These cheesy bacon poppers have been my go-to party appetizer for as long as I can remember. I have made these for Super Bowl parties, BBQs, office potlucks, and just for an afternoon snack. These are so delicious, they can be eaten for any occasion.
These stuffed peppers have everything you need for a great party appetizer. They are easy to make, easy to eat, use only 3 ingredients, and oh so deliciously addictive. Sweet peppers filled with cheese and wrapped in bacon, how can you go wrong?
How to Stuff the Peppers:
Cut the cream cheese into small strips as shown in the picture above. When cutting the cream cheese, I recommend keeping your hands and the knife wet with water. This will make the cream cheese less likely to stick to everything, and will make clean-up easier.
I use the Kroger Signature Brand center- cut bacon because it is always under $5 and much less fatty than regular bacon, making it cook much more evenly around the pepper. Using regular bacon is fine, that is just my personal preference. I would not recommend thick-cut bacon as this will be harder to wrap around the pepper and is not likely to get evenly crispy.
I cut my bacon in half before wrapping the pepper, because I feel that the pepper to bacon ratio works better. If you do a full strip of bacon per pepper, keep in mind that you will need to buy more bacon and increase your cook time. After cutting the bacon in half, stretch it out slightly with your hands to get it to fully wrap around the peppers. You can use a toothpick to hold it in place, but I have never found it to be necessary. As the peppers cook, the bacon may shrink a bit around the pepper. They may not look perfect, but they taste delicious!
How to Cook the Cheesy Bacon Poppers:
I prefer to place the prepared peppers into muffin tins when they cook. This keeps the cream cheese from leaking out, and lets the bacon cook more evenly. You can also place the peppers on a baking sheet to cook, but cream cheese is likely to melt out of the peppers. You will need to let these cool before serving or you will have some scalded tongues. These taste great even after they have been sitting out for a bit, although they are not likely to last that long.
How to Store the Cheesy Bacon Poppers:
These poppers can be stored in an air-tight container for up to 5 days. I would not recommend freezing them. Reheat in the toaster oven or in a pan on the stove top so the bacon gets crispy again.
Look for store-brand bacon or cream cheese to save a few dollars. Buy the peppers in the summer as they will be much more affordable.
Recipe Step-by-Step
- Preheat the oven to 400°.
- Cut the tops off the peppers and pull out any seeds with your fingers.
- Cut the cream cheese into strips. Keep the knife wet as mentioned above for easy clean-up.
- Stuff the cream cheese into each pepper.
- Wrap a half a piece of bacon around each pepper, and place the prepared pepper into a muffin tin.
- Bake the peppers for 20 minutes in the preheated oven.
- If you bake the peppers on a baking sheet, cook for about 16 minutes.
How many guests will the Cheesy Bacon Poppers serve?
This recipe makes about 24 Cheesy Bacon Poppers. Assume that each guest will eat about 3 poppers each, so this should easily serve 8 people as an appetizer.
Cheesy Bacon Poppers
Ingredients
- 1 lb. Mini Sweet Peppers
- 12 oz. Center-Cut Bacon
- 8 oz Cream Cheese (1 package)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400°.
- Prepare peppers by cutting off tops and pulling out any remaining seeds.
- Cut cream cheese into strips. Keep your hands and the knife wet, this will make the cream cheese less likely to stick and will be much less messy.
- Stuff cream cheese into each pepper.
- Cut bacon in half and wrap each half around 1 pepper. You can use a toothpick to secure the bacon but it is not necessary.
- Place each pepper into a muffin tin cup or on a backing sheet.
- Bake for 16 minutes on baking sheet; or 20 minutes in muffin tins.
- Rest for 5 minutes before serving.
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