Jalapeno Popper Pizza

As you may know - if you already follow our blogs - we are big fans of Jalapeno Poppers... in any form. I have a ton of recipes for different Jalapeno Poppers, and other things inspired by the flavour of Jalapeno Poppers.

We’ve got Smoked Jalapeno Poppers, Mummy Jalapeno Poppers (and Gluten-Free Mummy Jalapeno Poppers!), Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Pretzels, Jalapeno Popper Dip, Air Fryer Jalapeno Poppers, Jalapeno Popper Meatloaf, Jalapeno Popper Stuffed Chicken Breasts, Chicken Bacon Ranch Armadillo Eggs, and - most recently - my Jalapeno Popper Nachos!

Whew!

The rest of the pizza is more of a deconstructed take on jalapeno poppers, as there aren’t any actual poppers involved here. (Wouldn’t that have been fun, though?)

The sauce is a cream cheese and jalapeno sauce that takes only a few minutes to make.

That’s topped with cheddar cheese, jalapeno slices, bacon, and ranch. It’s hefty, rich, indulgent, and basically perfect for the big game.

Anyway, let’s look at what you’ll need to have on hand, to make this jalapeno popper pizza recipe for yourself!

Ingredients

While this jalapeno popper pizza recipe seems to have a long list of ingredients, they’re all pretty SIMPLE ingredients. Whatever you don’t already have on hand, you won’t have a difficult time finding in any grocery store.

As always, I have a few ingredient notes for you:

Cheeses

As far as the shredded cheese goes, I’m pretty basic / “a purist” when it comes to making jalapeno poppers. I only use sharp cheddar cheese in the cream cheese filling!

That said, feel free to use a mild cheddar, medium cheddar, and/or Monterey Jack, if you prefer. For that matter, you could go a bit “extra” and use pepper jack cheese.

In addition to the shredded cheddar cheese on top of the pizza, you’ll need some string cheese, for stuffing the crust. I find a 16" pizza - as this Jalapeno Popper Pizza recipe makes - takes about 10 Mozzarella string cheese sticks.

Beer - or Not!

You can use warm beer for the crust... or just warm water. Up to you!

If you do use beer, use whatever you’d drink when eating Jalapeno Poppers. Personally, we like to go with a fairly neutral tasting lager. Molson Canadian tends to be our go-to.

Fresh Jalapeno Peppers

Jalapenos are used in two ways here - in the jalapeno cream cheese sauce, and sliced on top of the pizza.

There are a few ways you can customize the heat of your nachos, through the use of the Jalapenos.

To cut the heat a bit, you can scrape the seeds and pith/ribs out before chopping. Leaving all of that in - like we tend to - will give you a spicier flavour.

Beyond that, there are a few rules of them to keep in mind when choosing your jalapeno peppers.

Generally speaking, younger jalapenos are more mild, and older are hotter.

Younger / milder jalapenos are lighter green, smooth, shiny, unblemished, very uniform skin.

Older / hotter jalapenos tend to be darker and less shiny/smooth, with little white streaks on them, maybe starting to show some red.

Also, be sure to use fresh jalapenos - canned / pickled won’t work the same, and don’t have the right flavour profile for jalapeno poppers, IMHO.

Bacon

We generally use real bacon for this pizza recipe, but chicken bacon or turkey bacon also works.

One thing to note, though: The leftover bacon fat from using real bacon can be used in place of the olive oil. This brings a great taste to the crust!

Cream Cheese

I recommend using full fat cream cheese for sauce, and I find it gives the best taste and texture

I have not tested this recipe with any of the dairy free cream cheese alternatives, and have no idea whether or not they’d work well.

Milk

You can use whatever kind of milk you like for the pizza sauce - actual dairy milk or plant based. We use unsweetened almond milk... but if I wasn’t cutting back on milk consumption, I’d use 2% milk.

Everything Else

Rounding out this recipe, you will need:

All-Purpose Flour (Or Bread Flour)
Olive Oil
Honey
Active Dry Yeast
Ground Black Pepper
Garlic Powder
Onion Powder
Salt

There are also a couple optional ingredients - Cornmeal and Sesame Seeds. These are both for dressing up your homemade pizza crust, to add a bit of texture.

I also recommend having ranch dressing and green onions, for garnishing your Jalapeno Popper Pizza before serving.

How to Make Jalapeno Popper Pizza

The full recipe is in the printable recipe card at the end of this post, here is the pictorial walk through:

Make the Crust

In a large measuring glass, mix honey into the warm beer - or warm water - stir till well blended. Add yeast and stir again. Allow to sit (somewhere warm!) for 10 minutes.

Add the yeast mixture to the bowl, stir to combine into a loose dough.

Dump dough out onto a floured surface, knead until soft and elastic, 5-10 minutes. (OR: mix it in a stand mixer with a dough hook for 5 minutes or so!)

After one hour, dough should have doubled in size. Punch dough down and allow to rise for another hour or so.

Jalapeno Popper Pizza Sauce

While dough is raising for the second time, make the sauce:

In a mini food processor - or using a stick blender - puree the jalapeno peppers together with the milk, until relatively smooth and with no large chunks.

Pour jalapeno mixture into a small pan, bring JUST to a low simmer.

Allow to gently simmer for 5 minutes or so, until milk is infused and peppers are tender.

Stir in the garlic and onion powders. Once combined, carefully add the cream cheese, and stir until it’s completely combined and smooth. Season with salt and pepper, to taste.

Set aside, or - if making ahead - cool it to room temperature and store in an airtight container in the fridge until you assemble your pizza.

Assemble the Pizza

Preheat oven to 400F. Generously spray pizza pan with nonstick cooking spray, then sprinkle with some cornmeal, if desired.

Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl, punch the dough down one more time.

On a lightly floured surface, flatten the dough out into a 17-18” round circle, slightly thinner at the very edge. You can stretch pizza dough by hand (I like to spray my hands with a little olive oil or nonstick spray), or using a rolling pin.

Transfer the dough disc to the prepared baking pan, with the excess dough hanging over the edge.

Place cheese strings end to end all the way around the outer edge of the crust, leaving about ½” edge of the pizza crust as a border. Don’t worry TOO much about any small gaps, as the cheese will melt and flow a bit during the baking process. You may need to break a piece to make it fit.

Roll edge of dough over the cheese (towards center of pizza) and press down or tuck under to secure.

Spray the whole crust with olive oil spray, sprinkle the edge with sesame seeds, if you like.

Spread pizza sauce over surface of the dough, then top with shredded cheddar, jalapeno slices, and bacon.

Bake at 400 degrees F for 30-35 minutes.

Remove from oven, garnish with ranch dressing, if desired, as well as some green onion slices. Serve immediately.

Leftovers

Once cooled to room temperature, leftover pizza can be wrapped in plastic wrap or transferred to an airtight container and stored in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Best served reheated - we’ll usually microwave a slice for 30 seconds or so, then finish it in the air fryer for a freshly baked taste.

More Pizza - and Pizza Inspired! - Recipes

Love pizza in every form? Here are some more tasty pizza recipes to try!

Breakfast Pizza
Buffalo Chicken Pizza
Campfire Calzones
Campfire Pizza
Crab Rangoon Pizza
Deluxe Pizza Strata
Frozen Dessert Pizza
Gluten-Free Bacon Poutine Pizza
Gluten Free Detroit Style Pizza
Gluten-Free Pizza Bites
Gluten Free Pizza Crust Mix
Gluten-Free Stuffed Crust Pizza
Hawaiian Pizza Skewers
Ham & Swiss Breakfast Pizza
Homemade Bagel Bites
Keto Pierogi Pizza
Keto Smoked Salmon Pizza
Pie Iron Pizzas
Pierogi Pizza
Pizza Stuffed Peppers
Portabello Mushroom Pizzas
Smoked Salmon Pizza
St Patrick's Day Pizza