I didn’t discover pimento cheese until adulthood, but since then I’ve made up for lost time. It’s spread on tea sandwiches, enjoyed with crackers at the beach, and even used to enrich grits. Today I’m updating a classic game-day snack: bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers filled with pimento cheese.
When football season starts, I love hosting — not because I’m glued to the game, but because it’s an excuse to socialize and make indulgent snacks. I can whip up something cheesy and meaty, sample a bite or two, then let the fans devour the rest. Lately I’ve been obsessed with pimento cheese, so I decided to make a handheld appetizer that showcased it. With an overabundance of jalapeños from the garden, these seemed like the perfect solution.
The result: pimento cheese–stuffed, bacon-wrapped jalapeños. Spicy, creamy, cheesy and a touch crispy, they deliver big flavor with minimal effort. I worried the pimento cheese might get greasy inside the peppers, but the rendered bacon fat actually drips onto the pan and helps crisp the outside while the interior becomes soft and pimento-forward. For best results use a rimmed baking sheet to catch the drippings.
📖 Recipe
Bacon Wrapped Pimento Cheese Jalapenos
16 bacon wrapped jalapenos
Ingredients
- 8 jalapeños
- 8 strips bacon
- 1/4 cup pimento cheese homemade or store-bought
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Lay the bacon strips on a large rimmed baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes to render some fat but not fully crisp.
- While the bacon cooks, coat your hands lightly with cooking oil to protect them from the peppers. Cut each jalapeño in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and white ribs.
- Fill each jalapeño half with pimento cheese.
- Pat excess grease off the par-cooked bacon and cut each strip in half.
- Wrap each stuffed jalapeño half with a half slice of bacon. If needed, secure with a toothpick.
- Place the wrapped peppers on the rimmed baking sheet and return to the oven. Bake at 400°F for about 20 minutes, until the bacon is crispy and the peppers are tender.
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