Try these cheesy stuffed bacon-wrapped jalapeños if you’re looking for new appetizer ideas, or perhaps add them to your next snack board. We promise, once you taste one, you won’t help but go back for seconds…and thirds, and fourths…
You’ll only be needing seven ingredients to create the most delicious treats:
- Smooth cottage cheese
- Mascarpone cheese
- Matured cheddar cheese
- Crushed garlic
- Smoked paprika
- Bacon
- Jalapenos
Even though jalapeño peppers are on the milder side of the heat scale, it still might be too risky for those who can’t handle the heat. However, since there are 3 different types of cheese in this recipe, it helps to even out and soften the burn level from the pepper. The combination of cottage cheese and mascarpone will produce that rich and creamy texture when biting into the jalapeño. Delicious!
And of course, the main reason why we’re making this dish (let’s be honest), is the bacon! How can anyone resist anything that is bacon-wrapped? The bacon brings a smoky and salty flavour to the dish and breaks the heaviness of the creamy cheese stuffed inside.
Before grilling the peppers, be sure to top it off with some smoked paprika and extra cheddar cheese. The paprika will boost the spice level a tiny bit and make that the jalapeño taste really pops.
Ingredients
- 125 g Smooth Cottage Cheese
- 125 g mascarpone cheese
- 1 cup grated matured cheddar cheese
- 1 tsp (heaped tsp) crushed garlic
- smoked paprika
- rindless bacon (halved to fit around jalapeno pepper)
- 9 Jalapeños or more
Instructions
- Make the filling by combining both kinds of cheese and garlic, then fill the Jalapeños peppers.
- Spoon the cheesy filling equally among all Jalapeños halves, sprinkle each pepper with the shredded cheese and wrap a piece of bacon around each cheese-filled Jalapeños.
- Stick a toothpick through the centre to ensure the bacon stays in place then sprinkle the paprika on all the Jalapeños and bake the peppers until the bacon is crisp in a conventional oven at 170° Celsius/338° Fahrenheit for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Then grill on the highest heat for a minute to ensure the bacon is crispy, or you can bake in the oven at the same temperature until they are ready and crisp under the grill.
- Serve hot or cold.
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