Do you want to make your own fresh, homemade crispy taco shells? It’s actually easy to do, and it makes taco night fun for everyone! The crispy tacos have the best crunch! You can prepare restaurant-quality tacos in your own kitchen in no time at all! All you need is corn tortillas, vegetable oil, salt, and then whatever taco fixings you prefer, meat, beans, cheese, lettuce, pico de gallo, and cilantro. Make it with me!

Homemade Crispy Taco Shells

I recently wanted to try making crispy tacos at home! After practicing a few times, I figured out how to make a light & crispy taco shell without greasy or too chewy.

The key is that the oil needs to be hot enough to fry them quickly but not so hot that you can’t get a good shape formed. I found that a small frying pan works the best for at-home taco making.

This is because you don’t have to heat a ton of oil, and it’s just more manageable to cook the tortillas.

Tongs are my tool of choice because you can flip quickly & easily, but you also can use them to pry the center open while they are frying.

Crispy Tostadas

You can use this same method of frying corn tortillas to make at-home tostadas.

Instead of holding the tortilla together into a taco shape, place the corn tortillas into the hot oil flat and flip once to crisp up both sides.

Tostadas are great because they work as a base for a fully loaded tostada or even a salad. They are the best!

What You’ll Need To Fry in Oil

Vegetable or Canola Oil

Corn Tortillas

Salt

All the fixings for tacos ie: taco meat, beans, lettuce, pico de gallo, cheese. cilantro, and more!

How to Heat the Oil for Frying

Heat about 1 inch of oil in a small skillet over medium to medium-high heat to 365 degrees F (180 degrees C). It will take about 7-10 minutes to heat up.

Test the oil by putting the tip of a corn tortilla in the oil, if it bubbles a lot, it’s ready.

When the oil is hot, carefully place 1 corn tortilla in the hot oil for a second. Using tongs, take half of the tortilla out of the oil while keeping half in the oil. Bend the tortilla in half while it is cooking to make a taco shape. Let half of the tortilla cook in the oil until crisp and bubbly, about 30 seconds.

Pull the tortilla out of the oil, and place the uncooked half back in the oil to cook while holding the cooked side out. Keep the tortilla open about an inch with the tongs while it continues cooking so that you can fill it later.

Once both sides are cooked and nicely crisp, place the cooked taco shells drain on a plate lined with paper towels to drain the grease. Immediately sprinkle with a bit of sea salt, then place on the prepared baking sheet.

The tacos in my pictures are filled with chorizo, refried beans, homemade pico de gallo, cotija cheese, and shredded lettuce. So yummy!

You can fill your crispy taco shells with any toppings and fillings you prefer!

Air Fried Tostada Shells

After some experimenting this week, I have found that you can actually get similar results to these crispy tostada shells in your air fryer. They won’t have the exact same crispiness, but they will have an additional crunch!

Preheat your air fryer oven to 400°F.

Spray the corn tortillas with a little olive oil spray and place them in the air fryer for 4-5 minutes. The corn tortillas will crisp up in the air fryer, without the addition of oil.

If you wanted to do air fryer taco shells, you would need to purchase a taco shell mold that is oven safe to help them to hold their shape.

Just a fun little variation of this recipe you may or may not want to try!

If you give this recipe a try, let me know! Leave a comment, rate it, or snap a photo and tag it with @TheAlexDaynes on Instagram!  I love to see what you’ve been cooking. It always makes my day!

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