I love jalapeño poppers. They are without a doubt one of the best appetizers ever invented. They’re everything an app should be – a little spicy, a little cheesy, and the perfect finger food to serve and eat while you’re watching your favorite game or celebrating with friends. Jalapeño popper soup, though?

The combination of jalapeños and cream cheese creates the spicy-cheesy dynamic that the bite-size appetizers have perfected. The biggest difference here is that I’m able to add some veggies like onion, celery, and carrot to create a more dynamic range of flavors. It’s your favorite appetizer, but in meal form. What’s better than that? Plus, you can add more or less jalapeños to suit your preferred level of spiciness.

So what are we looking at here? There’s your traditional soup base of onion, celery, carrot, and garlic sautéed in butter. There’s a little flour to thicken things up, milk to give the soup some texture, and jalapeños and cream cheese because, well, this is a jalapeño popper soup, and we couldn’t very well skip the cream cheese or the jalapeños!

In all, it’s a fairly simple soup to make. Once you chop and dice your vegetables, you’re about 90% done aside from the cooking time.

And if that’s not enough, we’re gonna garnish this soup with a little extra shredded cheddar cheese, a few jalapeños, and…. BACON!

For real, what’s better than a garnish of crispy, crumbled bacon?

What about serving? That may depend on how you’re thinking of this soup. If you’re leaning towards it being more of an appetizer, as jalapeños poppers usually are, you could go with an ice cold beer or a Coke. If you’re serving this as a fun lunch or dinner dish, it’s great with an iced tea with lemon or even a glass of limeade.

Jalapeño Popper Soup

The combination of jalapeños and cream cheese in this Jalapeño Popper Soup creates the spicy-cheesy dynamic that the bite-size appetizers have perfected.

• Author: Addie Gundry
• Prep Time: 5 minutes
• Cook Time: 20 minutes
• Total Time: 25 minutes
• Yield: Serves 4-6 1x
• Category: Soups

Ingredients

Scale 1x2x3x

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
• 1 onion, finely diced
• 2 large celery stalks, chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 (12-ounce) jar jalapeño slices, undrained
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups whole milk
• 1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, cubed
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
• Shredded cheddar cheese, for garnish
• 4–6 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled, for garnish

Instructions

1. In a large pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Add the onion, celery, carrot, garlic, and jalapeño slices (reserve a few for garnish, and reserve the juice) and cook, stirring, until tender, about 10 minutes.
2. When the vegetables are tender, add the flour and stir until all the flour has been absorbed. Cook for 2 minutes, until the mixture is heated through and turns a light golden color.
3. Add the broth to the flour mixture, stirring vigorously to avoid lumps.
4. Slowly stir in the milk and jarred jalapeño juices. Bring the mixture to a simmer, stirring frequently, for about 20 minutes. The soup will thicken as it cooks.
5. Add the cream cheese, salt, and pepper and stir until melted and Remove from the heat.
6. Ladle into bowls and serve topped with cheddar cheese, bacon, and reserved jalapeño slices.

Keywords: jalapeño, jalapeño popper, soup