Quick & Easy Jalapeño Poppers with Sausage
Cheesy, spicy, rich, and perfectly seasoned. These jalapeño poppers with sausage, cheddar cheese, and BBQ rub are about to become your new favorite appetizer. You can throw them on the grill in the summer for a smoky snack, or bake them up in the oven to keep things quick and easy. And they come together in under 1 hour!
Ingredients
Sausage Jalapeño Poppers
- 12 large jalapeños
- 1 1/2 teaspoons olive oil
- 1/2 pound ground pork sausage, casings removed (226 grams)
- 8 ounces full-fat cream cheese, softened (226 grams)
- 1 cup freshly-shredded sharp cheddar cheese (100 grams)
- 2 Tablespoons everything BBQ rub or store-bought (16 grams)
- 2 Tablespoons minced green onions or chives, plus more for garnish (10 grams)
- Kosher salt & freshly-ground black pepper, to taste
Sriracha Ranch
- 1/2 cup good-quality ranch dressing (112 milliliters)
- 2 Tablespoons Sriracha (30 milliliters)
Instructions
Sausage Jalapeño Poppers
- Preheat the grill to 400-425°F (204-218°C). If you're baking the poppers, preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C) and line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
- Using a sharp knife, slice the jalapeños in half length-wise through the stem. You can remove the stems if you'd like, but I usually leave them attached as a little handle. Then, use a teaspoon to scrape out the seeds & ribs. Feel free to leave some of the seeds in the peppers for extra spice.
- Next, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the sausage, breaking it up into crumbles with a wooden spoon. Cook until the sausage is no longer pink and has caramelized spots on the edges. Transfer the sausage crumbles to a plate lined with paper towels to soak up any extra grease. Once it's cooled, chop the sausage into small crumbles.
- In a large bowl, combine the sausage crumbles, cream cheese, sharp cheddar cheese, BBQ rub, and green onions. Add salt and pepper, to taste. Then, using a hand mixer, stand mixer, or rubber spatula, mix the filling until it's well-combined. Taste and add more salt and pepper, if needed. Use a rubber spatula or butter knife to evenly spread the filling between the halved jalapeños.
- Grill - grease the grates of the grill with neutral oil. Line the jalapeño poppers on the grill and bake for 6-10 minutes, until the filling is melty and the jalapeños are slightly softened. Sprinkle with extra green onions or chives, for garnish.Bake - place the poppers in a single layer on the prepared sheet pan. Bake for 16-20 minutes, until the peppers are softened and the filling is bubbly. Garnish with extra green onions or chives.
Sriracha Ranch
- Combine the ranch dressing and Sriracha in a small bowl and whisk until smooth. Taste and add more Sriracha, if desired. Serve the Sriracha ranch with the warm jalapeño poppers and enjoy!
Notes
If you're using smaller jalapeños, you may need a few more to use up all of the filling.
If you're impatient like me, you can also just use your fingers to pull out the seeds and ribs (a.k.a. the white, spongey insides of the pepper). Just make sure you're using gloves or you'll end up with spicy fingers.
This recipe works with ground breakfast sausage, hot Italian sausage, or sweet Italian sausage.
For hotter jalapeño poppers, add some of the seeds to the filling. For less spicy, you can use poblano peppers.
If you want the peppers to have more of an al dente bite to them, grill the peppers for 6-7 minutes or bake them closer to 15 minutes. For softer peppers, grill them for 9-11 minutes or bake them for up to 20 minutes.
Serving: 1jalapeño popper, Calories: 86kcal, Carbohydrates: 1g, Protein: 3g, Fat: 7g, Saturated Fat: 3g, Cholesterol: 21mg, Sodium: 120mg, Potassium: 60mg, Sugar: 0.7g, Vitamin C: 8mg, Calcium: 47mg, Iron: 0.3mg
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