Jalapeño and Bacon Popper Dip

More About This Recipe

• Jalapeño poppers are all the rage these days and no, I don’t mean the deep-fried variety.
  
  I mean the variety where an entire jalapeño is stuffed with cream cheese, wrapped in bacon, and baked or grilled. Those are popular for a good reason: they are delicious. They also happen to be a bit of a pain in the you-know-what to make.
  
  Luckily, with my Jalapeno Bacon Popper Dip, you get all of the same flavors with a tenth of the work. You really can have your poppers and eat them too.
  
  To start this dip you need some basics. Bacon is a good start and you want the bacon to be really crispy. I like to bake my bacon in a 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes until it’s very crispy. You can do it in a skillet also though. Whatever method gets you crunchy bacon bits. Traditionally, jalapeños are used with this dip, but I used Serrano peppers on this particular day, because I wanted it even spicier. You can use either though for the dip.
  
  Start the dip just by mixing the yogurt, cream cheese, and grated cheese together until it’s an even consistency. Be sure to reserve about 1/2 cup of grated cheddar cheese for sprinkling on the top later.
  
  Then add in your peppers and bacon. On the canned peppers, you don’t even need to drain them. Just stir them right in.
  
  Transfer this dip mix to a 1 1/2 quart baking dish (or 8x8 dish) and you’re ready to rock.
  
  Bake at 350 degrees until the dip is lightly browned around the edges and almost bubbling in the center. This should take about 30 minutes.
  
  After the thirty minutes, pull the dip out and sprinkle it with some extra cheese. Then stick it back in the oven for 10 minutes to melt the cheese.
  
  Serve this stuff as soon as possible with some tortilla chips. I used a few different kinds of Food Should Taste Good gluten-free chips for my dip.  I love the blue corn and jalapeño styles.
  
  You can either give people individual plates for serving or just force people to dig into the big bowl of it. This dip has all of the flavors and awesomeness of normal jalapeño poppers but requires very little actual work. It’s a no-brainer!
  
  Nick thinks that anytime a dish looks too complicated, it’s probably easier in dip form! Be sure to check out his blog, Macheesmo, and follow him on his Tablespoon Profile.
  
  Lovin' the popper? Try these other varieties:
  
  Crescent Jalapeño Poppers
  Fightin' Jalapeño Potato Poppers
  Jalapeño Poppers
  Jalapeño Popper Bites
  Jalapeño Popper Burgers
  Jalapeño Popper Chicken Chili
  Jalapeño Popper Cups