If you are looking for the perfect potluck appetizer, look no further! These bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers are sooo yummy. Like I might have burned the roof of my mouth because I had to eat one as soon as they came out of the oven yummy!
To be honest, I was never a big fan of jalapeño poppers. Bland cream cheese stuffed into a pepper just wasn’t my thing. Then one day I was introduced to a jalapeño pepper stuffed with a mixture of cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and spices wrapped in bacon?? How could I say no! Once I bit into that salty, creamy, peppery goodness, it was love at first bite.
These poppers are super easy to make, and they are always a hit with a crowd. Don’t have time to assemble these the day of your event? You can also assemble these ahead of time and store them in the refrigerator and then just pop them in the oven before serving. Now that is my kind of appetizer!
Ingredients:
- 15-20 jalapeño peppers (you can use sweet mini peppers to avoid the heat if you would like)
- 8 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- ½ teaspoon paprika
- Dash of garlic salt
- Bacon
- Toothpicks
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees
- Line a baking sheet with tin foil and place a cooling rack on top of the foil. (This will allow for easy cleanup)
- Cut the jalapeño peppers in half. Remove all of the seeds as well as the membrane.
**TIPS**
- When working with jalapeño peppers, always wear rubber gloves
- Do NOT touch your eyes while handling peppers. Ouch!
- To ensure the jalapeño won’t be too spicy, take a spoon and scrape the inside of the jalapeño to remove the membrane. I also scrape of a layer of the inside flesh to remove any remaining heat.
- In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, paprika, and garlic salt together until all ingredients are combined.
- Spoon the cheese mixture into the jalapeño halves. Do not overfill.
- Wrap each stuffed pepper with a half slice of bacon. Stick a toothpick through the bacon and center of the pepper to ensure the bacon stays on the pepper and then place them onto a baking rack.
- Place in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. After the 25 minutes are up, turn the oven to broil for another 2-5 minutes to get the bacon nice and crispy. Once the bacon is done to your liking, remove from the oven and serve. Enjoy!
