Editors Note: This is another reprint from my main blog…but I thought with all the upcoming football games–this is a must share!  I understand you can grill these up on a Big Green Egg…which I PROMISE I will try soon!

For the first time, I made stuffed poppers and they were delish (if you like spicy food).  They were devoured while we watched the Seahawks beat the Indians yesterday!

I learned through my experiment, that you should wear gloves when cutting the peppers.   Nothing could get the pepper juices from my hands and they burned all night.  I also discovered that the vapor (?) makes me gag and cough.   Appetizing, huh?  Cutting onions produces a stream a tears…so maybe I'm just an overly sensitive cook.  Bonus: you can make these the night before and pop them into the oven Img_6240when you're ready to serve.

[photo to follow once I bake up today's batch…they were consumed too quickly yesterday for me to snap a picture]

Since we're in the heat of football playoffs, I thought I'd share my recipe with you for stuffed poppers.   They're kind of like nacho's; the recipe is very flexible and you can add what ever you want.

Soak 1-2 wooden toothpicks in water before you begin (to prevent flamage).

Softened Cream Cheese – one package works for about 6 peppers.

I blended chopped garlic, fresh chopped basil (dry would work too) and sun-dried tomatoes with a little salt and pepper.

I make the cream cheese mixture first and then prepare the peppers so the flavors have a chance to blend.

Fresh jalapeno peppers (my sister in law uses another pepper that she says is not as spicy and is slightly larger.   I'll let you know if we can narrow down which one it is).  I would figure 1-2 peppers per serving.

Slice a small wedge down the length of the pepper.  You want it to be narrow enough to keep the pepper closed when cooking yet large enough to stuff with the goodies.   Remove the seeds and ribs from the pepper.   Stuff the peppers.

Wrap thin sliced bacon around each stuffed pepper and secure with a soaked wooden toothpick.  Wrap the bacon in a criss-cross to cover the cheesy opening of the pepper.  If your pepper is larger, you may need two slices.  Darn!

Secure the bacon with a wooden toothpick.

Broil (or BBQ) the poppers until the bacon is cooked.  I broiled my poppers with the cheese side down first and then flipped them once the bacon was cooked to finish with the cheese side up.  This was out of concern that I may loose my stuffing if the cheese became melted and gooey by heating up the cheesy side and then flipping over.

Enjoy!

Other ideas I may try the next  time I make poppers are stuffing with:

  • Brie
  • Sausage and rice (like a mini stuffed bell pepper)
  • Crab and cream cheese

What are your favorite popper stuffings?