Today, I’m going to teach you how to make Jalapeño Poppers. Put away your freezer bag and enjoy this healthier and easier version.

Hi! I’m Caitlin with Cooking with Caitlin and today we are at Cook Pike Market. For your Jalapeño poppers, I like to use this Panko bread crumbs. They are Japanese style and they are just bigger crumbs so it will add more crunch and it will help so you can just pick it and you don’t have to worry about frying. Let’s get cooking.

Ingredients: Jalapeño peppers
Dried Italian Seasoning
Bread Crumbs
Cream Cheese
Shredded Cheddar Cheese

Whenever you go to the bar, you always see fried mozzarella, six chicken wings and fried poppers. Today, I’m going to teach you my recipe for Jalapeño Poppers. They are tastier, better for you and have a great crunch. For today’s recipe, you only need a few ingredients. First of course you need your jalapeños. Next I like to use this Zesty Italian, the dried seasoning mix then Panko bread crumbs, in normal bread crumbs if you can’t find this. Some cream cheese, two blocks of it and your sharp cheddar finely shredded.

First thing you have to do is prepare your jalapeños. Whenever you work with jalapeños, I recommend wearing rubber gloves. I have a few times when I didn’t wear anything over my hands, and I got the oils on my eyes and it burns horribly. You can always use your dish gloves if you don’t have rubber gloves thing around.

Now first, to cut the jalapeño you want to cut the tops off. After you cut the tops off, you want to cut them lengthwise so you will have two long halves. Next, you will see that there are ton of membranes and seeds in them. This is where all the heat is especially in jalapeño you want to take all that out.

What I recommend is on one side of the jalapeño, just start to curve your knife along with it and cut it and then cut lengthwise. And it should come out in one little thing, pop it out and then just get any extra seeds out. Do it with the other side. There you go, ready for the stuffing.

For the next step, you just want to create the cream filling, this is the best part. In a large bowl, add your two blocks of cream cheese. Next you need your two packets of dried Italian seasonings, these are really great to use because they already have the garlic, the onion, the red pepper, everything you can imagine in this packets. And then finally, two cups of shredded sharp cheddar. I like to use the finely shredded that way it will melt a lot quicker. I like to use my spatula but if you want not to work quite this hard, you can always use your beaters for a quick mix.

Once everything is completely combined and your jalapeños are ready and cut. I like to pour a little Panko bread crumbs right on my cutting board, with your hands, if you don’t mind getting messy, create a little log, roll it up and stuff it right there. I like to have the cheese pouring out of the top of the jalapeños, the best part of the popper. Once everything is completely stuffed, just take this space down and kind of roll them in your Panko. Especially because I’m deep frying these, the Panko the bigger, larger bread crumbs will give it a very nice crunch. Top with onions and just put it on a baking sheet. This will only 15 minutes at 450 degrees. That will be perfect.

Once its golden brown kind of bubbling and the pepper has started to welt they are perfectly done. Once they are out of the oven, you want to let them rest a few minutes so that they are not too hot for people to eat. Also you can serve them with this side arranged and they are delicious.

Thank you for tuning in to this episode of Cooking with Caitlin. To learn more great recipes that will go wonderfully with the beer, please check out CookingwithCaitlin.com.