Three-Cheese Baked Jalapeño Poppers

I like my food hot! If the dish isn’t spicy then I look for heat on the side. Even hot sauce usually isn’t enough, and it’s chilli peppers all the way. Oh Yes! Hot IS my favourite flavour by far. And when I saw these babies at my local super market I knew I had to have them. Fresh from a local farm not far from Toronto, these chillies hadn’t spent very long on a truck so I knew they would be full of flavour and nutrients.
Sadly I didn’t have a plan for them. And after a few days of crunching through chillies alternated by frantic sips of water I knew I had to have another solution! 

Cooking With Farm Fresh Chilli Peppers

As always I turned to Google Guru for inspiration and looked over recipes for achar, chutney, pepper jelly, mirchi ka salan (a very spicy and mindblowingly delicious dish) and pakodas (chickpea flour fritters). And while I was surfing I washed and laid these perfect chilli peppers to dry on the counter…and took a bunch of pictures. They just looked so delicious!

And that’s where they stayed till the next day for once the kids came home from school there was homework and after school classes and of course life, and I’m always surprised when I’m able to follow a thought through from start to finish.

But I did and you will be glad when you see the delicious result.

Three Cheese Baked Jalapeño Poppers

My hubby and I love our snacks. We have been known to go out for dinner and then order a sampling of appetizers. And lots of them served with the drinks, and then head straight for dessert. The only thing is that it’s tough to find healthy appetizers and that’s what these are. Not fried but Baked Jalapeño Poppers topped with crunchy oatmeal and stuffed with a mix of three cheeses. You end up with perfectly sized appetizers for the next time you have friends over.

Real Life Kitchen Tips

• WEAR GLOVES when handling the chillies! I didn’t and I couldn’t wear contacts the next day even though I washed my hands a ZILLION times!
• I used ricotta cheese, low-fat goat cheese and yellow cheddar for the stuffing. I like the combination of tart and salty. Use your favourite combination of cheeses though I don’t suggest mozzarella that’s found in traditional deep-fried jalapeño poppers. These snacks are baked and need a stuffing that will help hold their shape. I thought of inserting toothpicks to better shape them but that’s extra work in cooking and eating and who wants that, really?
• When stuffing the peppers start from the widest side and run down to the narrow. Then scrape the top with a butter knife and leave space for the cruncy oatmeal topping.

Baked Jalapeno Poppers

Print Recipe

Prep Time 45 mins

Cook Time 30 mins

Servings 6

Author Puneeta

Ingredients

• 12 Fresh Chilli Peppers - Jalapenos work best
• 100 gms low fat Goat Cheese
• 50 gms Ricotta Cheese
• 50 gms yellow Cheddar Cheese
• 1/2 tsp Cumin
• 1 tsp Sugar
• Salt - a pinch if at any all. The goat and the cheddar cheese will add their own salt.
• Oil or PAM spray for the grill pan

For the Oatmeal topping

• 1/2 cup instant Oatmeal
• a pinch of Salt and Pepper

Instructions

• Wash and dry the peppers.
• Preheat oven to 400 deg F.
• Slice each lengthwise and scoop the seeds and membranes out. Wear gloves!
• Fill the chilli peppers with the cheese mixture.
• Scrape the cheese off the top and leave an indent for the oatmeal topping.
• Top with the crunchy oatmeal.
• Lay the peppers out on an oiled grilled pan. I use PAM spray for how easy it is to apply.
• Bake for 15-20 mins. Watch it after the first 15 to make sure the peppers are charred and not burnt and the same with the oatmeal topping.