The best part about these tasty treats besides the fact that they are pretty darn healthy for you, is that the recipe is simple, customizable, and you don’t have to measure anything - perfect for wannabe chefs like myself who hate measuring cups.
Now with customization comes a bit how much do you want to impress your audience? How spicy do you want them? What cuts of Venison do you want to use? Do you want to add seasoning or go barebones flavor? Etc etc
First I’ll outline the Recipe, followed by the How To, and then add in some unique customizations and pro tips if you want to read that far.
Recipe:
- Jalapeños ( 1 - 3 inches in length)
- Brick Cream Cheese (don’t do the low-fat stuff, it ruins the flavor)
- Venison (Tenderloin, backstrap, or any other tender cut piece)
- Bacon (cheaper, thin, super fatty bacon. The stuff you know is bad for you and you shouldn’t buy but still always do)
- Tooth Picks (wood not that plastic nonsense)
How To:
1. Start off by cutting all your jalapeños in half (long ways), removing the seeds (with a spoon), and then depending on how large the jalapeños are, cut them again into bite-sized pieces. They should look like little half or full canoes when you’re all done.
2. Open up your cream cheese (I like the brick style), and fill all your half canoes between half and all the way up to the brim with the cream cheese.
3. Take out your venison and slice it thinly maybe 1/8 of an inch or so and roughly 1 - 2 inches long. Set this little morsel on top of the fresh cream cheese bed you just filled that jalapeño with.
4. Grab a slice of your cheap-o bacon, cut it in half, and then wrap it around the jalapeño, cream cheese, venison morsel you made and then drive that tooth pick through the middle of it vertically so it sticks through the bacon, venison, cream cheese, and bottom of your jalapeño canoe.
5. Repeat this until you have enough to feed the crew and still have a few left over for yourself again tomorrow.
6. Once you have that done, open up your air fryer, oven, or smoker and put them in.
- Air Fryer - 375º for 12 minutes or so depending on how crispy you want the bacon
- Oven - 400º for 20 minutes or so and if you can, elevate the poppers on a wire rack so the bacon can crisp up on all sides.
- Smoker - Not sure, I don’t own one. My buddy who does though (Chad Melotte) says 180º for about 30 minutes, then crank it to 400º and pull em out when you like the crispiness of the bacon.
7. Enjoy!
Unique Customizations:
- Spice it Up – Leave the seeds in the jalapeños or add a spicy seasoning on top of the cream cheese before you drop your Venison Slice On
- Use Flavored Bacon - At my local butcher shop, I can get flavored bacon like maple, blueberry, chipotle raspberry, apple, etc. This can throw a different flavor for people who have had these before.
- Marinade your Venison - Pick a great marinade and let it sit overnight before making these.
- Make a Fancy Dip - Make sure the dip matches the flavors or heat you’ve put on previously. You can make a ranch or sour cream based dip if you cranked up the heat with seasonings and jalapeños or you can make a spicy dip if you kept the jalapeños and seasonings pretty mild.
Pro Tips:
- Make this into a Beer Drinking, Popper Making Assembly Line. Bring the ingredients to deer camp, crack some beers or make some cocktails and rope some family or friends into helping you make them up.
- Yes you can put them into a CrockPot after you’ve made them and they’ll stay good for the day.
- Yes you can microwave these the next day and they still stay delicious. If they last more than the next day, you made way too many or you need to stop hanging out with the friends who didn’t eat any.
Hope you all enjoy and are able to turn some heads, make some great impressions, and fill some bellies with this recipe!
Written by Anthony Heller
