Air Fryer BBQ Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno Poppers are a mouthful to say – and a mouthful of flavor. They’re stuffed with a garlic cream cheese filling, wrapped in bacon, and bathed in a brown sugar BBQ sauce. What’s not to love?
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Key to Success #1 – Slice Jalapenos and Remove Seeds
For these Jalapeno Poppers, try to get jalapenos that are about 3-inches in size.
Finding jalapenos that are similar in size is important because the jalapenos will be all cook in about the same amount of time.
After you wash your jalapenos, you’ll want to cut off the stem end then slice them lengthwise.
You can use a small paring knife to remove the veins and all the seeds.
If you want some of the heat from the jalapenos, you can leave a few of the seeds inside.
The more seeds, the more heat. Choose your own adventure!
For my family, I removed all the seeds.
Key to Success #2 – Mix Up the Cream Cheese Filling
The cream cheese filling for these Air Fryer Jalapeno Poppers is made with cream cheese, fiesta blend cheese, and some garlic powder.
If you pop the cream cheese into the microwave for about 30 seconds, it’ll soften up enough so that it’ll be much easier to mix the other cheese into it.
The garlic powder is optional, but we really like it and think it adds a nice punch of flavor.
Key to Success #3 – Wrap It In Bacon
I recommend Wright Brand bacon in this recipe, which is a thick-cut bacon.
By using an Air Fryer, the bacon will get crispy even with it being thick-cut.
If you wrap your Jalapeno Poppers well enough, you can turn them over halfway through cooking without losing your cream cheese filling.
I used a pair of silicone-tipped tongs and it worked out great.
Be sure to use toothpicks to secure your bacon to the Jalapeno Poppers.
I used two toothpicks through the sides to secure each end of the bacon.
Key to Success #4 – Cover It in Brown Sugar BBQ Sauce
You don’t have to add the brown sugar to the BBQ sauce, but it sure adds a nice touch of sweetness to these Air Fryer BBQ Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno Poppers.
I chose to dip my Bacon-wrapped Jalapenos into the BBQ sauce, but you can use a pastry brush to gently brush it on if you like to be neat.
The BBQ’d Jalapenos go directly into the basket of the Air Fryer at 400 degrees F for about 20 minutes.
If you can manage to flip your Jalapeno Poppers halfway through cooking, this is preferred.
But if not, the hot air will still circulate around them well enough to crisp up the bacon.
Save this recipe to your favorite Air Fryer board or your tasty appetizer board!
Air Fryer BBQ Bacon-wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
Ingredients
- 8 jalapenos
- 8 oz cream cheese
- 1 cup fiesta blend cheese
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 16 slices Wright Brand bacon
- 1 cup Head Country BBQ Sauce
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
Instructions
- Preheat Air Fryer to 400 degrees F.
- Slice jalapenos in half lengthwise and remove seeds and veins.
- In small bowl, combine cream cheese, fiesta blend cheese, and garlic powder. Stir until smooth.
- Spread cream cheese mixture into body of each jalapeno half, Starting with stem end, wrap bacon around stuffed jalapeno, overlapping slightly. Secure with 1-2 toothpicks.
- In another small bowl, combine BBQ sauce and brown sugar. Dip bacon-wrapped jalapenos into BBQ mixture OR use a pastry brush to apply BBQ mixture.
- Place jalapenos in single layer in Air Fryer. Cook 16-20 minutes until bacon is crispy.