Bacon & Cheese Turnover air fryer recipe

Follow my bacon and cheese turnover recipe exactly to air fry what will be a pastry treat you will want to try over again.

They're simple and quick to make with the air fryer making very easy work of it.

Make life easy by using store-bought raw puff pastry sheets, which should render four bacon and cheese turnovers. Of which, you may need to air fry in batches like me, if there's lack space in your air fryer basket.

You must cook your bacon prior to reheating again in the air fryer, to cook in your turnover, to avoid soggy bacon and a wet pastry. I used back bacon on this occasion with streaky bacon an option - although I used unsmoked bacon as smoked I find is far too strong for my liking.

No need to modify the pastry sheet because once the pastry is cut into four quarters, these four squares should produce a perfect 17cm long, and 7cm wide bacon turnover.

In addition, the pastry sheet thickness is on point also, so no need to roll out more.

Bacon turnovers with melted cheese are essentially air fried for 12 minutes on the parchment paper they were originally rolled up in. Do this so the raw turnovers can be safely added to the air fryer, and then removed with the now burnt parchment.

About the ingredients

With only three ingredients needed to make a classic bacon and cheese turnover in your air fryer, you'll have it done from start to finish in under 20 minutes. Let's take a look at what I used to make this very easy puff pasty recipe.

Ready Rolled 'Reduced Fat' Puff Pastry

Now don't worry about use of low fat puff pastry for this recipe, this is what I picked up at the time with little concerns about reduced fat. If it is a concern to you, let me tell you the end puff pasty result was very buttery and rich.

Make use of a standard size roll of puff pastry which should measure approximately 16 by 12 inches - with about quarter of an inch thick - you don't need to make any changes to the pastry sheet, like use of flour or roll it out thinner.

Unsmoked Back Bacon

Unsmoked back bacon is important for a bacon turnover as the smoked equivalent can be overpowering in flavour.

Bacon rashers were quite thin but was a perfect fit for wrapping in the puff pastry roll.

Be sure to pre-cook the back bacon because bacon will remain raw if allowed to cook inside the pastry. Air fry all unsmoked bacon rashers prior to rolling out the pastry, so its allowed to cool, and not sweat inside the pastry roll.

Mature Cheddar cheese

When it comes to cooking with Cheddar cheese, mature Cheddar is a must because the strong cheesy flavour won't get lost in the ingredients.

Grated cheese is a must so it can be spread over evenly, while layering the bacon turnovers in thinly cut Cheddar would also be fine to do.

Make sure to have your mature Cheddar cheese grated long before, as you'll feel rushed if doing it while cutting and preparing the pastry.

Not much can be served with a bacon and cheese turnover really, other than a cold dip like ketchup or mayonnaise.

With that, you could serve this bacon turnover with baked beans which will go well with the bacon and cheese - while providing much needed juice to wash the pastry down.

Consider serving a puffy pastry turnover with a small portions of chips and beans, with an option of other potato-based food items.

Personally, I would eat your bacon and cheese turnover as is, with only a little kitchen needed if its a bit dry and over-done.

Serving Suggestions

Not much can be served with a bacon and cheese turnover really, other than a cold dip like ketchup or mayonnaise.

With that, you could serve this bacon turnover with baked beans which will go well with the bacon and cheese - while providing much needed juice to wash the pastry down.

Consider serving a puffy pastry turnover with a small portions of chips and beans, with an option of other potato-based food items.

Personally, I would eat your bacon and cheese turnover as is, with only a little kitchen needed if its a bit dry and over-done.

Recipe PROS & CONS

Surely one can expect downsides to cooking a bacon and cheese turnover in an air fryer; perhaps on the other hand, there's more positives to negatives with this way of cooking.

PROS:

What you can expect when dealing with cooking with pastry especially in an air fryer, is this method of cooking will ensure pastry is cooked to your liking.

Air fry your bacon and cheese turnovers at a time and temperature as suggested on the back of your roll of puff pastry packing, reducing the time a little by a couple of minutes.

Continue to open/close your air fryer basket near to time too ensure you don't burn the pastry, which is a lot harder to do when dealing with your big oven.

CONS:

One big negative to air frying a bacon and cheese turnover, is that space is likely to be limited to air frying 2-3 bacon turnovers at a time. Not a problem mind, because this will allow you to air fry as many batches as it takes to air fry all turnovers.

Air frying inside such a confined space can also make it hard on you to pull the bacon turnovers out when done, which can lead to burns.

With that said, always air fry bacon turnovers on the parchment paper the store-bought pastry was rolled in, so raw or cooked turnovers can be easily handled.

Really there is few downsides to air frying pastry food items in an air fryer, as long as you air fry on top of parchment paper; to prevent sticking of the pastry and to make it easy on you to pull the cooked bacon turnovers out of the basket.

In Pictures: How to make Bacon and Cheese turnover in air fryer

Not many air fryer pastry recipes call for so many steps, yet this bacon and cheese turnover provides 13 steps to follow.

STEP 1: Preheat air fryer: 2 minutes

With all your ingredients and tools needed to air fry four bacon and cheese turnovers, let's begin by preheating your air fryer for a quick 2 minutes, ready to air fry four unsmoked bacon rashers.

STEP 2: Air fry 4 Bacon Rashers: 5 Minutes

Air fry your unsmoked bacon rashers on top of foil to keep the air fryer clean, whilst saving you some time before moving onto the next step. Back bacon will need 5-6 minutes, or cook bacon to how you like it.

Do not air fry bacon to a crispy/crunchy texture if that is how you like it, because the extra 12 or so minutes needed to cook it all again will make the bacon dry and inedible.

STEP 3: Unravel Puff Pastry Sheet

Store-bought pastry sheets will need to be unravelled to reveal a rectangular pastry sheet. No need to roll the pastry sheet flat because the thickness of this pastry sheet should be just how you need it.

STEP 4: Cut into 4 equal quarters

Try and cut this pastry sheet into four equal size quarters so you end up with 4 small square shaped pastry sheets. It's likely you will be left with access pastry, of which you don't need at this time, so it can be put back in the fridge.

STEP 5: Add half of Grated Cheese in a diagonal line

Divide your grated Cheddar cheese into 8 portions so 4 of those portions can be sprinkled on top of the 4 small square pastry sheets, where the cheese will be put on in a straight line, corner to corner.

STEP 6: Sit Bacon Rasher on top of grated cheese; sprinkle rest of Grated Cheese on top

On top of this layer of grated cheese, you will now layer on one bacon rasher on each grated cheese lines; remaining grated cheese will now be sprinkled on the length of the bacon. Cheese will now melt under and on top of the bacon inside the turnover.

STEP 7: Brush single corner of turnover with beaten egg

Pick one corner of any four small square pastry sheets and brush will a little beat egg. Repeat the process for the remaining 3 small pastry sheets, hopefully in the identical corners, so the next step is made a little easier for you.

STEP 8: Fold over both corners to join together in overlapping style

First fold over the opposite dry corner of the beaten egg one, placing it on top of the bacon; now proceed to fold over the beaten egg corner on top of the other fold, to complete your first bacon and cheese turnover wrap.

STEP 9: Preheat air fryer to 5 minutes again

With the four pastry sheets now looking like the real thing, go ahead and preheat your air fryer for 5 minutes, whilst you make a few more last minute changes to your turnovers.

STEP 10: Brush top of turnovers with beaten egg

With your beaten egg, be sure to generously brush on the egg wash over any visible dry pastry on top, to help create a deep golden crispy pastry crust.

STEP 11: Cut around turnovers with scissors to transfer to air fryer

Don't lift up the raw pastry turnovers by hand and into your air fryer. With the turnovers remaining on the parchment paper they have always sat on; simply use a pair of scissors to cut around them, of which you can position each turnover into the air fryer - whilst handling the access parchment paper only.

STEP 12: Set temp to 390°F/200°C; time to 12 minutes

You probably have room for one or two turnovers in your air fryer at a time, so like me you can do it in batches, which isn't a problem at all. Dial in 390°F/200°C for the temperature and just 12 minutes for the time.

After 6-7 minutes you will want to keep opening your air fryer to keep an eye on how well the pastry is cooked.

STEP 13: Cook until cheese has melted and pastry is golden

Due to limited space inside my air fryer basket I had to cook the bacon turnovers in two batches, two turnovers at a time.

Not a problem though - although I would egg wash your turnovers just before they go in the air fryer -  because washing too early can effect the outcome.

Bacon and cheese turnovers were air fried for approximately 10 minutes only, with a rich golden puff pastry colour and a little crisp on the melted cheese.

PLEASE NOTE: With a few minutes of cooking time remaining, I used it to cook the bacon turnovers' undersides AS THEY APPEARED A LITTLE PALE AND RAW.

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