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These Air Fryer Jalapeno Poppers are the perfect appetizer for a dinner party, game day or family gatherings. Whip these up in about 20 minutes using simple ingredients like an easy cream cheese, crispy bacon, and my homemade ranch seasoning recipe. Enjoy these at your next party with other delicious appetizers like my air fryer chicken tenders or keto bang bang shrimp!
Why Make These
- Easy Recipe: air fryer bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers come together in about 20 minutes and only require a few minutes of prep. Plus, this recipe easily scales up or down, depending on how many people you’re serving.
- Great Finger Food: Keto Jalapeño Poppers are a great snack! The crispy crunch of the bacon, freshness of the spicy peppers and warmed cream cheese always make them a huge hit for a crowd.
- Save time: air frying takes less time than making bacon wrapped jalapeños in the oven
Ingredients Needed
- Jalapeno Peppers: I look for peppers that are on the larger side and firm. I cut these in half.
- No Sugar-added Bacon: to keep this keto-friendly and low carb, I’m using no sugar added bacon. I first learned about it during Whole30 and prefer it over the regular kind.
- Cream Cheese: I sit this on the counter before cooking since room temperature cream cheese is the easiest to mix!
- Homemade Ranch Seasoning: I’m using my recipe for ranch seasoning. I enjoy it because it’s easy to make and doesn’t contain unnecessary additives. It includes things like garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, and dried chives. I generally make a jar of this and use it for things like ranch dressing and dip, ranch-spiced beef top sirloin, and BLT avocado salad. But, you can swap this for ranch seasoning from your local grocery store.
You can get the full list of ingredient amounts and instructions from the full recipe card at the end of the post.
How to Make Bacon-Wrapped Poppers
- Mix the ranch seasoning and softened cream cheese in a small bowl (photo 1).
- Add a scoop of the filling to the jalapeño pepper halves. Be sure to divide the cream cheese mixture evenly (photo 2).
- Wrap the stuffed jalapeños with the bacon slices (photo 3).
- Add them to the air fryer basket (or oven – see FAQs below) in a single layer so that the hot air can circulate and cook until the bacon is crisped (photo 4).
Top Recipe Tips & FAQs
- Secure the bacon with toothpicks: this helps prevent the bacon from falling away from the popper as it cooks.
- Use thin-cut bacon: to allow the bacon to get crispy without overcooking the rest of the dish
- Cut the bacon in half: thin-cut bacon will stretch around each jalapeno half. While it might seem cool to have more bacon per popper, using a whole slice might result in uneven cooking.
- Work in batches if needed: as with all of my air fryer recipes, depending on the type of air fryer you have, you might need to work in batches. I personally like making these in my oven-style air fryer because I can add the entire batch to the air fryer baking sheet and make them all at once.
Variations:
These Air Fryer Bacon Wrapped Jalapeños are very flexible and can be prepared with different seasonings depending on your preferences. Some other ways to make this:
- Use Taco Seasoning: you can swap this for the ranch seasoning and add 1/4 cup of shredded cheddar cheese to the filling for a taco party.
- Make it spicier: if you or your guests enjoy spicy foods, add the pepper seeds to the filling instead of throwing them away
Yes! To make these in the oven, you can simply preheat the oven to 425 degrees. I cooked mine for 20-25 minutes, or until the bacon is crisp.
Yes, but for best results, I recommend that you pre-cook the bacon in the air fryer for at least 5 minutes. As mentioned above, pre-cooking the bacon will help get crispy without overcooking the rest of the appetizer.
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Bacon-Wrapped Keto Jalapeño Poppers
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Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 oz Cream Cheese, softened
- 1 tbsp Homemade Ranch Seasoning Mix, click for the recipe
- 6 jalapeños, cut in half with seeds and veins removed
- 6 slices Sugar-free Bacon, cut in half
Instructions
- Mix the cream cheese and homemade ranch seasoning mix in a small bowl
- Add the cream cheese mixture to the jalapenos
- Wrap the jalapenos with the bacon halves. Secure the bacon with a toothpick.
- Cook at 400 degrees in the air fryer basket for 10-15 minutes, or until the bacon is crispy enough for you.
Nutrition Details
The nutrition facts come from entering the recipe ingredients into Spoonacular API, a database of food ingredients. They may vary for any recipe based on the exact product used. The keto sweeteners I use have 0g net carbs & are not included because sugar alcohols do not impact most people. This is provided as a courtesy, but you can do your own calculations if you wish!
