Air Fryer Pepper Jelly Bacon Wrapped Shrimp

These air fryer pepper jelly bacon wrapped shrimp are a great snack or appetizer recipe that really packs a punch of flavor with very few ingredients… 4 to be exact!

My kids know me well and appreciate my slight obsession with food 😉

Therefore, my birthday and Christmas gifts almost always include new sauces, seasonings, and unique ingredients that I can play with.

One of these gifts from my daughter was a fabulous jar of mango habanero pepper jelly.

And I used it to glaze these shrimp.

However, any spicy pepper jelly from the grocery store will do.

How to make air fryer pepper jelly bacon wrapped shrimp

I quickly realized when recipe testing these that if I wrapped the bacon in the shrimp first, the shrimp were overcooked by the time the bacon was perfectly crisp.

So I decided to cook the bacon for a few minutes in the air fryer first to avoid overcooking the shrimp.

First cut some slices of bacon in half and lay them flat in the air fryer.

These will cook at 400 degrees in the air fryer for four to five minutes.

As the bacon did its thing in the air fryer I peeled and deveined a pound of shrimp.

Then seasoned them with some old Bay, or you could use Cajun seasoning or any seasoning blend of choice.

Once the bacon is halfway cooked let it cool slightly, and put in another batch of bacon if needed.

Then place a piece of shrimp in the center of each piece of partially cooked bacon.

Wrap the bacon around the shrimp and secure in place with a toothpick.

A few of my bacon slices were on the smaller side and did not quite wrap all around the shrimp, but no worries…

Simply wrap the bacon around the top part of the shrimp, secure in place with the toothpick, then place the open or seam side down in the air fryer.

Once the shrimp are all wrapped in cute little bacon packages, sprinkle a little more of your seasoning of choice over top.

Then set the air fryer for 400 degrees for 8 to 9 minutes.

During the last minute or two, melt some of the pepper jelly in the microwave for about 20 to 30 seconds.

This will create a nice, thin sauce like consistency.

Next brush the bacon wrapped shrimp with the pepper jelly and cook another minute or two in the air fryer.

You may be tempted to dig in right away, but I highly recommend waiting until these cool off a bit.

Not only are they too hot to eat, but the bacon needs a minute or two to cool down and get crisp.

Serve the air fryer pepper jelly bacon wrapped shrimp with even more of the warm pepper jelly on the side for dipping!

Whether you’re making these as a snack, appetizer, or heck even dinner…these are a must have for sure.

YUM!

If you like air fryer pepper jelly bacon wrapped shrimp, then you might also like these recipes…

Air Fryer Jalapeno Fries

Air Fryer Crab Cake Stuffed Jalapenos

And Air Fryer Coconut Shrimp

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