Vegan Air-Fryer Tortilla Chips gives you an easy recipe for a quick, crunchy, and healthy alternative to regular corn snacks that are oil and gluten-free.

And if you’re looking for a healthy alternative to regular chips and have yet to invest in an air-fryer, wait no more!

An air-fryer cooks foods by rapidly circulating hot air just like a convection oven. The circulating airflow helps create a crisp exterior on many foods without using a drop of oil—even moist food such as tofu crisp up nicely.

In our recipe for a delicious vegan lobster-like sandwich, we use an air-fryer for cooking the tofu with terrific results.

And though an easy recipe for crunchy corn chip snacks is what we’re sharing here, it’s essential to know that the chips are just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to practical uses for an air-fryer. There’s simply no end to all of the foods you can quickly cook to perfection in an air-fryer.

Valuable Tips For Air-Fryer Cooking Success

One of our favorite things about air-fryers is how easy they are to use. Once you get the timing down for the items you like to cook—you’re mostly all set. But like every other small kitchen appliances, there are some tricks to getting the most out of your air-fryer experience.

First, try not to overcrowd the basket of the air-fryer.
Arrange the items you are cooking in a single layer if your goal is crispy food.

For this recipe, in particular, the strips of sliced tortillas can overlap in the basket as long as you allow room for air to flow.

Second, the food that you are cooking in your air-fryer determines the time, so be flexible.

For example, in this gluten-free tortilla chip recipe, the cooking time varies depending on the tortilla’s brand, thickness, and size of the pieces.

Inspiring Variations of this Vegan Air-Fryer Tortilla Chip Recipe

While we make very well create a recipe post sometime in the future for a variation of this salted corn tortilla chip, we’re not there yet. And since we don’t like to hold anything back, here are some ideas of seasonings we think will work nicely with this tortilla chip making recipe:

As much as we enjoy a salted tortilla chip, we can see how adding a simple squeeze of lime juice could taste amazing.

Or a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar on this crunchy corn chip snack could taste amazing—to give them a sweet and crunchy kind of gluten and oil-free churros vibe! 

And douse these gluten-free corn chips in a generous drizzle of a guilt-free dairy-free cheese sauce, and top with a few spicey peppers is another fun way to enjoy these air-fried chips—nachos, anyone?  

Our cheese sauce is one hundred percent dairy-free and made entirely with veggies and nutritious hemp seeds!

And as for the tortillas, as mentioned above, we went with corn tortillas in this recipe to keep the chips gluten-free and super crispy.

Or as an alternative to packaged chips for dipping, these chips taste fantastic with guacamole, traditional oil-free hummus, spicy hummus, baked artichoke dip, hearty no-cook corny bean dip, or creamy feta dip!

Oh, and by the way, our guacamole recipe is spot-on authentic and so easy to make!

Are Air-Fryer Corn Tortilla Chips Gluten-Free?

Most plain corn chips that you make yourself from corn tortillas tend to be gluten-free, though when buying store-bought snacks, do read the ingredients label to be sure.

When you’re following a gluten-free diet, it may feel like you are continually asking or researching to verify that something is gluten-free.

No worries, there’s no shame in reading a package to discern if you’ve found something that’s gluten-free. The only way to avoid reading labels on a gluten-free diet is to skip packaged foods altogether. And that, dear friends, is why we provide even the most simple of recipes, like this.

How Do You Store Homemade Oil-Free Tortilla Chips?

We store our oil-free air-fryer tortilla chips for up to a week or two in an airtight container. We prefer to use glass containers, but as long as you keep the air at bay, your oil-free air-fryer corn chips will stay fresh and retain their crunch for days—quite nicely!

How Long Will These Chips Last?

How long your air-fryer corn chips last is directly related to how quickly you scarf them down. LOL.

Seriously, however, these crunchy guilt-free chips tend to disappear rather quickly.

But on the rare occasions when we’ve had leftovers after using them in one of our recipes, which you will find a bit further on in this post, these chips easily stay crisp and ready to enjoy for at least a week or two.

That lasting length of freshness is pretty wild—given the fact that there are no added preservatives!

Can You Make This Vegan Air-Fryer Tortilla Chip Recipe with Flour Tortillas?

You can use flour tortillas to make this recipe, but unless specifically made using cassava flour or another gluten-free flour, flour tortilla chips will not be gluten-free.

And generally speaking, chips made using flour tortillas won’t likely turn out as crispy as these corn tortilla chips.

That fact aside, since flour tortillas usually contain less water, flour tortillas may take slightly less time to cook.

Yes—it would seem that since flour tortillas contain less water and take less time to cook, they should crisp up more quickly and easily than a corn tortilla. Perhaps it’s the gluten in flour tortillas that cause them to turn out more chewy than crisp.

5 More Recipes to Pair with This Healthy Alternative to Regular Chips

• Green Veggie Sandwich with Cucumber, Sprouts & Avocado
• Jicama Slaw with Fresh Herbs & Arugula
• Buffalo Tortilla Tofu Bowl
• Instant Pot Black Beans
• Cheesy Smashed Chickpea Spread

Thank You For Snacking With Us!

We want you to know that we appreciate the time you take to look up and browse through our plant-based, vegan, oil, and gluten-free recipes.  

When it comes to eating well, every bite is about making a healthier choice.  Thank you very much for including our growing collection of original recipes as a part of your thoughtful journey.

If you are shopping for an air fryer, this is the brand that we have been using for about a year now. And here is a clickable link if you’d like to purchase the model closest to the one we use. Our exact air-fryer is older and no longer available—this one came out more recently so it’s the same, only better!

Happy Eating!