Sweet Pepper Poppers

Sweet pepper poppers filled with a creamy, cheesy filling make a great appetizer or a snack that’s easy to make and look great.

Peppers are such a versatile too to have in your cooking tool box. I love their variety of colors and flavor as well as their different heat levels. There’s a rough rule of thumb that smaller peppers tend to be more spicy, so I always steered clear of small peppers. Turns out, these adorable mini peppers are sweet! I would say these sweet pepper poppers would be a great appetizer to take to a party, but do parties even exist anymore?

All about Peppers:

Peppers are in the Solanaceae or nightshade family. Some people have adverse reactions to nightshades, but some of the nightsides are my favorite vegetables! The compound capsaicin is what gives peppers their spiciness. Most of the spice in peppers is concentrated in the seeds and the light fleshy parts. So if you want to step down the spice level, you can remove these parts in peppers.

Recipe Variations

I wanted to make sweet pepper poppers with thee mini peppers, but if you prefer spicier dishes you could use jalapeño peppers. Another option would be to add more spice into the cream cheese mixture.

This recipe is pretty dairy heavy, but to make this recipe vegan, you could substitute in vegan cream cheese and cheese shreds. Another option would be to make my favorite cashew cream sauce found here and use that as the base for the filling. Instead of using in a sweet application, you could season the cream with nutritional yeast to make a cheesy substitute.

Sweet Pepper Poppers

Sweet peppers filled with a creamy, cheesy filling make a great appetizer or a snack that's easy to make and look great.

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Appetizer, Side Dish, Snack

Ingredients

  

• 10 small sweet peppers
• 1 block cream cheese room temperature
• ¼ tsp salt
• ¼ tsp black pepper
• ½ tsp garlic powder
• ½ tsp onion powder
• ½ tsp paprika
• ½ tsp cumin
• ⅓ cup shredded cheese
• 2 tbsp chopped cilantro

Instructions

 

• Preheat the oven to 350°F.
• To prep the peppers, cut the peppers in half lengthwise through the stem. Pull out the seeds and white membrane. 
• To make the filling, mix up the cream cheese with the spices and the cheddar cheese until well incorporated. Taste the mixture and adjust salt and pepper to taste. 
• Fill the pepper halves with the mixture and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 15 minutes. 
• Top with the chopped cilantro and serve! 

Notes

Want some more heat in this dish? Swap out sweet peppers for jalapeño peppers.  If you want to make the recipe vegan, you can sub in vegan cream cheese and shreds. The pepper poppers taste best served right out of the oven. If you want to prep them ahead of time, mix up the filling and cut the peppers and store in the fridge. Them you can assemble and bake them when you are ready to enjoy them!