Jalapeno Poppers with Pineapple

This recipe came together after I received a donation of food, there was an abundance of jalapenos and a large pineapple. I have done plain poppers before with great success and wanted to try a little variation. The sweetness of the pineapple did cut some of the spice in the jalapenos and it paired well with the smoky, saltiness of the bacon.

To paraphrase Mr. Tribbiani, Sweet? good. Spicy? good. Smoky? good. Salty? GOOOOOD!

I’m not sure why writing about food always makes me think of F.R.I.E.N.D.S. Perhaps I’m inspired by Joey’s level of enthusiasm? Anyway…I’ll get back to the recipe.

Ingredients

12 Jalapeno Poppers

1 8 oz Brick of Cream Cheese (softened)

1 cup of pureed Pineapple( I used fresh in this recipe, because it is what I had on hand. However canned products would work wonderfully, provided you drain them well.)

1 lb of Bacon. I opted for a thick, meatier variety ( Hempler’s Apple-Smoked Uncured Bacon) Any type of bacon is fine, It will just affect how much you can wrap it and how quickly it crisps up. There may be some playing around to figure out your exact preference, but that just means you keep eating Jalapeno Poppers. Not such a bad life, huh?

Directions

Step 1-Wash the Jalapenos and cut lengthwise, remove seeds and clean out ribbing inside.

Step 2- Mix the pureed (and drained) pineapple together with the cream cheese. This works best if your cream cheese is softened and you whip it a little before adding in the pineapple.

*If you are prepping for a party and don’t need the popper hot yet, this is a good place to stop your prep. The cleaning of Jalapenos takes the most time and you will have your mixture in the refrigerator and ready to scoop in when needed.

Step 3- Preheat oven to 400*, open your package of bacon, and line a cookie sheet with foil.

Step 4- Fill your poppers with the cream cheese mixture and wrap tightly with the bacon. For thinner bacon, go ahead and wrap all the wrap all the way around even multiple times. For thicker bacon, you may want to slice in half and do a more loose covering.

Step 5- Bake in pre-heated oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the bacon is crisped.

Step 6- Serve hot and enjoy!

Advertisement