These JALAPENO POPPER MEATBALLS have quickly become a favorite snack in our house. They’re easy to make since they’re baked in the oven in just about 15 minutes and they’re perfectly poppable!
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Hi guys!
I’m back at it with another low carb meatball recipe for you!
I mentioned awhile ago that I just love meatballs. They’re fun to make, they’re always a hit, and they can be either a quick dinner, an easy snack, or a fun party food.
These spicy meatballs are filled with jalapenos, cream cheese, and a bit of crumbled bacon. So good!
I think you’re going to love these jalapeno popper meatballs!
How to make these spicy meatballs:
We’re using ground turkey or chicken for these meatballs. Either work and I can honestly never taste a difference between the two, so grab whatever is easiest to find for you.
Add your ground turkey to a mixing bowl along with some crushed pork rinds, powdered or shredded Parmesan cheese, crumbled bacon, soft cream cheese, minced jalapeno, and a few spices.
Use your hands or a wooden spoon to stir all of this together until nicely combined.
I like to use a large cookie scoop to portion out my meatballs – it ensures that the meatballs are all the same size, it’s super easy to use, and I have multiple of them in my kitchen drawer. Yes, I use cookie scoops so often that I have multiple of each size! Grab one here with my affiliate link.
These meatballs bake at 500 degrees in about 13 minutes. Easy peasy!
Look at the flecks of jalapeno and bacon in there! Don’t you just want to pop one right in your mouth?
You can serve these up for dinner along with a side of my cauliflower mac and cheese or serve them with toothpicks at your next party!
Either way, they’re totally delicious and always a hit.
Feel free to add more or less jalapeno to make them as spicy as you’d like. Removing the seeds from the jalapeno will also cut down on the spice.
Love this spicy meatball recipe? Try these too:
If you’re feeling the Italian vibes, these mozzarella stuffed meatballs or Meatballs alla Parmigiana are perfect served with a pile of zucchini noodles or spaghetti squash.
For snacks or appetizers, these chicken meatballs seasoned with cheddar, bacon, and ranch are always a hit.
My keto meatballs with the simplest 2 ingredient BBQ sauce and my buffalo chicken meatballs are go-to recipes when we have guests over and want to snack!
And for a Mexican dinner, give my Enchilada Meatball Casserole is a total favorite. Cheat with some storebought enchilada sauce or use my homemade enchilada sauce.
Jalapeno Popper Meatballs
Ingredients
- 1 pound ground chicken or turkey
- ¼ cup finely crushed pork rinds
- ¼ cup Parmesan cheese
- 1 large egg
- 4 slices bacon fried and crumbled
- 2 ounces cream cheese softened
- ¼ cup minced jalapeno more or less to taste
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Spray a large baking sheet with non-stick spray.
- Add all of the ingredients to a large mixing bowl and combine well with your hands or a wooden spoon.
- Use a large cookie scoop to scoop out 12 evenly sized meatballs and place on the prepared baking sheet.
- Bake for 13 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.
- Serve meatballs with homemade ranch dressing for dipping, if desired.
Heather says
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It is delicious!
Karly Campbell says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Judy OBrien says
I used ground beef and they turned out great! Thank you for another hit!
Karly Campbell says
Thanks, Judy!
Jenny says
We made these last night for dinner, and OMG, they were DELICIOUS! I did a full teaspoon of onion powder and added a little bit of salt and some black pepper. And my pork rinds were jalapeno flavor! But they were stunningly perfect. One of our favorites in a long time. We served them on top of salad, cut up into like fourths and just sprinkle a couple of meatballs per person over the salad. SO GOOD. Thank you!
Karly Campbell says
Sounds delicious! Thanks for sharing, Jenny!
Ashlea Schweinfurth says
Curious if I could make batches of these and freeze them??? Any tips?
Karly Campbell says
I think they’d freeze great. I’d probably freeze them on a baking sheet for an hour before baking and then transfer them to a freezer bag, but I think they’d work either way. They might just get a bit dry if you bake them twice.
Sara O says
Enjoying these right now, except that I don’t follow Keto so I substituted the pork rinds for Panko bread crumbs. I probably added a bit more Parmesan, too. They are delicious, and I’m happy I found your recipe! :). I will look at more of your recipes for sure!
Karly Campbell says
So glad you enjoyed them, Sara!
Fitoru keto says
This recipe looks so good! I can’t wait to try this someday. Thanks for sharing!
Keri Green says
can I use beef without changing other ingredients?
Karly Campbell says
I’ve only made this as directed, but I think beef would work just fine.
Kim at Life in a House says
Hi Karly! I fell in love with this recipe and had to share with my fellow bloggers over on Sunday’s Best on my blog. I added your recipe to the roundup that we host each week. I’ve recently decided (like 3 days ago lol) to start doing low-carb keto-friendly recipes after I hit an all-time high of 304 pounds. I said enough is enough. My daughter lost over 140 pounds on keto so – if she can do it, so can I! I’ll be nominating you for the featured post of the week!
Karly Campbell says
Thanks so much, Kim! Good luck your journey – you’ve got this!
Kim at Life in a House says
Thanks Karly! I’m chuffed because the scale read 299 this morning – hot diggity dog lmbo! I’ve been pinning tons of your recipes to try out later too on my Pinterest board. Consider me a friendly stalker hahaha!
Karly Campbell says
Oh, that’s awesome Kim!! Congrats! And I love a good stalker. 😉 Appreciate the pins!
Cheri says
What to substitute for pork rinds? They don’t agree with me.
Karly Campbell says
You could try almond flour, but you’ll probably need less.
Vickie says
Karly – surely you are the Queen of Low Carb and I think you are the Queen of meatballs. Can you give us some suggestions on how to mix the meatballs so as not to have them be dense or heavy? I have heard all kinds of suggestions but would be interested in knowing your suggestions. Or is this one of those things, like making biscuits, that you just have to do over and over until you get the “feel” of it?
Karly Campbell says
Hi Vickie! I think that low carb meatballs are naturally a bit denser due to the lack of bread crumbs, so there’s that. But over-mixing the meat will definitely make it more tough. Other than that, I have no tips. Haha!
Kat says
Hi! Can you make any recommendation for someone allergic to eggs? I can’t do seeds so Chia egg doesn’t work. Let me know!
Karly Campbell says
Hi Kat! I’m afraid I really don’t have any subs for eggs that I’ve tried, but I did a quick Google and it sounds like a 1/4 cup of ricotta per egg may work.