Chipotle Hummus Stuffed Jalapeños

Creamy chipotle hummus, spicy jalapeños, and a zesty ranch panko bread crumb create perfect little bites of bliss in these Chipotle Hummus Stuffed Jalapeńos.

This recipe is the driving factor behind the creation of my personal website. Each week, I used to create a few recipes to sell through my digital food agency, Healthful Creative. These recipes got snatched up by bloggers from across the globe, did you know that bloggers often buy their content? I bet not. I didn't, up until a handful of years ago when I was approached by a colleague in the food blogging world to create recipes for her site. Up until then, I was solely a food blogger with occasional freelance work for larger brands.

I suppose I owe most of my career path to her. She opened up a world to me that led to the creation of my agency and without her support, I'm not sure my path would have been the same. However, when I started selling recipes, the infatuation with cooking slowly started to slide away. The inspiration slowly became elusive, as it does when something turns from a personal project into a career. It’s the crux of being an entrepreneur I suppose. Finding my way into the professional world of cooking meant pulling back from my personal projects and focusing on feeding the machine that paid the bills. I’ve been mulling on how to spark that flame in me again and felt distressed at the thought of starting yet another personal food blog. There are a few reasons for that.

One is that I still own a food blog that I co-founded with my husband, Alex, back in 2017. Cast Iron Keto was a joy to create and helped facilitate us being able to work together (which I’m thankful for most days, as anyone who works with their spouse will tell you - it’s not all cuddles at noon and cocktails when the day is done), and travel full-time for a while. We also published our first cookbook through CIK in early 2020 but as we’ve transitioned our diets from a meat-heavy one to a plant-based one, our passion for the site also started slipping away. 

Two, starting another food blog is hardly the same in 2022 as it was when I started my first site back in 2011 or even CIK in 2017. In the world of dwindling attention spans, 20-somethings dancing on 30-second TikTok’s, and the endless amount of content that needs to be produced to make a site even remotely profitable, I just don’t have the energy. At 30, I’ve been through my fair share of trauma and grief and honestly, my mental health isn’t built for the fast-paced online world. I dream of living the slowest life imaginable, sharing the things that I end up cooking on a whim from the ingredients sourced from the farmer’s market that morning. Not doing SEO research to see what has the best rankings. No thank you. I’m not a fan. 

I also have yearned to share more personal writings on life. In the world of the “jump to recipe” feature on food blogs where most folks (including myself I’ll admit), tap to skip the chatter and go straight to the goods, sharing personal life stories just feels…well wrong. 

At the beginning of the pandemic, I found myself subscribing to Alicia Kennedy’s newsletter and was infatuated with the way she wove personal stories in with her writings on recipes, food, and culture. As I was aimlessly pondering my next steps over the past few months while knowing that another food site wasn’t in my future, it dawned on me while creating this recipe that I too could create a newsletter. A place where weekly recipes and kitchen inspiration could be woven together with personal stories of mental health and finding my way through a chaotic world. 

While this recipe for Chipotle Hummus Stuffed Jalapeños was originally intended to be sold through Healthful Creative, I took one bite and knew that this recipe was mine. Mine alone and it would not be sold off to someone else. It felt personal. Yes, yes, I know they’re just stuffed jalapeños but as Chani Nichols, my favorite astrologer, put it “putting your creations into the world is often followed by a feeling of emptiness, depletion, and sometimes even remorse.” Oh, how that rings true for me.

Some recipes, such as the ones created for SEO, don’t hold a special place in my heart and I don’t mind letting them go off into the world. But then, there will be a few that stand out. Those are usually the ones that were made on the fly with zero real thought put into them before getting into the kitchen to create. 

I knew these stuffed jalapeños were one of those types of recipes when I took the first bite then proceeded to eat a total of 10 of them resulting in heartburn that was felt for days, and yes, the heartburn was totally worth feasting on these little bites of bliss. Creamy hummus mixed with adobo chipotle puree gets stuffed into jalapeños then topped with a ranch spiced panko and baked until the peppers are soft and the panko topping crispy. Totally cheeseless, totally delicious. I hope you enjoy this recipe just as much as I do.

munchies

Yield: 20 halves

Author: Lauren Lester

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Chipotle Hummus Stuffed Jalapeños

Creamy chipotle hummus, spicy jalapeños, and a zesty ranch panko bread crumb create perfect little bites of bliss.

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min

Cook modePrevent screen from turning off

Ingredients

• 10 medium jalapeños, sliced in half lengthwise with seeds and ribs removed
• 10 ounces prepared plain hummus
• 3 tablespoons chipotle pepper puree* [see notes]
• ½ cup panko bread crumbs (gluten-free and vegan if desired)
• ¼ teaspoon garlic salt
• ¼ teaspoon dried dill
• ¼ teaspoon dried parsley
• ⅛ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
• Ranch dressing (optional - but not really, for serving)* [see notes for my quick ranch recipe]

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375° F.
2. In a small bowl, mix together the hummus and the chipotle puree.
3. Fill each jalapeño half with the hummus mixture.
4. In a small bowl, mix together the panko, garlic salt, dill, parsley, and pepper. Sprinkle evenly over the jalapeños and place on a baking sheet. If you have panko leftover after coating the jalapeños, it makes a great sprinkle onto a fresh little gem lettuce salad.
5. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the panko is golden brown* [see notes]. Serve immediately with ranch if desired.

Notes

• For the chipotle sauce, I use Frontera. If using a canned variety, dump the contents into a food processor and blend until smooth to create a pureed sauce before using. 
• If you want the panko to be extra crunchy, turn the oven to broil for the last 2-3 minutes. 

Quick Ranch

To make a quick ranch dressing or dipping sauce, I never measure a thing. Start with your favorite mayonnaise, mine is Trader Joe’s avocado oil vegan mayo as it resembles what I remember Duke’s mayonnaise tasting like. Next, add in some dried dill, parsley, chives, garlic salt, onion powder, and freshly cracked black pepper (I’m loving the Aranya Black Pepper from Diaspora these days). Roughly, I use 1 teaspoon of each dill, parsley, and chive, and ½ teaspoon of garlic salt and onion powder per ½ cup of mayo with a few good cracks of pepper. You can also use fresh herbs but I find dried to be the most similar to the Hidden Valley Ranch packets we all know and love(d). For a dressing, a tiny splash of lemon juice or vinegar with a bit of water to thin does the trick. For a thicker dip, I leave it as is. 

Nutrition Facts

Calories

39.55

Fat

2.14 g

Sat. Fat

0.33 g

Carbs

4.05 g

Fiber

1.34 g

Net carbs

2.72 g

Sugar

0.6 g

Protein

1.4 g

Sodium

107.56 mg

Cholesterol

0.39 mg

Nutritional values are estimates only

https://www.laurenlester.net/recipes/chipotle-hummus-stuffed-jalapenos