Jalapeño poppers are classically made with cheese, and with a husband who is allergic to dairy, I decided I had to find an alternative. These were actually only mildly spicy, but that’s because I took extra time to make sure that all seeds and ribs were removed.

Directions

Prepare a baking sheet by covering it and placing a cooling rack on top of it. Spray the cooling rack with nonstick spray. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Cut the jalapeños in half the long way and remove all the seeds and ribs.

Place about 3/4 cup of ranch in one bowl, leave the remaining 1/4 in a separate dish to ensure it does not get contaminated by the raw meat. Place the two cups of panko in another bowl.

In a third bowl, mix together the ground beef, reserved 1/4 cup of panko, BBQ sauce, and egg.

Scoop some of the meat into the halved jalapeño. Roll it in the ranch and then cover in crumbs. Then place on the prepared baking sheet. Continue for remaining jalapeños.

Bake jalapeños at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 30 minutes. Serve with reserved ranch dressing.

Variations:

if jalapeños aren’t your thing, these work with just the meat too! Using the ground beef mixture, form meatballs. Roll in the ranch dressing, and then roll in the panko breadcrumbs. Place on the prepared baking sheet and bake at 400 degrees Fahrenheit for 20-30 minutes, depending on size of the meatballs.