Jalapeno Hasselback Chicken in the Air Fryer

Hasselback Chicken – not Hasselhoff chicken.  Although, it’s almost as hot as David Hasselhoff during his prime Baywatch days.  The last time I hasselbacked (is that even a word?) something was a potato in my grandmother’s kitchen.  She had passed away, and I had chosen a new path in life which lead me to living in her home until it was sold.  So many memories and so much growth happened in that house for me.  For instance, I learned what it meant to hasselback something.  Ha.

“Hasselbacking is a cooking method in which potatoes or other items are sliced not-quite-all-the-way through in thin, even layers, which can be stuffed or topped with additional flavorings. It’s a way of creating more surface area for flavors and creating additional texture.”  Thanks, Google!

The first adventure was a potato.  It was the most glorious thing I felt I had ever adventured to make.  The fact I could fan a potato out with small slices almost all the way through and stuff it completely full of cheese and bacon or butter and garlic.  I.  Was.  In.  Heaven.  This time though, it was double heaven with doing the chicken the same way.  SO GOOD!

The chicken ended up being fairly easy.  I used two rather large chicken breasts and cut the slits almost all the way to the bottom of the breasts.  I’ll admit I sliced through almost too far in a couple places though, but it didn’t seem to affect anything.  I ended up cooking it in the air fryer, as instructed, and it took a little bit longer than the recipe said for cooking time.  It may have been that the chicken hadn’t completely thawed in the middle.  The longer cook time yielded a burnt layer of cream cheese on the tops that I just scraped off at the end.  Super simple fix, because once you top it with extra cheese, no one will ever know.

This recipe is definitely husband approved, and most importantly me approved!  :)  I’ll be making this again very soon.  It also sparked a need for pickled jalapeno slices to be kept in our kitchen.  They really ARE good with everything.  Enjoy!

To see the original recipe click here.  There wasn’t any bacon in the kitchen that night (don’t judge me), so I omitted the bacon from the original recipe.  Since my chicken breasts were so big, and the Philadelphia Cream Cheese is zero carbs, I upped my cream cheese to 4 ounces.