Cheesy Bacon Baked Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers
How to make baked mini stuffed sweet peppers filled with cheese and bacon then topped with breadcrumbs. Jump to the Cheesy Bacon Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers or read on to see our tips for making them.
These mini stuffed peppers are a true crowd-pleaser. They are a spin-off from our bacon wrapped jalapeño peppers recipe. If you love spice, jalapeño peppers are the way to go. Spicy food isn’t for everyone, which is why these tame, but incredibly delicious poppers do the trick.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: This easy recipe for roasted stuffed peppers with tomatoes, fresh herbs, garlic and cheese. Jump to the Roasted Tomato Stuffed Peppers with Herbs.
How to Make Oven Baked Stuffed Sweet Peppers with Bacon and Cheese
These stuffed peppers are very simple to make. Mini sweet peppers are becoming more popular in the grocery stores, if you cannot find them, use jalapeño peppers with all the seeds and membrane removed. Or, if you can find them, longer mild Anaheim peppers, which are less spicy (they are light green).
The filling is made with cooked bacon, onion, cream cheese, goat cheese and spices. We love the combination of cream cheese and goat cheese, but substituting the goat cheese for feta cheese would also be delicious.
Once the peppers are filled, we top them with breadcrumbs and bake until the peppers have softened and the breadcrumbs are golden brown.
Recipe updated, originally posted March 2011. Since posting this in 2011, we have tweaked the recipe to be more clear. – Adam and Joanne
Cheesy Bacon Baked Stuffed Mini Sweet Peppers
- PREP
These oven-baked stuffed peppers are very simple to make. Mini sweet peppers are becoming more popular in the grocery stores, if you cannot find them, use jalapeño peppers with all the seeds and membrane removed. Or, if you can find them, longer mild Anaheim peppers, which are less spicy (they are light green).
Makes 24 mini pepper halves (poppers)
You Will Need
12 mini sweet peppers
3 slices bacon
1/2 cup diced onion
1 garlic clove, minced
4 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
4 ounces goat cheese, at room temperature
1 scallion, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
3 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup panko breadcrumbs
1/4 cup loosely packed fresh parsley, chopped
Directions
Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil.
Slice each pepper in half lengthwise then scoop out any seeds and membrane to make space for your filling.
Cut the bacon crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick strips and add to a pan over medium heat. Cook, stirring often, until crisp. Transfer cooked bacon to a paper towel to drain.
Add the onions to the pan used to cook the bacon. If the pan seems dry, add a splash of olive oil. Cook the onions, stirring occasionally, until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat.
Add the cream cheese, goat cheese, bacon, onion, garlic, scallions, the lemon juice, red pepper flakes, dry oregano, and the salt to a medium bowl. Mix until well blended.
In another bowl, combine breadcrumbs and parsley with the melted butter.
Spoon the cheese mixture into each pepper half then place the pepper, filling side down, into the buttery breadcrumbs.
Arrange pepper halves, filling side up on the baking sheet. Bake the peppers until they have softened and the breadcrumbs are golden brown, about 20 minutes.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Gluten-free breadcrumbs: Try ground gluten-free hard pretzels, brown rice cereal, or gluten-free Chex cereal in place of the breadcrumbs.
- Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA Supertracker recipe calculator to calculate approximate values.
If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste
Nutrition Per Serving: Serving Size 2 poppers / Calories 141 / Protein 5 g / Carbohydrate 8 g / Dietary Fiber 1 g / Total Sugars 2 g / Total Fat 10 g / Saturated Fat 6 g / Cholesterol 27 mg / Sodium 210 mg
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I grew some sweet yellow peppers this season and didn’t know what to do with them. Can’t wait to try this out.
I love this recipe! I have made it several times for company and once for dinner because I was craving them!! Do you think it would change the outcome if I prepped them the night before and then threw them in the oven the next day? They are easy to make but I’d like to try doing it ahead of time. Thanks for the wonderful recipe. 5 stars
Not at all, that is a great idea! You could even freeze them and bake another day.
Absolutely adore this recipe! I am part of a close neighborhood, and I shared the poppers when first made, then the recipe due to everyone asking for it!
Very tasty! I used turkey bacon for the only change because I do not eat pork or red meat for that matter and a little extra red pepper flakes for an extra kick.
The topping I will use again and again on other items, and this recipe is a mainstay in my arsenal for entertaining. Thank you!
Nice! We love these poppers so much.
A big hit! I substituted feta for the goat cheese as I did not have enough of the latter on hand, and it was very tasty. Especially for a group of adults, the (salty) flavor of the feta added an extra boost to everything. This crowd likes a kick, so I used ~ 1/2T of red pepper. Our peppers from the garden were not so mini, so the recipe made about six whole, 12 halves, just perfect. Thanks! (And it’s the summer of 2013 — this 2011 recipe definitely lives on!)
Making these tonight 🙂 Your picture certainly won me over the rest.. Thanks for the recipe 🙂
Just made these for the superbowl. They were AMAZING! Probably the best appetizer I’ve ever made!
Woo hoo!
Found these on Pinterest – didn’t have all the ingredients, but they still turned out AMAZING! I’m so glad I can make my own poppers now!
Hi Jen — so happy you enjoyed them!
Made these last night & they were awesome! Used the cheese I had which was cream cheese, shredded mozzerella, & shredded cheddar & it was really good. Also didn’t have breadcrumbs so I used some zatatans fish fry breaking that I had… Gave it a little kick! Delicious!
Hi Kim — Love your use of the fish fry!
These are so delightful! I was in a hurry so I skipped the breadcrumbs and they are still good.
These sound delicious! I have made these before, but I have my own version- brown sausage and drain, mix with 1 brick of cream cheese (or just a little less), stuff the mix into the peppers with the top cut off (and seeded of course!), then wrap each pepper with a third or half slice of turkey bacon. I sprinkle a little bit of finely shredded cheddar before popping into the oven and they are delicious! I have to say, I DO love the sound of a buttery breadcrumb topping though!
I made these for a family dinner last night and they were a hit!! Costco didn’t have any mini peppers (they were my favorite!!), but they did have new “baby” bell peppers… worked perfect!! So delish and easy to make!! I love your blog!! Keep the beautiful pictures and recipes coming!! 🙂
Lindsey, we are so glad you liked them!!
Thanks so much for sharing. These peppers are beautiful and look SO tasty!
These look so great! And, they can be super inexpensive! You can get a whole bundle of these peppers at the 99 cent store!! They are actually great quality too. 🙂
Hi Ashley, you are right, this did not rack up a huge grocery bill for us at all, not to mention each pepper you buy, turns into 2 poppers! Thanks for commenting!
haha, thats exactly where i got my beautiful peppers. if it werent for them i wouldnt have found this post. i bought them and wanted to find a recipe! great find and they taste incredible.
These look super good, and easy. Love it!!! I just bought a bag of mini peppers at Costco and was trying to figure out what to do w/ them, score, thanks!
Gorgeous photos, and love the recipe. I made some jalapeño poppers with panko bread crumbs and they turned out so crispy we loved them. these would be great for the people who can’t take the heat.
Thanks, Suzanne! These went down well with our family. A few of us love heat, others stumble on black pepper – these are tasty enough to keep everyone happy.