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Jalapeño Poppers with Homemade Raspberry Dipping Sauce

Prep Time

15 mins

Cook Time

20 mins

Serves

2-4

Ingredients

  •  4 large jalapeños
  • 8 ounces cream cheese 
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp granulated garlic 
  • 1/4 tsp salt 
  • 1 1/2 cups panko bread crumbs 
  • 1/4 cup flour 
  • 2 eggs, mixed 
  • 2-3 cups neutral oil for frying 
  • 1 1/2 cups frozen raspberries 
  • 2 tablespoons honey 
  • 2 teaspoons champagne vinegar 
  • 1 tsp cornstarch
  • crunchy sea salt for finishing 

Steps

1

Remove the cream cheese from the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature for 1 hour.  

2

Cut the jalapeños in half lengthwise and remove seeds and membrane for mild jalapeño poppers.

3

 Mix the cream cheese with the salt, garlic and onion powder. Fill the inside of each jalapeño half. 

4

On a plate whip the eggs together with a fork to incorporate yolk and white for dredging. Place the panko on another plate as well. Dust the jalapeños with flour and then dredge in egg, then panko. Place in the refrigerator while you make the raspberry sauce.

5

In a small sauce pan, add raspberries, honey and vinegar. Cook together for about 10 mins. Strain through a fine mesh strainer in to a small bowl. Dust with cornstarch and mix to fully dissolve. Set aside.

6

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Heat the avocado oil on medium high and once it has reached 350 F, add in the jalapeños cut side down. Flip to the other side and fry until both sides are golden brown.

7

Bake in the oven on a cooling rack over a sheet tray for 10 mins to ensure inside is melty and hot. Immediately top with crunchy sea salt and serve with dipping sauce.

90’s sports’ bar nostalgia food.

I remember feeling very edgy and grown up when I tried a jalapeño popper for the first time. Those things were spicy and definitely not child’s play. Even better was when they came with a raspberry sauce. Talk about sophistication. Little did I know they were actually pretty mild, like the ones in this recipe, but my 10 year old self felt very adventurous trying them.

If you want some heat, leave some of the membranes. If you want very spicy, leave the seeds as well. 

You should know that the panko may fall off of the back of the jalapeños, and that’s ok. These are intentionally not heavily breaded. I think the balance of breading, cream cheese and jalapeño is perfect. But you could certainly double coat the breading by dipping in the egg after panko and then in panko a second time. That should get the panko to stay adhered to the jalapeño skin.

If the raspberry sauce is lost on you, give it a try! The combination is great and the sauce is by no means a sweet dessert-like sauce you would pour over a New York cheesecake. The honey only balances the added acidity from the vinegar and really just tastes so good. Trust me!

P.S. Don’t worry about how much oil it takes to fry these. I know using good oil is expensive. Definitely strain the oil to use it the next time you fry something and label “fry oil”. You can reuse it to fry whatever you plan to, and then strain and reuse again. One exception would be seafood.

Pair with an ice cold light beer and serve alongside chicken wings and French bread pizzas for a very nostaligic Friday night appetizer dinner.