Jalapeno Popper Meatballs

Looking to bring an appetizer to the Super Bowl? These will definitely be a crowd pleaser. I made these for the family Christmas and for those that tried it, they were well received. I made a bacon-wrapped meatball last year, was awesome, but wanted to do something a little different. Since I didn’t post those, I just might have to do them for 2022! Anyway, recipe below to cut to the chase – but read on to see the magic!

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Recipe

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The Prep Table

Pretty simple recipe. I brought along the BBQ sauce if anyone wanted to do that, but you’ll see as read on – I didn’t want to glaze at the end – these were looking too good to add anything else. As I went shopping, the market had some crappy looking “fresh” jalapeños, so that kinda sucked. However, they did have this orange “Kaboom!” bag. I never saw “black” jalapeños before. Best I can say about them is not as hot, but all the flavor. I personally love the taste of a fresh jalapeno, so much I’ll eat it like a green pepper – but I know it’s not for everyone.

Grab a half dozen or so jalapeños and give them a good dicing. When I was mixing it up, it looked like way too much jalapeno. Nine times out of 10, I cook for me – and I did that today too. The color really added to the presentation as well.

You’ll want a pound of meat in there – I did half and half sausage and ground beef. Two tablespoons of your favorite pork rub and a half cup of shredded cheddar. Combine and get ready to make them meatballs!

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The Process

Make these as big or as small as you want. I wanted about a 1″ ball, so grab a bit and ball-ify it. Lay it flat, rip a small amount of cream cheese and mold the meat around it. The smaller the dice on the jalapeno the easier it is to mold. This would also apply if you decided to omit the jalapeños all together, but you’ll see the result.

Repeat until that pound of meat is all used up. I ended up with fifteen – not perfectly uniform, but close enough.

Get the smoker fired up to 225 and plan for about a 2 hour smoke. I put them on a jerky rack, but you can use the trusty frogmats as well. These jerky racks get so much use – great Rural King purchase.

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The Result

These look absolutely fantastic! The smoke really took to them. You can see why I decided to pass on doing a BBQ glaze at the end.. they look so damn good as is!

Dropped these into a Cambro prep container and transported to the dinner. I didn’t even try them to make sure they tasted good before presenting them.. I was that confident. And with good reason. These were eaten up quick. Some were shy from the jalapeno – someone else doesn’t like cream cheese, but those that like a jalapeno popper and a meatball – guaranteed success.

Let me know if you try this! I’ll be making these again and wouldn’t change a thing!

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The Recipe