A delicious Jalapeño Popper Cheese Bread, with all the flavours of jalapeño poppers … in bread form!
I love jalapeño poppers. Anytime I am anywhere where they are served, I will order them up. Truth is though, I’m not likely to undertake filling, breading and deep frying a jalapeño at home any time soon. I’m guessing they’re fiddly little things to make.
That said, I’m definitely not the least bit averse to stuffing my bread with cream cheese, jalapeño and cheddar though. Not one little bit :) It was meant to be that jalapeño poppers and cheese bread should come together in my kitchen at some point in time.
The finished bread has great creamy veins of spicy cream cheese and cheddar flowing through it and peeking out of the top. It is a jalapeño popper … in bread form.
So what we have here is my favourite soft cheese bread recipe, filled with cream cheese that’s mixed with diced, roasted jalapeños and cheddar cheese. Roasting the jalapeños is key. Raw jalapeños have surprisingly little flavour once mixed with other ingredients. And besides, to truly capture the flavour of jalapeño poppers (that are fried), you need to cook the jalapeños, right?
Ingredients and Substitutions
Bread Flour – while bread flour is recommended for the best texture, you can use all purpose flour if you don’t have bread flour on hand. You may need to use slightly more all purpose flour to bring the dough together.
Instant Yeast – I love to use Instant yeast, specifically SAF Instant Yeast. If you only have Active Dry yeast on hand, you can adapt the recipe to work with Active Dry yeast. See the Recipe Card for how to.
Jalapeños – start with fresh jalapeños.
Recipe Tips
- This bread is great out of hand, with butter, toasted, as a sandwich bread or try it for a killer grilled cheese (because more cheese is always good!). This bread is a great side for chili or soup dinners, too.
- Sometimes I will pan sauté the diced jalapeño, then let cool before adding to bread. It makes a nice roasted jalapeño flavour.
- The twisting shape of the bread ensures that the loaf bakes up without holes or gaps and with the filling evenly distributed throughout the loaf. Despite the shaping, it bakes up in to a solid and very sliceable loaf. If you roll this one up jelly-roll style, you will probably find large holes/gaps where the filling meets the dough. It will still be delicious, but less sliceable.
Get the Recipe: Jalapeño Popper Cheese Bread
Ingredients
- 6 1/2 cups unbleached bread flour, (can use all purpose if that’s all you have)
- 2 teaspoons fine salt
- 5 Tablespoons white granulated sugar
- 1 cup lukewarm water, about 95 F.
- 1 cup + 2 Tablespoons milk or buttermilk, lukewarm
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons Active Dry or Instant yeast
- 1/4 cup melted butter, or vegetable oil
Filling:
- 8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
- 5-6 large jalapeño peppers, halved, cored and seeded
- 1 1/2 cups cheddar cheese, shredded
Instructions
- Preheat oven broiler. Place halved jalapenos, skin side up into oven, about 6 inches below the broiler and broil until the skins of the jalapenos are blistered and blackened in spots, about 10 minutes. Remove from oven and place into a paper or plastic bag and place in the refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Remove and carefully peel away the skins with the edge of a knife. Discard skins and dice jalapenos. Set aside.
- In a mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the kneading hook, combine 5 cups of the flour, the salt and sugar together.
- In a large measuring cup or bowl, combine the water and buttermilk and whisk in the yeast until dissolved. Add this mixture, along with the melted butter, to the dry ingredients. Mix by hand or with a dough hook, until the mixture is combined, about 2 minutes. Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
- Continue mixing the dough, adding more flour in 1/4 cup increments, as needed, until the dough becomes soft, smooth and tacky, but not sticky. The dough should wrap the kneading hook and clean the bowl.
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface and knead for a couple of minutes, then form dough into a ball. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to sit at room temperature until doubled in size (about 60-90 minutes). (*Tip: I like to use an 8-cup glass measuring cup, so it’s easy to see when it’s doubled by the markings).
- Grease two 8-inch by 4-inch loaf pans and set aside. In a large bowl, stir the cream cheese until smooth and creamy (I like to pop into my stand mixer and stir with the paddle attachment). Fold in 1/3 cup of the diced jalapenos until evenly mixed through the cream cheese. Set aside.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Dust each with a bit of flour and then, using a rolling pin, roll into a rectangle approximately 10 inches wide and 16 inches long.
- Spread 1/2 of the cream cheese/jalapeno mixture evenly over the dough (spreading out almost to the edges). Sprinkle with 1/2 of the remaining diced jalapeno, 1/2 of the shredded cheddar and lightly press the cheese down onto the cream cheese with the palm of your hand. Starting with the shortest side, roll the dough up jelly-roll style and pinch the seam together.
- Using a sharp knife, cut the roll of dough down the centre, lengthwise. Rotate each piece so that the cut sides are facing upward and place them side-by-side. Pinch together the farthest end. Keeping the cuts sides facing upwards as much as possible, place the right-side piece over the left-side piece. Straighen it up and then repeat, pinching together the end closest to you. If any cheese escapes, just place it back on top. Using a bench scraper or spatula, carefully lift the dough into the greased loaf pan. Repeat with the other dough log, then cover both with a greased piece of plastic wrap and allow to rise until the dough rises to about 1-inch above the side of the pans in the middle.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (regular bake setting/not fan assisted) Bake for 45-50 minutes total, but after 25 minutes of baking, rotate pans front-to-back in the oven and loosely cover with a piece of aluminum foil if necessary (if bread is already well-browned), to prevent the top from over-browning. Bread should reach about 185° internal temperature in the centre.
- Remove the bread from the oven and allow to cool in the pans for a couple of minutes. Run a sharp knife around the edge of the bread and carefully remove the loaves to a cooling rack. Allow to cool for 1 hour before slicing.
Notes
More Jalapeño Bread Recipes to Love!
Hi! I’m Jennifer, a home cook schooled by trial and error and almost 40 years of getting dinner on the table! I love to share my favourite recipes, both old and new, together with lots of tips and tricks to hopefully help make your home cooking enjoyable, stress free, rewarding and of course, delicious!
Absolutely delicious!!! 👏 😍
I kept jalapeno seeds in the peppers as I wanted more heat. Great bread 🍞 and super soft. Careful it’s hard to stop eating! 😆
So glad you enjoyed it, Brooke! Thanks so much :)
This is a delicious recipe! I finished making this late last night. I woke to find 1/2 of a loaf gone. My daughter, who rarely eats bread, had eaten it. She lives jalapeño poppers and now loves this bread!! I have made several types of cheese bread with similar basic bread dough and though they said to use a 8×4 pan but I could never find one. Finally found them and used it for this recipe. It was nice to have more crusty top as it rose quite nicely over the edges. Thanks for such a tasty recipe!!
So glad to hear, Debbie :) Thanks so much!
Delicious! Have made more than once…my poppers have bacon, so I add some sprinkled bacon in as well! Forgot to twist last time, still looks fabulous!
You can never go wrong with bacon :) So glad you are enjoying it, Liz. Thanks so much!
I make this nearly every week for my dad, I have some too but he eats more bread than me in general but I LOVE this recipe. I skip the cream cheese and I use extra hot jalapenos that are in a jar so I skip the salt in the recipe since the jalapenos are pickled. Anyway 100% recommend this recepie it’s great for sandwiches!!!
So glad to hear, Ciara :) Thanks so much!
Hi, Jennifer. This looks delicious. Curiously, the instructions only use 1/3 of the jalapenos. Can you clarify when to add the remaining 2/3? I’m looking forward to making this tomorrow. Thanks!
Hi Gavin and sorry, it should be scatter over the cream cheese mixture and before the shredded cheese. I have updated the instructions to reflect that. Thanks for pointing that out!
Thanks for getting back to me so quickly! This recipe is absolutely delicious! I’m definitely making this again.
So glad to hear! Thanks :)
I’ve made this twice for baseball tailgate parties; it disappears in minutes! Is there a published version with weights instead of volume?
Hi Patricia, I just updated the recipe card with the metric measures. You’ll find the link to toggle between the two recipe versions in red at the very bottom of the recipe card.
Jennifer, thank you so much for your lightning-fast response; that is enormously helpful! The two times I’ve made this, I did one loaf as directed here and modeled the other after your herb/parmesan Soft Cheese Bread and filled it with pesto, a bit of chopped basil and parmesan…delicious. The first time both came out perfectly shaped; the second time they took on odd alien tentacled forms in the oven and had to be coaxed back into loaves for the last 20 minutes of baking. Amazingly, that worked. Maybe I didn’t roll or twist tightly enough? I have dough rising right now for two more loaves; we’ll see what happens :-)
I’ve had that happen before, Patricia! I make this bread so often, sometimes I think I’m not always paying as close attention to what I’m doing :) I love your pesto addition!
I love this recipe made it many times, but I was wondering if anyone tried making this into mini loaves? How many did you get out of it?
So glad you are enjoying this bread, Amanda. I haven’t tried mini loaves, but it’s a great idea. Maybe someone has tried and will chime in for you :)
When I fold in the 1/3 of the jalapeno peppers into the cream cheese where do I put the rest of the papers did not see anything in the recipe for it or directions
Would the bread turn out okay if you just placed it in the pan without braiding the bread ? My wife prefers the normal looking loaf of bread. Thanks it looks delicious
Hi Jay, The problem with filled breads like this one, is if you roll it up jelly-roll style, it will probably bake up with large holes/gaps where the filling is. Of course, it will still be delicious, but not great for slicing, usually. The solution is to twist it together. Twisting makes a very solid, sliceable loaf, with the filling evenly distributed. That said, if you really don’t want to go that route, I would knead in the filling first, then roll jelly-roll style. That will get you a normal looking loaf, without the gaps etc.
Thank you so much I will do one the way you suggested in your original recipe and I will do like you suggested with the Jelly Roll for my wife thank you so much. :)
Made this today. Absolutely amazing and easy to do. Thanks for sharing!
One of my favourites and so glad you enjoyed it :)
Hi,
After reading step number 10 (the part about cutting the bread and flipping the sides etc) I’m still confused. I have even read your responses to the other people asking to clarify this step. Is there a YouTube video that may illustrate this? I don’t care if it’s someone else’s video that already exists on YouTube that happens to be doing the same thing as you are suggesting. I’m just more of a visual person
Thanks
Hi Sarah, You can have a look at this youtube video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zcJHIaREg6A Start watching at about the 2 minute mark. A couple of notes. She doesn’t cut all the way through (she leaves the one end attached). You can do it that way if you like, instead of cutting all the way through to make two separate pieces. Twisting is exactly the same as the video. Note that you are trying to keep the cut sides facing up. For my loaf, you won’t form in in to a ring, but rather just take the twisted piece and place it in a loaf pan. Hope that helps :)
Thank you! THANK YOU! That helped so much! Just made this bread
So glad! Enjoy the bread :)
I’m so excited to try this today. I’m going to add bacon to one of the loafs and leave the other as is. I’m not really sure I understand the cutting process. Do you have any pictures of this? I get the rolling then slicing down the middle, after that I’m a bit confused. When you say to flip it so the cut side are facing up, do you meant turn it completely upside down? And I don’t get how to lay the pieces over one another, are you folding it in half and twisting? If there’s any way you could explain I would greatly appreciate it. It looks absolutely beautiful. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Amanda, It’s so much simpler than it sounds :) Once you cut down the middle lengthwise, the two cut sides will be facing each other in the middle. Simply turn them so the cut sides are facing up. Snug them up against each other again. Now pinch the far end together and start twisting (braiding) your two pieces together. Once you’ve made a couple of braids, pinch together the end closest to you. Hope that helps :)
Any adaptation of this for a breadmaker? I’m fairly new to the yeast-bread-world :)
Hi Nikki, Sorry, can’t help you there. I have never used a breadmaker, so I have no idea how to approach this recipe that way.
Jennifer,
Thank you so much for all of your efforts and generosity in sharing your knowledge and experience.
I am new to bread making and was o excited when I saw the herb cheese loaf so I tried the recipe for the first time yesterday (was very excited). I used 1 cup less in measurement since I was using cup measurement and my dough was really stiff. I followed the recipe exactly. I left it out on the counter for a while and it rose a bit but decided to put in the fridge. I took it out today 2 hours before baking and the dough is stiffer and isn’t rising.
Has anyone had this happen and could you comment on what could have gone wrong?
Hi Katy, What kind of yeast did you use? If you used dry active, did you proof it in warm water first? Secondly, when I make bread, I always use the liquid measurement as the constant and the flour as the flexible, meaning I put all the liquid in first, followed by half the flour. Mix. They begin adding flour 1/4 cup at a time, until the dough comes together. Flour measurements vary wildly, depending on the type of flour and humidity and even how the cup is measured. That way, you can never go too far with the flour, which it sounds like you may have, if your dough was stiff. The fact that it didn’t rise at all though makes me question the yeast a bit though. Hope that helps and hope you’ll try it again.
Having found your lovely website I made this wonderful bread recipe the other day. My husband and I both loved this. Since it is just two of us I made this as a roll “cinnamon roll style” froze the extra rolls on a tray unbaked. The next morning we cut them in half like a bisquit, toasted and buttered — wonderful! It is traditional here in Kansas to make poppers with bacon — I think my next batch will have bacon included! Thank you so much — can’t wait to try another of your recipes.
Hi Tonya. So glad you enjoyed this bread and love your idea of making them cinnamon roll style. I loved this bread toasted and buttered, too and I don’t think you an ever go wrong adding bacon to something :)
Yes. Thank you.
I don’t quite understand step number 10. I understand rolling it and cutting it like cinnamon buns, and keeping the cut side up…
But then Pinch together the farthest end. Keeping the cuts sides facing upwards as much as possible, place the right-side piece over the left-side piece. Straighen it up and then repeat, pinching together the end closest to you.
Could you clarify please
Hi Betty, You don’t cut them like cinnamon buns. You just roll it up, jelly-roll style, then cut down the center lengthwise, making two long and narrow pieces. Flip the pieces so the cut side is up, placing them side-by-side. Then pinch the far end and twist the two pieces together, pinching the end closest to you once you have twisted it together. Does that help?
FINALLY, getting around to trying this TODAY and using up the last of the peppers from our garden! On its first rise now. I hope I can form the bread to look as beautiful as yours!
So glad you’re getting a chance to try it. Let me know how you liked it!
My husband and I both LOVED it. The recipe worked well as written and the results were beautiful and tasty! Thank you for a great recipe. {Will try to post a photo on FB.}
sounds yum. do you think i could substitute goat cheese for the cream cheese?
Hi Karen. If goat cheese is what you have and you don’t want to get cream cheese, give it a try. It might be a bit messier (goat is crumbly vs. the spreadable cream cheese), and while cream cheese is traditional in jalapeno poppers, goat is at least a tangy cheese as well. If you try it, let me know how it turns out.
Finally made it, the goat cheese wasn’t hard to work with but cheddar looks a lot prettier when it melts into the bread. Tasted good though! Next time, I will leave the goat cheese as a spread.
This as a grilled-cheese sandwich? YES!
I agree that making jalapeno poppers at home is a bit of a fuss, delicious as they are. At restaurants, they are always a favorite of mine as well! This looks amazing and as always, your braiding skills are just wonderful.
I see so many dishes with jalapeno and cheese/jalapeno popper flavorings on Pinterest…. I’m imagining this might make you a Pinterest star! Wouldn’t be the worst thing :)
Thanks Sophie. And yes, the jalapeno popper thing is everywhere these days. That’s probably what got me thinking about it. The power of suggestion :)
I love savory breads and this one looks simply irresistible!
Thanks so much, Laura. We really enjoyed this one.