Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

byHOLLY

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers are the perfect snack and appetizer!  Fresh jalapenos are stuffed with a mixture of cheeses and seasoning and wrapped in smoky bacon.

These easy poppers are then grilled (or baked) until the bacon is crisp and the cheese is perfectly melty.

I absolutely adore jalapeno poppers in any way, shape, or form including  Jalapeno Popper Dip to Jalapeño Cheddar Stuffed Burgers. And of course what doesn’t taste amazing wrapped in bacon? I could pretty much eat these bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers at any meal and I especially love this version using fresh jalapenos and bacon (and skipping the breading).

How to Make Jalapeno Poppers

When cutting jalapenos, I very strongly suggest wearing gloves as the oils in the peppers can really affect (and burn) your skin if you’re cutting several peppers.

To reduce the heat from jalapenos (and other spicy peppers), be sure to remove all of the seeds and membranes as that’s where the capsaicin is contained (which is what makes them spicy).  You can use any peppers in this recipe including sweet baby red & yellow peppers if you don’t like spice or would like to have another option for those that don’t eat spicy foods.

Can you Freeze Jalapeno Poppers?

Absolutely!! Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers are the perfect snack to have on hand for unexpected guests.  I often make a couple of large trays and freeze them (before cooking).  Once frozen I move them to a sealed container (or freezer bag) and store them for a few months.

When guests pop by, pour a pitcher of mojitos, heat up the grill and throw these on right from frozen.  The perfect summer snack!

How to Cook Jalapeno Poppers

We most often cook these on the grill in the summer, and while you can cook them directly on the grill, a grill mat helps keep the bacon from flaring up. I use grill mats for so many things from burgers and veggies to Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin.  They reduce flare ups, keep things from slipping through the grates and clean up like a dream.

To grill jalapeno poppers from frozen, we turn the grill down and cook them low and slow to ensure the middle heats & melts.

In the winter, we bake this jalapeno poppers recipe in the oven.  Preheat to 425 degrees, place on a parchment lined pan and bake about 18-23 minutes or until bacon is crisp and cheese is melted. So easy!

Need More amazing Jalapeno recipes?

Here are some of my other favorite recipes with a spicy kick of jalapenos:

1. Jalapeno Popper Dip:  This has been the a top on my blog for years and years (and is my daughter’s favorite recipe on the whole site).
2. Bacon Jalapeño Cheese Ball Recipe:  This cheeseball is the perfect make ahead snack and everyone always loves it!
3. Jalapeño Popper Stuffed Chicken Breasts:  Jalapeno Poppers make a great snack… but in this recipe you can enjoy them as a complete meal!

I hope you enjoy these bacon wrapped jalapeno poppers as much as we do

There's a Better Way to Cook Burgers than on a Grill

BY ANDREW BUI

Conjure up your ideal summer barbecue—pineapple pool floats, sweaty cans of beer and all—and chances are burgers charring over smoky coals are part of that vision. After all, there's no more quintessential food to slap on a grill, right? 

Tradition aside, turns out the ol' Weber might not be the best home for those perfectly formed patties. Before you start hurdling oversize grill spatulas our way, hear us out on how you should cook this All-American classic.

① Burgers Dry Out on a Grill: A well-made burger patty is ribboned with fat, which will render out while cooking. On a grill, not only do you lose this precious grease as it falls in between the grates, but it causes flare-ups. Not the kind that make you look cool, but the ones that lead to blackened, dried-out exteriors that taste like soot. Stick to panfrying—the burger will sear in its own rendered fat (look, no one ever pretended this was health food), keeping it extra juicy. 

② You Won't Get a Good Sear: Yes, crosshatched grill marks are aesthetically pleasing. But no one's going to be paying attention to your burger's char once enrobed in cheese and sandwiched between a sesame-seed bun. A good cast-iron skillet will give you the entire patina of crispy goodness that has us lining up at the nearest Shake Shack.

③ You Have to Overwork the Meat for It to Hold Together: As J. Kenji Lopez-Alt of Serious Eats points out, the best burger patties are ones that are just barely shaped. Their outsides get crispier, they retain juices better and, more importantly, they stay tender. By the time your ground beef patties have been worked enough to hold up on a grill grate, they'll be dense and rubbery.

So if you want the best burgers possible, start reaching for the cast iron. Yes, we know that even we've been guilty of grilling our patties in the past, but if burgers are part of your idyllic summer barbecue, just take your heavy-duty skillet outside. You can slap it on the grill grates, directly onto the charcoal or on the grill's side burner. (As a bonus, you won't be spending the night cleaning grease spatters off your kitchen backsplash.)

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Memphis-Style Pork Ribs Recipe

baseline;"> BY HANK SHAW

Memphis-Style Pork Ribs

Memphis-style dry rubbed pork ribs barbecued slowly to perfection!

Photography Credit: Elise Bauer

There are wet ribs, sticky with a succulent, spicy barbecue sauce, and there are dry ribs, where the flavor is all in the dried mixture of herbs and spices, melded into something greater than the sum of their parts by time, smoke and pork fat.

This is what they do in Memphis, Tennessee, and it’s why Memphis-style ribs are some of the best in the world.

What goes into a Memphis rib rub is up to you, but most recipes rely on paprika, brown sugar, black pepper, cayenne, garlic and onion powder.

All sorts of other ingredients find their way into everyone’s “secret recipe,” but the most common are cumin, dry mustard, celery salt or celery seed, dried oregano or rosemary, chili powder, ginger, allspice or even white pepper.

Serious pit masters spend years perfecting the exact ratio of spices for their own personal styles.

Cooking these ribs is simple: Rub the spice mix all over the ribs and cook them slowly over low heat until they’re done. Sounds easy, right? It is, sorta.

We prefer to let the spice mix sit on the ribs overnight before we cook them, but you don’t have to. We also prefer to cook our ribs over a hardwood fire, but you can use charcoal or even a gas grill if you need to. Just don’t use an oven.

In all cases, cook the ribs away from the heat source. If you use a grill, have the fire going slowly on one side of the grill and cook the ribs on the other side.

Again, slow is good. I’ve cooked ribs for 12 hours before, and I’ve never had good ribs cooked less than 3 hours.

Use our rib rub as a guide, and play with it to your own taste. What are your favorite ingredients in your barbecue rubs?

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