These stuffed sausage poppers are great for almost anytime and especially when you have hungry people coming to your house. Easy to make and brings a smile every time!
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cook time: 2.5 hours
Smoker temperature: 225-250°F
Meat finish temperature: N/A
Recommended wood: Hickory
- Smoked sausage (about 9 poppers per link)
- Jalapeños (about 12 slices each)
- Bacon, thin sliced (2 poppers per slice)
- Cream cheese, 8 oz box
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- Jeff's original rub recipe (purchase recipes here)
- Jeff's barbecue sauce recipe (purchase recipes here)
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Most of the smoked sausage that I purchase locally comes (2) per package. Lay the links parallel with sides touching to speed up the cutting
Cut them into ¾ to 1-inch long pieces.
Use a knife to cut an “X” in the top side of each piece of sausage down about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through. Make sure to NOT cut all the way through.
Leave the cream cheese on the cabinet for about an hour prior to use so it can soften and be easier to work with.
Place the 8 oz of cream cheese into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add a good handful of grated cheddar (about a cup if you want to measure) and 3-4 TBS of Jeff's rub (purchase recipes here).
Please note: I halved the recipe to make about 20 of these and had some left over.. the full recipe will make enough for about 40-50 depending on how much you use in each one
Combine all of the ingredients. A fork works well for this.
If you have an icing tool or bag, that will work well for operations like this. Otherwise, you can just put the cheese mixture into a small ziptop bag and cut off a small corner to make a stuffing tool that will work great.
Use one hand or a helper to open up the “X” in the sausage. Put the cut corner of the stuffing tool into the opening and squeeze until it oozes out of the sides and top of the sausage pieces. Be as generous as you like. You can't get too much of this stuff.
Cut off the stem of the peppers and carefully clean out the seeds and ribs of the peppers if you want to. The peppers will be hotter if you leave some of the seeds in there.
I recommend using gloves any time you deal with hot peppers in any way.
Once cleaned, cut the peppers into slices that are about 1/8-inch thick. Thicker is fine if you want more of the pepper flavor to come through.
Lay a pepper slice on top of each piece of stuffed sausage.
Cut pieces of bacon in half.
Use ½ slice for each piece of sausage.
Wrap the bacon across the top and bottom of the stuffed sausage pieces.
No toothpick is needed in most cases as the bacon is sticky and will usually hold fine with no further pinning required.
Make up a batch of Jeff's rub (purchase recipes here) and put some of it into a cheese shaker or other spice dispenser with large holes. Sprinkle the rub onto the tops of the stuffed and wrapped sausage pieces. Be generous with the rub as it is low on salt and high on flavor.
If you haven't already, place the wrapped and stuffed sausage poppers onto a Bradley rack or a cookie sheet to aid in transporting them out to the smoker.
Setup your smoker, grill or other cooking device for 250°F. If your smoker will not get that hot, then 220 or 225 °F will work but please note that it will take longer and the bacon will not end up as firm as it would otherwise.
Use the water pan if you have one and apply smoke for at least 1 hour if you are using a charcoal, gas or electric smoker.
Leave the sausage pieces in the smoker until the bacon starts to get done (about 2 hours). At that point you can paint on some good barbecue sauce (purchase recipes here) if you want to add another layer of flavor. I think it definitely adds to the “goodness” but use your own judgement there or do some with and some without to get a fair comparison from your guests.
Let the sauce caramelize for about 20-30 minutes before removing them from the smoker.
These will go fast once you take them into the house so, eat a couple before you announce “done” and then rearrange them on the serving platter so no one will notice that a couple are missing 😉
Enjoy!
Can recipes like this be cooked in the home oven?
I mention, “other cooking device” above to let folks know that, although these recipes are intended for the smoker or indirect grill, they can also be cooked in the oven if that is a necessity for some reason.
I mention this due to all of the questions I get concerning cooking the smoking recipes in the oven.
Many of the techniques that make food so tender and juicy in the smoker will do the same in the home oven however, you will not have the smoked flavor. I do not care for liquid or artificial smoke flavoring so I cannot advise you in that department.
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Printable Recipe
- Smoked sausage (about 9 poppers per link)
- Jalapeños (about 12 slices each)
- Bacon , thin sliced (2 poppers per slice)
- Cream cheese , 8 oz box
- 2 cups grated cheddar cheese
- Jeff's original rub recipe
- Jeff's barbecue sauce recipe
-
Most of the smoked sausage that I purchase locally comes (2) per package. Lay the links parallel with sides touching to speed up the cutting and cut them into ¾ to 1-inch long pieces.
-
Use a knife to cut an "X" in the top side of each piece of sausage down about 1/2 to 2/3 of the way through. Make sure to NOT cut all the way through.
-
Leave the cream cheese on the cabinet for about an hour prior to use so it can soften and be easier to work with.
-
Place the 8 oz of cream cheese into a medium sized mixing bowl. Add a good handful of grated cheddar (about a cup if you want to measure) and 3-4 TBS of Jeff's rub (purchase recipes here).
-
Combine all of the ingredients. A fork works well for this. Please note: I halved the recipe to make about 20 of these and had some left over.. the full recipe will make enough for about 40-50 depending on how much you use in each one
-
If you have an icing tool or bag, that will work well for operations like this. Otherwise, you can just put the cheese mixture into a small ziptop bag and cut off a small corner to make a stuffing tool that will work great.
-
Use one hand or a helper to open up the "X" in the sausage. Put the cut corner of the stuffing tool into the opening and squeeze until it oozes out of the sides and top of the sausage pieces. Be as generous as you like. You can't get too much of this stuff.
-
Cut off the stem of the peppers and carefully clean out the seeds and ribs of the peppers if you want to. The peppers will be hotter if you leave some of the seeds in there.
-
I recommend using gloves any time you deal with hot peppers in any way.
-
Once cleaned, cut the peppers into slices that are about 1/8-inch thick. Thicker is fine if you want more of the pepper flavor to come through.
-
Lay a pepper slice on top of each piece of stuffed sausage.
-
Cut pieces of bacon in half and use ½ slice for each piece of sausage.
-
Wrap the bacon across the top and bottom of the stuffed sausage pieces.
-
Try to end up with the ends of the bacon under the sausage to help hold it. Tip: Bacon can easily be stretched to adjust the length.
-
No toothpick is needed in most cases as the bacon is sticky and will usually hold fine with no further pinning required.
-
Make up a batch of Jeff's rub (purchase recipes here) and put some of it into a cheese shaker or other spice dispenser with large holes. Sprinkle the rub onto the tops of the stuffed and wrapped sausage pieces. Be generous with the rub as it is low on salt and high on flavor.
-
If you haven't already, place the wrapped and stuffed sausage poppers onto a Bradley rack or a cookie sheet to aid in transporting them out to the smoker.
-
Setup your smoker, grill or other cooking device for 250°F. If your smoker will not get that hot, then 220 or 225 °F will work but please note that it will take longer and the bacon will not end up as firm as it would otherwise.
-
Use the water pan if you have one and apply smoke for at least 1 hour if you are using a charcoal, gas or electric smoker.
-
Leave the sausage pieces in the smoker until the bacon starts to get done. At that point you can paint on some good barbecue sauce (purchase recipes here) if you want to add another layer of flavor. I think it definitely adds to the "goodness" but use your own judgement there or do some with and some without to get a fair comparison from your guests.
-
These will go fast once you take them into the house so, eat a couple before you announce "done" and then rearrange them on the serving platter so no one will notice that a couple are missing 😉
Jeff, just an update on the sausage poppers above. As of 2017 they are undefeated 3 time champion of our Wind Energy Capital of Texas cook-off in the Open meat category. We have renamed them though. The new name is “Good Bastards” because every time we eat one we say ” that’s a good bastard!”
Great name!
Jeff, just thought I’d let you know I entered the Stuffed Sausage Poppers in the Wind Energy Capital of Texas Cook-off this past weekend. We won 1st place in the Open Meat category where you could enter any meat except chicken, ribs or brisket. Those had their own category. We also placed 3rd in chicken, which I used the Naked Rib Rub on as well, along with 2nd in beans! We’ll run at ’em with brisket & ribs next time.
Well done and thank you for sharing the exciting news with me!
Are we using raw sausage or cooked sausage? It looks like in the pictures that it’s cooked; however I’d like to try this using raw sausage, you know smoke it all together.