Atomic Buffalo Turds: Grilled Jalapeno Poppers With Sausage and Bacon
Author: 
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: BBQ
Serves: 6-12 servings (2 to 4 pieces per serving)
 
Weight Watchers Info: 7 PointsPlus for 2 pieces (if using regular cream cheese), 6 PointsPlus for 2 pieces (if using fat-free cream cheese)
Ingredients
  • 12 fresh jalapeno (or sweet) peppers
  • 12 slices of bacon, cut in half
  • 24 Little Smokies or other cocktail-sized franks
  • 1 (8 oz) package regular cream cheese at room temperature (you can substitute neufchatel or fat-free)
  • 2 tsp paprika (optional)
  • 1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
  • Sweet bbq rub (I’ve used a 2:1 mix of a commercial bbq rub and brown sugar, or Robin’s Rub from my smoked chicken recipe)
  • 24 Toothpicks
Instructions
  1. Cut tops off jalapenos, slice in half lengthwise, and de-vein.
  2. Mix room-temperature cream cheese, paprika and cayenne in a resealable plastic bag (original recipe uses a bowl, but also suggests a pastry bag).
  3. Cut a corner out of the bag, and squeeze cream cheese mixture to fill the jalapeno slices close to level
  4. Place a smokie in each pepper.
  5. Wrap a half-slice of bacon around each piece, evenly or staggered, as you prefer.
  6. Pierce through bacon, smokie, and pepper with a toothpick.
  7. Sprinkle sweet bbq rub on outside of ABT.
  8. Place each ABT upright (cheese and smokie side up, to prevent cheese from dripping onto foil or grill) on aluminum foil on grill.
  9. Cook ABTs over indirect heat on bbq for 45 minutes to an hour–just enough to cook the bacon.
  10. Serve! Some suggest serving with (or drizzling with) a chipotle raspberry bbq sauce, which is awesome, but unnecessary.
Notes
*I have recently used miniature sweet peppers in place of jalapenos with great success, especially in mixed company. I generally do about half jalapenos and half sweet peppers if cooking for a crowd---just label them appropriately!
*Cut back on the cayenne (or eliminate entirely) if you want to reduce the heat a bit, though the jalapenos will likely trip the heat limit for most people anyways–if they can handle the jalapenos, they can probably handle the cayenne.
*You can use a lower fat (or non-fat) cream cheese and a turkey smokie if you want to make it a bit leaner, but you’re still going to end up wrapping it in bacon (do NOT use turkey bacon on this–that stuff sucks), so you may want to just go for the full fat/full flavor package on this dish.
*These could also easily be slow smoked at 225, and would take 60-90 minutes. Again, the key is that it is done when the bacon is done to your liking, as everything else can be eaten as is.
Recipe by The Taste Place at https://www.thetasteplace.com/atomic-buffalo-turds-the-spicy-bbq-appetizer-with-the-unappetizing-name/