Baked Jalapeño Poppers
This lightened-up baked jalapeño popper recipe will be a big hit! They’re stuffed with fresh herbed cream cheese and topped w/crushed BBQ chips. Vegetarian!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on May 22, 2024
It’s football season, and it’s about time for a proper jalapeño popper recipe on this food blog! These jalapeño poppers are lighter than most since they’re baked, not fried, and bacon-free (more on that in a minute).
These jalapeño poppers are stuffed with a fresh, herbed cream cheese mixture and topped with just enough cheddar cheese to turn golden. They are beyond delicious, and they’re not greasy at all. If a popper could be gourmet, this one is! I think they’re going to be your new favorite.
The inspiration for these stuffed jalapeños came from my assistant-turned-friend Megan’s birthday party for her husband. The guests all brought party snacks and a few even brought Cookie and Kate recipes, which was a fun surprise.
Someone brought jalapeño poppers wrapped in bacon, and I eyed them enviously. Being a vegetarian and a former bacon lover, I can appreciate the crisp, rich, smoky flavor that bacon must have brought to those poppers.
I came home with the mission to make bacon-free jalapeño poppers that taste just as good. Around that time, Kettle Brand reached out for a sponsorship and sent me the most amazing Organic Country Style Barbecue potato chips. I have a soft spot for potato chips and they made my jalapeño popper dreams come true!
The barbecue potato chips offer a similarly crisp, rich, smoky flavor that I can’t get enough of. Bonus? The chips are gluten free, so that means these poppers are gluten free as well. Poppers for everyone!
Jalapeño Popper Notes & Tips
How to slice your peppers
Most jalapeño popper recipes suggest slicing the jalapeños in half, but there is a better way! If you slice off the top one-third of the pepper lengthwise, you’ll have a stronger pepper shape to stuff. It will retain its shape better in the oven, and you can stuff a little more into each one this way.
Top with cheddar cheese
Instead of mixing cheese into the cream cheese mixture (which makes the mixture bubble up and turns the poppers to the side), I simply topped each popper with a small amount before baking. That way, you get the best of the cheese flavor (the golden part) without the trouble.
Keep an eye on them
Pull the poppers out of the oven just as the cheese is turning golden, around 11 to 12 minutes into baking. If you go much longer, the cheese might turn the poppers to the side. If that happens, though, no worries—just use a spoon to scoop it back inside. You’re going to cover them with a potato chip-and-herb mixture anyway.
How to crush your chips
To crush the chips, you can blend them in a food processor until they’re broken into fine crumbs. If you don’t have one, you can crush them with a rolling pin or smash them around in a sturdy bag!
Watch How to Make Jalapeno Poppers
Please let me know how these jalapeño poppers turn out for you in the comments! Your feedback is so important to me.
Craving more meatless party snacks? Here are a few more to love: Baked Spinach & Artichoke Dip, Chunky Avocado Salsa, Ultra Crispy Baked Potato Wedges, Loaded Veggie Nachos, and the Best Red Salsa.
Baked Jalapeño Poppers
This lightened-up baked jalapeño popper recipe will be a big hit! They’re stuffed with fresh, herbed cream cheese, and topped with a crispy and irresistible barbecue potato chip topping. Plus, they’re vegetarian and gluten free. Recipe yields 12 stuffed peppers.
Ingredients
- 12 large jalapeño peppers
- 8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
- ¼ cup chopped fresh cilantro, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish
- ¼ cup chopped green onion, plus 1 tablespoon for garnish
- ¼ teaspoon garlic powder
- ¼ teaspoon onion powder
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- ⅓ cup grated sharp cheddar cheese
- 2 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese, optional
- 1 big handful Kettle Brand Country Style Barbecue potato chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit and line a large, rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper for easy clean-up. Cut off one-third of each pepper lengthwise (see photos). Use a small spoon (a serrated grapefruit spoon works great) to scoop out the seeds and membranes from each pepper, and discard those pieces.
- In a bowl, combine the cream cheese, ¼ cup chopped cilantro and green onion, garlic powder, onion powder and salt. Stir to combine.
- Stuff the peppers with the cream cheese mixture (you might have a small amount left over). Top each of the peppers with a small mound of cheese lengthwise.
- Bake for 10 to 13 minutes, until the cheese is bubbling and starting to turn golden.
- Meanwhile, place a big handful of chips in a food processor and process until the chips are broken into tiny pieces (or, you can crush them under a rolling pin). Stir the feta, if using, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of cilantro and green onion into the chips.
- Transfer the jalapeño poppers to a large serving dish and top each pepper with the crushed chip mixture. Serve!
Notes
Storage suggestions: If you have leftovers (which is unlikely!), they keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for up to 3 days. Gently reheat in the microwave or oven before serving.
Prepare in advance: I haven’t tried, this, but I believe you could stuff the peppers in advance and refrigerate for later. When it’s time to bake, top them with cheese and proceed as written.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
This post was created in partnership with Kettle Brand chips. Check out their Instagram page for more snack inspiration! Opinions are my own, always. Thank you for supporting the sponsors who support C+K.
So delicious! Thank you for the recipe, we make these often! (I’m addicted to Kettle jalapeno chips lol) The crushed BBQ chips on these poppers are genius!
You’re welcome! Thank you for your review, Diana.
These are amazing.. I made them as a meal every Sat night for like a year.. never get sick of them.. I even add cilantro to the chips in processor because I love cilantro so much. :))))
I bet cilantro would be nice here! Thank you for sharing, Su.
I’ll be making these tonight for the Super Bowl! Love Jalapeno poppers! I’ll let you know how they turn out! Go Chiefs!
Go Chiefs! I hope they were a hit, Kathy.
They were brilliant and a definite hit!!
Needed a fairly easy appetizer and tried these. Really good! One party guest said they were the best jalapeño peppers he had ever had (must have been an expert!).Will definitely keep this in our faves, thank you!
Messaging from Australia. Last night we hosted an “All American Night” and as part of my “American menu” I made your Baked Jalapeno Poppers.
I checked with my local fruit and vegetable retailer last week to check if he stocked them as I had never bought jalapeños before. They made sure they got them in for me this week.
Your instructions were easy to follow and the poppers turned out perfectly. Most of our guests had never eaten jalapeños before and all loved them.
Due to juggling timing/oven space, I cooked them then set them aside for about an hour then placed them in the warming drawer to heat through.
I will definitely make these again
Thanks for sharing
Lyndelle
i made these and they are delicious! the bbq chips add the perfect crunch. can i freeze them? and if so, should i freeze them unbaked?
Thanks Dre, glad to hear it! I haven’t tried freezing these. I think they would freeze relatively well. I would actually freeze them after baking. Let them cool completely before freezing. To reheat, just bake them until they’re warmed through again. The chips will likely get soggy in the process, so save those for adding at the end, if possible.
We made this the other night, and it was so good we made it again within the week! It’s truly easy, and delicious! A keeper and a sharer!!
Thanks for the recipe. I made it for my wife and she loved it.
This was delicious!
I was too lazy to mix the chips with the cilantro and green onions and I slightly over baked it.
But it still tasted great. Will definitely make it again.
Also, I hate deep frying – baking is always a better option!
Thank you for sharing, Merline! I’m glad you loved it.
Delicious recipe. I replaced the chips with panko breadcrumbs while they bake, which gave them a nice crunch.
Soooo good! Huge hit with everyone! Love your recipes!
OMG this is SO SO SO SO SO good!!! I LOVE it! And love the barbecue chips on top. I made it one day, kept some in the fridge for the next day and devoured it. Now I am making another batch. Just thinking about it is making my mouth water. However, jalapeños are SO darn spicy! I have never eaten jalapeños in this manner and always loved the fried poppers in bars, frying definitely makes it much much less spicy. But eating it this way, no matter how much I baked, some of them were so spicy I couldn’t take another bite and had to throw it out. Ugh. But the ones that were milder were so good. Which jalapeños should I use to make it not so spicy? I mixed cream cheese with feta and goat cheese, both my favorite. Also tried mozzarella and parmesan. Cream cheese is the main taste and feta adds a nice tanginess too, so I recommend these two cheeses.
Hi! I’m glad you liked it. I would just make sure your jalapenos don’t have any seeds remaining as that is where a lot of the heat comes from. Thank you for sharing!
I removed all the seeds but it was still hot. I have made this a few times now, this time I scooped as much out as I could and that helped a bit. I also tried this with only cream cheese and no chips, and it tastes much better with feta and goat cheeses and the crunchiness on top. Any chips is better than nothing! Now I keep buying jalapeños to make this more and more!
These were so good! We made them in advance and they turned out great. When it was time to cook them we added the cheddar and heated them up on the bbq. Delicious!
We made these tonight and they are delicious! We had grown some jalapeños in our very small garden this year, and I was looking for something tasty to prepare with them. This was perfect and will definitely be my go-to recipe for future jalapeños. We prefer them without the crushed potato chips.
I made these and topped with dried onion (like French’s in the can) and everyone raved over them!!! Will be making again soon!!!! #bighit
OMG, loved the poppers!!! I substituted herb and garlic goat cheese for the cream cheese, other than that followed the recipe. So delicious!
Made these for our vegetarian friends. We all loved them! Followed the recipe to a tee and will definitely make them again!
Love it! Thanks for sharing, Mary.
These are very, very good and we like them better than the bacon wrapped poppers (we are now vegetarians and we were looking for a different option). I saved the removed 1/3 pieces of the jalapenos and will be looking for a way to use them. Thank you for sharing!
I will be making these for the first time for my daughter. I would like to know if these can be frozen before adding the chips?
Hi Kathy, I don’t think these would freeze the best. But, let me know how it works if you try it.
Love this recipe!
This was OUTSTANDING. At first I was wondering how it would turn out. Trust me, it turns out AMAZINGLY!!
I’m happy you love it, Cadi! Thank you for sharing.
These were a huge hit with my family and friends for my birthday party! I loved them even one of my friends who doesn’t like jalapeños loved this recipe. Can’t wait to make them again
Delicious! One of my favorites now!
Came out awesome especially for a first try! Did add bacon too the cream cheese though! Haha
I like to make the bacon wrapped stuffed jalapenos and hide a few for breakfast the next morning. They make the best omelets when chopped up in the eggs. You already have the bacon and cheese so it makes perfect sense.
P.S. love your cutting method.
I followed the recipe and put them on a cookie sheet, put them on the top shelf in a barbecue grill while we were barbecuing and they cooked for about 20 minutes. They were starting to blister. They were absolutely delicious!!! My husband doesn’t normally like jalapeno poppers and he loved these. my niece just emailed me and asked me which recipe I used. Also, you can use a metal baby spoon to scoop out the membranes and seeds.
That sounds delicious! Thank you for sharing, Mia. I appreciate it.
I made these poppers and followed the recipe but I used blue cheese for the top. I also baked them with the potato chip topping to make it crispy. Yummy!
Thank you for all of your great recipes!
Jalapeño bacon poppers are always my go to appy for any occasion. I’m excited to try this recipe for my vegetarian friends. I’ve prepped jalapeños poppers the day before. They hold up well in the fridge before baking! I’m sure this recipe would as well.
I made this recipe as written and it was great! Then, I switched things up a bit.
Instead of using the crushed chips as topping, I crushed them a little finer and used them in place of bread crumbs, after dipping in milk, then flour, then milk and then the chips. Baked the breaded peppers and they were great! Thanks for the idea!
These were great! I just want to mention that if you make a thin slice off of the jalapeño’s bottom, it will “anchor” the entire jalapeño and it won’t roll over in the oven or on the plate. Hope that makes sense!
i have made 2 batches of poppers from 2 other recipes, and both times the jalapeños flattened out and the cheese ran all over the place, and i didn’t even cook them as long as the recipe said to – very disappointing! i like your idea of just cutting off part of the top of pepper instead of cutting them in half, it looks like it makes a stronger “boat.” i think i’ll mince up the cut off pieces and add them to the cheese. wish me luck!
LOVED these! I didn’t have any chips on hand so I made them without but they were delicious!!
This looks delicious and I’d like to try it tonight. Can I substitute plain Greek Yogurt for the cream cheese?
Hi! I haven’t tried it and I’m hesitant it may have a little too much water content to work the same. Let me know if you try it!
Thank you for your prompt response! I agree with your concern about the water content in Greek Yogurt.
I had to substitute parsley for cilantro, red onions for green scallions, grated mozzerella for cheddar and it turned out great, delicious! Thank you for this recipe.
These were delicious and a big hit at our cookout! I substituted crumbled bacon for the chips .
I can’t wait to try this recipe. In instructions #2, do I mix the sharp cheddar and optional feta with the cream cheese mixture before stuffing peppers with the cheese??
Love your vegetarian and gluten free options in recipes. Thank you. All the best.
Hi! You don’t add the topping cheese until step 3 and add that on top. I hope that helps!
These are quick to make and delish! A tasty way to make poppers. However, the jalapenos were from the garden and you can never tell how hot they are going to be! The peppers we used to make these were inferno HOT! Everyone was jumping around saying yum but where is the milk!
I’ve made these a handful of times now and my family and I can’t get enough of them! This is a WONDERFUL recipe – thank you so much for sharing it! Keep up the amazing work, Cookie and Kate :-)
Thank you! I’m happy you loved it, Erin.
I have made this about 7-8 times now. I half the jalapeños to get the maximum amount of poppers, do not use chips at all, but mix about 2tbsp of bacon bits into the cream cheese mixture. It is always absolutely divine. Such great flavours. I had the extra mixture on toast for breakfast this morning, and it was soooo good.
These are great. The problem is I’m cooking. When I put them out they are all gone before i can get there. I tried making extra for me but they found them anyway. I don’t even know how they taste !!!Don
These were so fun and easy to make! I only had 4 large jalapeños. I was going to make a third of the recipe but instead, I cut my jalapeños in half and made half the filling recipe(omitting cilantro because it tastes like soap). I did not have the potato chips either but I didn’t miss them.
That’s great! Thank you for sharing, Heather.
Very good! Thanks for the recipe! I doubled it and omitted the green onions because I forgot them and used 1 tsp of each seasoning. So Perfect!!
You don’t mention where to add the cheddar (in the poppers? in the dip?) unless I keep skimming right over it.
Hi Joy! Where is says to top with the cheese. I hope this helps! The post itself will help describe my method if you are still have issues.
Everybody loved these! I didn’t have onion powder, and they still tasted great. The other ingredients all seemed really crucial though. I appreciate that Kate’s recipes are always perfected, so you can follow exactly as is and get a wonderful final product. Also, it’s a pretty easy recipe if you are looking for something new and fool-proof.
I think the step that (surprisingly) takes it to the next level is the bbq potato chip step, so I would recommend NOT leaving this out. However, we used Baked Lays bbq chips, and they still tasted delicious.
Also, since I didn’t want to waste the top third of the jalapeños, I added some of the leftover cream cheese filling to those as well, topped with cheese, baked, and the crushed chips, and they tasted really good too. It’s an option if your jalapeños aren’t too spicy.
Thank you for your detailed comment, Punita! I appreciate your review.
Delicious! To make this vegan I used dairy free cream cheese and a bit of vegan shredded cheddar, and omitted the feta. The barbeque chip topping is fantastic. This was a great game day snack.
Thank you for sharing, Lauren! I’m happy you enjoyed this and were able to make it work for you vegan.
Hi Kate…quick question. Do you think it would be a problem to use a reduced fat cream cheese? Thanks!
Hi! That should work too. Flavor will vary, but results should be the same.
Hey Kate great recipe! I have been making similar ones with 1:1:1 cheddar, mozarella, and cream cheese. I add herbs and some fresh squeezed lemon juice in mine. The thing I wanted to suggest was keeping the cut pepper slice you remove from the top, adding a small amount of cheese, and cooking the same as the others, they are great too!
Love the concept of the recipe but tried to make it healthier by using low-fat cream cheese. It did not work. Possibly with heavier seasoning, but it’s missing the richness of the cream cheese. I will make it again using regular cream cheese and I’m sure I will find it delicious. Rating 4 for concept, ease and potential flavor.
These poppers are AMAZING! Made with Neufchatel instead of full fat cream cheese. Everyone loved them as an appetizer to grilled tostada night! Thank you Kate!
Fantastic! I used only 1/4 up cheddar cheese and did slice the peppers in half, but I found that by placing them side by side, they didn’t roll over. The potato chip topping was perfect without the feta.
Thanks for sharing❤️
You’re welcome! I’m happy you enjoyed it, Carmen.