Ok guys, so I know football season started recently. I personally don’t really care about football..BUT I DO care about snacks, which go quite nicely with football, or anything really.

I have never had a jalapeno popper, but I have always wanted to make them! These guys are a little different than the traditional recipe– I used goat cheese instead of cream cheese and cheddar combination, kicked that up with some spices, and topped it all off by wrapping them in bacon. I seriously think bacon-wrapped snack foods will be my new obsession after this experiment.

The nice thing about wrapping them in bacon (you know, aside from the bacon) is that you don’t have to bread and fry them. Instead,  just stick them in the oven so the bacon can get nice and crispy. They turned out so fantastic and you cant beat how super easy they are to make!

Bacon-Wrapped Goat Cheese Jalapeno “Poppers.”

 

• 6 jalapenos, halved
• 5 oz pack of goat cheese
• 1 Tablespoon + 2 teaspoons of chopped green onion
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 teaspoon dried basil
• 6 strips of bacon, cut in half

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees
2. Prepare your jalapeños by halving them and removing the seeds and set aside. Some people recommend using gloves for this step because jalapenos are harsh on your skin, but I usually don’t use gloves and am just careful when handling the peppers. 
3. In a small bowl, mix together the goat cheese, green onion, garlic powder, and basil.
4. Stuff each pepper half with the goat cheese mixture (about a teaspoon, but will vary depending on the size of the pepper), and then wrap in bacon. It’s important to make sure the bacon wraps over the peppers really well, to prevent them from splitting when they’re in the oven. Just make sure they overlap over the pepper when you wrap them.
5. Put the jalapeno halves on a baking sheet and put in the oven until the bacon is cooked and crispy! About 13-15 minutes.

Substitution Notes

• Instead of using goat cheese, feel free to use any other kind of soft cheese you prefer. You can use cream cheese or vegan cream cheese- both will taste great! Just make sure when you stuff the jalapenos that the cheese is “neatly tucked” into the halves as much as you can, otherwise it may spill over while it bakes. But don’t worry, they’ll still be nice and cheesy and awesome!