Vegan jalapeno poppers that are stuffed with cashew cream, breaded in a gluten free coating and fried until golden crispy.
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A couple of weeks back, a group of my cousins went out for Christmas dinner and drinks.
At our first stop for drinks, there was basically nothing on the menu I could order on my diet (vegan + gluten free) so I had to watch others eat. This doesn’t bother me normally...
One of the dishes was jalapeño poppers.
They looked amazing.
I don’t normally eat fried foods, but I wanted to eat these bad boys.
Fast forward to this week, I was out grocery shopping and the fresh green smooth jalapeños caught my eye.
That’s it, I am doing it. I am making easy gluten free vegan jalapeño poppers.
And so here we are.
I made three batches. All three tasted amazing. Only one, looked presentable.
Each batch used a varying breading. I wanted to see which one worked out best.
Batch one - I used aquafaba mixed with chickpea flour as the wet coat, then dipped into cornflour and rice flour, and then homemade gluten free bread crumbs. These jalapeño poppers tasted amazing and had a serious crunch on them, but they fried a really dark shade of brown (almost black) that didn’t look appetising.
Batch two - I used aquafaba dipped in rice flour. The taste was great, but the coating didn’t stick too well on the jalapeños.
Batch three - I used aquafaba dipped in a combination of rice flour, cornflour and some nutritional yeast. These turned out fab! The coating was extra crunchy and the taste was bang on.
Out of the three batches (21 pieces) of vegan stuffed jalapeños only two individuals were super hot, and I was the lucky recipient of the hottest jalapeño from hell.
Haha. Guess it was my lucky day.
Albeit all that heat, where I was licking my tingling lips and slurping my extra saliva, I absolutely love these.
The taste combination of the crispy outer shell with the unique jalapeño flavour and the stuffing of cashew cream is super good.
So good, I had a few.
Never mind, I will be eating loads of salads moving forward, like my fresh orange and fennel salad with a side of crunchy oven roasted cumin chickpea recipe.
Why you’ll love these vegan jalapeño poppers
- They are soy free and gluten free
- Made with all natural ingredients
- Un-cooked jalapeno poppers can be stored in the fridge in an airtight container for a couple of days
- Straightforward to make
- They are the best party food - seriously these will disappear in no time
Did you know that jalapeño poppers are also known as jalapeño bites or armadillo eggs due to their resemblance to scotch eggs.
Let’s get on with how to make vegan jalapeño poppers, this is conducted in three sections - 1. preparing the vegan cashew cream filling, 2 preparing the jalapeños and 3. breading and frying.
🥘Ingredients
- Jalapeños - pick out the super smooth green ones with no blemishes, these are the freshest
- Cooking oil - use your preferred neutral oil for frying
Filling
- Raw cashew nuts
- Garlic powder
- Nutritional yeast - this gives a cheesy flavour
- Water - this will help to make the cashews creamy
- Salt
Breading
- Aquafaba - I used the brine of canned chickpeas
- Gluten free cornflour - this is also known as corn starch
- Rice flour - the white variety
- Nutritional yeast
🔪Cooking Instructions
- Soak cashews overnight or for a minimum of a couple of hours, they should be nice and soft
- Blend drained cashews with ¼ cup of water, nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt. Set aside
- Cut a t-section into the jalapeños and scoop out the flesh and seeds (see video)
- Fill each jalapeño with about 1 tsp of cashew cream
- Coat each jalapeño in aquafaba first and then the flour mixture (combine rice flour, cornflour and nutritional yeast), do this twice
- Heat up cooking oil in a pot and fry each jalapeño for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Serve immediately
📝Recipe Notes
- Cashew cream should be thick and not runny. Use water as needed to make it creamy.
- Use the smallest sized spoon, such as a moka* or grapefruit spoon* to fill the jalapeños. A teaspoon is just to big for the size of the jalapeños
- Don’t over fill the jalapeños with the cashew cream as once bitten into the vegan jalapeño popper it will ooze out creating a mess
- I like to use a small amount of excess cashew cream that’s popping out of the jalapeños to cover the outside of them before breading
- Coat each jalapeño as evenly as possible
- Check that the cornflour (corn starch) is not wheaten cornflour as that's not gluten free
🎥Video
💭Recipe Tips
- Cut the T-section on the part of the jalapeño you think will open well. When cutting the crossbar of the T, cut into the flesh without piercing the back of the jalapeño. For a visual of this, watch the video.
- Use gloves when deseeding jalapeños as the chilli oil will stick to your fingers (which if you touch your face/eyes will sting)
- After washing jalapeños, ensure they are thoroughly dry (water in hot oil will spit)
- If using a small pot to fry jalapeños, only fry 2-3 at a time to ensure the temperature of the oil doesn’t cool
- Transfer fried vegan stuffed jalapeños to a paper towel lined plate to catch any excess oil
- Once done frying, cool oil to room temperature and then strain. Store in a jar for future use.
🥄Serving Suggestions
- Serve vegan jalapeno poppers as part of a mezze, as a starter or on their own
- Squeeze fresh lemon or lime as you eat
- As most jalapeños are not super chilli, you can dunk these gluten free jalapeño poppers into your own chilli garlic dip by mixing your favourite chilli sauce with some lemon and my traditional Lebanese garlic sauce toum recipe.
🗒️Recipe variations
- Add your favourite herb or spice to the cashew cream mix, parsley would go well
- If you prefer to avoid nuts, try stuffing them with a mashed potato or sweet potato
❓FAQ
Jalapeños are found in the fresh food section of your local grocer or supermarket.
Each jalapeño will vary in the amount of heat. Some are not hot at all and some a super hot. Sometimes in an entire bunch you will not get any hot ones and sometimes you might get couple.
The “J” is pronounced as an “H” so it becomes Ha-la-pee-no
Want more vegan recipes?
⚙️Equipment
- Pot
- Slotted spoon
- 2 x mixing bowl
- Moka spoon* or grapefruit spoon*
🔖Other vegan appetiser recipes
- Roasted Okra - Simple and easy. This recipe uses minimal ingredients.
- Lupini Beans - One of my favourite go-to vegan snacks or served before mains
- Sweet Potato Chips - Healthy, quick and delish
- Baba Ghanouj eggplant dip with mint - a famous Lebanese dip best served with veggie sticks or crackers
📖 Recipe
Vegan Jalapeno Popper (Gluten Free)
Ingredients
- 21 Jalapenos
- 3 cups Cooking oil neutral oil (e.g., canola or vegetable)
Filling
- 1 cup Raw cashew nuts soaked overnight
- 1 tbsp Garlic powder
- 3 tbsp Nutritional Yeast
- ¼ cup Water or as need to make cashews creamy
- ½ tsp Salt or to taste
Breading
- 115 ml Aquafaba chickpea brine
- 75 g Rice Flour white variety
- 40 g Cornflour corn starch
- 1 TBSP Nutritional Yeast
Instructions
- Soak cashews overnight or for a minimum of a couple of hours
- Blend drained cashews with ¼ cup of water (or as needed), nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt. Set aside
- Cut a t-section into the jalapeños and scoop out the flesh and seeds (see video)
- Fill each jalapeño with about 1 tsp of cashew cream
- Coat each jalapeño in aquafaba first and then the flour mixture (combine rice flour, cornflour and nutritional yeast), repeat
- Heat up cooking oil in a pot and fry each jalapeño for about 3-4 minutes or until golden brown. Serve warm
Notes
- Cashew cream should be thick and not running. Use water as needed to make it creamy.
- Use the smallest sized spoon, such as a moka or grapefruit spoon to fill the jalapeños. A teaspoon is just to big for the size of the jalapeños
- Don’t over fill the jalapeños with the cashew cream as once bitten into the vegan jalapeño popper it will ooze out
- I like to use a small amount of excess of cashew cream that’s popping out of the jalapeños to cover the outside of them before breading
- Coat each jalapeño as evenly as possible
- Check that the cornflour (corn starch) is not wheaten cornflour.
- Cut the T-section on the part of the jalapeño you think will open well. When cutting the crossbar of the T, cut into the flesh without piercing the back of the jalapeño. For a visual of this, watch the how to make vegan jalapeno poppers video.
- Use gloves when deseeding jalapeños as the chilli oil will stick to your fingers (which if you touch your face/eyes will sting)
- After washing jalapeños, ensure they are thoroughly dry (water in hot oil will spit)
- If using a small pot to fry jalapeños, only fry 2-3 at a time to ensure the temperature of the oil doesn’t cool
- Transfer fried vegan stuffed jalapeños to a paper towel lined plate to catch any excess oil
- Once done frying, cool oil to room temperature and then strain. Store in a jar for future use.
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