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Jalapeno Poppers

April 21st, 2007 Stumble it!

I’ve been running around trying to get a bank of recipes together for my cookbook project. I made these today, and they would have been so good had they not melted my mouth. Apparently jalapenos range from 2,500 to 10,000 scovilles, and I guess the peppers I picked up were closer to the latter. I took one bite and had to fly into the kitchen to rip a chunk of bread off the nice loaf that Stewart bought earlier today.

I ended up eating the breading off, and scooping the filling out with my fingers. Not very good table manners, but I wanted to eat them! Next time I make these I should test the heat of the peppers before I begin filling them.

I’m saving the recipe for the book/zine/whatever, but I can give you some tips on how to fill them:

Use the tip of a sharp paring knife to cut a little door out of the side of the pepper. Some recipes say to cut the entire pepper in half, but those recipes have sticky cheese in the middle to help the pepper glue itself back together.

Again, with the tip of your knife, try to remove as much of the seeds and membranes as possible. They sort of hang down in the pepper in a cone, so if you cut the top and slide your knife down the sides, it should come out without too much fussing. Remove any membranes from the little door, too, since you’ll be using that piece.

Oh, and leave the stems on!

If you have a pastry bag, use that to fill the peppers. If not, a ziplock with the corner cut off will work just as well. You want to put enough filling in so that the door sticks to the pepper when you put it back in place. If a little of the filling squishes out, just wipe it off and eat it, as long as no one is watching.

They should hold up well enough while you’re covering them in batter, and once they’re fried they’ll be sealed shut. I need to go find some peppers that don’t want to kill me so I can make this again.

Entry Filed under: appetizers, cookbook, fake cheese, how to

22 Comments Add your own

1. Liz | April 21st, 2007 at 7:21 pm

I learned that the hard way too! The people who make poppers for restaurants must use a special weak type of jalapenos!
2. Jody | April 21st, 2007 at 10:24 pm

Funny, I had the same problem with the jalapenos I bought here a few months ago. I used them for tomatillo sauce, but it was inedible due to the extreme heat.

Odd, in the past the green ones like that have been so mild that I wasn’t sure there was even jalapeno in the food.

Those look tasty, and I’m looking forward to the zine.

I’m off to bake up a batch of your lavender shortbread because my lavender finally arrived in the mail today! (I ran out last time I made lavender lemonade.)
3. Mihl | April 22nd, 2007 at 2:54 am

This has happened to me, too. I hope your mouth fells better now! I am really looking forward to see your zine. And I hope it will grow into a book. Wishing you luck and success!
4. rachel | April 22nd, 2007 at 9:11 am

That looks so pretty and easy!
5. Briggitte | April 22nd, 2007 at 5:27 pm

I need to make some of these next time I have a party!
6. Vanessa | April 22nd, 2007 at 7:28 pm

OMG. Poppers and like my favorite EVER.
I’ve heard that generally the bigger jalapenos are less spicy and getting all the seeds and white stuff surrounding the seads is imperative. Maybe blancing them first would make them less spicy?
Once you divulge your recipe I’m all about doing this to banana or pablano peppers and making a meal out of it!
7. the village vegan | April 22nd, 2007 at 9:21 pm

Those looks SO GOOD. Seriously, in my pre-veg days poppers were definately a favourite. You’re amazing for coming up with a vegan version! You definately have one future subscriber/book buyer here.
8. vincent | April 23rd, 2007 at 10:31 am

Those look amazing. I love jalapeno.
9. aTxVegn | April 23rd, 2007 at 10:53 am

I’ve been looking for help on how to make thiese! Would you share how you get the breading to stick?
10. Linda, The Village Vegetable | April 23rd, 2007 at 3:04 pm

these look fantastic. gorgeous photograph as always.
11. Kimberlee | April 23rd, 2007 at 11:24 pm

I will buy that cookbook!
12. Julie | April 24th, 2007 at 12:00 am

oh crap! Those look goood. Do you need any more testers?!
13. The Veggie Vixen | April 24th, 2007 at 7:03 am

Those look amazing! I love jalapeno poppers.
By the way, I baked the lavender shortbread cookies this weekend and I was so impressed. The recipe is so simple but yummy.
14. Claire Gallant | April 24th, 2007 at 2:10 pm

Hi! I publish a vegan magazine here in Canada and I’d like to send you a copy! Do you have a PO box of an address to which I can send it? Please email me and let me know. I love your photos so much! You’re very inspiring!
15. Katie | April 24th, 2007 at 5:08 pm

I’ve never had jalapeno poppers because i’m afraid of the exact situation you described.
16. the Asocial Ape | April 28th, 2007 at 6:52 am

ok. holy cow. you will please move next door to my wife and i, that we can always ‘accidentally’ drop in a dinner time.

thank you.
17. Michael | April 29th, 2007 at 12:50 am

These Jalapeno poppers looked a little like fried mice or something… really bizarre
18. Tuzo | April 29th, 2007 at 1:52 am

Hi, most of the heat in the jalapeÃ±os and other pepers is in the stems and specially in the seeds, if you remove them, this should bring it down a bit.
If you want to bring it up, you can “torear” the peppers, heat up a skillet with no oil and slightly roll them around so the skin heats up and maybe toasts a little.
As for bringing it down, try removing the insides.
happy jalapeÃ±o poppers, they are quite nice
19. Jo | August 31st, 2007 at 11:36 am

I found out from a neighbor years ago that if you look at the jalapeno when you are buying it…the more lines _ _ _ _ - - - - - and the larger and longer they are the hotter the pepper will be. If there are no lines the pepper hasn’t got has much heat. My husband loves these, I have to fill mine into red bell peppers which are delicious, next time I plan to roast it on the grill, I prefer the that taste on the red bell pepper.
20. ERIKA | October 27th, 2007 at 9:01 pm

You have some great ideas on the peppers but I would like to know what you use for a coating and how you make it look sooo beautiul on you peppers? I keep losing all my coating with the recipes I have tried…HELP!!!! Thanks!!!!
21. Antonio | December 1st, 2007 at 5:56 pm

If you want to diminish the hotness level of the poppers, try cleaning them out, if you remove the seeds and the inside veins, they will be more bearable…trust me I live in Mexico.

My grandmother knows!

Regards!
22. Lolo | December 1st, 2007 at 9:12 pm

Antonio - I did say in the post to remove the seeds and membranes. It definitely helps, but thee were still too hot to eat!