No summer party or tailgate is complete without a big tray of these crowd-favorite smoked jalapeño poppers! Thick, crisp bacon is wrapped around jalapeño peppers stuffed with the most decadent cream cheese filling to make one irresistible party snack. You can prep these jalapeño poppers in 20 minutes and then let the smoker take care of the rest.
Wood chips or pellets depending on type of smoker, hickory or a fruit wood recommended
Smoker
Ingredients
8ouncescream cheesesoftened
1cupfreshly shredded cheddar cheese
3garlic clovesminced or grated
½teaspoonground cumin
8jalapeños
16stripsthick-cut bacon(see note)
Instructions
Heat the smoker to 225 degrees. In a medium bowl, stir together the softened cream cheese, cheddar cheese, garlic cloves and ground cumin using a sturdy wooden spoon or hand mixer until it becomes one cohesive mixture.
Wearing kitchen gloves, slice off the stems of the jalapeños and cut them in half. Remove the seeds and membrane inside the peppers.
Use a small spoon to spread the cream cheese mixture into each jalapeño half.
Wrap the cream cheese-filled jalapeño halves with a strip of uncooked bacon. Secure at both ends with toothpicks.
Put the jalapeño poppers on a wire rack on top of a baking sheet and place in the smoker with a water pan. Close the lid and smoke until the bacon browns and the peppers soften, about an hour and a half to two hours.
Heat the broiler and broil the smoked jalapeños until the bacon crisps and browns even more, about 30-60 seconds. Remove from the broiler. Allow to cool for a few minutes and serve. Enjoy!
Video
Notes
If you don't have access to a broiler after smoking, you'll want to use regular-cut bacon. The broiler is necessary for crisping up the thick-cut bacon, but it's well worth it for the extra bacon goodness.
To make ahead of time, prepare the poppers and store in an airtight container for a day or two. Let sit in room temperature for 30-60 minutes before smoking.
This recipe calls for a 225-degree smoking temperature, but you can go up to 250 degrees without it affecting cooking time too much. If you choose to smoke them at an even higher temperature, monitor them because they should cook faster.
Keep a close eye on the broiler. The broiler is powerful, so check it at 30 seconds and then short intervals if they need more broiling time.
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.