Jalapeño Popper Mummies: Easy Halloween Recipe

Bacon-wrapped jalapeño popper mummies are fun and festive spooktacular treats! Spice up your Halloween party with these yummy mummies! 

Here’s a fun fact: these roasted jalapeño poppers are the most popular post on my blog.

Which proves what I’ve known for a while: People just really freaking love jalapeño poppers.

It’s one of my favorite recipes because it’s so quick (less than 30 minutes to make!), easy (not many ingredients!), and delicious (cheese stuffed into peppers with a spicy kick? Yes, please).

Since my roasted jalapeño poppers have been so well received, I obviously had to make a Halloween-themed version.

And how can we make this recipe even better?

Bacon.

And googly eyes!

This Halloween version reflects exactly what I love about the original recipe: These jalapeño popper mummies are quick, easy, and delicious.

And each of these peppers has its own little personality and I cannot stop laughing!

Need even more jalapeño poppers in your life? Check out my crab-stuffed jalapeño poppers and my pimento cheese jalapeño poppers, too!

What you’ll need to make my jalapeño popper mummies

Each of these jalapeño popper mummies has four main components: the pepper base, the creamy, cheesy filling, the bacon wrapping, and the eyes for that “mummy” effect.

Don’t be intimidated, though. These are a lot easier to make than you might be thinking.

The ingredient list is pretty simple. You’ll need:

• Fresh, whole jalapeño peppers: This recipe makes enough filling for 12 large jalapeños. If your peppers are on the small side, you may have leftover filling.
• Feta cheese: I love using feta in my jalapeño poppers for a nice salty bite.
• Sharp cheddar cheese: I recommend shredding your own cheddar cheese. It will melt better than the pre-shredded cheese.
• Cream cheese: Let the cream cheese come to room temperature before making the filling.
• Fresh cilantro: Feel free to leave this out if you aren’t a fan of cilantro.
• Onion powder and garlic powder: These two spices add a ton of flavor to the popper filling.
• Salt and pepper: Don’t forget to season the filling to taste with salt and black pepper!
• Uncooked bacon: For wrapping the mummies and giving the poppers a delicious smoky flavor. Use good bacon, but save the really thick-cut stuff for making million dollar bacon, since thick bacon won’t wrap around the poppers as easily.
• Candy eyes: These take these poppers from bacon-wrapped goodness to cute and festive mummies!

Check out the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and amounts.

How to make jalapeño popper mummies

To start this recipe, we need to prep the jalapeños.

Since jalapeños can be spicy, you may want to wear a pair of food-safe gloves. (Or throw a plastic sandwich bag over your hand if you don’t have any gloves!) If you don’t wear gloves, make sure you wash your hands thoroughly before touching your face and eyes!

Slice the jalapeños in half lengthwise. Use a spoon to remove the seeds and ribs from the pepper. Taking out the seeds and ribs will remove a lot of the heat, but they’ll still have a little kick!

If the pepper halves refuse to lay flat when you set them on a baking sheet, you can slice a tiny bit off the bottom side, just to keep them from rolling.

Now grab a mixing bowl and mix the cream cheese, feta, cheddar, cilantro, and spices together. You can do this with a wooden spoon or an electric hand mixer.

Give the filling a taste and season with salt and/or black pepper as desired.

With a spoon or clean hands, divide the cream cheese mixture between the jalapeño halves. Make sure not to overstuff the peppers or they will explode in the oven! (Scary, but not what we’re going for here.)

Using a sharp knife, cut each slice of bacon in half lengthwise to give you 24 thin strips. Wrap each stuffed jalapeño with one of the bacon strips, leaving a small gap near the top where the eyes will go later.

Set the assembled poppers on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Bake at 425°F for 15-20 minutes. They’re done when the peppers are tender, the bacon is crisp, and the cheese is melted and bubbly.

If you’re making these as regular bacon-wrapped jalapeño poppers, you would stop here. But to make them into mummies, let the poppers cool for a few minutes and then place two candy eyes into the melted cheese.

The cheese should be hot enough to hold the eyes in place, but not so hot that you burn yourself doing this!

And that’s it! You’ve got a spooktacularly fun Halloween appetizer that everyone will love.

Vegetarian variation

I personally love using bacon to wrap these jalapeño popper mummies. The smoky flavor is so good with the creamy cheese and spicy kick of the jalapeños. 

But if you or your friends are vegetarian, you can still make these cute popper mummies using crescent roll dough instead of bacon.

If you are using crescent roll dough, cut the dough into strips — this is best done with a pizza cutter. If you can find the crescent dough sheets, this will be a bit easier.

Wrap the dough strips around the stuffed peppers, again leaving a gap near the top for the eyes to go later. Then use an egg wash (1 egg whisked with 1-2 tablespoons water) to “glue” the dough strips in place while they bake.

This process usually takes longer than the bacon version, but it’s a great vegetarian option when you need it.

Make-ahead tips

You can do the prep work for these easy mummy jalapeño poppers one to two days in advance. Just hold off on wrapping and baking them until just before your party starts.

Slice and prep your jalapeno peppers, make your cheese mix, and stuff the peppers, but don’t wrap them with the bacon yet. Place the stuffed peppers in an airtight container and refrigerate for 1-2 days.

If you’d like, you can also go ahead and slice the bacon pieces in half now, too. Store in an airtight container in the fridge until you’re ready to finish assembling the peppers.

Just before serving, wrap the peppers in the bacon and bake according to the recipe directions.

What to serve with jalapeño popper mummies

These bacon-wrapped jalapeño popper mummies are the perfect Halloween appetizer.

Even if you’re not hosting a party, they’re delicious with a bowl of Mom’s award-winning chili before heading out to go trick-or-treating.

For a party, these poppers will be right at home in your appetizer spread alongside air fryer chicken wings, buffalo turkey meatballs, and a simple cheese platter.

Keep the Halloween theme going by making mummy hand pies and Halloween chocolate bark for dessert. For the adults, serve apple cider cocktails, a vampire’s kiss cocktail, bloody ghost cocktail, or pumpkin punch.

You can also whip up an apple cider sangria mocktail for all ages!

Frequently asked questions

What can I use for eyeballs instead of candy eyes?

You can find the candy eyes in the baking ingredient section of your local grocery store or craft store. While I highly recommend using candy eyes because of the cute personality they will give the mummy jalapeño poppers, if you can’t find them or would prefer to use something more savory, sliced black olives are a good eyeball option, too.