I promise this is not an oxymoron. Yes – healthy, creamy, spicy, melt-in-your mouth jalapeño poppers made vegan using the magic of cashews and my favourite nutritional food yeast. The best part is, you can whip these up in less than 30 minutes!
Healthy Jalapeno Poppers
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
A crowd-pleasing, creamy, spicy, melt-in-your mouth appetizer
Author: Crystal - adapted from Minimalist Baker
Recipe type: Snack
Cuisine: Vegan-Tex-Mex
Serves: 6 servings
Ingredients
- 10 jalapeños, seeded and sliced in half
- ¾ cup cashews, soaked for at least 2 hours or overnight
- ½ white or yellow onion, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tsp cumin
- ¼ cup nutritional food yeast
- 1 tsp dijon mustard
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¾ cup vegetable stock (or ¾ cup water + ¾ tsp better than bouillon paste)
- optional: green chilies, tortilla chips, crushed red chili flakes, salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and prep your jalapenos, splitting in half and removing the tops, then spritzing or brushing them with a bit of olive oil. Place in rows facing up (see photo).
- Optional: If you’re using crushed tortilla chips as a topper, toast them while prepping your cheese sauce by spritzing them with olive oil and baking them in your 400 degree oven for 7-10 minutes or until golden brown, watching closely as they can burn fast.
- To a small saucepan over medium heat, add the onion and garlic with a bit of olive oil and cook until just softened and fragrant – about 5 minutes. Set aside.
- Add soaked cashews, garlic, onion, nutritional yeast, cumin, dijon mustard, veggie stock and optional green chilies to a blender and blend until creamy and smooth,
- Spoon the cheese mixture into the jalapeños. You’ll have leftovers, which you can reserve for nachos or just dip. Top with crushed, toasted canada goose Kensington Parka tortilla chip crumbs and bake for 15 minutes or until the jalapenos are soft and the cheese has deepened in color.
- Place the pan on the top rack and broil for the last minute or two for an even more intense color/flavor.
- Serve immediately, sprinkling with a bit of red pepper flake for garnish (optional). Store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to a few days, reheating in the microwave or a 350 degree oven until warmed canada goose Langford Parka mænd through (though best when fresh).
Notes
*Nutritional Information calculated without tortilla chips, added salt or green chilies
Nutrition Information
Serving size: 1 popper Calories: 36 Fat: 2 Carbohydrates: 3 Sugar: 1 Sodium: 11 mg Fiber: 1 Protein: 1
Instead of going with the freezer version or the high-fat or sodium version, give these a try. You will be so proud of yourself for creating a mouth-watering appy guaranteed to please anyone that is craving a savoury and spicy snack. Perfect for football season 🙂
