Spicy, cheesy, and creamy bacon wrapped cheesy stuffed jalapeños are always the first appetizer to disappear whenever I bring them to a party. They’re perfect for celebrations, Super Bowl, game day, and more.
These jalapeños you see today? They’re another football appetizer to add to your rotation. You’ll love the combination of crunchy bacon, extra cheesy filling, and spicy jalapeños. Everyone flocks to these and begs me for the recipe—ask and you shall receive!
These Bacon Wrapped Cheesy Stuffed Jalapeños Are:
- Extra cheesy and spicy
- Wrapped with bacon
- Loaded with garlic & spiced with paprika
- Super simple to make
- Always a crowd pleaser
- Great for game day (served alongside honey bbq popcorn chicken) or on your menu of Memorial Day recipes
- The first appetizer to disappear at a party
Stuffed Jalapeños Video Tutorial
Best Ingredients to Use for Bacon Wrapped Cheesy Stuffed Jalapeños
Today’s recipe is an adaption of a crowd-pleasing appetizer I’ve made many times. I typically follow a recipe from Kraft, but decided to spice it up. Now there’s even more bold and spicy flavors in each bite.
- Jalapeños: Halved jalapeño peppers are the base of this recipe. The bigger the pepper, the more cheesy filling you can fit inside. I like to remove all of the seeds when I’m making stuffed jalapeños since they carry a lot of heat. Don’t fret—these are still plenty spicy without the seeds.
- Cheese: We use a mix of cream cheese and shredded cheese for the filling. I use shredded cheddar cheese, but Mexican-style or pepper jack are also tasty. (By the way, if you love cream cheese based appetizers, try my crab dip or cranberry pecan cheese ball next.)
- Garlic: 1 minced clove of garlic adds a hint of flavor.
- Paprika: Smoked paprika adds spice and bold flavor.
- Bacon: Each stuffed pepper is wrapped in bacon before baking.
Overview: How to Make Them
Bacon wrapped cheesy stuffed jalapeños are incredibly easy to make—just as all football party food should be (looking at you beer cheese dip and sweet & spicy honey Chex mix). These jalapeños are a great make-ahead option, too. If you’re tailgating in the morning or hosting guests and don’t have time to prep that day—you can assemble the stuffed jalapeños the day before and bake right before serving.
- Prepare the peppers. Cut the jalapeño peppers in half lengthwise. Remove the seeds and center membrane.
- Make the filling. Combine both cheeses, garlic, and paprika together.
- Fill the peppers. Spoon the cheesy filling equally among all jalapeño halves.
- Wrap with bacon. Wrap a piece of bacon around each cheese-filled jalapeño. Stick a toothpick through the center to ensure the bacon stays in place.
- Bake. Bake the peppers until the bacon is crisp. You can even use the broiler for the last minute or two to really crisp them up.
Want to keep things spicier? While this recipe instructs you to remove the seeds, leave them in for extra spice.
#1 Success Tip for Stuffing Jalapeños
Don’t touch your eyes. As you slice the jalapeños in half and remove the seeds and some of the membrane, be careful. I warn you and speak from experience. Don’t touch your face or eyes during this process—it can really burn!
PS: If you love jalapeño (which I’m assuming you do), try my jalapeño pepper jack turkey burgers sometime. And don’t miss my jalapeño cheddar soft pretzels!
Print
Bacon Wrapped Cheesy Stuffed Jalapeños
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 45 minutes
- Yield: 24 stuffed jalapeño halves
- Category: Appetizer
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Halved jalapeños stuffed with cream cheese, shredded cheese, paprika, and garlic and wrapped up with crispy bacon. If you like spicy, you will love these!
Ingredients
- 12 fresh jalapeño peppers*
- 8 ounces (226g) full-fat brick cream cheese, softened to room temperature
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese*
- 1 clove garlic, chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 12 slices bacon, cut in half
- 24 toothpicks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper (best for clean-up) or a silicone baking mat. Place a baking rack on top of the baking sheet. Set aside.
- Cut the jalapeño peppers in half lengthwise; remove seeds and center membrane. Set aside.
- Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic, and paprika together until combined. You could also do this by hand using a rubber spatula. Salt to taste—I add just a pinch. Spoon filling equally among all 24 jalapeño halves.
- Wrap each stuffed jalapeño with a half slice of bacon and stick a toothpick through the center to assure the bacon stays in place. Place each on the baking rack and bake for 25-28 minutes or until the bacon is crisp to your liking. I like to turn the oven to broil for the last minute or two to get things extra crispy. Serve immediately. Cover leftovers and keep in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Jalapeño peppers can be stuffed and wrapped 1 day in advance. Refrigerate until ready to bake. You can also assemble and freeze up to 2 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bake as directed.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Cooling Rack | Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) or Rubber Spatula
- Peppers: Instead of jalapeño peppers, try using those mini sweet peppers often sold in the produce section. Those a great option if you don’t like super spicy.
- Cheese: Mexican style or pepper jack shredded cheese are also tasty.
- Adapted from Kraft.
Excellent recipe, first time making poppers. Do yourself a favor and throw a handful of cherry tomatoes in the drip pan to roast in bacon fat. Then put one of the tomatoes on top of each popper for serving.
I pre bake the unfilled Jalapenos halves as well as the bacon. Let cool then stuff, wrap and bake. I used BBQ dry rub, a touch of brown sugar and some old bay to season the filling
I just used this recipe as an idea of what I wanted to make, as I didn’t have the ingredients for this specific recipe and I’ve never cooked jalapeños in the oven before. I made my mix with feta, yogurt, paprika, garlic, and cumin. And wrapped each in a 1/2 slice of bacon. (I also tried 1/3 slice but those bursted open!) I whizzed all the ingredients in a small blender and stuffed them with a spoon. It worked pretty well. The final consistency, before putting them in the oven, was on the thick and creamy side (not runny). They were fantastic. (I didn’t leave a star rating as I didn’t follow this recipe exactly, but it was a great recipe for the likes of me!)
I’ve made this recipe for a few years now, never have any leftovers.
They are absolutely delicious!!!
You can always put them on some scrunched up aluminum foil and use that in a pinch. They won’t lay in the bacon grease.
I don’t have a baking rack. Can I just cook them on the cookie sheet?
Hi Jolene! The baking rack helps the bacon crisp up (since it’s not sitting in the fat it releases while it bakes), but you can bake these stuffed jalapeños without one in a pinch.
I baked mine right on a silicon mat and they were fine.
I do these on the grill
Yes you can use a cookie sheet
I just made this recipe for the first time, and it is amazing!! I didn’t have smoked paprika, but I did have smoked cheddar. I love sweet/spicy combo, so I added honey to the cheese mixture along with a few seeds. I baked at 400 for 25 minutes, then turned on the broiler and watched the bacon get crisp (about 3 to 4 minutes), and they turned out perfect. I made extra and look forward to pulling them from the fridge and cooking them tomorrow!!
P.S. I used a raspberry dressing for dipping sauce.
Should I adjust the baking time and/or temperature for a version without bacon? (Thinking about making it meatless and adding coconut “bacon” on top.) Thanks, Sally!
Hi Jennie, We haven’t tested it but the bake time should be about the same. Keep your eye on them toward the end of the bake time, and remove when the peppers and the top of the cheese begins to brown.
I fill the 2 halves then put them back together, wrap with bacon, stick with toothpick. Next they go on gas grill with pans of water underneath to keep flare ups from happening with bacon grease dripping down.
Can these be frozen to make at a later date?
You bet! See recipe notes.
I’ve been making this recipe for so many years. It’s scrumptious! Thank you for sharing!
Great recipe! I use thin smoked bacon and cook it 1/2 way. That makes a huge difference! Love them
Yep, you’re right! These disappeared in no time even though the table was filled with food. I was a little nervous when my 81 yr old mother grabbed one and ate it and she had no drink But she promptly grabbed another! Seems the small jalapeños are hotter…? That seemed to be true for us. My 25 yr old kept praising them and talking about them for days. Hence, I’m making them again today! I am so happy to have found another side item for my Mexican fiestas! Thanks Sally!! PS I had no issues with the bacon!
These sound delicious!
Has anyone tried these in an air fryer? If so, what temp & time did you use?
Hi Annie! We haven’t tested these in an air fryer, but perhaps other readers can chime in. If you decide to give it a try with an air fryer, feel free to report back!
I learned many years ago to make poppers this way: Halve your jalapenos and de-seed. Stuff with Hot (or Mild) Italian sausage and wrap with bacon. Bake for 45 minutes or so depending on how large your batch is.
These were a hit at home and at work! I made them just as directed including turning to broiler for the last 4 minutes and they came out perfect. The paprika gave it a really nice smoky flavor. Thank you for your recipe!
Our family likes spicy so I chopped some of the ribs & seeds into the cheese mixture. My family said these were the best poppers ever! The flavor the SMOKED paprika gave was worth buying another spice. I’m so glad I didn’t use the regular paprika I had in the pantry. We are definitely making these again.
Do you use thick or thin bacon?
I love this recipe, but I really struggled to get my bacon to crisp. I ended up cooking it so long that the peppers and cheese were just mush. I think next time I would cook the bacon slightly first then wrap the poppers.
I would try the broil method for the last 4-5 mins of cooking time. Not sure how easy it will wrap if you cook the bacon some first. If you have already tried please tell us how it turned out.
I do cook the bacon on a parchment lined cookie.sheet until it is about half cooked but still pliable before wrapping the peppers. Depending on the bacon you may have to use a whole strip. Works well for us. Stuffing doesn’t melt out before bacon is done.
If you have an air fryer I absolutely suggest doing these in there. My husband likes to do keto/Atkins diet, and he will make these to take on the road with him. We used to do them in the oven and found that the peppers would get way too soft, but we tried them in the air fryer once and they come out absolutely perfect!
Los prepararé hoy!!!!!
These were the best and so simple!
These are delicious! One of my favorite appetizers!
Made these last night, they were fantastic! Our garden gave us a second HUGE harvest of jalapenos which were huge and the perfect size to use for this recipe. Next time I’ll leave some of the seeds in since cleaning them out completely made them too mild. Thank you!