Smoked Pickle Poppers
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Smoked Pickle Poppers will have you huddled in a corner snarfing these down with cream cheese and pickle juice running down your chin! I should know – there’s an Instagram story with me doing just that!
Dill pickle halves, string cheese or cream cheese, ground chuck, cheddar cheese – then wrapped in bacon and sprinkled with BBQ seasoning! They’re like Jalapeno Poppers BUT WITH PICKLES!
What You Will ❤️ About Smoked Pickle Poppers
- All of It – Seriously – every bite was just delicious! I couldn’t wait to share them and yet also wanted to hoard them!
- Easy to Make! These are fun to put together – it’s like a craft project – the assembly is half the fun!
- Smoky delish in an hour! The flavor only takes an hour to smoke into deliciousness and create these pickle poppin burger delights to perfection!
Ingredients for Stuffed Bacon-Wrapped Pickles
The idea for the perfect appetizer came from social media – I saw a BBQ truck making these and said – I MUST DO THIS!!! So I grabbed everything up and went to TOWN! Here’s what you need:
- Dill Pickle Halves – get large dill pickles – I used Claussen Halves – there were 8 in the jar so it was perfect! You need the big ones to hold all the goods! You could also buy whole dill pickles and slice them.
- String Cheese or Cream Cheese – so the original used string cheese – but I wanted to try it with cream cheese as well. I thought the cream cheese was much better. I would advise slicing actual mozzarella vs. string cheese – it just doesn’t melt the same.
- Ground Chuck – grab some ground beef not too lean – you could use ground pork as well!
- Cheddar Cheese – get crazy here if you like! I mixed the ground beef and cheese together – but feel free to use whatever cheese you like.
- Bacon – be sure to use thinner or regular cut bacon and not thick cut. It’ll take two slices to wrap around one stuffed pickle popper
- BBQ Seasoning – my favorite is Historic BBQ Red – to me – there’s nothing better – but use what you like and what you have! You could also use your favorite bbq sauce instead of the seasoning.
Recipe Variations
This is super delicious as-is but feel free to make some tweaks! Here’s a few ideas:
- Cheese – mix up your cheese selection! Like it spicy? Go for Pepper Jack!
- Skip the Meat – you could stop with just the cream cheese, bacon and seasoning! I don’t know why you would! haha But you could!
- Jalapenos – if you’re not a pickle fan – make them with jalapeno peppers – or add some sliced jalapenos into the cream cheese!
- Homemade Pickle Ranch Dressing – skip the bottled ranch and make your own pickle ranch dipping sauce from scratch! You could also dip in sour cream.
- Pickle Spears – if you’re looking for something smaller and simpler – you could just wrap dill pickle spears in bacon and smoke those!
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How to make Smoked Bacon Wrapped Pickle Poppers
These are fun to make – because it’s a bit of assembly – and you get your hands dirty but it’s not tedious or too detail oriented! Just get your hands in and have fun! Let’s do it:
- Preheat your smoker to 225º
- Lay out pickle halves onto a cutting board and scoop out seeds (save in a bowl)
- Slice cream cheese into a rectangle and smush a slice into the pickle cavern. (Or trim and lay a piece of string cheese inside).
- In a medium bowl, mix together ground chuck and shredded cheddar cheese. Divide into 8 sections
- Mash 1 section of ground chuck mixture on top of pickle and completely cover the cheese
- Wrap each pickle in two slices of bacon
- Sprinkle wrapped pickles heavily with your favorite bbq seasoning
- Smoke at 225º for 40 min
- While pickles are smoking, in a blender, mix pickle insides with 1/2 cup ranch and blend on high for 20 seconds to make pickle ranch
- Turn up smoker to 375º and smoke for another 20 min
- Remove pickle poppers from smoker. Dip in dill pickle ranch and devour!
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Tips, Tricks & FAQs
Store leftovers in an airtight container (I like these glass storage ones) in the refrigerator for up to a week. Reheat in the air fryer or 4-5 minutes at 325º or in the oven at 350º for 15 minutes.
Heck yeah! My friend Rhonda was so excited because I share my creations with her and this is low-carb!
Nah – the pickles have a lot of salt and seasoning so you don’t need the added sodium.
Make in the oven by placing on a baking rack on a rimmed baking sheet and bake at 375º for 30 min. You can also air fry at 375ºF at 14 min.
20 Must-Have Traeger Accessories
I absolutely love my Traeger Pellet Grill and you can pretty much use it right out of the box! But over the years I’ve definitely found that there are some Traeger smoker accessories that make everything a lot easier!
More Smoked Appetizer Recipes
Pickle Forward Recipes
Smoked Pickle Poppers
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 dill pickle halves
- 4 sticks string cheese
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 1 lb ground chuck
- 2 cups medium cheddar cheese shredded
- 1 lb bacon thin or regular cut
- 2 tbsp bbq seasoning
Instructions
- Preheat your smoker to 225º
- Lay out pickle halves onto a cutting board and scoop out seeds (save in a bowl)8 dill pickle halves
- Slice cream cheese into a rectangle and smush a slice into the pickle cavern. (Or trim and lay a piece of string cheese inside). If using just string cheese or just cream cheese – double the amount.4 sticks string cheese, 4 oz cream cheese
- In a medium bowl, mix together ground chuck and shredded cheddar cheese. Divide into 8 sections1 lb ground chuck, 2 cups medium cheddar cheese
- Mash 1 section of ground chuck mixture on top of pickle and completely cover the cheese
- Wrap each pickle in two slices of bacon1 lb bacon
- Sprinkle wrapped pickles heavily with your favorite bbq seasoning2 tbsp bbq seasoning
- Smoke at 225º for 40 min
- While pickles are smoking, in a blender, mix pickle insides with 1/2 cup ranch and blend on high for 20 seconds to make pickle ranch
- Turn up smoker to 375º and smoke for another 20 min
- Remove pickle poppers from smoker. Dip in dill pickle ranch and devour!
can this be prepped a day ahead?
DEFINITELY! Just keep refrigerated and they’ll be fine.
did you cook the ground meat before adding it in the pickle?
Nope!