These spicy grilled jalapeño poppers are stuffed with an addictive mix of barbecue sauce, cheddar and cream cheese, and glazed bacon before being grilled until hot and bubbly.

Video: How to Make BBQ Bacon Jalapeño Poppers

The Best Jalapenos for This Recipe

When you buy your jalapeno peppers, pick through the bunch and find medium- to large-sized ones that feel firm and have no signs of wrinkling. Also, here are some good tips on gauging the hotness of your peppers! Depending on the size of your peppers and how much you stuff them, you may have some leftover filling. This makes a great spread for crackers or made into sandwiches!

Making Bacon-Stuffed Poppers

I opted for bacon-stuffed poppers rather than bacon-wrapped poppers for a few reason. For one thing, cooking the bacon on its own gives you the opportunity to glaze the stripes with BBQ sauce, and this infuses the bacon with extra-awesome barbecue flavor. Stuffing the poppers with bacon also neatly avoids issues of flare-ups during grilling. Hot bacon grease dripping down onto the flames is no fun.

Tips for Grilling Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers

The only challenging part to this recipe — apart from not scarfing the entire batch before your guests arrive — is making sure the poppers don’t fall through the grill grates. Be sure to lay them across the grates rather than parallel to avoid this unwanted fate. Another word to the wise: take care not to overcook them. You want the filling to get hot and melty, but don’t cook so long that the peppers become soft and lose their texture. Cook just until the tops feel piping hot to the touch and the bottoms show grill marks.

…Or Bake Them!

If it’s not grilling season or you don’t have a grill, you can also bake these poppers in the oven. Just arrange the poppers on a foil-lined baking sheet and roast at 425°F until the cheese filling is hot and bubbly and the jalapeños are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

Serve With Sour Cream

Feel free to serve your jalapeño poppers with a dip bowl of sour cream on the side – the coolness of the cream will help balance the heat of the jalapeños. An ice-cold beer is also highly recommended. These jalapeño poppers are the perfect one—bite snack for your next party. You might even want to think about doubling or tripling this recipe—it’s very hard to stop at just one! Depending on the size of your peppers and how much you stuff them, you may have some leftover filling. This makes a great spread for crackers or filling for sandwiches!  Oven Directions: Arrange the poppers on a baking sheet and roast at 425°F until the cheese filling is hot and bubbly and the jalapeños are tender, 10 to 15 minutes.

12 ounces (8 to 12 slices) thick-cut smoked bacon 1 1/2 tablespoons barbecue sauce

For the filling:

8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature 1 cup (about 3 ounces) coarsely shredded sharp cheddar cheese 1 1/2 tablespoons minced fresh chives 1 large clove garlic, minced 2 tablespoons barbecue sauce 12 medium jalapenos Extra minced fresh chives, to garnish 1 cup sour cream, to serve, optional

Transfer to the oven and bake until crisp and caramelized, 15 to 20 minutes. (Begin checking around 15 minutes; the bacon could take up to 20 minutes to fully crisp depending on the brand and thickness). Remove the bacon from the oven and drain for a few minutes on paper towels, then transfer to a plate to finish cooling. The pieces will stick to the paper towels if left for too long. Arrange all the jalapeños cut-side up on a platter or baking sheet. At this point, the poppers can be covered and refrigerated until ready to grill, up to 24 hours. For charcoal grills, fill a grill chimney with charcoal and light it. When the coals are hot (they should be covered with a layer of fine gray ash) empty the coals into the grill and push them to one side of the grill to make higher heat and lower heat cooking zones. Set the grate in place and cover the grill. Preheat the grate for 5 minutes. Using tongs, place the poppers on the grill so they lay across the grates and don’t fall through. If any of the poppers is leaning to the side, prop it up against a neighbor so the cheese filling doesn’t start to melt out as the poppers cook. Grill until the poppers are seared on the bottoms and the cheese filling is hot and bubbling around the edges, about 10 minutes. Be careful of overcooking or the peppers will become too soft.