I might not love televised sports, but I do love hot peppers. So when everyone else in the U.S. is chowing down on fried foods next weekend, don’t despair! Vegan jalapeño poppers are totally within reach.
These take a little time to assemble, but if you set up a little assembly line and do them all at once, it’s really not a big deal. I’ve included instructions on how to prepare these in advance because it’s awesome to have a batch on hand for spontaneous parties.
When you’re selecting peppers, look for ones that are round and firm. I like my poppers with a little bit of crunch, but if you like your peppers super tender, you may want to blanch them in boiling water before stuffing them. You can also use an alternative method like baking or grilling, but as long as your oil is up to temperature, these will not come out of the fryer greasy. They’re just toasty, hot and delicious!
One last note before we move on to the recipe: be VERY CAREFUL when handling jalapeños (or any other hot pepper). I recommend handling them (when chopping, stuffing, etc.) with your hands safely nested inside plastic bags or rubber gloves. The first time I made jalapeño poppers, I burned my hands so badly that I literally couldn’t feel my right hand for more than two days. I tried everything to get the capsaicin off/out of my hands to pretty much no avail, and was pretty sure I had nerve damage. I don’t even want to imagine what it would do to more sensitive skin. Consider yourself warned!
- 15-20 fresh jalapeno peppers
- 8 oz vegan cream cheese
- ½ bunch cilantro
- 3 cloves garlic
- grated vegan cheese, optional
- vegan bacon bits, optional
- 1 c unsweetened, plain vegan milk
- 1.5 c flour
- 2 c panko
- 3 c oil for frying
- In a small bowl, beat together cream cheese, cilantro and garlic. Fold in cheese and/or bacon bits to taste, if using.
- If possible, refrigerate mixture for an hour to incorporate the flavors.
- Meanwhile, core the peppers. Using a very sharp knife, cut a circle around the stem and pull it out. Then slice a straight line down the length of the pepper. Stick a grapefruit spoon into the slit, being careful not to split the pepper further, and scrape out all of the seeds and other innards. Don’t worry about them opening up a bit and becoming slightly misshapen; the filling will fix this.
- Once all of your peppers have been cored, take a small spoon and stuff a bunch of your cream cheese mixture into the pepper, taking care to fill it all the way into the tip. Then, holding the pepper in the palm of your hand, squeeze the pepper back into shape.
- The cream cheese will glue the slit together, and you can wipe away any excess filling. Repeat for all peppers.
- If you’re preparing them in advance, you can toss them all in the freezer now for a couple of hours or overnight to solidify. If not, go ahead and start breading them.
- Place vegan milk, flour, and bread crumbs in three separate bowls.
- Dip jalapenos one at a time in vegan milk, then roll in flour and set aside to dry.
- After a few minutes, dip jalapenos in milk again, then roll in panko to coat. Set aside to dry.
- Dip peppers in milk a third time, and roll in panko. They should be well-coated at this point.
- Heat up oil in your deep-fryer to 375°F. (You can also deep-fry them in a large pot, or pan fry each side.)
- If you’re preparing them well in advance, you can freeze them in single layers and then toss them in an air-tight container in the freezer. Otherwise, just toss them a few at a time into a deep fryer for 3-6 minutes until golden brown.
- Serve hot (careful of hot juices and oils!).
10 comments
Jennifer says:
Jan 22, 2013
Awesome
Barb@ThatWasVegan? says:
Jan 23, 2013
Ooooh, I WANT THESE!
Katy says:
Jan 24, 2013
i cant wait to make these! im having some people over Saturday so this will definitely be an appetizer!
Kim says:
Feb 2, 2013
I made these and they were AWESOME! Only thing I did different was the stuffing method. I used a zip-lock baggie and put the cream cheese mixture in it, then cut the corner off and used it to pipe the mixture into the peppers. WAY less mess this way and you don’t split the peppers anymore than they are!
brickiepedia says:
Apr 29, 2013
Yum!!!!
Cono says:
May 4, 2013
this sounds amazing! never had the chance to try them before I went vegan. Thanks for the recipe!!
claryn says:
Jun 1, 2013
Thanks for reading, Cono
Renee says:
Oct 30, 2013
I just tried making these by boiling them in hot oil. They didn’t really turn out. All the cream cheese melted out of the pepper and the panko didn’t turn a nice brown color like in the picture. Any suggestions as to what I did wrong? Maybe my oil wasn’t hot enough.
claryn says:
Nov 3, 2013
Yep, if your panko didn’t brown, your oil wasn’t hot enough. I don’t recommend deep-frying things in a pot without an accurate thermometer; you typically want the oil as hot as it can be before it starts smoking — and if it does start smoking, it can be a real pain to bring it back down the the right temperature and keep it there. If the oil isn’t hot enough, whatever you’re frying will just soak in it.
You’ll also want to make sure the cream cheese mixture is still cold when you pack the peppers with it; you should be able to squeeze the peppers closed after filling them without much of anything oozing out the sides. If you have trouble filling the peppers without breaking them, you could try piping the cream cheese mixture in through the top after coring them. Good luck!
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