Baked Stuffed Jalapeños Recipe

If you love jalapeño poppers but you hate the mess and hassle of frying up the classic appetizer, you'll want to try your hand at this simple, tasty recipe for baked stuffed jalapenos. "These have all the best flavors of a jalapeno popper, but are much easier to make because they don't require any frying," says recipe developer Jessica Morone. 

That said, one ingredient may stand out as a break from a traditional jalapeño popper ingredient — the Dijon mustard. "[It] adds a nice tang to the flavor that elevates the creamy filling and pairs well with the spiciness of the peppers," Morone shares. Which, she adds, ultimately helps check all the boxes when it comes to offering a crowd-pleasing starter. "They are creamy, spicy, crispy, smoky, and cheesy. And they are so easy to make that you can make them as an appetizer for any gathering." Don't limit yourself, though. If you fall in love with the recipe, you don't have to make a huge batch. "You could cut the recipe down and just have it as part of a weekday dinner because of its simplicity," Morone suggests.

Before firing up your oven, make sure you have all the necessary ingredients on hand for this baked stuffed jalapenos recipe. Of course, you'll need jalapeños as the base and the star of the recipe. Then for the filling, you'll need cream cheese, shredded cheddar cheese, salt, black pepper, bacon bits, and Dijon mustard. Finally, to get the nice crunchy topping you'll want to gather panko breadcrumbs and a little bit of melted butter. Finally, you have the option to garnish the end result with sliced green onions. 

To get started, you'll need to do a little prep work. Go ahead and preheat your oven to 400 F and grab a baking sheet and some foil. Lay the foil out across the baking sheet, then grease the foil lightly with cooking spray. 

As you wait for the oven to preheat, start prepping the stuffing for your jalapeños. All you need to do is mix up the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, salt, pepper, bacon bits, and mustard in a bowl. Make sure they're well-mixed to achieve an even consistency and flavor in the filling. 

With the filling ready, grab your jalapeños and start prepping them to be filled. Slice them in half, lengthwise, then remove the seeds and membranes so you have nice, clean "bowls" ready to be filled. Line them up across the prepared baking sheet. 

The last bit of prep work is to create the breadcrumb topping. Use a small bowl to mix the panko with the melted butter. Use a fork to really combine the two ingredients until there's a consistency in the texture of the buttered breadcrumbs. 

With all the different elements ready to go, spoon an equal amount of the cream cheese filling into each jalapeño "boat," then sprinkle the breadcrumbs on top. 

Pop the pan in the preheated oven and allow the jalapenos to bake for 20-25 minutes. The cheese should be bubbly and the breadcrumbs golden when the appetizer is ready. Pull the pan from the oven and, if desired, sprinkle the sliced green onions across the top. When they've cooled down just a touch, they're ready to serve. 

While this recipe makes quite a few poppers (perfect for a party), if you don't eat all of them, here's some good news: They keep well. "Because these are baked and not fried, they don't have to be eaten immediately and you can save leftovers in the fridge for up to three days. [You can] even freeze them for up to six months," Morone says. "I would reheat them by putting them in the oven at 350 F for about 5-10 minutes until they're hot."