If you’ve never made homemade jalapeño peppers, today is the day! If you have, you’ve got to give my flavor-packed recipe a try. Making poppers is way easier than you think. And they taste so much better than any restaurant or frozen variety.
To get started, you need to get some fresh jalapeños in your produce aisle or at the farmer’s market. I like my jalapeños crunchy, so I don’t pre-cook them. But if you prefer soft jalapeños, you’ll need to parboil them after scooping out the seeds and stems, and before stuffing them.
Cut the jalapeño peppers in half lengthwise.
Then scoop out all the seeds. This will make room for the filling and will also make your jalapeño poppers a little milder. For extra-hot poppers, take the seeds and add them to your cheese filling.
Make the filling by mixing cream cheese, cheddar cheese, chipotle chili powder, cumin, garlic, onion and jalapeño seeds if desired; stuff into each pepper half.
Now the jalapeños are ready for the breading process. First coat them in flour that has been seasoned with salt and pepper.
Then dip them in a milk and egg mixture...
and then back in the flour.
Dip them into the milk mixture again.
Now coat with bread crumbs. (If want your jalapeños extra crunchy, dip them back in the milk mixture and bread crumbs one more time.)
Now they are ready for the fryer.
Fry them in oil preheated to 350° about 2 to 3 minutes or until golden brown. I only fry a few at a time, being careful not to crowd the deep fryer.
You can serve these poppers with queso, sour cream, guacamole or fresh salsa. But they are so full of flavor, we eat them without a dipping sauce!