This spicy jalapeño popper dip is made with ground beef, cream cheese, cheese whiz, jalapeños, and spices that make up a perfect game day dip. It is delicious served with Doritos or tortilla chips.
Spicy Jalapeno Popper Dip
If you are a dip person, then you’ve had your fair share of different jalapeño popper dip. This jalapeño popper dip is the combination of two amazing appetizers, dip and jalapeño poppers!
There are many different ways to make jalapeño popper dip. As long as there are jalapeños and cream cheese, anything else is fair game.
This jalapeño popper dip is spicy, creamy, and perfect for game-day or for a weekend party snack.
what’s special about this dip?
- This jalapeño popper dip is made with cream cheese and cheese whiz. The texture is out of this world.
- This dip is ready in no time!
- You can serve this Jalapeño popper dip along side any of these appetizers!
Ingredients You Need
This jalapeño popper dip is made with less than 10 ingredients. You won’t believe how easy it is to make.
- Ground beef: we used 85/15 ground beef for this recipe. We like a higher fat content for more flavor. You can use ground pork, ground chicken, ground turkey, or a combination of any of them. You choose!
- Cheez whiz: the star ingredient of this jalapeño popper dip is cheez whiz! We are not talking about the cheez whiz in a squeeze can. We’re talking about cheez whiz that comes in a glass jar. We use the Kraft brand!
- Jalapeños: we use 7 jalapeños in this recipe. 6 for the dip and 1 jalapeño for a garnish.
- Cream cheese: use full fat cream cheese for this recipe.
- Spices (chili powder, cayenne pepper, paprika): we use a simple a spice mixture to add a little bite and flavor to this dip.
- Fresh lime juice: a bit of fresh lime juice brightens up this jalapeño popper dip.
The Most Important Step in This Recipe
If you remember one thing, do not skip the step where you roast the jalapeños before mixing up this dip.
We roast the jalapeños AND let them sweat before adding them to the dip to really bring out the jalapeño flavor as well as a delicious and roast-y flavor.
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How to Make Jalapeño Popper Dip
- Prepare + Roast the jalapeños. Half and seed 6 of the jalapeños. DON’T FORGET TO WEAR GLOVES. If you don’t wear gloves for this you may end up with hot hands. Place the jalapeños into a preheated oven and roast them for 25 minutes.
- Sweat the jalapeños. Remove the jalapeños from the oven and place them in a bag to sweat.
- Cook the beef. While the jalapeños are sweating add the ground beef to a skillet and cook until brown.
- Add the cheese(es). Once the beef is cooked, add the cream cheese to the ground beef and heat the skillet on low heat until the cream cheese turns melty and creamed. Add the whole jar of cheez whiz to the skillet pan and stir until smooth.
- Skin the jalapeños. Remove the skins from the jalapeños and dice them up.
- Add spices + jalapeños. Add the jalapeños and spices to the cream cheese mixture and mix until smooth. Heat the jalapeño popper dip until it reaches your desired temperature.
- Serve. You can serve this dip in a skillet, a baking dish, or serving dish.
do you have tingly hands?
If you do end up with hot hands after slicing jalapeños, slather your hands in mustard. Yes, mustard! It really does work.
Fun Garnishes for Jalapeño Popper Dip
If you want to really dress up this jalapeño popper dip you can sprinkle on some fun and tasty garnishes to the dip. Below are some easy garnishes for this jalapeño popper dip.
- bacon
- cheddar cheese
- chopped green onion
- fresh parsley
How to Eat Jalapeño Popper Dip
We highly suggest serving this jalapeño popper dip with Doritos. If you aren’t a big Doritos person, feel free to serve the jalapeño popper dip with any of the ingredients below.
- tortilla chips
- carrots
- cucumbers
- celery
- baguette slices
- crackers
Jalapeño Popper Dip Q&A
How do you make jalapeno popper dip less spicy?
There are a few ways to make this jalapeño dip less spicy. Make sure there aren’t any jalapeño seeds in the dip and skip the cayenne pepper. If you would still like the dip to be less spicy, add 1/4 cup of sour cream, mayonnaise, or Greek yogurt to the dip and stir until smooth.
How to store jalapeño popper dip?
Let the dip cool completely before placing it in an airtight container. Refrigerate and store for up to 5 days.
Can you reheat jalapeno popper dip?
Yes, you can reheat this jalapeño popper dip. Place the jalapeño back into a skillet or dutch oven. Add a little water or milk to the heat over low heat. Stir the dip until smooth and warm.
Can you make jalapeno popper dip ahead of time?
Yes, you can make jalapeño popper dip the night before and warm it up the next day.
Can you freeze jalapeno popper dip?
We do not suggest freezing this jalapeño popper dip.
Can I add different cheese to this dip?
Yes, you can add mozzarella cheese, parmesan cheese, or even shredded pepper jack cheese to this jalapeño popper dip. You can add it to the cream cheese mixture or sprinkle the shredded cheese on top and broil it in the oven until the cheese turns golden brown.
Jalapeno Popper Dip
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground beef we used 85/15
- 1 15-oz. jar of cheez whiz
- 7 large jalapeños separated
- 8 oz. cream cheese
- 1.5 tablespoons chili powder
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- ¼ cup fresh lime juice
- Optional
- green onion for garnish
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 425ºF.
- Half and seed 6 of the jalapenos (please wear gloves when seeding jalapenos) saving 1 for garnish. Place the jalapenos on a sheet pan cut side up and spray with cooking spray. Flip them over and spray again. Bake the jalapenos in the oven for 20-25 minutes.
- When the jalapenos are roasted, place them in a glass bowl with a lid to let them sweat a bit. A plastic bag would also work, but they would need to cool a bit beforehand.
- While the jalapeños are sweating, heat a large skillet over medium heat. Add the ground beef to the skillet and cook until the beef is fully cooked.
- Turn the heat to low and add the brick of cream cheese, breaking it up into smaller pieces while it melts.
- Next, add the jar of cheez whiz to the skillet mixing until everything is incorporated and there are no lumps.
- Keeping the meat and cheese mixture on low, take the jalapeños out of the bowl and remove the skins from them. Dice them and add to the meat mixture.
- Add the paprika, chili powder, cayenne, and lime juice to the skillet.
- Top with sliced jalapeños and serve.
Tips & Notes
- This dip is best served with Doritos but any tortilla chip would work.
I made this for Super Bowl Sunday and it was such a hit! Super easy to make and v delicious! I made soft pretzels to dip into it and that was ~chef’s kiss~ but also so good with tortilla chips! We had leftover dip and I turned it into mac and cheese—just reserved a little pasta water to loosen up the sauce and mixed it with some chickpea pasta. SO GOOD!
Oooo AMAZING idea to use this as a mac and cheese sauce!