Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs) aka Jalapeno Poppers

 

 

Atomic Buffalo Turds (ABTs) aka Jalapeno Poppers
 
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
 
What the heck! If you hang around or visit BBQ teams at contests in the California BBQ circuit, you’ll likely run into teams making ABT’s or Atomic Buffalo Turds. Despite their colorful name, they are yummy appetizer morsels of some type of stuffed pepper with various fillings including cream cheese, grated cheddar, bacon, mini hot dogs, bell peppers, and onions. The pepper of choice is usually jalapeno but it can be any kind of pepper. Not to worry, the heat of the jalapeno popper is tempered after grilling or smoking. Since I usually have kids and folks who don’t care for spicy food at my parties, I add some sweet mini red and yellow peppers which are bursting with flavor but not heat. There is no right or wrong way to make them so try my easy recipe for ABTs at your next party. It only has a few ingredients and you can get your guests to help make them. Make plenty because they go fast!



The red ones are sweet. The green ones have a little heat!
Author:
Recipe type: Appetizer
Cuisine: American
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 12 medium sized jalapenos (about 3 inches long)
  • 12 medium red and yellow mini sweet peppers (about 3 inches long)
  • 8-oz Kraft Philadelphia cream cheese
  • 1 cup grated American cheddar cheese
  • 4 cooked bacon strips, crumbled
  • Cayenne pepper
  • SYD Hot Rub
Instructions
  1. Cut off the stem of the peppers. Make a slit ¾ ways down one side and gently remove any seeds. Or if you like your ABTs spicy, leave the seeds inside of the jalapeno ones
  2. Mix the softened cream cheese, grated cheddar, and crumbled bacon in a bowl. Feel free to add more cheese or bacon to your liking. If you like it spicy, add some hot sauce or cayenne pepper to the cheese mix. Add some SYD Hot rub to taste
  3. Stuff the prepared peppers with the cheese mix. If you like, you can wrap the pepper with a bacon strip and secure with a toothpick. Since I already had crumbled bacon in my cheese mix, I skipped the bacon wrap part
  4. If you have an ABT rack like I do, put your prepared peppers onto that rack (can be found in my Store page). If not, you can grill/smoke them right on the grill grate Use an ABT rack if you have one, else cook on the grill grate
  5. Smoke or grill them under medium heat (300 degrees) until pepper is softened and cheese has melted (about 30 minutes)
  6. Remove and dust with some SYD Hot rub and serve immediately. They taste best warm so get your guests to come up to your smoker and serve them