Mummy-Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers Recipe

Jalapeño poppers are a popular bar food year-round, although one that isn't associated with any one season or occasion (except, perhaps, the Super Bowl). As developer Erin Johnson tells us, though, "I always like to think of new ways to add a holiday spin on foods I like," so here she decided to do something Halloween-y with poppers. The resulting recipe, she says, "is an easy way to add a festive twist to a snack favorite."

The idea for making poppers into mummies by wrapping them in dough strips is one Johnson says she got from countless recipes that essentially do the very same thing with hot dogs, but who doesn't love a good mini variation? It turns out that mummification by canned crescent roll dough works just as well for poppers, although Johnson does have one piece of advice to offer regarding pepper selection: "I like to use large jalapeños for this recipe," she tells us, explaining that the bigger peppers will make the poppers "look maximum mummified."

This jalapeño popper recipe requires exactly 11 ingredients, and, coincidentally, has exactly 11 steps. The main ingredient is jalapeños, of course, plus cream cheese, cheddar cheese, green onions, lime zest, smoked paprika, onion powder, garlic powder, and bacon for the filling. Canned crescent dough makes the mummy wrappings, while stuffed olives are used for the mummy eyeballs.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.

In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and green onion.

Add the lime zest, paprika, onion powder, and garlic powder.

Fold in the crumbled bacon and set aside.

Cut each jalapeño in half lengthwise and remove the seeds using a knife or spoon.

Place the halved and seeded jalapeños on a parchment lined baking sheet, cut side-up.

Fill each jalapeño half with the cheese mixture. Place back onto the baking sheet.

Unroll the crescent dough and cut into thin long strips using a pizza cutter or knife.

Wrap each jalapeño with one of the strips, starting at the top and criss-crossing down to resemble a mummy's wrapping.

Bake for 12 minutes or until the dough is golden brown. Once out of the oven and slightly cooled, add two pimento stuffed olive "eyes" to each of the mummies.

Serve immediately with a dipping sauce of your choice.

Once your mummy-wrapped poppers come out of the oven, they're ready to eat right away, and in fact Johnson tells us "These are best eaten warm and soon after preparing them." She says "I like to serve these with either queso dip or ranch dressing for dipping," but adds that they're just as tasty without sauce. If you do want a dip but don't care for queso or ranch, other suggestions would be sour cream, salsa, guacamole, or blue cheese dressing.

If you have leftover jalapeño poppers, Johnson says these can be refrigerated for two days and reheated in the oven or air fryer. She does caution that "The crescent dough doesn't reheat well," but feels that baking rather than microwaving will best preserve its texture. Overall, though, this is a dish that really isn't well-suited for meal prep, so if you're not likely to eat a dozen poppers right away, you can always just make a smaller batch.

While this recipe is Johnson's idea of popper perfection, she does allow that other people's preferences may be different and offers a few suggestions regarding some changes that can be made to it. If you want hotter poppers (these ones are fairly mild), she says you can skip the step of de-seeding the peppers since, as she points out, "The heat for jalapeños is mostly in the seeds." She also notes that you can always swap out the cheddar cheese for pepper Jack, or you could maybe even use one of the hotter cheeses made with habanero or ghost peppers.

If you're looking to make these poppers vegetarian, Johnson advises to "Simply omit the bacon." (Making them vegan, of course, will require the use of dairy substitutes as well.) She also notes that olive haters can just pick the mummy's eyeballs off before eating the poppers. Another option, she tells us, is to "substitute anything you think would make a good eye."