Jalapeño Popper Bake from 'Every Day Easy Air Fryer'

JALAPENO POPPER BAKE is excerpted from EVERY DAY EASY AIR FRYER © 2018 by Urvashi Pitre. Photography © 2018 by Ghazalle Badiozamani. Reproduced by permission of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. All rights reserved. — You can never have too much bacon, nor too much cheese. If your household is like any of the others that have enjoyed this dip, I can tell you that it will disappear in minutes. It’s quite substantial, so it needs a good, thick chip or melba toast for scooping—pass on the thin potato chips for this one. Or, you know, a spoon dipped straight into the pan works, too. I’m not judging!

• Ready In: 30 mins
• Serves: 8-10

Ingredients

•  vegetable oil, for greasing
• 1 1⁄2 lbs chicken thighs (boneless, skinless, diced)
• 1⁄2 cup  diced bell pepper
• 1 -4  jalapeno, minced
• 2  ounces cream cheese, softened
• 1  cup  shredded  Mexican blend cheese
• 1  teaspoon chili powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon  garlic salt
• 1⁄2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 4  slices bacon
• 1⁄4 cup  chopped scallion, for garnish
•  celery rib, for serving
•  celery rib, baby carrots, bell pepper strips, broccoli florets, cauliflower florets, for serving
•  tortilla chips, for serving

Directions

1. 1. Grease a 7 1/2-inch barrel cake pan (see Note) with oil.
2. 2. In a large bowl, stir together the chicken, bell pepper, jalapeños, cream cheese, Mexican cheese blend, chili powder, garlic salt, and salt until thoroughly combined. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan.
3. 3. Cut each bacon slice into three or four pieces. Arrange the bacon in a circle on top of the chicken mixture. Place the pan in the air-fryer basket. Set the air fryer to 400°F for 15 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the chicken is cooked through.
4. 4. Sprinkle with the scallions and serve with vegetables and/or tortilla chips for dipping.
5. NOTE: This recipe was written to be made in an extra-deep 7 1/2-inch round pan called a barrel pan or cake barrel, which is sold as an accessory for air fryers with a capacity of 5.3 quarts or more. If your fryer is smaller than that, use a 6-inch round cake pan with 4-inch sides and increase the cooking time by 5 to 8 minutes.