I think of jalapeño poppers and I think of greasy, deep fried bar food. It’s the sort of thing they regularly serve with ranch dressing, as if they needed more flavor or the extra calories! Well, as much as I love fried foods (and I do), I actually like these 1000x better! Plus they are certainly healthier when filled with a nut-based cheese and baked. I love combination of mild and creamy almond cheese paired with the spicy, ultra-flavorful, roasted jalapeños. The two-step breading helps hold on the crispy panko bread crumbs to the otherwise slippery pepper skin. And the breading is lightly spiced, adding a little depth without overpowering that jalapeño flavor. These are so good! And a lot of fun to make! So go get a handful or two or three or ten of jalapeños and get on it! 🙂
These roasted jalapeño poppers make an amazing appetizer. I made them last weekend to bring to a Canada Day party, where they were very popular! And just to show you how simple they are to throw together: I settled on making them the morning of, picked up a couple dozen freshly picked jalapeños from the farmers market on the morning dog walk, came home and quickly whipped up a batch of my homemade creamy vegan almond cheese, ate breakfast, watched a little TV, prepped all of the poppers, went to an open house in my neighborhood, came home and baked the jalapeño poppers, all before 2pm. And then of course had to chase my husband Omar away from eating all of them before we left for the party! While prepping these tasty morsels does take some time (sorry, it’s not instant), the good news is, you can remove the seeds and white pith, stuff them with cheese (which is quickly and easily done with a piping bag), and bread them in advance. Doing some or all of the prep work beforehand means that you have an easy and accessible party appetizer. Simply pop them in the oven just a bit before you want to serve them! The best part about roasting poppers instead of deep frying them, is that they’re actually quite good at room temperature. They maintain their crispy exterior, while roasting even brings out the best flavor of jalapeños! They also reheat really nicely in the oven. And if you happen to buy an extra bag’s worth of hot chiles at the farmers market you should probably try making my easy homemade hot sauce and then put it on everything for the rest of the summer, or for as long as it lasts 😉 . Let me know if you make these tasty poppers. I love seeing & hearing about it when you guys make my recipes! Leave a comment and/or rate the recipe below, tag me on Instagram (#thecuriouschickpea), or share with me on Facebook!
Notes:
If you only want to make a few poppers, the recipe is easily scaled down (or up, if that’s what you want). The jalapeños can be breaded in advance and refrigerated so that they may be baked just before serving. I successfully tested this and had them prepped a few hours before baking, but I would guess you could prep them the night before even. If removing the seeds and membrane is too challenging from the whole pepper, you can slice it in half and fill it as a boat and bread in the same way. If they are messier that way you can chill them a little before filling. You will end up with double the amount of poppers that way! Use food grade gloves to prep the jalapeños if you are concerned about getting jalapeño hand!
