These bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers are shockingly good. I’ll take a few of these over the store-bought fried poppers sold in grocery stores any day! Thin bacon is the secret to these incredible cream cheese stuffed poppers. Its fat renders down into the filling and over the peppers. So good! If you love stuffed peppers (of course you do!), look at our sweet pepper poppers stuffed with cream cheese and bacon.
Key Ingredients
Jalapeños: I look for firm, small to medium jalapeños without wrinkly skin. When choosing peppers for stuffing, look for ones that have some room in the middle to hold the filling. Cream Cheese, Green Onion, and Garlic: My jalapeño popper filling is super simple. I mix softened cream cheese with sliced green onion and a little grated garlic. This simple filling and the rendered bacon fat that runs down over the peppers make a seriously delicious bite! Bacon: I’m usually a thick-cut bacon kind of girl, but when it comes to bacon-wrapped poppers, I choose thin-cut bacon. This way, the bacon cooks more quickly and crisps up in the same time the peppers take to soften. If you have thicker-cut bacon, consider partially cooking it before wrapping it around your poppers. See this bacon wrapped shrimp recipe as an example of precooking bacon before wrapping.
How to Make Jalapeño Poppers
The preparation for my jalapeño poppers recipe is the same whether you make them in the oven or on the grill. Plus, they’re really easy! Halve each jalapeño from stem to end. Then, use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and white membrane. The seeds and white membrane make peppers spicy. Remove all the seeds and membranes for the mildest poppers. If you like things hot and spicy, leave the membrane inside the pepper, but remove the seeds. You’ll also notice I’m wearing gloves to protect my hands from the oils in the peppers. I wear them when I’m working with multiple hot peppers. As mentioned above, my filling is super simple. It combines softened cream cheese with green onions and garlic. I use a spoon to fill each pepper half and then wrap it in bacon. You don’t need a lot of bacon for wrapping (too much will prevent it from crisping up in the oven). Depending on how large your jalapeños are, you may find slicing the bacon in half is better. I usually bake my jalapeño poppers, but you can also grill them! The recipe below includes instructions for both cooking methods.
Jalapeño Popper Recipe Variations
I love these with my simple cream cheese filling, but I have a few more variations for you:
Add some sweetness with onion or shallots cooked in a bit of butter. These crispy shallots would also be amazing. Add a melty cheese like shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack. Or swap half of the cream cheese with goat cheese. Cook up extra bacon, sausage, or chicken and stir into the cream cheese. Add a few dashes of hot sauce or diced peppers to make them extra spicy. A buffalo chicken version would be excellent. Stir in a little homemade buffalo sauce!
8 ounces cream cheese, softened 4 tablespoons thinly sliced green onion, white and light green parts 1 small garlic clove, finely grated or minced Salt and fresh ground black pepper 12 slices thin-cut bacon, see tips 12 wooden toothpicks, soaked, soaked in water for 30 minutes 2Slice each pepper in half, lengthwise. Use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and white membrane. (The seeds and white membrane are what make peppers spicy.) 3Stir the cream cheese, green onion, garlic together, 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt, and 1/4 teaspoon black pepper together. Fill the pepper halves with the cream cheese mixture. If you have any leftovers, place it in an airtight container and use it for bagels or sandwiches. 4Wrap one piece of bacon around a filled pepper half. If the bacon is so long that you need to double wrap it, slice it so that it will wrap around the pepper once. Then, secure the bacon with a toothpick. Watch our video for reference. 5Arrange the peppers, filling side facing up, onto the baking sheet. 6Bake until the bacon is crispy, and the peppers are tender, 20 to 25 minutes.
