Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

 

If you are as big of a fan of jalapeño peppers, as I am, then you are going to love this clever way to enjoy them in a grilled cheese sandwich. This recipe is from smalltownwoman.com who is clearly a woman after my own heart. While her recipe is designed to serve two, I cut it in half, just made one, and it was sandwich perfection. After having this, I honestly can’t imagine enjoying a grilled cheese without the addition of jalapeños in one form or other. If you like the idea of jalapeño poppers, but jalapeños have too much heat for you that is no problem. Place your fresh jalapeños in a small bowl of water and put it in the fridge. Leave it there for a day or two and the heat will dissipate, leaving only the wonderful flavor of the pepper.

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

2 jalapeños, sliced lengthwise, seeds and membranes removed

4 oz. cream cheese

4 slices bacon, crispy cooked

2 slices Monterey jack

2 slices sharp cheddar

4 slices Italian bread

Cilantro chopped (optional)

Pats of butter

Preheat oven to 375°F.

 Stuff each jalapeño half with approximately 1 ounce of cream cheese. Bake on a baking sheet for 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven; cool slightly.

 Assemble sandwiches thusly:

Bread

Slice of cheddar

Stuffed jalapeño pieces

Bacon strips

Slice of Monterrey Jack

Bread

 Top each sandwich with several pats of butter. Place in skillet over medium-low heat, butter side down.  Top with more pats of butter. Now grill each side until lightly browned.

 Cheese should be melted and gooey.

 

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

 

There's one thing that you can always count on, and that is having your sweet, innocent, apple-cheeked children revealing your secrets is a delightfully innocent way. When my number one son and granddaughter came to visit me over the weekend, I happened to mention to my son that I had made a jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwich that I really liked.

 

“Oooooh,” said my granddaughter, “That is dad’s happy place. He looooves jalapeño poppers.” 

 

I had no idea. I will say that when you take one bite of this sandwich, it will be your happy place too. I made this in a bucket-style air fryer, and couldn’t be happier; the silicon liner made clean up a breeze. Unlike when grilling or pan cooking, the bread came out wonderfully toasted without a hint of butter residue to make fingers greasy. If air fryers aren’t your thing, feel free to grill or pan fry. This sandwich is all about the filling.

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

Slightly adapted from airfried.com

 4 slices sandwich bread

2 T. butter, room temperature

3 oz. cream cheese, room temperatute

1 T. sour cream

1 c. shredded cheddar

¼ c. diced Melissa’s pickled jalapeños

½ t. garlic powder

 Preheat air fryer to 360°F.  (If yours requires preheating.)

Spread the outside of each slice of bread with butter.

Place cream cheese, sour cream, cheddar, jalapeños, and garlic powder into a small bowl and mix with a fork to combine.

Arrange two slices of bread, buttered side down, and top with the cheese mixture. Place the remaining slices of bread over the top, butter side up.

 Place the sandwiches in your air fryer basket and air fry 5 minutes. Flip the sandwiches over and continue cooking for 4-5 minutes or until bread is golden brown and toasted.

Let set 1 minute before slicing and serving. 

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Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

Do you ever find yourself unloading bags of groceries upon returning home from the store, asking yourself, "What was I thinking?". I found myself doing this just the other day, when I unloaded a package containing eight fresh jalapeño peppers. Don't get me wrong, I like jalapeños, I just have absolutely no use for eight of them. Not to worry, I do plan on dicing some and freezing them like I do with green peppers as you saw here, but I also planned on trying some new recipes. While rummaging around on the Internet, I happened to find an enticing recipe on delish.com for a Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese. As someone who loves both jalapeño poppers and grilled cheese sandwiches, this seemed custom-made for me.

 

This easy-to-make sandwich is a delicious combination of the two. Make the cream cheese mixture ahead of time -- the day before if you like (and you might want to double it, just sayin') -- and the sandwich goes together in a flash. I grilled mine using very little butter in my Copper Chef pan and was enormously pleased with the results. As you can see from the picture, even the melted cheese came out of the pan without a problem, and gave the sandwich lots of extra crunch.

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

4 oz. cream cheese, softened

1 jalapeño, finely chopped (seeded if desired)

1 tsp. garlic powder

kosher salt

Finely ground black pepper

4 slices french bread (I used sour dough)

2 c. shredded Cheddar

4 slices cooked bacon, halved

In a large bowl, stir together cream cheese, jalapeño, and garlic powder, and season with salt and pepper.

Butter one side of each slice of bread. On the other side of two slices, spread a thin layer of the cream cheese mixture.

In a large skillet over medium heat, add bread with cream cheese mixture, buttered side down. Top with 1/2 cup cheddar and half the bacon, then top with another 1/2 cup cheddar. Top with remaining slice of bread, buttered side up.

Cook until melty and golden, 4 to 5 minutes, then flip and cook 5 minutes more.

Repeat with second sandwich.

This post is linked to:

Dishing It & Digging It

Cooking & Crafting with J&J

Amaze Me Monday

Busy Mondays

Happiness is Homemade Monday

Inspiration Monday

Art of Homemaking Monday
  Full Plate Thursday

Foodie Friday & Everything Else