I love love love spicy food!! In fact jalapeños have always been a staple in our house. We have a few plants in our garden getting ready to start producing…and we can’t wait!

However, these days my spicy cravings have been more frequent and more intense…

My Husband and I are happy to announce we are expecting our second child, in December!!!

Luckily, I have this delicious recipe up my sleeve. We’ve been making these for about 10 years now, and I still get super excited every time!

We start by slicing the stem end off of the jalapeño, and then slicing it in half, lengthwise. You will need to clear out the inside of the jalapeño. I have found the easiest and fastest way to do this is with a grapefruit spoon.

(Note: if you are not used to handling jalapeños, you may want to wear gloves)

Next we will want to fill these with a combination of cream cheese and salsa. SO tasty!

Since we love spicy, we also add some of the jalapeño seeds to the cream cheese mixture.

Lastly, you just wrap them tightly with a piece of bacon! Super simple, and super delicious!

If you have extremely small jalapeños, you may want to cut your bacon in half. However, in most cases I find that one piece of bacon per jalapeño is perfect.

Depending on the time of year, we have two different ways to cook these.

Spring/Summer– I love these grilled! We set the grill up for indirect heat, and place the poppers away from the heat. Cooking until the bacon on top looks done. Be careful because the bacon grease will cause the flames to flare up.

Fall/Winter– I cook them in the oven using a wire cooking rack over a 13 x 9 pan. This allows the grease to drip off of them while they bake. At the end, I turn on the broiler for a minute or two to ensure the bacon is fully cooked.

These are seriously perfect for summer cookouts, football games….and even pregnancy cravings!

Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers

• 8-9 Jalapenos
• 8 oz of Cream Cheese, softened
• 1/4 salsa (can adjust to taste)
• 1 lb of bacon

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Slice the stem end off of the jalapeños, then slice them lengthwise. Clean out the centers, and set aside. (If you love spicy, you may want to keep some of the seeds to add to the cream cheese mixture in the next step)
3. Mix together cream cheese and salsa. Fill the sliced jalapeños.
4. Wrap each filled jalapeño slice with a piece of bacon.
5. Place a wire cooking rack over a 13 x 9 pan, place poppers on top of the rack. Cook for 25 minutes. Switch oven to broiler for 1-2 minutes to ensure the bacon is cooked throughly (stay near the oven so that they don’t burn).

To cook on the grill: Set the grill up for indirect heat, and place the poppers away from the heat. Cooking until the bacon on top looks done. Be careful because the bacon grease will cause the flames to flare up. If this happens, rotate the poppers.