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Smoked Jalapeño Bacon Wrapped Poppers
Everything’s bigger in Texas and that includes these overloaded jalapeño poppers with cream cheese, sausage and bacon PLUS tomatoes and green chiles.
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Ingredients
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10 fresh jalapeños
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½ lb thin sliced bacon
Filling
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1 can (10 oz.) diced tomatoes and green chiles, drained
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1 block (8 oz.) cream cheese, softened
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½ lb ground sausage of your choice (green onion sausage works well)
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salt and fresh ground black pepper, to taste
1 Food Prep
Halve each jalapeño lengthwise and remove the seeds. If desired, reserve a portion of the seeds to add to the cream cheese stuffing mixture for extra spicy heat.
Drain the diced tomatoes and green chilies, and then place on paper towels to soak up any extra juices. Pat dry. Too much juice will compromise the filling consistency. In a medium bowl, combine the cream cheese, tomatoes and chilies, and salt and pepper to taste. Fill the halved jalapeños with the cream cheese mixture.
Divide the ground sausage to form 20 small logs and place each sausage log onto the cream cheese mixture of each jalapeño half.
Place the bacon strips on a cutting board and press/stretch out gently with hands. Thinning the bacon will ensure a crispy grilled finish and make the bacon go further. Depending on the size of your jalapeños, you may only need to use ½ strip per popper.
Wrap the stuffed jalapeños with the bacon, making sure your bacon strip ends on the bottom (jalapeño side).
2 Grill Prep
Fuel: We recommend Kingsford® Original Charcoal Briquets
Method: Two-Zone Fire: Parallel Configuration
Temp: 250°F- 350°F (Low Heat)
Carefully hold your hand about 5” to 6” above the grate, and refer to the temperature settings below:
• High Heat (450° to 550°F):
2 to 4 seconds
• Medium Heat (350° to 450°F):
5 to 6 seconds
• Low Heat (250° to 350°F):
8 to 10 seconds
Make sure your clothing doesn’t touch the grate, and always move your hand away from the heat before you feel discomfort.
When you’re at temp, put cooking oil on a folded paper towel. Grab the oiled paper towel with long-handled tongs and oil the grate thoroughly.
3 The Cook
When you’re at temp, put cooking oil on a folded paper towel. Grab the oiled paper towel with long-handled tongs and oil the grate thoroughly.
Place your poppers on the cooler side of the grill, jalapeño side down, and do not disturb them until the bacon forms a solid seal. Rotating your poppers too early may make the bacon come apart. Shift the poppers around (make sure not to flip over) as needed to ensure bacon is crisping up evenly.
Close the lid and cook for 1–1½ hours, or until the bacon is crispy and the sausage is cooked to an internal temperature of 160ºF, or 165ºF for sausage made from poultry.
Remove the poppers from the grill, plate, and watch them disappear.
Flare-ups happen to even the most skilled grill masters. Flare-ups are just fat rendering and dripping onto the coals. With a long-handled, metal spatula, simply move your food to the other side of the grate, shut the bottom dampers, and close the grill lid until the flames subside.
Credit: World Champion Pitmaster Chris Lilly of Big Bob Gibson Bar-B-Q.
Recipe created by Brad Orrison and his sister Brooke of The Shed BBQ on behalf of Kingsford® Charcoal.
For safe meat preparation, reference the USDA website.
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