are, you're in luck. It's something that I have spent a lot of time on, and, sad to say, I have ruined many of these delicious Mexican snacks on the way to finding out.
Quick answer: When I used my bigger air fryer, I cooked four burritos, and it took 24 minutes (12 minutes each side). Using the smaller ones, I cooked two burritos in 20 minutes.
The good news for you, my readers, is that I am ready to share my findings, so please read on, and you will learn extra tips on cooking frozen burritos in the air fryer.
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Along the way, I did try cooking them in a conventional oven as well as a microwave oven. But I can spare you the pain of trying these methods yourself. Air frying produces a much better result.
When the microwave first came on the market, it was revolutionary. But now I have got an air fryer; I can categorically say it knocks the microwave into touch. Indeed, as far as cooking frozen burritos is concerned, anyway.
Having reaped the benefits of my trials on how long to air fry frozen burritos, you can now share in that success by reading my easy-to-follow-guide.
Stand by for the perfect, frozen burrito cooking class.
Cooking frozen burrito in air fryer
Cooking great tasting burritos from frozen in an air fryer is not rocket science. But let's start at the beginning for the sake of simplicity.
How to do it:
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- First things first - preheat your air fryer. I recommend running it at 180°F for between three and five minutes.
- Put your frozen burritos into the fryer's basket. It's best not to put too many in at a time to avoid stacking them one on top of one another. Okay, a partial overlap won't do any damage. Expose as much of each burrito to the hot air circulating in the fryer as possible.
- With the temperature still set at 180°F, allow the burritos to cook for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. I reheated 4 frozen burritos and cooked 12 minutes on one side, then flipped them and continue reheating for another 12 minutes. If you want to, after 20 minutes, you can test the burritos' internal temperatures using a food thermometer.
- You are looking for a temperature above 100°F. If ready, stop cooking. If not, continue for the full 25 minutes.
The perfect, cooked from frozen burrito should be a little soft on the outside while still looking nicely browned. The filling should be moist, lovely, and warm.
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- To serve up, put your cooked burritos on a plate while they are still nice and hot. Don't worry if there is a little bit of leakage - it's quite normal - especially when cooking anything with cheese.
Burritos tend to get a little bit greasy after a few minutes anyway. I often put a sheet of kitchen towel on the plate and place the burritos on top. You can wipe your fingers as you go - after sucking them, of course!
Beware - Ignore the instructions on the packaging.
Below is a sample of the type of advice that you'll find on frozen burrito packages.
The problem is that this relates to conventional ovens. Air fryer ovens are quite different, and if you follow the instructions using an air fryer, it will be a disaster.
🌯 The majority of frozen food packages, including those of Mexican goodies like burritos and chimichangas, have cooking instructions for both conventional and microwave ovens. Be warned. They should not be applied to air fryers - especially when cooking burritos.
If you do go by package instructions and then use it to determine how long to air fry frozen burritos, it will be a catastrophe. Trust me.
How does an air fryer work?
Although, in theory, air fryers work in a similar way to conventional ovens, they cook in an entirely different way.
Air fryers generate a fiercer heat and cook food faster than conventional ovens. The problem is that if you think you can cook frozen burritos at higher temperatures and get faster results, you're in for a nasty surprise.
If you try cooking them at a higher temperature as you might in a regular oven - say 375°F - this is what will happen:
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- Your tortillas will dry out and end up overly hard and crunchy.
- The stuffing will leak out (mainly where cheese and meats are involved) and will create a real mess.
The importance of preheating
Most modern air fryers have digital controls. You will typically find a designated button for preheating. If not, no worries. You can preheat it manually.
If your model has dial-type controls, set the temperature to 180°F, and the timer to three minutes, or five if there is already a preset available.
All air fryer manufacturers advise you to preheat your fryer to the required cooking temperature before adding the food.
Wanna know why? There are several reasons.
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- The heater element warms up and gets ready to use.
- The surfaces that the food makes contact with inside the fryer will begin to cook the food as soon as it touches them.
- It lessens the cooking time. If you put the food in the fryer at room temperature - how long to air fry frozen burritos? - longer than if you had already preheated your fryer.
By preheating your air fryer, you are good to go—no waiting around fretting about what sort of adjustment to make because your fryer is cold.
Preheating equals good cooking.
Preheating your air fryer makes sense, especially when talking about frozen foods. Remember that you've got to allow time for them to thaw out.
Get your air fryer to the right temperature before you start cooking results in the food cooking consistently. It only takes a fraction of the time to preheat an air fryer, compare to a much larger conventional oven. So, why not do it?
How to preheat the air fryer
We will come to the question of how long to air fry frozen burritos in a moment. First, let's talk about how long you should preheat your fryer to get it up to temperature.
In terms of cooking burritos from frozen, you only need to preheat your fryer for three to five minutes. For other types of frozen foods, which require a higher cooking temperature, you should let it heat up for five minutes.
Depending on which brand and model your air fryer is, preheat it in one of two ways.
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- If it's the type with digital controls or push-buttons, it may have a bespoke preheat button. If it does and the standard setting is 170°F or 180°F with three and five-minute options, use that.
- Alternatively, manually adjust the temperature to 180°F for three minutes or up to five minutes.
- For air fryers with dials, set the temperature to cook for three minutes. When the time is up, you can put the food in and begin to cook.
- The minimum preheat process should take three minutes at 180°F.
Preparing your frozen burritos for cooking
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- Preparing frozen burritos for cooking is quick and easy. You will get better results if you put as many as you can into the basket while ensuring you're not stacking them.
- You can allow them to touch each other as long as there is plenty of space between them to let the hot air circulate.
- The same advice is useful for other foods such as burger patties, hot pockets, etc. It's all about letting the hot air reach all parts of the foods' outer surfaces.
- A useful tip to avoid the burritos from touching each other too much is to lay them at different angles. You can even put them at 90° to each other, Get creative.
- It's not the end of the world if they do touch but minimize it as much as you can and don't lay them on top of each other. Any covered surfaces won't get cooked properly.
- It is particularly important about frozen goodies like burritos and chimichangas because the fillings are frozen, and they need time to thaw and cook.
How long to cook frozen burritos in an air fryer?
Now we come to the heart of the matter. How long to air fry frozen burritos?
I arrived at my perfect cooking time by flipping the burritos after 12 minutes and continue to cook the other side at another 12 minutes. A total of 24 minutes.
I've got two air fryers - a big one and a little one, and I trialed both, so I have the best advice depending on your fryer's capacity. What a thoughtful guy!
When I used my bigger air fryer, I cooked four burritos, and it took 24 minutes. Using the smaller ones, I cooked two burritos in 20 minutes.
As I mentioned earlier, if you are someone who likes to leave nothing to chance, you can check the readiness with a food thermometer. They are cooked to perfection when the core temperature reaches 100°F when they will be:
Nice and warm with a softish outer - not hard or crunchy.
Have a delicious, hot filling.
How do you know when your burrito is overcooked?
When burritos are overcooked - say at a temperature of something like 375°F - the tortilla will be hard and ruinously crunchy, and the filling will have started to leak out. Not suitable to eat!
It's worth being a little patient and cooking them at a lower heat even though they might take a few minutes longer.
Related post
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Full Recipe
How to Cook Frozen Burrito in Air Fryer
Pin RecipeEquipments:
- Air Fryer
Ingredients:
- 4 pcs burrito (frozen)
Instructions:
- First things first – preheat your air fryer. I recommend running it at 180°F for between three and five minutes.
- Put your frozen burritos into the fryer’s basket. It’s best not to put too many in at a time to avoid stacking them one on top of one another. Okay, a partial overlap won’t do any damage. Expose as much of each burrito to the hot air circulating in the fryer as possible.
- With the temperature still set at 180°F, allow the burritos to cook for approximately 20 to 25 minutes. I reheated 4 frozen burritos and cooked 12 minutes on one side, then flipped them and continue reheating for another 12 minutes. If you want to, after 20 minutes, you can test the burritos’ internal temperatures using a food thermometer.
- To serve up, put your cooked burritos on a plate while they are still nice and hot.
Notes:
Another way to cook the burrito ( I tested this too and they came out very good), soft on the outside, and the inside fillings are hot.
- Preheat the air fryer at 350°F.
- Wrap each burrito in foil.
- Arrange the burritos in the air fryer basket.
- Cook them at 350°F for 20 minutes.
- Carefully remove the burritos from the air fryer. They will be very hot.
Nutrition Information:
Please note that all nutrition information are just estimates. Values will vary among brands, so we encourage you to calculate these on your own for most accurate results.
chris says
Cooking them seam side up prevents any drainage from going into your air fryer