Jalapeno Poppers. Fire In the Hole!

Stuffing something with cheese instantly makes it better. If you wrap it in bacon, UNSTOPPABLE! This instructable will show you how to turn a boring afternoon with some regular old jalapenos into a fiery fiesta!

When my sister Emily and her husband Jason were visiting his family in Texas, they were served whole jalapenos stuffed with cheese, wrapped in bacon and BBQ'd until nice and crispy. They were blown away, but my sister's gringo taste buds were burnin! When they got back to Michigan, they wanted to figure out a way to make the poppers year round, without the BBQ and without so much pop. Here is the recipe they came up with.

- Forkable -

Step 1: Gather Ingredients

This recipe is very simple and doesn't require much-only the four most awesome ingredients ever.

15-20 Jalapenos
1 pound bacon
1 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1 8 oz. box cream cheese

Comments

[hamsammy]

Made these today. I used a spoon to get the seeds out. Worked well and I didn't have to go digging with my finger. They were a huge hit at the party! Thanks and great job!

[john4tvs]

After working with the raw Jalapinos, be sure to wash your hands very well before you touch your eyes or private parts.

[zomfibame]

ohhh, man.... I made these last night. I have a new item in my top 5 foods list. MIGHTY good.

[grandtvl]

I used non-fat cream cheese, mozzarella cheese, added diced onions and green peppers and heated it in a skillet prior to filling the jalapeno pepper halves..placed a very small 1 1 /2 inch piece of bacon on top......heated the grill and placed poppers on a cast iron skillet (fajita style) to cook... ready when jalapeno peppers are cooked through and through....

[ashbegash]

I luv these even though my mouth is on fire each
time I eat one! I can't get enough! =D

[Rowan_Winterhaven]

I have this recipe stashed away but I got it from www.tasteofhome.com mine calls for a mix of brown sugar and chili powder to be mixed in a small bowl then top each popper with a bit of it before baking/grilling and you get a delightful sweet/spicy caramelized crunch when you bite into them.

These are so very good! Thanks for sharing the recipe!

[cblair1]

I grow banana peppers which are the same size but sweet!!! I cannot wait to try this recipe but with my sweet peppers. I also will play with different cheese favors. Lastly I may try Prosciutto instead of bacon on half ! By using different cheeses and Prosciutto I will have a large platter with many flavors for my party! Thank you for a wonderful taste treat!

[im3733]

My wife and I made these....AMAZING!!! We ran out of the cream cheese mixture part way through and finished it off using Santa Fe baking creme from Philadelphia (the cream cheese guys). Both turned out amazing.

For those who like the flavor of jalapenos but not the spice, put these in the fridge and reheat them they still taste amazing, but aren't nearly as spicy. (they keep well for about a week, may last longer, but I ran out before then ;))

[gabe.lopez1]

Do you think it would work with some kind of shrimp/crab meat stuffing.. must buy bigger peppers =). Awesome recipe

[skimkinner]

I used just the cream cheese and placed half of a butterflied shrimp across the top before wrapping the bacon around it. My gas grill (at 400 degrees) worked great (and so do the bigger peppers!).

[Murphys Laws]

Make sure there are no shels or tail pieces. Then just chop up the shrimp/crab before mixing in the cream cz,

[farmette]

A grapefruit spoon with the little serrated pointy end works perfect to scoop out the pepper halves. Definitely no seeds or membrane. They won't be hot if you cook them all the way through. No crispy crunch in the peppers. Bake for at least 30 min at 350. Then you don't need to soak. Then why use the cheddar? The cream cheese is enough but use more than one box.

[Johanna1476]

Isn't this the same recipe that's in Pioneer Woman's cookbook (except she brushes on bbq sauce on the top)?

[WUVIE]

Ooh, Johanna, don't you just love her? I have made several of Bree's recipes, and they have all been wonderful!

[Goodhart]

It looks so good, and I can't have any.....(bacon and cream cheese are the kind of thing that caused me to have a double bypass done). Do you have a lower saturated fat version ?

[Furloy]

turkey bacon?

[Goodhart]

To make it taste like bacon, they add so much salt it could give a rock high blood pressure :-) I don't need mine any higher, thank you :-)

[VenomousKate]

Surely there's an Instructable around about making bacon at home without the nitrates?

Yep, there is: http://www.instructables.com/id/Makin-Bacon/
(Read the instructions about skipping the nitrates. You'll need a smoker but, hey, I bet there's an Instructable for that, too!)

[Goodhart]

Smoker, or liquid smoke carcinogens but then, should I really worry at my age ? :-)

[VenomousKate]

Eh, we all gotta get done in by something. ;-)

[Goodhart]

Hopefully later and not sooner however....

[Furloy]

oh sorry. i think that with so much different food in the world you will find something you love that fits with your diet, good luck finding it.

[Goodhart]

Well, I DO love Jalapenos :-) I suppose a few now and then wouldn't hurt, I just couldn't make it a habit :-)

[Furloy]

why not a habit? what is in them? i am in the proccess of inventing my own hot sauce so any tips. i thinking of using the red fresno peppere for its mild/medium heat and thin skin. but im in love with the flavor of the habenaro so ill see what happens

[Goodhart]

Not the peppers :-) I mean the bacon (or any salted things). The peppers are Healthy

BTW:  No need to apologize. You wouldn't have known.

[Goodhart]

Too much vinegar will dampen the heat (capsicum is a base, and vinegar is an acid). I normally just pick up some Dave's Insanity Sauce and that lasts me about a year.....you only need a drop or two to get a real FLAME on condition :-)

[recon2819]

i use low fat cream cheese and i leave off the bacon.. i also mix low fat cheddar cheese, garlic and seasoned salt. It is awesome.

[Goodhart]

Actually, since I am on Alli, the fat in the bacon isn't too bad, now that I think about it, but the salt content is way too high (and I don't particularly like the Nitrate content either).

Lately, it has been hard to find truly low fat cheese at he grocers' anymore. Cabot put out a nice set of reduced fat Cheddar and such, but the stores don't carry them consistently.

[Phoghat]

There are low fat cream cheeses and I haven't tried it yet but there are such things as turkey bacon

[Goodhart]

low fat cheeses don't taste that good to me, and turkey bacon is LOADED with salt. I gotta watch the sodium content too :-)

[nighthawk99]

use non fat cream cheese\fat free cheddar and bacon flavoring and bake or use warmer on your grill.
it can be done very tasty and almost fat free.

[Goodhart]

my heart doc would rather I eliminate ALL cheese.....yeah, like THAT is ever going to happen.

[walkie74]

Hey, how about using turkey bacon? You wouldn't be able to cook them as long, but the whole point is to bake them till the bacon is done anyway. And maybe for the cream cheese, you could use MUCH smaller amounts. I'd recommend lowfat, but it doesn't really melt very well. I suppose you could try it. I'm a diabetic with high cholesterol. Believe me, I understand. :)

[Goodhart]

They cure it much the same way, so the sodium content is pretty high, and believe it or not, so is the fat content (I have seen lean beef lower in fat and cholesterol content then some turkey).

Yeah, the cream cheese is a bit of a problem too (any cheese is really). Low fat cheeses don't melt and the other I am not to have any of.

[KittyF]

maybe try some sour cream mixed with the fat free cream cheese. as long as the "cream cheese" has the flavors mixed in, it really doesn't need to melt since I've eaten the breaded ones nearly cold from the deli and the cream cheese wasn't melted at that point either. just cook the pepper through and it's all golden. if the cream cheese was melted when you bit it you'd burn the skin off the roof of your mouth and tongue.

My sister made something similar with cream cheese with cooked sausage broken up and mixed into the cream cheese. yummy.

[Goodhart]

Oh it isn't the cream cheese that I need to melt...I meant regular "low fat" cheeses.....and the VEGAN cheeses could gag a maggot.

Many cream cheeses are still off my "list" of can haves, since my heart surgery though...even the lo-phat ones ;-)

[KittyF]

Oh, yes. that's a problem. you know there's a fat free "cream cheese" out there. I used to use it before I started atkins. they're not bad, but more... gelled I guess. Same with sour cream. fat free is available and that you can't tell the difference I think except for texture is just a bit different. This is an interesting problem. Could you perhaps use just a tablespoon full of the Sharpest Cheddar available for the flavor with the fat free cream cheese? if even that is to much then go with the cream cheese and spice it up with something that it can enhance, like the crab suggestion perhaps with some Crab boil to flavor the cream cheese?
Or, How about Mrs. Dashes onion and herb perhaps, or what about Fiesta lime? that stuff is phenomenal. I think it might make a great flavoring for this purpose, but I'm not sure how the lime would go with cream cheese. it has a great sorta mexican flavor but no heat... I eat it on eggs, and love it. and lime makes a great cheese cake.... it might work. Well, it's going on midnight. that's all I have in this brain dump. FWIW, kitty

[Goodhart]

I have been using "No Salt" as a sub....but if it comes in contact with moisture (best in oils) it tastes awful, first salty then blech

[KittyF]

Well I was mentioning Mrs. Dashes as a flavor for the fat free cream cheese. a Salty flavor would help but wouldn't be essential I don't think. FWIW

[Goodhart]

Oh no, I understand....I use various varieties of Mrs.Dash myself at times.

Occasionally, if I NEED a salted flavor, and I haven't had (too much) salt that day, I will use Lite Salt, with combines 50 % sodium salt with 50% potassium salt, so it tastes much better, and is only half the sodium content.