Cheddar Bacon Jalapeño Poppers

The ultimate finger food, these Jalapeño Poppers are filled with creamy cheese, crisp bacon, and green onions then topped with bread crumbs and baked until melting and golden. Serve with Homemade Blue Cheese Dressing for the perfect game day indulgence.

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Sometimes we indulge, and sometimes we INDULGE! And feel so good about it.

These here Jalapeño Poppers fall in that second category and are so dang delicious, they are absolutely worth every bite.

I know there are a lot of you who love a game day weekend full of football and snacks. I’m not going to pretend I do that, but I do love the Olympics and even though I watch zero football all year, I will never miss a Super Bowl.

What I’m trying to say, is even I will be parked in front of the TV pretty soon watching sports and I’m excited to have a plate of the very best Jalapeño Poppers I’ve ever had in my whole life to snack on. Let’s take a closer look.

What are Jalapeño Poppers?

This popular bar food is a fairly recent addition to the American culinary repertoire. These cheese-filled, battered and deep-fried delicacies were created by Anchor Foods in the early 90’s and sold along with their famous mozzarella sticks to sports bars and restaurants across the US.

They were small versions of chiles rellenos which you could just pop in your mouth, hence the name.

They can be spicy as heck but that depends on the jalapeño, you just never know how spicy it will be until you bite into it, which makes eating them kind of a yummy game of Russian Roulette.

ingredients

• Bacon. Thick-cut applewood smoked bacon is my favorite.
• Cream Cheese
• Aged, extra sharp Cheddar Cheese. The cheddar should be pretty tangy to stand up to the jalapeño and bacon. Look for an aged white cheddar or smoked cheddar if you can find it.
• Garlic. I like to use a minced clove of fresh garlic, but you could also substitute 1/2 teaspoon garlic salt.
• Scallion
• Italian Parsley, just the leaves, chopped. You could use different fresh herbs here. Cilantro, thyme, or oregano would also be good.
• Bread crumbs
• Kosher Salt

How To Make Jalapeño Poppers

When bacon and Jalapeño Poppers combine they are usually bacon wrapped. We are making these much easier by crisping the bacon first, then adding it to the filling. Check it out:

1. Pre cook the bacon and remove it to a paper towel-lined plate. Let it cool. Save the bacon grease in the pan.
2. While you have the bacon cooking, combine the cheese mixture. In a large bowl combine cream cheese, garlic, cheddar cheese, scallion, and parsley.
3. Cut the jalapeño peppers in half and begin removing the seeds with a small spoon. Make sure you are wearing gloves if you are sensitive to the heat or don’t handle spicy chiles very often.
4. Once the bacon is cool, chop it and mix it into the cream cheese filling. Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
5. Stuff a couple tablespoons of filling in each jalapeño half. How much you fill it with will depend on how big the jalapeños are. You want them completely full with the filling even to the top of each pepper.
6. Place the pan with the bacon grease back over medium heat. Once hot, add bread crumbs and stir into the bacon grease, cooking until they become golden.
7. Grease a 7×11 baking dish and place the jalapeño poppers in the dish. Spoon bread crumbs over each popper and bake in a 350°F oven until the jalapeños are softened, but not falling apart and the filling is bubbly, about 40 minutes.
8. You can let these cool up to 20 minutes before serving, they will stay warm. Serve with Blue Cheese Dressing.

Tips

The easiest way to clean out the seeds of the jalapeños is to cut them in half vertically and use a small spoon (like a grapefruit spoon if you have one) and scoop out the seeds being careful not to tear the jalapeño.

I highly recommend using gloves when removing the seeds from the jalapeños. If you don’t, you may experience some serious burning sensations. If you don’t have plastic gloves, make sure you wash your hands really well with lots of soap before doing anything else.

The cream cheese must be at room temperature before beginning. If you forgot, you can mix the filling ingredients together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment on low until everything is combined.

Shred your own cheese instead of buying pre-shedded cheddar. This will give you a lot more variety when it comes to which cheese you’ll use and the pre-shredded type usually has anti-caking agents which give it a funny texture and flavor.

Classic dry breadcrumbs work great or use Panko breadcrumbs for a flakier topping.

More Game Day Recipes To Try!

• Smoky Chipotle Guacamole Recipe
• Chicharrones de Harina {Deep Fried Mexican Wheat Chips}
• Tomatillo Red Chili Salsa
• Shredded Beef for Tacos
• Spicy Vegan Enchiladas
• Slow Cooker Borracho Beans
• Roasted Green Hatch Chile Salsa

Did someone say spicy cheese and bacon?

Yep, that was me. These hands down, must be made immediately, they are divine! When you do, snap me a pic and tag me @holajalapeno and #holajalapeno on Instagram so I can see or leave me a comment below (don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating) ! Also, make sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter, lots of good stuff there too!

Resources

Jalapeño Poppers Are The Best Snack. Period. from Eater

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