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Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese = Grown-up grilled cheese!

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwiches mash up all the flavor of a jalapeño popper, with the comforting familiarity of a grilled cheese sandwich.

Welcome to the October 30th, 2016 edition of Sunday Scratchups: Your weekly recipe from scratch around grocery store sales, frugal ingredients, and seasonal garden bounty. Up this week, Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese Sandwiches! Why? Bacon is seasonally on sale, and, well…

peppers

… it’s been a really good year for garden peppers. I just picked the last of mine and still had all of these these sitting around — even after making a big pot of chili and freezing several more bags.

After finding a block of cream cheese in the fridge, I initially thought about making jalapeño poppers. But then, I realized that grilled cheese might be even more comforting and filling on a brisk fall day! Thus: Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese was born.

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese

grilled-cheese

Ingredients

4 small to medium jalapeño peppers (adjust quantity to taste)
1 Tbsp olive oil
2 tsp minced garlic
8 oz cream cheese, softened
8 slices sourdough bread
Butter
8 pieces bacon, cooked
Shredded or sliced cheddar, to taste

Directions

peppers

Remove stems from your jalapeños, scrape out the membranes and seeds, then dice. Saute diced peppers in olive oil over medium heat until softened and starting to brown. Add garlic and saute briefly, then remove from heat and stir peppers & garlic into cream cheese.

cheese-bread

Spread one side of each slice of bread with butter. Spread the jalapeño-cream cheese mixture thickly on the other side of one piece of bread, then place butter-side-down in cast iron grill pan or skillet. Add bacon, breaking pieces to fit on sandwich, then add shredded or sliced cheddar to taste. Top with the second piece of bread, butter-side-up.

build-a-sandwich

Cook each side of your sandwich over medium heat until both sides are browned and your cheese is nicely melted, then enjoy.

Note: Make these in batches — my small grill pan makes one sandwich at a time; my large skillet makes two. If you hate chopping peppers as much as I do, just give them a short whirl in a little food chopper. I use a Ninja Express Chop, and just love it for small jobs like this one when it’s silly to drag out a whole big food processor. Super handy!

What more could you ask for in a sandwich, really?

popper-sandwich

You have your smooth melted cheese, chewy bacon, crisply toasted bread, and that little jalapeño kick to tie everything together. Most of the heat in the peppers is in the seeds and membranes, so you just have a slight burn here. This helps balance out the mild cream cheese and lets you mash up all the flavor of a jalapeño popper with the comforting familiarity of a grilled cheese sandwich.

grilled-cheese-and-chips

This isn’t your basic kids’ grilled cheese — why not kick it up a notch by jalapeño poppering yours, and enjoy! 🙂

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese, printable recipe

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5 from 1 vote

Jalapeño Popper Grilled Cheese = Grown-up grilled cheese!

This isn’t your basic kids’ grilled cheese — why not kick it up a notch by jalapeño poppering yours, and enjoy! 
Course dinner, lunch
Servings 4

Ingredients

  • 4 jalapeño peppers (adjust quantities to taste)
  • 1 Tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tsp minced garlic
  • 8 oz cream cheese, softened
  • 8 slices sourdough bread
  • butter
  • 8 pieces cooked bacon
  • sliced or shredded cheddar

Instructions

  • Remove stems from your jalapeños, scrape out the membranes and seeds, then dice.
  • Saute diced peppers in olive oil over medium heat until softened and starting to brown.
  • Add garlic and saute briefly, then remove from heat and stir peppers & garlic into cream cheese.
  • Spread one side of each slice of bread with butter.
  • Spread the jalapeño-cream cheese mixture thickly on the other side of one piece of bread, then place butter-side-down in cast iron grill pan or skillet.
  • Add bacon, breaking pieces to fit on sandwich, then add shredded or sliced cheddar to taste.
  • Top with the second piece of bread, butter-side-up.
  • Cook each side of your sandwich over medium heat until both sides are browned and your cheese is nicely melted, then enjoy.

Notes

Note: Make these in batches — my small grill pan makes one sandwich at a time; my large skillet makes two. If you hate chopping peppers as much as I do, just give them a short whirl in a little food chopper. 

Recipes in the real world

weekly ALDI meal plans from Mashup Mom -- six complete dinners for four, $60 out the door! MashupMom.com, every Wednesday.

Be sure not to miss the free ALDI meal plans, which show you how to use these easy family recipes to meal plan affordably and realistically for your family. Or, find more recipe ideas with the Recipe Search!

Recipe Rating




Sasha Renee Friestad

Monday 24th of May 2021

This was a hit in my home. I loved the entire idea. I added some sides to fill out the meal a bit more. A sweet salad to go with the pineapple. Then, I took some cranberry sauce and mixed it with strawberry preserves. It created a tart jam that was perfect with the sandwich. Jalapenos and strawberries are a lovely combination. Though, I understand that part might not be for everyone. :) Thanks for your meal plans. I have been using them for some time now and finally had to comment on this recipe.

rachel

Monday 24th of May 2021

Yum! There's always room for more sides; sometimes it's just because of staying under that $60 budget. :) The sweet/tart jam combo sounds delightful, too.

Lisa Blonquist

Sunday 23rd of May 2021

Hi Rachel! Just made these for lunch and they are so yummy and easy! Thanks for sharing your recipes and the meal plan and grocery list. I appreciate your hard work.

rachel

Monday 24th of May 2021

Thanks! I'm so very glad you liked them. :)

Jennifer J Dobbins

Thursday 31st of January 2019

When i went to print this a giant smiley face appeared on the first page. ????

rachel

Thursday 31st of January 2019

Sorry about that! There was a stray thing in there that somehow showed up giant on the printable page, but I just fixed it so you should be able to print now.

Sharon

Monday 31st of October 2016

What a genius idea! I love grilled cheese, but the jalepeno and cream cheese take it to an extra-special level. Thanks for sharing this recipe!

Sheila Jo

Monday 31st of October 2016

Looks like a wonderful version of grilled cheese! It was a good year for peppers in my garden, too! Will give this a try!