Cajun Crab-Stuffed Jalapeno Poppers Recipe

For spicy-food lovers, there's nothing quite like an appetizer that delivers the heat. Coupled with cheesy, gooey filling, jalapeño poppers are essential hors d'oeuvres for anyone with a bold palate, an exciting balance of both spicy and creamy rolled into one. More involved versions wrap the jalapeño in bacon for an extra-crispy, savory exterior, while others bread the jalapeño and fry them for a crunchy treat. Jalapeño poppers at their simplest, though, are stuffed with cream cheese and cheddar, topped with panko, and baked until soft and bubbly.

This jalapeño popper recipe written with developer Michelle McGlinn takes a seaside approach by adding lump crabmeat into the creamy filling. Combined with Cajun seasoning, bell pepper, Monterey jack, and hot sauce, the gooey filling adds a bold layer that complements the spicy jalapeño below. Perfect for anyone who loves the flavors of Southern Louisiana cooking and has a love of classic crab dip (or even crab rangoon), these jalapeño poppers take a classic just a few steps farther for a seriously impressive treat. Better yet, they are easy to prepare, freeing your kitchen (and hands) for the entree to come.

You'll first need a dozen jalapeños, which will be cut and seeded into 24 halves. From there, you'll need cream cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, lump crab meat, red bell pepper, garlic, hot sauce, panko breadcrumbs, butter, and Cajun seasoning. If you don't have a store-bought Cajun seasoning, you can combine paprika, thyme, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne, salt, and oregano for a homemade blend instead.

Preheat the oven to 400 F.

Slice each jalapeño in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds and membranes.

Place the cleaned jalapeños on a parchment-lined baking sheet.

In a large bowl, combine the cream cheese, Monterey jack cheese, crab meat, bell pepper, Cajun seasoning, garlic, and hot sauce.

Mix until very well combined.

In a small bowl, mix the panko and butter together until moist.

Stuff the jalapeños with the crab mixture, overfilling slightly.

Lightly sprinkle the buttered panko on top of each stuffed jalapeño.

Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden brown on top. Serve immediately.

Despite being 50% pepper, jalapeño poppers aren't usually as spicy as you'd think. Jalapeños have a wide range on the Scoville scale, sometimes reaching heat levels close to Serrano peppers. Even at their hottest, though, jalapeños are still one of the mildest types of chile peppers, and the kinds sold in grocery stores are usually the mildest you can get. That being said, you may want to adjust your peppers' heat.

If these Cajun-seasoned, hot-sauce packed peppers are too spicy, bring down the heat by omitting the hot sauce and swapping the pepper. Milder peppers include poblano, Hungarian, or shishitos. Shishito will be your closest comparison to jalapeños, as they look similar in size and texture. Poblanos, on the other hand, will make these appetizers into a full meal.

To make these poppers spicier, you can add more hot sauce, a pinch of cayenne, or a different cheese. Pepper jack cheese includes chiles and will amp up the heat just a little bit more. You can also swap the mild bell pepper for a spicier pepper like Serrano or use extra diced jalapeños instead. If you are really trying to sweat, swap the jalapeño for a spicy pepper like Serrano — but don't be too ambitious here, anything hotter will be too hot to enjoy.

Buying crab meat can be a little mystifying. The best, most fresh option is buying crab legs, steaming them, and extracting the meat from the shell. This, of course, is a lot of work for a cream cheese-filled appetizer — not to mention a high price tag for a filling. Unless you're going all-out for a special guest, reserve the fresh crab for eating plain with butter and seek out lump crab meat, instead.

Lump crab meat can be found in cans or plastic containers. Canned crab meat is real crab that has been steamed, preserved, and vacuum-sealed into shelf-stable containers. Canned crab is the cheapest version because of the processing, and therefore the least fresh-tasting. If you are opting for canned crab, choose claw or lump meat, which will be fatty, mild-tasting, and juicy.

If you want to go one step up, seek out fresh crab meat, sold in refrigerated containers near the fresh fish. This will be more expensive but considerably fresher tasting, perfect if you are serving a crowd of loved ones. If you want the same fresh taste without the price tag, you can also use shrimp. Just cook them, roughly chop, and mix into the filling. This isn't a recipe you need to splurge on, thanks to the cream cheese doing half the work — just avoid imitation crab, which has a different taste and texture.