Game Day has arrived and we need to feed the crew! Do you have a go-to recipe that pleases the masses or want to try something a bit different? Today's recipe, Jalapeno Popper Casserole, enhances the classic appetizer/snack dish and removes all the tedious, individual pepper prep no one looks forward to doing to satisfy numerous guests! While a traditional jalapeno popper is typically just a cream cheese stuffed pepper, this casserole adds chicken and bacon to create a filling meal with a fraction of the work. The crispy, crunchy panko topping puts it over-the-top and is sure to produce a flavor bomb of deliciousness no one can deny! Stick around and check it out as I walk you through this simple recipe that will make you the talk of the town and MVP of your next Game Day party. Let's get cooking!
Like most delicious recipes, we will start this one out by frying up an entire pound of bacon! Chop your bacon slices into 1 inch or so bite-sized pieces then cook them in large sauté pan over medium-high heat. We do want to render some of the fat for the next steps so don't get in too much of a hurry and let it cook 8 or so minutes. Pull it from the pan and set the pieces on a paper towel to drain after the bacon is cooked, but before it gets overly crispy. Leave all that extra rendered fat in your pan so we can use it to start building additional levels of flavor!
Add a couple tablespoons of butter to the bacon fat and toss in your chicken thighs. They should be cut down to bite-sized pieced as well. Season the chicken with some salt and pepper and sauté for about 12 minutes, or until it is cooked through. There is probably quite a bit of salt in the bacon fat and butter already so really you just need a pinch. Feel free to do this step in a couple batches if your sauté pan is on the smaller side. After the chicken is cooked, remove it from the pan and set aside, leaving any bacon fat and butter in the pan. We are going to keep using this tasty stuff till the cows come home!
If you haven't already prepped your veggies, go ahead and knock that out while the chicken is cooking. For this recipe, you are going to want to dice an onion, finely chop 4-5 jalapenos into small pieces equaling about a cup, and slice up a bundle of green onions, separating the whites and stems from the very end green pieces. One additional jalapeno will need to be sliced for toppings later on as well.
After removing the cooked chicken, add a couple more tablespoons of butter, the regular onion, green onion stalks, and diced jalapeno to the sauté pan and cook over medium-high heat until softened, about 4 minutes.
Your kitchen should be smelling amazing at this point with all these fresh veggie fragrances! Anyway, continue on by sprinkling some all purpose flour over this mixture. Keep stirring continuously as we create a roux using the fats in the pan with the veggies and flour. This will be our thickening agent to create a nice, hearty casserole base. The flour should cook in 2-3 minutes and begin to look similar to the image below.
Pour in your milk and chicken stock at this point. Continue stirring and heating over medium-high heat for an additional couple minutes until the mixture thickens from the roux we just created. It should resemble the consistency of a gravy almost, yet still fluid.
Next, add the cream cheese and stir until it fully melts into the mixture. You can drop your stove top down to a medium-low to medium level at this point as we are simply adding the final ingredients back in and incorporating everything together.
Once the cream cheese has fully melted into the mixture, it should feel quite a bit thicker. While everything is still fairly hot, stir in the shredded mozzarella cheese and let it fully melt and completely thicken the mixture. Next, take the pan off the heat and add the cooked bacon and chicken. Mix everything together well.
Now we are going to transfer this mixture to a 9x13 baking pan. Don't worry about spraying it or anything beforehand as this mixture has enough fats and oils to prevent anything from sticking.
Sprinkle your panko breadcrumbs over the top trying to cover it with a thin layer as complete as possible. This will be our nice crunchy topping once things are all said and done!
Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and place into a preheated oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cook the casserole, covered, for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, remove the aluminum foil and continue baking, uncovered, for an additional 20 minutes until the panko topping is brown and crispy. If the topping is not quite done after 20 minutes, simply turn off the oven but leave the casserole in it to finish browning the topping.
Once your casserole is finished cooking, remove it from the oven and top with jalapeno slices and the green onion tops. You can use pickled jalapenos from a jar if you are somewhat averse to spicy foods, but the cream cheese and filling really cools things off so fresh slices are best! If you pop the casserole back in the hot oven after topping it will slightly cook off the jalapeno slices and make them a bit more mild as well.
And just like that, rather than spending hours slicing and stuffing individual peppers, you have made an even more filling and delicious Jalapeno Popper Casserole! You can serve it up in extra small portions as an appetizer, or larger ones to use as a main course for dinner. Either way you go about it, this will satisfy your friends and family for game days or any night of the week! Even with quite a bit of jalapenos in this casserole, it remains quite mild overall so don't fret about that next trip to the bathroom, lol. It is best served hot, but I found that enjoying it at room temperature is surprisingly nice so nibbling on it over an entire game works out quite well! Np matter how you end up gobbling down this simple masterpiece, take some pics and let me know on social media at @grubbongrub how yours turned out and what people thought. Get ready to make this one over and over so find your way to the kitchen and make a batch...Just Keep Cooking!
JALAPENO POPPER CASSEROLE
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