Tailgating in Arkansas will inspire you (or at least me) to make things like bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers. Showing up to a Kelly Gee War Memorial Tailgate without food is a mortal sin, and I was looking to add a little variation to the piles of smoked meats—hence, the poppers. There are a billion bacon wrapped jalapeño popper recipes out there. I looked at about ten of them, combined various methods and ingredients…and ended up with this recipe. The end product was met with favorable reviews, so I thought I’d share.
Ingredients
25-30 small jalapeños
2 packages of cream cheese (set out to soften)
8-10 cloves of garlic (minced)
2 handfuls of shredded cheddar cheese
1 package of center-cut bacon
30 toothpicks (soaked in water for at least 10 minutes)
Salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Cut the stems off each jalapeño, then cut the remaining whole jalapeño in half (lengthwise)–remove all of the seeds. In a bowl, add the soften cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic, and salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly. Take a small amount of the mixture with your hands and fill each empty half of jalapeño. Set aside. Open the bacon and cut the entire package (all at once) lengthwise. Separate each piece. Use one piece of bacon to wrap each cream cheese-filled jalapeño. Secure with a toothpick. Fire up your gas grill to about 350-400 degrees. Grill each piece for 5 minutes, flip, then grill another 5 minutes on the other side. Remove, let rest for a few minutes, and enjoy!
Note: It is VERY important to wrap the bacon so as not to see any of the cream cheese. Any exposed cheese will melt and fall out. Unfortunately, I learned this the hard way.
1 Comment
Even people who don’t like jalapenos too much will enjoy these. I’ve heard of them being called armadillo eggs in other locales.
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