Goat Cheese Vegetarian Jalapeño Poppers
These super easy baked vegetarian jalapeño and sweet pepper poppers are made with Trader Joe’s goat milk cream cheese, an egg, fresh chives and sprinkled with organic, gluten-free Kettle Brand BBQ potato chips.
Vegetarian Jalapeño & Sweet Pepper Poppers
You know one of my favorite products is the goat milk creamy cheese from Trader Joe’s. It is the perfect substitute for regular cream cheese in recipes.
We use it in this “healthified” spinach artichoke dip and in the “died and went to heaven” pimento cheese dip. I also used it to make twice baked potatoes, which are another favorite around here.
Well I had a tub of the creamy cheese in the fridge and some extra sweet peppers and jalapeños so I wanted to make poppers to snack on.
But I didn’t want to mess with wrapping those poppers with bacon. So I looked up a recipe for vegetarian jalapeño poppers. And I came across this genius idea from blogger Cookie and Kate. She used BBQ chips on her poppers! BBQ chips! Such a great idea.
We actually love these organic, gluten-free BBQ chips and Brett usually has them with lunch. So I didn’t even have to go the store to grab a bag.
And I clipped some chives from the patio garden and whipped up a quick and easy batch of jalapeño poppers. I would definitely serve these up to guests. I love the way they turned out.
Prepping the Peppers
Jalapeño peppers can vary in size and heat. These were pretty big so I cut them in half and deveined them. I usually wear gloves now and use a small spoon to pull out the seeds and veins.
If the pepper are really hot (i.e. they burn your hands or make you cough) soak them in an ice bath for about 10 minutes. Then take them out and dry them off.
The sweet bell peppers I had on hand were pretty small. So I cut off the top third and cleaned the seeds out.
Both the jalapeño peppers and sweet mini peppers were organic.
The Cream Cheese Mixture
This was super simple. I mixed together the goat milk cream cheese and an egg. Then I grabbed a handful of fresh chives and chopped them up. Added it to the cream cheese mixture and that was it.
Then you just fill each pepper with a few spoonfuls of the mixture and bake for about 15-17 minutes. A knife inserted into the cheese filling should come out clean.
Then take a handful of BBQ chips and crumble them on top.
I later thought cooking the crumbled BBQ chips on top of cheese mixture filled peppers. I might try that next time to see how that works out. Because I’ll definitely be making these again.
I have to say they were so simple and really yummy. Kinda addictive. I liked the texture of the cheese filling. Anyway, enjoy your clean eating comfort snack foods!
Want more fun appetizer ideas?
- Ranch Cream Cheese Cucumber Bites
- Shishito Peppers with Spiked Chipotle Mayo
- Mini Puff Pastry Pizza Bites
- Mini Quiche Lorraine Bites
- Spinach Goat Feta Puff Pastries
Vegetarian Jalapeño & Sweet Pepper Poppers | Gluten-Free, Goat Cheese
These super easy baked vegetarian jalapeño and sweet pepper poppers are made with Trader Joe’s goat milk cream cheese, an egg, fresh chives and sprinkled with organic, gluten-free Kettle Brand BBQ potato chips.
Ingredients
- 4 large jalapeños
- 6 small sweet mini bell peppers
- 1 (4.5 oz) tub of Trader Joe's goat milk creamy cheese
- 1 egg
- 1/2 tbsp fresh chopped chives
- handful of Kettle brand organic, gluten-free BBQ chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Wash the peppers. Cut the jalapeños peppers in half and deseed and devein with a small spoon. If they smell strong or burn your hands, soak in ice water for about 10 minutes to reduce the heat. Then remove and dry.
If the mini sweet peppers are small, cut off 1/3 of the flesh and remove the seeds. Place all the peppers on a small baking sheet or stoneware oven pan.
Mix together the cream cheese, egg, and chives. When well blended, fill each pepper with a few spoonfuls of the cheese mixture.
Place in the oven and bake for about 15-17 minutes. A knife inserted into the cheese filling should come out clean. Remove from oven.
Take a handful of BBQ potato chips and crush. Sprinkle over the cooked poppers and enjoy!
