Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos Wrapped in Bacon
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These Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos wrapped in bacon are finger lickin’, lip smackin’ good! Jalapeno peppers filled with sausage, cream cheese and CoJack cheese – then wrap it in bacon – I promise you’re going to eat them ALL!!!!!
What You Will ❤️ About Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos
- Meaty – How do you make sausage stuffed poppers meatier? Wrap them in bacon!
- Easy! You don’t even need to cook the sausage – just mix it all together and stuff those peppers!
- Bake/Grill/Air Fry – You can cook these poppers any number of ways – but just make sure you do a double batch. Trust me!
What’s in Stuffed Jalapenos?
That’s my favorite thing about Jalapeno Poppers like these – because you can stuff them with so much! Any combination of cheeses, meats and even some veggies – not to mention spices. I’ve made Taco Stuffed Jalapeños that had taco seasoning and cream cheese. Here’s what you’ll need:
- Jalapenos – you’ll want to use fresh jalapenos for this (duh)
- Cream Cheese – don’t skimp – use the full fat stuff!
- Colby Jack Cheese – I love the mild flavor of CoJack but you can use monterey jack, cheddar cheese or pepper jack if you like more sharpness or spice!
- Pork Sausage – You could also swap with hot Italian sausage to up the heat level or if you’re trying to be a little healthy – ground turkey or turkey sausage. Be sure to use raw sausage – it’ll cook after it’s stuffed!
- Bacon – Here’s the one time I’ll tell you to pick regular cut vs thick cut bacon! The regular cut is just easier to wrap around the peppers and still gives you all the flavor!
- BBQ Sauce – I like a thin sauce for these peppers – something like Williamson Bros
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How do you make Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos?
Stuffed & Wrapped Jalapenos are a crowd-pleaser for game day (or any time you want a delicious plate of snacks!). Here are the basic steps:
- Slice in half and clean jalapeño peppers – the more ribs/seeds you leave in, the spicier
- Mix together your stuffing – place sausage, cream cheese and shredded cheese in a large bowl and mix with a hand mixer or by hand to combine.
- Stuff the each jalapeño half with a mound of the sausage mixture!
- Wrap the halves in bacon – depending on the size of your peppers – you might need 2 packages of bacon. Sometimes you can pull the bacon tight and use 1/2 slice – others need a whole slice
- Baste with your favorite bbq sauce – I LOVE Williamson Bros – it’s very light, not super stick but has tons of seasoning
- Bake, air fry or grill! Keep a close eye on them to be sure the bacon doesn’t burn.
- BAKE on a rimmed baking pan lined with a sheet of parchment paper and in the oven for 30 minutes at 425º.
- GRILL at 400º for 25 minutes
- AIR FRY at 400º for 10 minutes.
- Remove and serve! Add a side of ranch dressing to dip in if you like! Or garnish sausage-stuffed jalapeños with a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.
Tips, Tricks & FAQs
Store leftovers in an airtight container (I like these glass ones) in the refrigerator for up to a week. Reheat in the microwave for 1-2 minutes or in the air fryer at 250º for 4-5 minutes.
Yes! I recommend freezing before you wrap with bacon and cook. If you’ve got a bunch of peppers and are making a big batch – go for it! Just put the stuffed peppers in a freezer bag. Then – when you take them out – wrap in bacon and cook as noted above.
Yes – those mini sweet peppers work great for this recipe!
This is the #1 question I get for these stuffed peppers and the answer is NO!!! The sausage cooks while it’s “baking”. I think it dries out if you cook the sausage first.
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Sausage Stuffed Jalapenos wrapped in Bacon
Ingredients
- 10-12 jalapenos
- 1 block cream cheese softened
- 1 cup cojack cheese shredded
- 1 pound pork sausage
- 16-24 slices bacon
- 1/4 cup Williamson Bros BBQ
Instructions
- Slice jalapenos in half lengthwise – keeping the stem on the end10-12 jalapenos
- Using a small spoon, scrape out ribs and seeds from jalapenos and discard. That's where the heat is – so keep some in if you want more spice
- In a bowl, mix together softened cream cheese, cojack and sausage.1 block cream cheese, 1 cup cojack cheese, 1 pound pork sausage
- Using the spoon, fill the jalapeno halves with the cream cheese mixture. Feel free to mound it up a little.
- Take a slice of bacon and wrap around the stuffed jalapeno – pull tightly. If you have any extra hanging off, trim that off and use on another half.16-24 slices bacon
- Place the jalapenos on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet.
- Baste with bbq sauce. I like Williamson Bros because it's a thin sauce with a lot of seasoning1/4 cup Williamson Bros BBQ
Cooking instructions (choose 1)
- Bake at 425 for 30 minutes
- Air fry at 400 for 10 minutes
- Grill at 400 for 25 minutes
OH, YEAH, YUM!!! Now these are right up my old Texas heart. I’m getting the ingredients when I get to the store Wednesday for sure. They look wonderful. Thanks for sharing.
Claudine in Fort Worth, TX
You will NOT be disappointed!
Glad I found this!
I will try this after new year’s day. I don’t have an air fryer, but do have an oven.
Thank you!
Bara
They work in either!
Just wanted to give you an update on this recipe. I made these and we made giant pigs out of ourselves devouring them. LOL! They were so good and now hubby says I MUST make then again for his New Years Day football watching. Thanks again for sharing the recipe.
Claudine in Fort Worth, TX
that’s awesome – they’re so good!
Do you cook the sausage before stuffing the peppers?
Nope!
These were so delicious! I will be making these again on game day coming up!
This combines all of my favourite things!! I am definitely going to give this a go, thank you so much for the recipe 🙂
I love anything with jalapenoes and these look amazing. Super comforting.
Well these won’t last very long in my house! I can’t wait to make them.
Looks easy to make. I might have a go with turkey bacon. I’m sure it will be as good.
These look delicious! Can I use poblano peppers instead of jalapenos?
Sure -if you can handle the heat!
yes I did many times an modified it too my taste cooked the sausage before I mixed it to get the grease out an also added a bit of garlic and. I don’t use the BBQ at all,, if I use anything at all. I use a low calorie home made dressing or eat them just the way they are
Thanks. I would want to cook sausage first also.
I promise the sausage cooks in the air fryer or the oven. If you pre-cook the sausage it will be dried out and won’t mix with the cream cheese.
What kind of sausage is used in this recipe?
Regular pork sausage – not breakfast sausage and not Italian sausage – someething like this: https://www.kroger.com/p/kroger-country-pork-ground-sausage/0001111097274. You could also use Italian sausage.
I wanna try this but with carnitas! I haven’t tried with meat stuffed inside yet.. but the original 1s stuffed with just cream cheese are a big hit at our holiday dinners.
Goodness gracious these are incredible! I stuffed fresh jalapeños and cubanelle peppers from the farmer’s market and oh my…thank you for sharing!
Aw thanks – glad you liked!!!!
Hi Heather. We have a basket of jalapeños from garden. I want to make your recipe with sausage in poppers, it sounds so delicious.
*My question is, can I put poppers together and freeze them? If yes, should I thaw them b4 baking or just go straight from freezer to over and bake.
You definitely can freeze them! I do recommend NOT wrapping them in bacon before you freeze them. Go ahead and stuff them and freeze them in bags. Then take out of the freezer and pop in the fridge to thaw overnight. Then wrap in bacon and bake.
Thanks girl ! I appreciate your advice and the recipe. Getting ready to stuff those jalapeños now. I’ll let you know later how well they go over at next event!
I don’t eat them, I just supply them! Lol!! 🌶🧀🥓🤣
I promise they’ll be good!
I used my mammoth jalapeños (5” long). I took these to a party and we loved them, I will make them again.
That’s awesome!
Just made these and they’re REALLY good, but for some reason mine looked like I spilled soup in the pan afterward. I’m sure it was all the grease from the bacon, sausage and cheese. It was like the entire bottom of the pan was grease and the peppers were just sitting in it. I’m sure I messed up somehow lol, but I’m sure I’ll try again. Maybe I’ll cook the sausage so I can drain the grease? And put on a broiler pan so the grease can drain down?
Also, I didn’t measure the cheese so perhaps I put too much. I dont know…. sure tasted good though! I’ll try again tomorrow 🤞
don’t cook the sausage – it’ll get too overdone – just put on a rack so the grease can drip down – and yes – sausage & cheese & bacon = grease – but glad you liked them!!!!!