Air Fryer Shishito Peppers

5 from 1 vote

These Air Fryer Shishito Peppers are stuffed with bacon, cream cheese, manchego cheese, and cajun seasoning. Blast them in the air fryer for a few minutes to get a beautiful char and a photo-worthy cheese pull with every bite.

Shishito peppers are small and relatively mild. Therefore, you can leave the seeds and ribs inside the peppers because they are relatively mild, although you sometimes get a spicy one!

You can also use this recipe but substitute another pepper. Try out jalapeños if you prefer a bit of spice, although you may want to remove the seeds and ribs then! 😉

Prep Time10

Cook Time5

Total Time15

Course: Air Fryer

Cuisine: American

Keyword: air fryer shishito peppers, blistered peppers, stuffed shishito peppers

Servings: servings

Author: Joshua Boquist

Equipment

Ingredients

1 lb shishito peppers
8 oz cream cheese
1 cup Manchego cheese shredded
1 cup bacon cooked and crumbled
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic powder
½ tsp black pepper
½ tsp salt Kosher

Instructions

Using a paring knife, make a slit down one side of all the shishito peppers and set them to the side.
Add the softened cream cheese, crumbled bacon, shredded manchego cheese, and seasoning in a large mixing bowl. Mix them to combine. Use a stand mixer or hand mixer to make for easy work.
Place about 1 teaspoon of the cheese mixture into each shishito pepper. Once the cheese is in the pepper, pinch the sides to enclose the cheese mixture as best as possible.
Place the shishito peppers in the air fryer, cheese side up. Cook them at 400°F for 5-6 minutes or until the shishito peppers have blistered and become charred.
Serve with a drizzle of honey or a dollop of fruit preserves.

Notes

Shishito peppers are generally mild. However, every once in a while, you may get a particularly spicy one. Since the peppers are so small and mild, I recommend keeping the seeds and ribs inside of the pepper to save on intensive labor.
You can also use this recipe to make stuffed jalapeños. Rather than cutting a slice down the side of the shishito pepper, you can cut the top of the jalapeño pepper off (including the stem). Then, use the handle side of an eating utensil to run around the inside of the pepper to scrape out the seeds and stem before stuffing them with the cheese mixture and cooking. You will need to add another 3-4 minutes of cook time, depending on the size of the peppers.

Nutrition