Street Corn Poppers by Meat Church
Our friend Matt at Meat Church is a big tailgate specialist. It’s where he first started experimenting with flavors and smokers, and these days he really knows what he’s doing. We were hoping for a low-cost, easy-street appetizer recipe you could make anywhere from your backyard, to the campsite, to the ballpark. He came through with his version of Street Corn Poppers!
In his words, “Street Corn Poppers are an explosion of southwestern flavors. They are a combination of 2 of my favorite foods; Elote & Jalapeño poppers. These make great appetizers or tailgating food to share with a big group of friends.”
The various components of this recipes are important to deliver delicious flavor, but feel free to tweak the recipe to your liking because it’s tough to go wrong. Just make sure your ingredients are fresh!
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Street Corn Popper Ingredients:
- 6 – 10 Jalapeño peppers
- 1 or 2 ears of corn, grilled
- 1 8 oz. block of smoked cream cheese
- 3 – 6 pieces of bacon
- 3-5 TBSP Cotija cheese
- Meat Church BBQ rub to taste – he suggests Hail Mary, Honey Hog, or Blanco
Grilling Tools For the Job:
- Half Pan or Quarter Pan
- Wire rack that fits snugly inside the pan
- Sharp paring knife for coring peppers
- Spoon or Fork
- Medium Sized Bowl
- Cutting Surface
- Aluminum Foil
Suggested Optional Garnishes:
- Chopped Chives
- Crushed Hot Cheetos
- Cotija Cheese Crumbles
- Chopped Cilantro
- Spoon of Salsa or Hot Sauce
Prepare the Smoker
Prepare your smoker or kettle to 225F. Choose a wood that goes with pork, like Mesquite, Hickory, Oak or Pecan. Smoke the ears of corn, bacon and cream cheese together on a medium sheet of aluminum foil. Cream cheese will take on smoke flavor fairly quickly, so you will only need to leave it in the smoker for 30 – 45 minutes. Watch the color of your bacon and corn to know when it’s time to come off. Wait until your cream cheese looks like it has good color, remove it, then increase the smoker temperature to 275F. It won’t take long for this to happen – about the amount of time it’ll take you to get your filing mixed and into the peppers.
Prepare the Street Corn Poppers
Clean your jalapeños by cutting the top off, cut in half, and remove all the veins and seeds. If you want an extra spicy version of this recipe, just add the pepper seeds back into the mixing bowl. Add the cream cheese, bacon, corn, cotija cheese, and Meat Church seasoning into a bowl and mix. Fill your jalapeño’s with the elote stuffing and place on a quarter or half pan with a wire rack.
We’ll let Matt take it from here on his site, where you can read the next few steps, or you can just watch this video he made!
