Turning a party appetizer favourite into lovely little bite-sized jalapeno popper taco cups is a fab, fun twist on regular jalapeno popper dip. Easy to assemble (and you can prep them ahead of time) and even easier to eat, they’re a serious crowd-pleaser, perfect for entertaining.
While I LOVE a sharing dip, it’s also fun to serve cute little bite-sized party appetizers that are mess-free for people to grab and eat with one hand. These lovely little jalapeno popper taco cups are exactly that. I like to serve jalapeno popper dip with tortilla chips, so I figured combining the two in this way would work well, and it absolutely did. You’ve got the crunch from the crispy tortilla cup, with the creamy, spicy filling to make the most moreish snack around.
The jalapeno popper dip mix itself is INSANE. I’ve been enjoying leftovers from recipe testing with carrot sticks as an afternoon pick-me-up and it’s VERY hard to stop eating!
All you have to do is cut little tortilla circles out, pop them into a mini muffin tin and spoon in your gorgeous jalapeno popper dip. Throw into the oven to get crispy, hot, oozy and gooey and you’re done. It’s easy, you can prep the whole thing ahead of time and these guys are guaranteed to go down a storm at any party (and are particularly fun for game-day parties).
Ingredients
- Pickled jalapenos. I love the acidic hit using pickled jalapenos gives these cups, but you could use fresh ones if you like (they’ll just be quite crunchy in the dip).
- Cream cheese. This forms the base of the dip mixture, and to make it easier to mix into a smooth texture, you ideally want it to be at room temperature. You can use light or reduced-fat cream cheese too.
- Greek yogurt. Typically jalapeno popper dip uses sour cream or mayonnaise along with the cream cheese, but I prefer using yogurt. It makes it feel a little lighter and cuts through the rich cream cheese. Any plain yogurt is fine, I like to use thick Greek yogurt (and fat-free is fine).
- Cheese. I like to use a mix of mozzarella (for the oozy, stretchy factor) and strong cheddar (for the flavour). You can mix this up based on what you like and what you have to hand – gruyere, Monterey Jack or even blue cheese is great too.
- Bacon. This is optional, but I LOVE the little crispy, salty hits of flavour streaky bacon brings to the cups. Cook it until super crispy first, then add into the dip mixture. Skip it if you want to keep them vegetarian.
How to make them
Use a cookie cutter (or the rim of a glass) to cut out little circles from your tortillas. I like to make a test one first to make sure the size is right for the muffin tin. Grease your mini muffin tin with oil, then gently press the tortilla circles into each hole. PRO TIP: If your tortillas are tearing as you do this, cover them with a kitchen towel and microwave for 20 seconds. This will make them easier to handle and mould into your tin.
Cook your bacon until super crispy, then mix with the cream cheese, yogurt, pickled jalapenos, mozzarella, cheddar, paprika and a little salt. Spoon the jalapeno popper dip into the tortilla cups, then scatter a few extra jalapenos on top, along with the chopped unused pieces of your tortillas. Transfer to the oven and cook until crispy and golden. Serve while hot and gooey.
Got a question?
You can get ahead two ways – mix the jalapeno popper dip, then pop into the fridge for up to 3 days. You can also cut out your mini tortilla circles ahead of time (will be fine for a few days in a container at room temperature). Then, just assemble and bake when you’re ready to serve. OR, you can assemble the cups in the mini tin, cover them, and pop them into the fridge overnight. The next day, just throw it into the oven when you’re ready to serve.
These definitely have quite a bit of heat! If you’re worried, reduce the amount of jalapenos to 1/2 a cup, then taste the dip and see what you think. It’s much easier to add more jalapenos if you’d like them spicier than to take them away.
No, you don’t. To make these cups vegetarian, just skip the bacon altogether.
Watch how to make them
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Jalapeno Popper Taco Cups
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 30 cups 1x
Description
Turning a party appetizer favourite into lovely little bite-sized jalapeno popper taco cups is a fab, fun twist on regular jalapeno popper dip. Easy to assemble (and you can prep them ahead of time) and even easier to eat, they’re a serious crowd-pleaser, perfect for entertaining.
You’ll need a mini muffin tin for this recipe – I like this tin from Amazon.
Ingredients
- 4 flour tortillas
- 3 slices streaky bacon
- 8oz/225g cream cheese, at room temperature
- 1/2 cup thick Greek yogurt
- 1 cup jarred pickled jalapenos, chopped
- 4 garlic cloves, crushed (or 1 teaspoon garlic powder)
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1 cup grated cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup grated mozzarella cheese
- 1 teaspoon salt
- Oil, for greasing
Instructions
- Prepare your muffin tin. Heat oven to 400F/200C fan, then grease a mini muffin tin with olive oil.
- Make your mini tortillas. Use a cookie cutter (or the rim of a small glass) to cut out little circles from your tortillas. Chop the leftovers from one of the tortillas into little pieces – you’ll use these as a little crunchy crumb topping on your cups. Don’t throw out the remaining bits of tortillas – they make wonderful homemade tortilla chips. Just toss them with a little olive oil and a pinch of salt, and bake at 400F/200C for 10 minutes or until crispy and golden.
- Prepare the jalapeno popper filling. Cook the bacon until super crispy (about 5 minutes), then transfer it to a large mixing bowl. Add the cream cheese, Greek yogurt, chopped jalapenos (set aside 1 tablespoon to scatter on top of the cups), crushed garlic, paprika, mozzarella, cheddar and salt. Give everything a really good mix, to combine well. Taste, then season with a little more salt if you like.
- Arrange the tortilla cups. Press the little tortilla circles into your greased mini muffin tin, to create little cups. If your tortilla circles tear when you do this, cover them with a kitchen towel and pop them into the microwave for 20 seconds – this will help them to soften up and make it easier to get them into the moulds.
- Fill the tortilla cups. Spoon a heaped teaspoon of the jalapeno popper dip mixture into each tortilla cup – you don’t want to pile them up too high though as the dip may overflow while in the oven. Scatter the set-aside chopped jalapenos on top of each cup, then scatter over the chopped tortilla crumbs. Drizzle with a little olive oil.
- Bake the cups. Transfer the muffin tin to the oven and bake for 30 minutes, or until the tortillas are crispy and golden. Remove from the oven, then carefully remove the taco cups from the tin. Arrange on a serving platter, then serve while hot, crispy and gooey. Serving the cups with garlic aioli, spicy aioli or sweet chilli jam would be a great idea too.
Notes
MAKE AHEAD: There are a couple of ways you can get ahead while making this recipe. You can mix the jalapeno popper dip up to 3 days before you want to serve the cups, then just store it in the fridge. You can also cut out your mini tortilla circles days ahead of time (just keep them in a container at room temperature). Or, assemble the cups in the muffin tin, then cover with clingfilm and pop into the fridge overnight. Then the next day you can bake them whenever you’re ready to serve.
STORAGE INSTRUCTIONS: Any leftover cups will keep well for 3 to 4 days in the fridge – the tortilla cups will get soft after the first day, but they’ll still taste great.
INGREDIENT NOTES: These cups are pretty spicy, so reduce the amount of jalapenos to 1/2 a cup if you’re worried. You can always add more if you’d like the dip mixture to be spicier, but it’s a lot harder to take the jalapenos out! Skip the bacon to keep them vegetarian. Regular or light cream cheese is absolutely fine. You could swap the Greek yogurt for sour cream or mayo if you like.
- Prep Time: 10
- Cook Time: 30
- Category: appetizers
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: american
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 3 cups
Keywords: jalapeno popper dip
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