Smoked Jalapeño Poppers on the Traeger

Smoked Jalapeño Poppers on the Traeger are stuffed with a creamy cheese filling, wrapped in bacon and smoked low and slow for the ultimate smoky appetizer! These easy bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers only need five ingredients and cook right on your Traeger or pellet grill at 225°F.

Tips for the Best Smoked Jalapeño Poppers

• Use regular-cut bacon – Skip thick-cut bacon because it takes longer to crisp than the peppers need to cook.
• Control the heat – Most of the heat lives in the ribs and seeds. Scrape them completely clean for milder poppers or leave a little behind if you want more kick.
• Choose larger jalapeños – Look for peppers around 3-4 inches long so there’s plenty of room for that cream cheese filling.
• Wrap the bacon tightly – Half a slice per pepper half is plenty. Pull it snug as you wrap and you shouldn’t even need a toothpick.

Smoked Jalapeño Popper Ingredients

This Jalapeno Popper recipe is pretty simple to make and only has 5 ingredients:

• Jalapeño Peppers – Look for larger peppers around 3-4 inches long. Removing all the seeds and ribs makes them milder, while leaving some behind adds more heat.
• Cream Cheese – 1 block is enough for 10-12 jalapeños
• Cheese – I used colby jack because it’s what I had – but you can use cheddar, pepper jack, or whatever you love
• Bacon – Regular or thin-cut bacon works best because it cooks through during the 90-120 minute smoke. You’ll need about half a slice for each jalapeño half.
• BBQ Seasoning – use your favorite BBQ rub for a sprinkle on top – it adds a lot to the flavor

Supplies Used

• Traeger Signature Blend Wood Pellets – jalapeño poppers work well with several pellet flavors. The signature blend has apple and maple, which add a slightly sweeter smoke, while hickory gives the bacon a stronger smoky flavor. Use whatever you already have in the hopper, but those are my favorites for this recipe.
• Chef’s Knife – this recipe has a lot of things that we need to cut up into small pieces and this knife is perfect. It’s my favorite in the kitchen!
• Cutting Boards – these cutting boards are also a necessity for this recipe since we want to make sure that all of our surfaces stay safe!

How to Make Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers on the Traeger

These are easy to make – they take about 15 minutes of prep time and cook in a couple of hours. But with the Traeger, you set it and forget it! Well – don’t forget it – but you can go take a nap!

• PREPARE Traeger and set temp to 225ºF to preheat
• USING a paring knife, slice jalapeno peppers in half lengthwise – keeping the stem on the end
  • If you’re sensitive to pepper juice and seeds, you can wear gloves to protect your hands.
• 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 MEDIUM BOWL, mix together softened cream cheese and cojack cheese.
• USING the spoon, fill the jalapeno halves with the cream cheese mixture. Feel free to mound it up a little.
• TAKE a half slice of bacon and wrap around the stuffed jalapeno – pull tightly as you wrap. No need for a toothpick – if you wrap the bacon tight – it will hold.
• PLACE the jalapenos on a baking sheet.
• SPRINKLE with bbq seasoning 
• PLACE on Traeger and smoke at 225ºF for 90-120 minutes

How Long to Smoke Jalapeño Poppers at 225°F

Smoke jalapeño poppers at 225°F for 90-120 minutes. They’re ready when the jalapeños have softened, the cheese is hot and bubbly and the bacon is cooked through. I like smoking them at 225°F the entire time rather than increasing the temperature because the longer cook gives the bacon and cheese more time to pick up that smoky flavor.

What to Smoke with Jalapeño Poppers

Since your Traeger is already running at 225°F, put that grill space to work! Add another appetizer or dinner recipe that cooks at a similar temperature so everything can smoke together.

• Bacon Wrapped Pork Tenderloin
• Smoked Cream Cheese
• Smoked Stuffed Mushrooms