If you’re looking for a simple, healthy snack or appetizer to make in your air fryer, you’re in the right place. These air fryer jalapeño poppers are stuffed with a sweet and spicy cream cheese and chorizo blend then wrapped with crispy bacon. Each jalapeño popper has 5 grams of protein with just 2 grams of carbs, 2 grams of fat, and 50 calories. So get your appetite ready!
Ingredients for Air Fryer Jalapeño Poppers
You’ll only need 5 ingredients for these poppers.
- jalapeño peppers
- fat free or reduced fat cream cheese
- center cut bacon
- Mexican-style ground chorizo
- honey
Jalapeño Peppers
You’ll want shorter jalapeños that are around 3 inches long. That’s the perfect length for full bacon coverage to limit any filling coming out during air frying. It will also ensure you can fit all 10 jalapeño poppers even in a smaller air fryer.
Chorizo, Cream Cheese, and Honey
I used the same lean chorizo I used for my chorizo and potato breakfast quesadillas. I’ve included notes on chorizo substitutions and alternatives in the recipe card at the bottom of the post. You could also omit and use more cream cheese in place of the chorizo.
For the fat free cream cheese, I buy the Raska’s at HEB. If you don’t have access to an HEB, Walmart typically carries fat free cream cheese as well. In the case of these air fryer jalapeño poppers, however, you’re using a small amount and reduced fat cream cheese won’t make a huge difference in the nutrition facts department. I’ve included adjusted macros in the recipe card.
If you have a honey allergy or don’t have any around, you can use another sticky sweetener in its place.
Assembling and Cooking the Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers
In the photo above, you can get a good idea of how much filling should go in each jalapeño. I tested more batches of these healthy jalapeño poppers than I’d like to admit. If you overfill them, the filling will leak out. You want maybe a teaspoon or two of filling in each pepper, depending on its size.
As long as you use shorter peppers, tightly wrap the bacon, and spread each strip to meet the edges of the others, you should be good to go!
I like adding freshly cracked black pepper on top of the jalapeño peppers before air frying. You could add other seasoning options or go without anything at all.
Serving Your Air Fried Jalapeño Poppers
I like serving these chorizo stuffed jalapeño poppers with the simple Greek yogurt ranch dip from my spicy baked chicken tenders and Nashville Hot air fryer chicken nuggets recipes. It’s a blend of 1/2 cup fat free Greek yogurt, 2 tablespoons of milk, and 1 tablespoon of ranch seasoning (like Hidden Valley). If you don’t have ranch seasoning in your pantry, you can use this recipe for healthy yogurt ranch dip.
Other dip options might include this cilantro avocado ranch dressing, my Greek yogurt jalapeño ranch dip, or something similar from your grocery store.
And that should cover it. If you have a question about these air fryer jalapeño poppers I forgot to cover, drop a comment at the bottom of the post. And if you love these poppers, I always appreciate recipe reviews!
Air Fryer Jalapeño Poppers
Ingredients
- 5 Jalapeño Peppers, about 3″ long
- 3 oz Lean Chorizo*
- 2 oz Fat Free Cream Cheese, room temp or softened**
- 10 slices Center Cut Bacon
- 1/2 Tbsp 11g Honey
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper, optional
Instructions
- Cook the chorizo in a skillet before removing from the heat and adding the cream cheese and honey. Stir to fully combine and set aside to briefly cool.
- Cut the jalapeños in half and remove any seeds and membranes with a spoon.
- Fill the pepper halves with the chorizo filling and wrap each with a slice of bacon. Do your best to tightly wrap the bacon and minimize gaps on top of the poppers.
- Spray an air fryer basket with cooking spray before adding the poppers. Cook at 375ºF for 15-20 minutes until the bacon is as crispy as you’d like. (Different air fryer sizes/models may affect cook time so check on your first batch of poppers early to avoid burning the bacon.)
Made these for the Super Bowl using Mason’s chicken chorizo recipe and now my family wants them for every occasion!
I make these every time I have a BBQ night with the fam now. I make a batch of the chicken chorizo first (but with turkey because its always cheaper in my store) and use a portion of it for this. I’ve never tried it with store bought chorizo but truly think the homemade stuff is part of what makes it really special. They’re so delicious that the first time I made them, my husband and I stood over the air fryer and ate them all… ALL of them. In one sitting. I don’t suggest that okay. Don’t do it. Also, I forgot to add the honey once. It was still good but not at all the same. Don’t skip out on that! It doesn’t even alter the macros much so it’s a must. Definitely gotta try these!
These are a game changer. The chorizo is an amazing ingredient that takes these babies to the next level! Great for any game night or party!
Husband and I love jalepeno poppers and air fryer makes them so easy!
Well well, we normally buy H-E-B poppers on sale but I saw this and how easy so I had to. They were awesome!! So fresh, and crispy. Thanks Mason