Are you looking for a new sandwich? Love Jalapeno Poppers? I have a solution for you. A jalapeno popper grilled cheese sandwich!
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What Makes the Perfect Sandwich for Jalapeno Popper Fans?
Jalapeño Poppers may be the perfect snack, but sadly, they are not a real meal. This recipe fixes that by delivering all the same flavors as your favorite poppers in sandwich form.
Serve these Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese sandwiches anytime you are craving something crispy, cheesy, and just a bit spicy.
What Makes This the Recipe You Reach for When You Want To Make a Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich?
This recipe makes one well-balanced sandwich.
The combination of sharp cheddar and mild Muenster cheeses works surprisingly well, especially when paired with salty bacon. The Worcestershire sauce and optional ground chipotle add just enough acidity and spice to prevent the sandwich from becoming too rich and decadent.
At the same time, the taste of sourdough bread is strong enough to become lost among the other intense flavors.
Ingredients For a Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwich
To make this sandwich, you’ll need:
- Jalapeño peppers
- Cream cheese
- Mayonnaise
- Cheddar cheese, shredded
- Chipotle powder, optional
- Worcestershire sauce
- Sourdough bread
- Bacon, cooked
- Muenster cheese
- Butter
Ingredient Notes
Chipotle peppers are nothing more than smoked and dried jalapeños. Although chipotle powder is an optional ingredient in this recipe, it lends a nice smokiness and a subtle sweetness to the sandwich and is highly recommended.
Use a young Muenster cheese in this sandwich. Aged Muenster has too much of a pronounced flavor. Alternatively, you can try another mild cheese such as Havarti.
How To Make a Jalapeño Popper Grilled Sandwich
To roast the jalapeno peppers:
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Line a baking tray with parchment paper. Place the jalapeño peppers on the baking tray and roast them for about 10 to 12 minutes until their skins blister and blacken.
- Put on food-safe gloves and peel off the skin of the peppers.
- Cut the stem off the top, and split the jalapenos horizontally.
- Use the back of a knife to scrape out the seeds.
- Cut the flesh of the jalapeno peppers into thin strips.
To finish the sandwich:
- Reduce the oven to 400°F.
- In a bowl, combine cream cheese, mayonnaise, cheddar cheese, Worcestershire sauce, and chipotle powder (if using). Continue to stir the mixture until all ingredients are distributed evenly.
- Butter one side of four slices of sourdough bread. Lay the bread butter-side down on a baking tray.
- Use a silicone spatula to spread the cheese filling on each slice of bread.
- Top the sandwiches with roasted jalapeño strips, bacon, and sliced cheese.
- Butter one side of four more slices of sourdough bread. Place the slices butter-side up on top of the sandwiches.
- Bake the sandwiches for five minutes, flip and bake for another three minutes.
What To Serve With This Sandwich?
Something mild, like a simple green salad, will allow the taste of the Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese to be the star of the meal. A side of onion rings, Loaded Tater Tots, or your favorite potato chips also works.
How To Make This in the Air Fryer
For extra crispy sandwiches, try making Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheeses in the air fryer:
- Preheat the air fryer to 400°F.
- Place the peppers in the air fryer and cook for 10 minutes. Shake the air fryer basket every two minutes to ensure they cook properly.
- After the skin blisters (they won’t blacken as much as when you cook them in the oven), finish preparing the peppers as in the main instructions above.
To finish cooking the sandwiches in the air fryer:
- Preheat the air fryer to 375°F.
- Prepare the sandwiches as above, but use spray oil instead of butter on the bread.
- Place the sandwiches in the preheated air fryer. Depending on the size of your air fryer, you may have room to cook only two sandwiches at a time.
- Cook the sandwiches for 4 minutes, and then flip them over. Cook for another two minutes.
Favorite Sandwich Recipes
- Air Fryer Grilled Cheese
- Arby’s Buffalo Chicken Sandwich
- Buffalo Chicken Sliders
- Chicken Fried Steak Sandwich
- Ham and Cheese Hot Pockets
- Ham Salad Sandwich
- Loose Meat Sandwich
- Patty Melt Sandwich
- Pepperoni Hot Pockets
- Sloppy Joes from Scratch
Best Recipes for Jalapeno Poppers
Check out more of my tasty sandwich recipes and the best game day recipes on CopyKat!
Jalapeno Popper Grilled Cheese
Ingredients
- 10 to 12 medium-sized jalapeno peppers
- 8 ounces cream cheese
- 1/3 cup mayonnaise
- 1 cup shredded Cheddar cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon ground chipotle optional
- 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 8 slices sourdough bread
- 12 slices bacon cooked and broken in half
- 8 slices Muenster cheese
- 1 1/2 tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 450°F.
- Place the jalapeños on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast the peppers until the skins have blackened, and the peppers have turned from a bright shiny green to a dull green, about 10 to 12 minutes.
- With gloved hands, remove the skins and stems from the peppers. Then open the peppers up with one cut down the side of the pepper and scrape out the seeds. If you don’t like a lot of heat, consider cutting the peppers into small strips.
- Turn the oven down to 400°F.
- In a small bowl combine the cream cheese, mayonnaise, shredded Cheddar cheese, ground chipotle (optional), and Worcestershire sauce. Stir until the cheese filling is uniform.
- Prepare the sandwiches by spreading the cheese mixture over 4 slices of bread.
- Cover the cheese filling with the jalapeño peppers.
- On each sandwich, place 6 pieces of bacon over the peppers (that’s 3 pieces of whole bacon that you broke in half), and then top with 2 slices of cheese.
- Top the sandwiches with the remaining slices of bread.
- Lightly butter the outer sides of the bread on each sandwich.
- Place the sandwiches on a baking sheet and bake for about 5 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Flip the sandwiches over, and continue to bake until golden brown. The second side will take less time. If you have a convection oven, be extra careful with the cook time.
Leiann Lynn Rose Spontaneo
I love this recipe!
A few questions if I may?
Is the sandwich OK to be baked in the air fryer?
Are sliced jalapeno from a jar OK?
Is mozzarella OK?
Can bacon be omitted?
Thank you in advance!
Stephanie Manley
Sure.
I don’t know right off the top of my head what the timing would be in an air fryer, maybe 3 to 4 minutes at 350.
You can use whatever sliced jalapenos you have.
I haven’t tried mozzarella. It may melt differently, are you using a buffalo style or are you using the low moisture kind you find shredded in a bag? If it if buffalo style – it may melt way too quickly.
You can omit the bacon.
jenny
This sounds amazing! Such a good idea to add jalapeno!
Mike
Made the JALAPENO popper grilled cheese sandwich with my tomato roasted red pepper soup. It was really good!😁
Martha
I never thought about doing this before, it was yummy.
marta
Great recipe Congratulations, thank you for sharing !!!
Maria Freitas
My husband loved this sandwich.
Baltisraul
I will be roasting some of these poppers for the Georgia vs Florida game Sat. (Go Dawgs) I take the heat out of half the peppers for this crowd to make everybody happy. Just clean and soak the peppers in 7-UP (not diet 7-UP) for 30-40 min. If you want NO heat just soak them for 2 hours.
Cátia
Wow what a magnificent grilled cheese recipe, I will try to do, it seems to me very delicious, thanks for sharing.
Hans Congmon
hi, is it ok if we use Jalapeno pepper in a bottle?
Stephanie
Yes, I think that could also work.