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These bacon-wrapped stuffed jalapeños with cream cheese are the ultimate appetizer. They are crispy, creamy, and perfectly spicy. They’re easy to make, irresistibly delicious, and guaranteed to disappear the moment they hit the table.
Looking for easy appetizers to take to your next gathering or game day? Try my Greek 7 Layer Dip with Hummus here, my Crab and Artichoke Dip here, or my Classic Cold Crescent Roll Veggie Pizza!
Jump to:
- 🩷 What you'll love about this recipe
- 🥘 Recipe Ingredients
- 📝 Ingredient Notes
- 📋 How to Make Stuffed Jalapenos with Cream Cheese Step-By-Step
- 💡 Recipe Tips
- 🫙 Storage & Reheating
- 🧂Additions & Substitutions
- ❓Your questions answered
- 🍽️ More air fryer recipes that you'll love
- 📋 Recipe
- 💡 Recipe Tips
- 🫙 Storage & Reheating
- 🧂Additions & Substitutions
- 💬 Comments
This is a recipe that is so easy and simple and takes only five ingredients (not counting the black pepper.) Whenever I bring these jalapeño poppers with bacon to any party, potluck or BBQ, they are always a hit and gone pretty quickly.
🩷 What you'll love about this recipe
▪️It takes only five ingredients to make this recipe. It's very budget friendly and the perfect appetizer to take to your next party!
▪️It is so crazy easy to make. Once you make it a couple of times, you won't need the recipe.
▪️They are so insanely delicious everyone will think you spent a lot of time and energy making these.
🥘 Recipe Ingredients
You’ll need the following ingredients to make these bacon cream cheese jalapeño poppers.
📝 Ingredient Notes
- fresh jalapeño peppers - I like to use the larger ones
- cream cheese - get the chive and onion as it add great flavor over plain cream cheese
- shredded cheese blend - I usually prefer to shred my own, but when I'm short on time, I do grab a pre-shredded bag. Pick up any blend you like. Cheddar cheese and pepper jack is one of my favorites for this recipe.
- bacon - make sure to get the regular sliced. The thick slices takes a lot longer to cook and can be hard to get it crispy.
📋 How to Make Stuffed Jalapenos with Cream Cheese Step-By-Step
Here are some visual instructions. Full instructions with exact ingredients can be found in the Recipe Card below.
Preheat oven to 425°F.
Add all cheese filling ingredients to a medium bowl and mix well. To prepare the jalapeños, I like to cut off the stems, but you can leave them if you prefer.
Cut the jalapeños in half lengthwise. I like to lay the jalapeño down, and see where it falls naturally. Where it lays should be the bottom. Turn it on the side and cut there. This will help keep them from rolling around later. Remove the seeds and membranes with a spoon.
Stuff each jalapeño half with the cream cheese mixture. I prefer to fill all of the jalapeños first before wrapping each in bacon. It will be easier to add more cheese to a pepper, or take some cheese out of a pepper if you have too much at the end, or not enough. After filling each pepper, wrap tightly with a slice of bacon. Do not use thick sliced bacon - it will take a really long time to fully cook and get crispy and by then the peppers will be overcooked.
Place stuff and wrapped peppers on a baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes, or until bacon is fully cooked and crispy.
You can also cook these jalapeno poppers in an air fryer. They only take about 15 minutes at 400°F in my air fryer, but mine is small and won't hold this many at one time. I would need to cook these in two batches in mine.
💡 Recipe Tips
Try not to overfill the peppers with cheese. If you use too much, it will overflow during baking anyway and make a mess.
If you like spicy jalapeno appetizers, leave some of the membrane and seeds in the pepper. For less spicy, remove as much as possible.
Make sure to wash your hands VERY THOROUGHLY after handling the peppers. The oil from the peppers can remain on your hands and if you touch your eyes, it's very painful. You might want to even use gloves if you're very sensitive.
Make Ahead Tip
You can make these up to two days in advance. Make all the way to where the peppers are wrapped, and store in an airtight container. Bake or air fry right before serving.
🫙 Storage & Reheating
Storage: Store this in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days if cooked. If uncooked, I would only store them for 2-3 days.
Reheating: If already cooked, just heat in a microwave, oven or air fryer until cheese is reheated and slightly bubbly.
Freezing: You can freeze the uncooked, stuffed and wrapped jalapeños in an airtight container or ziploc bag (with a much air removed as possible). To cook, let thaw until no longer frozen before cooking as directed in the recipe.
🧂Additions & Substitutions
Additions:
- garlic powder, onion powder or any other herbs and spices you like
- roasted red peppers
- sun-dried tomatoes
Substitutions:
- other cheeses that work well are goat cheese, Boursin cheese or any soft cheese
- any other flavored cream cheese
- try feta cheese or parmesan cheese in place of the cheddar cheese
- caramelized onions in place of the dried minced onion
❓Your questions answered
I like a mixture of a soft cheese like cream cheese for the creaminess, and then another melty type cheese like cheddar cheese or pepper jack which helps to bind the filling together and is less likely to melt out of the pepper.
In the oven I like to use a baking sheet with a rack because it allows air to circulate under the pepper and helps the bacon cook on the bottom. If they sit directly on the pan, the bottoms may not cook as well. Cooking in an air fryer also is a great way to get crispy poppers.
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🍽️ More air fryer recipes that you'll love
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I hope you love this Stuffed Jalapeños with Cream Cheese recipe! If you make it, be sure to leave a rating so I know how you liked it! Happy eating!
📋 Recipe
Bacon Wrapped Stuffed Jalapeños with Cream Cheese
Equipment
Ingredients
- 7.5 ounces chive and onion cream cheese
- 1 tablespoon dried minced onion
- 1 cup shredded cheese blend
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 6 large jalapeños
- 16 ounces bacon
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- In a medium bowl, mix together the cream cheese, the dried minced onion, the shredded cheese blend and the black pepper until throughly combined.
- Wash and dry the jalapeños. Cut off the stems, but take care to not chop of the end of the pepper. You want to have a boat shape to keep all the cheese filling inside. Cut the jalapeños in half lengthwise. With a spoon, scoop out the inside seeds and membranes. If you want them spicer, you can leave some of the seeds and membranes.
- Fill the jalapeno halves with the cheese mixture. Wrap each pepper tightly with a slice of bacon. If you have any bacon left, you can use it to double wrap some of the bigger peppers.
- Bake for 25 minutes or until bacon is crispy. At the end if they are still not crispy enough, place under the broiler until they are as crispy as you like.
- You can also cook these in an air fryer. They only take 15 minutes at 400°F in mine, but mine is smaller and won’t hold this many at one time. I would need to cook these in two batches in my air fryer.
- Notes - add cheese filling to all peppers before wrapping in bacon. You may need to add more cheese to some, or steal some cheese from others.
- Before cutting peppers in half, let the pepper fall to where it wants to lay. Then cut it on the side. This will keep the pepper laying flat after you cut it in half.
- Do not use thick sliced bacon.
Notes
💡 Recipe Tips
Try not to overfill the peppers with cheese. If you use too much, it will overflow during baking anyway and make a mess. If you like spicy jalapeno appetizers, leave some of the membrane and seeds in the pepper. For less spicy, remove as much as possible. Make sure to wash your hands VERY THOROUGHLY after handling the peppers. The oil from the peppers can remain on your hands and if you touch your eyes, it's very painful. You might want to even use gloves if you're very sensitive. You can make these up to two days in advance. Make all the way to where the peppers are wrapped, and store in an airtight container. Bake or air fry right before serving.🫙 Storage & Reheating
Storage: Store this in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days if cooked. If uncooked, I would only store them for 2-3 days. Reheating: If already cooked, just heat in a microwave, oven or air fryer until cheese is reheated and slightly bubbly. Freezing: You can freeze the uncooked, stuffed and wrapped jalapeños in an airtight container or ziploc bag (with a much air removed as possible). To cook, let thaw until no longer frozen before cooking as directed in the recipe.🧂Additions & Substitutions
Additions:- garlic powder, onion powder or any other herbs and spices you like
- roasted red peppers
- sun-dried tomatoes
- other cheeses that work well are goat cheese, Boursin cheese or any soft cheese
- any other flavored cream cheese
- try feta cheese or parmesan cheese in place of the cheddar cheese
- caramelized onions in place of the dried minced onion
Teri
This is my go to super fast easy appetizer that is so incredibly delicious!