POP! Our Jalapeno Poppers

I mentioned these once, and I'm finally coming back with the 'recipe' and some pictures.

We make two different types. One uses fresh jalapenos, cream cheese, a little mozzarella if you want it, crumbled bacon and breadcrumbs. The other uses fresh jalapenos, cream cheese, mozzarella (again, if you want it) Frank's Red Hot Sauce, diced chicken and bread crumbs. Both of them are yummy, and when I make them, I generally make some of both.

The first thing to do is wash the jalapenos, cut off the stems, cut them lengthwise and remove the seeds and ribs. You should wear gloves when you do this, because there are volatile oils that will get on your hands. If you forget and rub your eye later, even if you've washed hands, it can be really painful. Trust me on this, K?
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This time, I used 13 really big jalapenos, so there are 26 halves. I divided one block of low-fat (neufchatel) cream cheese, but not evenly. I put more cream cheese for the bacon ones, since the chicken adds so much volume to the other recipe. I put mozzarella in both, but it's not necessary. I didn't have any diced chicken on hand, so I used a couple of chicken nuggets, chopped up. What a slacker. I go by color with the red-hot sauce. Pale pumpkin seems about right.
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Fill each pepper half, about level full. Fill them all before you start with the breading, so that if you have not enough (or too much) you can even things out. I don't coat them in anything to bread them...I just smush the cheesy part into the breadcrumbs. They stick. That's that.
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Put them in pans and bake them at 375 degrees.
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I just learned this a while back,and I think it's very interesting - the longer you bake them, the milder the peppers become. 20 minutes for hot, 30 for medium, 40 for mild. We are at high altitude, so things take longer to cook. I cook ours for 40 minutes and they come out about medium, and very tasty.
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Out of the oven, these are good. They become fantastic when you top them with a bit of thinned down peach jam. Just put a little water in a little jam and warm it up. The flavor combination is really, really good. We've run out of plain jam, so we're using jalapeno-peach jam right now, and that's good too.

The final product:
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They are best made fresh, but I make double batches and freeze some 'raw'. When we want to eat them, we pop them in the oven (still frozen) and bake. They come out a little softer, but still really tasty.

I hope you like them - we really do! They are not difficult to make, and they're so yummy!

Comments

Anonymous said…
They look wonderful. My dh will like the ones with bacon because he is not a chicken eater. Can't wait to try them. Cheryl
Laura said…
Thanks, Cheryl! While both of them are good, I think I like the bacon ones best too....but I do like the 'hot wing' ones as well!
Toni said…
Mmmm these sound so good!
mentalutopia said…
DH never begrudges me computer time when it leads to gems like this recipe! Thank you!
Shanna said…
You made this sound so EASY...I never would have thought to try making these at home. But I will now!
Laura said…
Shanna, they really are easy. I cheat all over the place with them too - if I don't have chicken, I use a couple chicken nuggets from the freezer instead...and I nuke those instead of baking them (because in the end, it doesn't seem to matter). If you try them, I sure hope you like them as much as we do!
Anonymous said…
I just stumbled across your web site by googling Homemade Jelapeno Poppers. My husband and I decided to try them. We loved, loved, loved them! Thank you! btw...I love your site! bookmarked it to read more of your frugal stories! I'm way addicted to couponing now! take care
That Mom Kelly said…
I am so glad E told me about this recipe on your blog! I am so making these tomorrow.

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