Everyone LOVES my smoked Texas twinkies. What’s not to love about a bacon-wrapped jalapeño popper stuffed with smoked brisket and cheese?
I’ve been making smoked jalapeño poppers on my Weber Kettle grill for a while now, and I’ve learned a lot through trial and error. There’s three class pitfalls that you really want to avoid when making them, and I’ll show you how below.
When I’m bringing food to a gathering and I ask what I should make, the answer is ALWAYS the same.
The big game is on? Texas twinkies.
Neighbor’s quinceañera? Texas twinkies.
Grandma Betty died? Yup…you guessed it. Hey don’t judge, she could throw down on these bad boys.
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How To Smoke Texas Twinkies
Check out my step-by-step video below.
I read a lot of recipes from BBQ folks, and they tend to want to cook everything low and slow. Just like my smoked turkey, Texas twinkies are something I cook hotter than most people.
The reason I smoke jalapeño poppers at a higher temperature is to avoid the first two pitfalls I hinted at earlier. Specifically, those are flaccid undercooked bacon, and mushy overcooked peppers.
The high heat helps ensure that everything gets to the perfect doneness around the same time. It also helps caramelize the BBQ sauce. The sauce is optional, but I absolutely prefer to include it.
Once the bacon is just about starting to get cooked through, I generously brush both sides of the poppers with BBQ sauce. That gives the bacon a bit more time to get done and the sauce enough time to get tacky but not burnt.
Prepping Your Poppers
I admit it.
These delicious little suckers can be a bit laborious to prepare, but it’s definitely a labor of love. Plus, I’ve figured out a thing or two that makes the process as quick and easy as possible.
Let’s talk about what to look for when buying the ingredients and then I’ll show you how to put it all together.
Jalapeño Peppers – You want to find medium sized peppers (about 3 inches long) as straight and fat as you can get. If you’re someone who does curbside pickup, I would go in the store and pick them out yourself.
Bacon – You want full-sized regular cut bacon here. Thick cut is too thick and center cut is too short. If you can find a brand that has nice straight pieces, that’s definitely a bonus. I find the stuff from wholesale clubs to be perfect.
Cheese – Feel free to experiment with different cheeses, but I use a combo of classic cream cheese and sharp cheddar. I’ve tested the recipe without the cheddar, because I try to eliminate extra costs that don’t add value, but the cheddar definitely adds something that’s missed without it.
Brisket – If you happen to have leftover smoked brisket, then you’ve got the perfect excuse to make Texas Twinkies. If not, go grab half a pound from your favorite BBQ joint. There’s a Hutchins near me who, as legend has it, made Texas Twinkies famous.
BBQ Sauce – Whatever sauce you like is absolutely fine here. It’s not the star of the show, but it really ties everything together nicely. I tend to go with a sweet and spicy sauce, but anything you like will work.
Putting It All Together
I’ve tried all different ways to make smoked jalapeño poppers, and I really think this way is the perfect combination of amazing results and ease of preparation.
The cream cheese, cheddar, and brisket get mixed together in a bowl for easy filling.
I prefer to use whole jalapeños but I split them in half to scrape the seeds and pith (ribs) out.
This way is faster and easier than trying to core them with a tool or a boning knife, and much faster to fill too. I’m telling you…my life changed when I started doing it this way. Whole peppers also result in the best pepper to bacon to filling ratio AND you can fit more on the grill.
We wrap the peppers back together with two pieces of bacon each. You can use a toothpick also if you like, but the bacon should be enough.
There’s a certain way to do the bacon wrap that helps avoid the 3rd and final pitfall, which is having the cheese bubble out during the cook. Freezing the stuffed peppers before we wrap with bacon also helps with this.
Check out the video above for detailed instructions.
That’s pretty much all there is to it, but we should definitely talk about some alternatives to using brisket
Smoked Jalapeno Popper Variations
I definitely don’t always use brisket in my poppers and they are always amazing. If you use lit’l smokies, they’re known on the BBQ circuit as Atomic Buffalo Turds (or ABT’s for short).
Wrap it in ground sausage and you’ve got Armadillo Eggs.
My favorite is using chopped hot links (we’ve got Earl Campbell’s here in TX that are delicious and make the dish a whole lot cheaper than using brisket).
You really can go any direction and get creative. I’ve used leftover shrimp and crawfish from a low country boil, smoked chicken, you name it. Slap it in a jalapeño and wrap it bacon and it has to be good.
When it comes to live fire cooking, accurate temperature readings can make or break your cook. These are my go-to choices for reliable thermometers.
Bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers stuffed with smoked brisket and cheese. Have you ever seen so many awesome things in one sentence? Now, picture eating it all in one bite!
These Texas Twinkies are the ULTIMATE party snack and my personal favorite thing to cook (and eat!)
This recipe will work for any smoker, but if you use a Weber Kettle Grill like me, look for the kettle below for detailed instructions.
If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask in the comments or hit me up on Facebook.
Ingredients
UnitsScale
14 Jalapeño Peppers (see note 1)
1 8oz Package Cream Cheese, softened at room temperature
1cup Shredded Sharp Cheddar Cheese
1/2lb Smoked Brisket, chopped
2lbs Regular-Cut Bacon
2 Tablespoons BBQ Rub (see note 2)
1 18oz Bottle BBQ Sauce (see note 3)
Instructions
Grate 4 oz cheddar cheese
In a large bowl, mix the softened cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and brisket until well incorporated
Using a sharp knife, cut the tops off each jalapeño and slice them in half lengthwise (top to bottom)
Remove the seeds and ribs with a spoon
Fill each pepper with about 2 tablespoons of the brisket and cheese mixture
Placed the jalapenos in the freezer for at least 90 minutes. This helps ensure the delicate peppers don’t overcook before the bacon is done
Preheat your smoker to 400 °F (anything between 375-425 is fine)
Wrap each stuffed pepper with two slices of bacon per the video above
Smoke indirectly for 45 minutes. Brush generously with BBQ sauce and cook for 30 minutes longer
Remove your Texas Twinkies from the smoker and enjoy!
Weber Kettle Instructions
Grate 4 oz cheddar cheese
In a large bowl, mix the softened cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and brisket until well incorporated
Using a sharp knife, cut the tops off each jalapeño and slice them in half lengthwise (top to bottom)
Remove the seeds and ribs with a spoon
Fill each pepper with about 2 tablespoons of the brisket and cheese mixture
Placed the jalapenos in the freezer for at least 90 minutes. This helps ensure the delicate peppers don’t overcook before the bacon is done
Before removing the jalapenos from the freezer, light a full chimney of coals (I use about 100 Kingsford briquettes)
Wrap each stuffed pepper with two slices of bacon per the video above
When your coals are mostly ashed over (about 25 minutes), dump them on one side of the grill.
Using a temperature probe attached to the grill grate, close your top vent about 3/4 of the way when your grill temp starts to reach about 375 °F. Depending on your grill size and weather, you may need to close the bottom vent some also to get temps to steady around 400 °F. I’m using a 26″ Weber in the video
Add a chunk of smoking wood (apple, cherry, or hickory work well) and smoke the Texas Twinkies indirectly for 45 minutes. Brush generously with BBQ sauce and cook for 30 minutes longer
Remove your Texas Twinkies from the smoker and enjoy!
Notes
I use 14 or 15 jalapeños because there’s usually at least 14 slices of bacon per pound and we use two slices per pepper. This recipe makes enough filling for about 15 peppers
The BBQ rub is optional. To be honest, it really doesn’t need it, but if it makes you feel better go ahead and add it. I would caution against anything too salty. Between the bacon, the cheese, and the savory brisket, things can read a bit one-note if you use too much salty rub. This is another reason I prefer to use sauce
The sauce is also optional, but I never make texas twinkies without sauce. Normally I don’t use a sweet sauce with brisket, but for this dish I think it perfectly ties everything together
Thanks! Yeah I’ve done all kinds of fillings. I really enjoy using leftover crawfish/shrimp boil stuff but most often I use Earl Campbell’s hot links. That makes it way cheaper than using brisket which I don’t usually have lying around.
Wow, those look insane! I definitely have to try them this summer! Have you ever tried stuffing them with pulled pork instead of brisket?
Thanks! Yeah I’ve done all kinds of fillings. I really enjoy using leftover crawfish/shrimp boil stuff but most often I use Earl Campbell’s hot links. That makes it way cheaper than using brisket which I don’t usually have lying around.
This is the BEST version of Texas Twinkies I’ve ever had
Thanks I’m glad you liked it!