It’s like Jalapeño Poppers and cheesy bread got married! What could be more delicious than the cream cheesy filling spread on top of french bread and baked to perfection? Wait, don’t forget the bacon!
My sister Nikki is literally one of the smartest people I know but she can’t spell to save her life. (Remember when she spelled “quiche” “keich”? She’s the best.)
Back in high school she was the Key club president, and one year they did a fundraiser selling pizzas. She was on the phone with a customer and they asked what toppings were available. She listed them off: pepperoni, Canadian bacon, sausage, jaw-lop-a-nose, mushrooms, bell peppers…
And that was when she realized that she had absent-mindedly pronounced “jalapeños” like “jaw-lop-a-nose.” This still cracks me up whenever I think of it. Did I mention that she had been taking Spanish classes for 4 years at that point? I love you, Nikki.
Today we’re making Jawlopano Popper Cheesy Bread. With bacon. Because bacon is life. Have you guys ever made cream cheese stuffed jalapeño poppers wrapped in bacon? They are SO SO good. Sally’s recipe is my favorite. She adds a little smoked paprika to the cream cheese, which is a game changer.
I turned it into cheesy bread. You get the same delightful popper flavor, plus a ton more carbs, which is what I’m into when it comes time for football season. (Which, for me, is Cheesy-Carby-Appetizers season.)
(What, you guys don’t put sandwich bags on your hands when you chop jalapeños? This is totally normal. (Note to self: add kitchen gloves to the shopping list, Karen.) Make sure you cover your hands with something, folks. I just read a bunch of stories online about people chopping jalapeños and then trying to take their contacts out. GAH!!)
Are you guys into football? I still don’t understand it. Like, I mean, I get the hype and that it’s a fun game and team spirit and woo-woo! But even after watching 8 whole seasons of Friday Night Lights I still couldn’t tell you exactly what a first down was. You’d think that would have worked, right??
Eric used to not care about football but now he’s REALLY into BYU football (where we met!) so there’s always an effort to watch those games. And when I say effort, I mean Eric texting random family members for passwords to get access to their network accounts. You don’t pay for cable TV just for 11 games of football people. You bum off your family and make desperate Facebook pleas.
Technically this is an appetizer recipe, but if you want to serve it to your kids for dinner I won’t tell anyone.
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One year ago: Texas Cowboy Cookies
Two years ago: Cauliflower Rice Skillet with Zucchini and Kielbasa
Three years ago: Coconut Layer Cake
Jalapeño Popper Cheesy Bread with Bacon
Ingredients
- 4 slices of bacon, baked
- 1 loaf French bread, here’s a homemade recipe
- 1 (8-oz) package cream cheese, softened
- 5-6 jalapeños, seeded and chopped
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 clove garlic, smashed and minced
- 1 cup cheddar cheese, shredded
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- more cheese, to top (optional)
Instructions
- First bake your bacon. Lay 4 strips of bacon on a foil-lined baking sheet and follow the instructions for baking on this post. You can also fry it in a pan if you like, but you have to turn the oven on to broil the bread anyway, so you make as well bake it and save your face from getting splattered with grease.
- Remove the cooked bacon from the pan and discard the foil. Line the pan with a new sheet of foil. Crumble the bacon into pieces.
- In a large bowl or stand mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is smooth.
- Chop the jalapeños. See photo. Make sure you get rid of all the seeds and membranes.
- Add jalapeños, smoked paprika, garlic, cheddar cheese, salt, and garlic powder to the cream cheese. Mix it together.
- Split the French bread in half horizontally. Spread the cream cheese mixture evenly on each half of the bread. Top with more cheese if you like. Sprinkle with bacon.
- Preheat the broiler and line a baking sheet with foil.
- Place the bread halves on the foil and broil for 6-9 minutes, until it is as melty as you like. Keep an eye on it and always set a timer! Food goes from browned to burned very fast under a broiler.
- Slice and serve warm!
Notes
Source: I kind of mashed up Sally's Bacon Wrapped Cheesy Stuffed Jalapeños with Trish's Cheesy Bacon Ranch Bread.
Nutrition
French Bread Pizza, 3 Ways << I called this post a Back to School dinner so I’m pretty sure that means today’s bread counts as dinner too. Right?
Bacon and Pepper Jack Stuffed Crescent Rolls: < now this is some good game day food.
More cheesy bread from blogger friends!
Cheesy Bacon Ranch Bread from Mom on Timeout
Italian Chicken Cheesy Bread from Crunchy Creamy Sweet
Black Angus Cheesy Garlic Bread from CopyCat Recipes
I would like to thank you for sharing this recipe. We had this the other day with some guests at home and they were so amazed and happy with it. It was sure a big hit.
it’s barely 10am and i want to eat this!
i’m a good speller for the most part, but not a great reader-out-louder. especially when i come across a word i suddenly realize i’ve only ever read and have never heard said out loud! blue curaçao, anyone? (i pronounced that like “curr-ah-koo” in my head for years before i learned that weird C is pronounced like an S.) or when i was little and reading aloud in school and tried to say “colonel.” how is anyone supposed to know that’s pronounced like “kernel”?? life is so unfair, and embarrassing.
anyway, i am totally making this for football. i have a similar recipe…except you roast the jalapenos whole on gas burner and then you peel & slice them and put them on bread with the cheese mix and bacon to make…popper grilled cheese! man, the yogurt i’m about to eat is going to be unsatisfying on another level after writing this super long comment XD
ps, i’m the same with football. i don’t understand it at all beyond getting the ball into the end zone and making sure the other team doesn’t. and i’m a smart person! oh well. hockey is my favorite thing to watch, and i can understand it :)
OH my gosh, we just started reading Harry Potter to the kids and Eric is the official reader because he’s way better at making fun voices. I’m so glad it’s him and not me because apparently I couldn’t pronounce ANYTHING as an 11 year old kid the first time I read Harry Potter. Eric listened to the audio version as a kid so got all the proper pronunciations in his head. He is always laughing at me for my mispronunciations of words that I’ve only read and never said. How are there so many, how???