Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

I’m not going to lie – I’m bad at breading and frying things.  I’ve tried it on a few different occasions, and I did okay, but not great.  Plus, I don’t like dealing with all the oil after frying.  So, I searched for alternative ways to make jalapeno poppers with all the jalapenos I had .  And, that search let me to Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers.  You just can’t go wrong with bacon.  These are really pretty easy to put together, too, the worst part is scooping out the seeds and insides of the peppers.  I used turkey bacon because it’s really about the only kind of bacon we eat in my house these days, but these would be great with pork bacon too.  I preferred the turkey bacon also because there is usually less grease, making less chance of grease dripping in my oven.  You can also see in my picture above that I have a tray on my baking sheet.  That is actually a grill cooking tray, but it was perfect to sit on my baking sheet to allow any bacon grease to drip through.  An alternative to this would be to put a baking rack on the baking sheet, or line the baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.  Also, make sure the baking sheet has sides to catch the grease.  Grease fires are no good!

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers
Based on recipe here

What you need:

Jalapeno peppers, about a dozen
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1 pound bacon, pork or turkey
Toothpicks

How to make it:

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

If you have them, put on gloves while handling the jalapeno peppers.  Slice each pepper in half lengthwise, and scoop out the insides and seeds.  Scoop cream cheese into each pepper half.  Wrap each pepper in a half or whole piece of bacon, depending on the size of your peppers and bacon.  Use a toothpick to help hold the bacon in place around the pepper.  Place on a baking sheet with sides that has a baking rack, foil, or parchment paper inside to absorb the grease.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until bacon is crispy.

Note: Instead of the oven, you could also grill these.

Tags: appetizer, Apple Annie's, bacon, jalapeno pepper, turkey bacon