Jalapeno poppers make us smile. Life gets a whole lot tastier when you can *pop* half a spicy pepper stuffed with lots of creamy cheese that’s wrapped with bacon into your mouth, don’t you agree? It’s bacon, cheese and spice!
Watch Our Recipe Video:
They’re easy, too!
First up – Decide your weapon. OVEN or GRILL?
Baking is simple, just line a whole bunch of stuffed and wrapped jalapeno halves up on a baking sheet and slide them into a hot oven for 20 minutes until the bacon glistens and beckons you to indulge. Grilling is just as easy! Slap them down onto the grill and cook until tender.
No matter which you choose, you’ll need some skewers or toothpicks. Just make sure you give them a soak in water for 30 minutes or so just to make sure they don’t go up in flames and ruin those poppers of yours.
Making Jalapeno Poppers is as Easy as 1 2 3
Seriously, it is.
First, cut each pepper in half then use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and any white membrane, since that’s where most of the spice lives. We love spicy foods, but leaving in all the seeds and membrane is just too much for us (and most we serve them too).
Second, Stuff them. We went with cream cheese (yum) with some chopped chives mixed in. Make sure you’re generous, here!
Third, Wrap with bacon. We just love how when the peppers cook, all the juices (and fat) from the bacon drips down into the cream cheese and all over the peppers. Oh, heavens they’re good!
That’s it. Told you it was ridiculously easy to make jalapeno poppers.
For more ideas, try these Jalapeno Poppers from Emeril Lagasse.
What you need to know. When we work with hot peppers, we like to use powder-free gloves so the oils from the peppers stay away from our skin. We buy our gloves at a pharmacy for about $10 (pack of 50). If you do not have gloves, be sure to wash your hands thoroughly after handling the peppers.
Equipment you’ll need. You will need wooden toothpicks, a chef’s knife, a spoon, a baking sheet (if baking), and a grill basket or grill pan (if grilling).
- 6 jalapenos
- 4 ounces (113 grams) cream cheese, softened
- 2 tablespoons chopped chives or green onion
- 4 slices thin-cut bacon
- 12 wooden toothpicks
- Add toothpicks to warm water for 20-30 minutes before baking or grilling. (This will prevent them from burning in the oven or on the grill).
- Slice each pepper in half, lengthwise. Then, using a small spoon, scrape out and discard all seeds and any white membrane. (Seeds and the white membrane is where most of the heat comes from).
- Combine the cream cheese and chives (or spring onion) in a small bowl. Then, use a spoon to fill each pepper-half – be generous, here.
- Slice each bacon slice into three 1 1/2-inch pieces then wrap one piece of bacon around each stuffed pepper-half. Slide a toothpick through the bacon and pepper so the bacon is secure.
- To bake in the oven: Heat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) and line a baking sheet with aluminum foil or parchment paper.
- Arrange stuffed and wrapped peppers, filling side facing up, onto the baking sheet. Bake until bacon is crispy and glistening and the peppers are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- To make on the grill: Heat grill to medium-high heat. Place a grill basket, slotted grilling pan or aluminum foil directly on the grill (this helps to prevent the poppers from falling through the grates).
- Arrange stuffed and wrapped peppers onto the basket, pan or foil, filling side up and grill until bacon is crispy and glistening and the peppers are tender, 15 to 20 minutes. If, while grilling any poppers become overly charred, move them to a cooler section of the grill.
About the Author
Adam
I'm Adam Gallagher and alongside my wife, Joanne, I photograph and share favorite recipes from our kitchen. Sharing our recipes began as a hobby, turned into a dream and now has become our business. I just love that.
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So fun! Love how easy these are!
You’re right! These are just wonderful. But they are even better if you chop up some shrimp and a little shredded cheddar to add to the cream cheese. And if you have a convection oven, the bacon will cook up really crisp.
Shrimp — what a great idea!
OMG, they look amazing. Was wondering what people did with those fresh jalepenos that I see in the supermarket. Hmmm….. it’s 8:44 in the am – wonder how these would be with pancakes!?!? LOL!!
Try these on the grill too…smoky & cruchy…yum.
These look wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Gosh these look good!
We made these for a Mexican themed party yesterday — they were the hit of the evening! One of my guests claimed to eat “about 25″ of them. So easy to make and so delicious! I recommend filling the peppers the day before, and then wrapping and skewering them with bacon right before you bake them so the skewer doesn’t dry out. We used a half a bacon slice (instead of a third) on each just to up the bacon to pepper ratio. Highly recommended!
They are even better when you add a shredded cheese mix (kroger has a “mexican” blend that we use), a few bacon bits, and if you can find it, a chili-lime seasoning… I’m not sure where you could find it, but it adds a little heat to it
Great idea!
Sprinkle with brown sugar before you bake! YUM OH!
Oh, wow! Awesome idea!
These are incredibly easy to make! I add shredded sharp cheddar cheese to the cream cheese filling for an even cheesier bite.
These are fantastic! We used thin sliced bacon and it helped it crisp up quickly. Great combination of crispy, creamy, heat.
Needs more bacon.
Doesn’t everything?
Half a piece of bacon for each popper, and add FAJITA seasoning before wrapping them! MUCH better!
Nice addition!
These turned out amazing! My family loved them, even the ones who normally don’t like peppers, but all the heat was cooked out of these. The only thing I changed was that I used half a strip of bacon per pepper instead of 1/3 of a strip. Awesome recipe, thanks for sharing
I got this recipe on another site, Food.com or something, not sure. In the comments it was recommended that the bacon be partially cooked because it doesn’t cook completely if it is raw and wrapped around the jalapeño. DON’T PARTIALLY COOK THE BACON. It was difficult wrapping the bacon around the stuffed jalapeno. Also it was recommended to blanch the jalapenos before seeding them. DO BLANCH THE PEPPERS, they are more pliable making them easier to cut, seed and stuff. I used jalapenos from the garden which were delicious but very hot and small. I didn’t need to add seeds to kick up the heat in these. I did wish the peppers were bigger. I also added shredded asiago and mexican cheese to the cream cheese before stuffing the peppers. And I sliced one side of the jalapeno so that I could wrap it around the stuffing.
My son loved it. I mean bacon, right? I actually wished I had stuffed the peppers with more cheese stuffing (can you over stuff them if they’re cut in half and not have the cheese leak out?) I put the finished peppers on a toaster oven broiler rack so that the oil would drip down and the jalapenos wouldn’t soak in the oil. That worked out. I wished there was more creaminess inside the jalapenos. Maybe I’ll try these with maple cured bacon.
Thanks for the tips!
We made these yesterday with fresh jalapenos from our garden. They were AWESOME! Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
I just made these, 24 of them for FOUR people and they all got eaten lol.
loved it!! but next time I think I will bake on a rack to keep out of the bacon fat… but it was super good!!
They are great. Suggestion: try a dollop of BBQ 10 min before.