Autumn is just around the corner and there are plenty of things to look forward to. I personally love to spend the cool fall days baking or making soups and chili. I will look for reasons to get together with friends just as an excuse to cook. Additionally, when living in the Iowa City area, what better excuse is there to get together than to cheer on the Hawkeyes? That is why I always have a few crowd-pleasing tailgating recipes.
I’m the first to admit that I pick a lot of complicated recipes. However, this stuffed jalapeño recipe is perfect for many reasons:
- It’s EASY
- There are only 4 ingredients
- It can be prepped ahead of time
- It is versatile
- And most importantly… it’s delicious
Ingredients:
- 1 lb cooked pork sausage
- 1 6oz package shredded parmesan
- 2 8oz cream cheese
- 15 jalapeños (depending on the size of your jalapeños you could use anywhere from 12-20)
Directions
1) Prep Jalapeños.
- Rinse
- Cut in half
- Remove seeds.
**Tip – You can control the amount of heat your peppers will have by removing the white membrane along with the seeds.
2) Mix the sausage, cream cheese, and parmesan cheese. The heat from the cooked sausage will help soften the cream cheese making it easier to incorporate.
3) Taste… it’s an important part of all cooking. But really, I just love this filling. Although this looks like a lot, by the time I get done eating it with a spoon (it’s that good) there will be the perfect amount left.
4) Line a pan with aluminum foil and lightly spray it with cooking spray. This step isn’t entirely necessary, but who wants to scrape melted cheese from a pan when you could be enjoying company?
Or forget the pan and throw them on the grill!
5) Fill the pepper halves with filling.
6) If you are lucky, you will have leftover filling. It freezes great, so next time you want to make some peppers with supper you just need to pull it out of the freezer.
7) Bake until golden. I’m going to say 375 for 15 minutes, but these are already completely cooked. You’re just heating them through until they get golden and bubbly. So if you are already cooking something at 350 or 425, don’t worry about adjusting the oven temperature. Just keep an eye on them and pull them out when they look done.
Enjoy!
Did I mention that despite the fact that I virtually live in my kitchen, I’m really bad at writing recipes? There are so many paths you can take to achieve an amazing end result that I have trouble committing to a specific set of instructions. Just know, with these 4 ingredients you can’t go wrong!
Helpful tips for customizing this recipe:
- Try using chorizo for extra flavor
- Substitute the parmesan cheese for Monterey Jack or Cotija
- Vegetarian? Omit the sausage.
- Use poblano or Anaheim peppers to turn this appetizer into a side dish
Stuffed Jalapeños
Ingredients
- 1 lb cooked pork sausage
- 1 6oz package shredded parmesan
- 2 8oz cream cheese
- 15 jalapeños (depending on the size of your jalapenos you could use anywhere from 12-20)
Directions
- Prep Jalapeños – rinse, cut, remove seeds.
- Prep filling – brown sausage, mix in cream cheese and parmesan.
- Fill jalapeño halves with filling.
- Bake (or grill) until golden brown. Approx 15-20 minutes at 375.
Happy Fall!