Stuffed Jalapeno peppers are a delicious appetizer from Mexican-American cuisine. Spicy Jalapeno peppers stuffed with cream cheese and bacon bits give the perfect combination of the spicy explosion of taste in your mouth!
INGREDIENTS
- 8 Jalapeno peppers, medium size
- 7 slices of bacon
- 8 oz. cream cheese, room temperature
- 1 cup shredded cheese of choice ( I used Mexican blend)
INSTRUCTIONS
Cook bacon in your frying pan as you normally do. You can also cook bacon in the air fryer, at 390F degrees for 10 minutes. Remove the bacon and once cooled, crumble it into bite-size pieces.
In a separate bowl mix together cream cheese, shredded cheese, and bacon bits.
Wash jalapeno peppers
Slice the jalapenos in half lengthwise
Scrape the seeds and white ribs off with a metal spoon.
Stuff the cheese mixture into each jalapeno
Place stuffed jalapenos stuffed side up in the air fryer basket.
Set the air fryer to 370 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until the jalapeno skin is crusty, cheese is caramelized.
NOTES
- I recommend handling peppers with gloves or else your hands and fingers may feel a burning sensation. They also call it “Jalapeno Hands”.
- You can play with stuffing as you like. I also suggest adding crumbled sausage instead of bacon, if you like. Delicious! I tried many varieties of stuffing. I once added some crushed pecans (or walnuts) with dried cranberries. This adds crunch and a bit of sweet flavor to spicy and savory Jalapeno poppers. Triple flavor explosion in your mouth!
- The prepared Jalapeno peppers are not as spicy as you think they could be. In my opinion, they are mildly spicy. On a scale from 1 to 10, I would describe the heat level as 4.
