This Jalapeño Popper Soup is everything you love about a jalapeño popper, in a big cozy bowl! This recipe uses jalapeños three ways. One batch gets roasted under the broiler until it's sweet and a little smoky, just like the pepper under the cheese in a baked popper. A few more get sautéed right along with the onions, seeds and all, so every creamy, cheesy spoonful has a little heat. Everything cooks in the rich, rendered fat from crispy beef bacon, with tender potatoes, tangy cream cheese, and shredded cheese, then gets finished with beef bacon fat croutons and pickled jalapeños. 🌶️🤤

Overhead view of creamy jalapeño popper soup in a green bowl with croutons and crispy beef bacon on the side.

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Disclosure: This post is sponsored by Godshall's Quality Meats. We're so excited to keep cooking with their beef bacon this year! Its smoky, savory flavor makes it one of our favorite ingredients to build a whole dish around. 🥓 As always, all opinions are our own.

This Creamy Jalapeño Popper Soup Tastes Like the Beloved Appetizer 🌶️

This soup started with our garden. Our jalapeño plants went a little wild this year, and we ended up with more peppers than we knew what to do with. A lot of them turned wrinkly (and spicy!), and many of them have gone fully red. We knew we needed to put some to good use, and the idea of this soup was born. They went into this soup three ways: sautéed, roasted, and pickled for the top.

The sautéed batch came out of our first test. We initially tried roasting every jalapeño, and wanted more of a kick after adding the cheeses and milk. Dairy is really good at taming heat! So then we tried adding in a few jalapeños with the seeds in after sautéing the onions, and that did the trick. The roasted jalapeños bring sweet, deep popper flavor, and the sautéed ones bring the kick.

Just like our beef bacon cherry tomato pasta, nothing from the beef bacon goes to waste here. We render it until it's crisp, then use the rich, smoky fat to cook the onions, build the roux, and toast the croutons. The beef bacon flavor is in every layer, not just sprinkled on top. It's hearty enough for dinner with the potatoes, and a big pot is perfect for cozy fall weekends and game days.

Jalapeño popper soup topped with pickled jalapeños and croutons, next to a package of Godshall's beef bacon.

🌶️Ingredients for Jalapeño Popper Potato Soup

Aside from a big pile of jalapeños, this is mostly fridge and pantry staples.

Ingredients for jalapeño popper soup, including beef bacon, jalapeños, potatoes, cream cheese, Monterey Jack, pepper jack, and bread.

How to Make This Jalapeño Popper Soup Recipe ✨

It looks like a lot of steps, but the jalapeños can be roasted a day ahead, and everything else comes together in one Dutch oven plus a small skillet for the croutons.

Hands scooping seeds from halved red and green jalapeños with a small spoon on a cutting board.

Step 1: Halve the jalapeños for roasting lengthwise and scrape out the seeds and membranes with a small spoon. If you like things spicy, don't worry, the second batch is coming, and that's where you'll turn the heat up.

🌶️ Jalapeños, two ways in the pot: This soup uses a lot of jalapeños! This first batch gets seeded and roasted until it's sweet and mellow. The second goes in diced with the seeds left in, cooked down with the onions, and that's where the heat comes from.

🌶️ Red, green, or both: You can use classic green jalapeños, red ones, or both! We used a mix from our garden, because that's how they came off the plant. Red jalapeños are just green ones left on longer, so they're a little sweeter with a fruitier flavor. Use whatever you have!

Halved red and green jalapeños arranged cut side down on a sheet pan before broiling.

Step 2: Arrange the jalapeños cut side down on a sheet pan.

Broiled jalapeños with blackened, blistered skins on a sheet pan.

Broil on high until the skins are blackened in patches.

🔥 Don't skip this step! Raw jalapeños taste sharp and grassy. A few minutes under the broiler turns them sweet and deep, just like the pepper hiding under all that melty cheese in a baked jalapeño popper. This is one of the key steps that make the soup taste like an actual popper! 😉

⚠️ Turn on your vent fan or open a window. Broiling jalapeños sends a little spicy air into the kitchen, and it WILL make you cough. 😂

A glass bowl of broiled jalapeños covered tightly with plastic wrap to steam.

Step 3: Transfer the hot jalapeños to a bowl, cover tightly, and let them steam.

Hands peeling the charred skin off a roasted green jalapeño over a bowl.

Once they're cool enough to handle, slip off the skins.

💡 Worth the peel: The charred skins go papery and a little chewy in the soup, so peeling makes every spoonful more pleasant to eat. Steaming loosens them so they come right off with your fingers. Don't stress about every last speck.

Peeled roasted red and green jalapeños chopped on a cutting board next to a chef's knife.

Step 4: Chop the roasted jalapeños into bite-size pieces and set them aside.

💡 Make ahead: Roast, peel, and chop the jalapeños the day before, then keep them covered in the fridge until you're ready to cook.

Diced Godshall's beef bacon on a cutting board next to the package.

Step 5: Dice the beef bacon.

Diced beef bacon in a cold white Dutch oven before rendering.

Add it to a cold Dutch oven.

🥓 This recipe uses a lot of beef bacon! That gives you plenty of crispy beef bacon to stir into the soup and pile on top, plus more than enough rendered fat for the base and the croutons. Pour any extra into a jar and keep it in the fridge. It's so good for frying eggs or roasting potatoes.

A slotted spoon lifting crispy beef bacon out of a Dutch oven.

Step 6: Set the pot over medium heat and render, stirring occasionally, until the beef bacon is crisp. Lift it out with a slotted spoon onto a paper-towel-lined plate.

🥓 Push it until it's crisp: If the beef bacon still looks chewy, keep going. The longer it renders, the more fat you'll have to cook with, and the crunchier it stays as a topping.

A glass bowl of rendered beef bacon fat next to a bowl of crispy beef bacon.

Step 7: Pour off the rendered fat and save it, but leave all those browned bits in the pot. That's just pure flavor!

Diced onion added to rendered beef bacon fat and browned bits in a Dutch oven.

Step 8: Return some of the beef bacon fat to the pot and add the onion.

Softened, translucent onions in a Dutch oven.

Cook until soft and translucent, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom as the onion releases moisture.

Diced jalapeños with seeds added on top of softened onions in a Dutch oven.

Step 9: Add the diced jalapeños and cook for a couple of minutes.

🌶️ See all those seeds? This batch keeps them! Most of a jalapeño's heat is in the membranes and the seeds clinging to them. These pieces also hold their shape through the whole simmer, so you get little bites of green in every bowl.

Minced garlic, onion powder, garlic powder, and smoked paprika added to onions and jalapeños in a Dutch oven.

Step 10: Stir in the garlic, onion powder, garlic powder, and smoked paprika. Cook, stirring constantly, until fragrant. This blooms the spices in the hot fat.

🧄 Yes, that's a lot of garlic. Trust us! It mellows out completely once the dairy goes in. Keep it moving, though, because garlic burns fast.

Flour sprinkled over onions, jalapeños, and garlic in a Dutch oven.

Step 11: Sprinkle in the flour.

Flour cooked into the vegetables to form a thick roux in a Dutch oven.

Stir constantly until it coats everything and smells toasty.

💡 Don't rush the roux: Undercooked flour leaves a pasty taste in the finished soup, but you don't want it to brown either. A minute or two of stirring is all it needs.

A hand stirring the first splash of stock into the roux with a wooden spoon.

Step 12: Pour in a splash of stock and stir until smooth and thick.

Thin, brothy jalapeño popper soup base in a Dutch oven after adding the stock.

Continue adding the rest a little at a time, stirring as you go.

⚠️ It will look a little thin right now! You'll be tempted to fix it by adding more water, but don't (trust us, we found out the hard way during testing 😂). The soup thickens as the potatoes simmer and again when the cream cheese and cheese go in.

Diced potatoes and chopped roasted red and green jalapeños added to the soup base, with a bowl of crispy beef bacon on the side.

Step 13: Add the potatoes, the chopped roasted jalapeños, and a first round of salt.

A fork testing a tender potato cube on a wooden spoon over a pot of jalapeño popper soup.

Bring to a gentle simmer and cook, uncovered, until the potatoes are fork-tender but still holding their shape.

🌶️ Taste it now: Before any dairy goes in, the soup should taste a little hotter than you'd want in your bowl, but not painful. The cheeses will soften it.

🥔 Want it heartier? Toss in more potatoes! They're the easiest way to add texture, and they're neutral, so they won't compete with the jalapeños or the cheese. We used Yukon Golds, but red potatoes work too. Just skip russets, since they break down and go mushy. If it ends up thicker than you like, loosen it with a splash of milk or broth at the end.

Pouring milk into the jalapeño popper soup base in a white Dutch oven.

Step 14: Turn the heat to low and stir in the milk.

Cubes of cream cheese melting into creamy jalapeño popper soup.

Then add the cream cheese a few cubes at a time, stirring each addition until it's fully melted before adding more.

💡 Room temperature cream cheese melts right into the soup. Cold cubes tend to clump and take forever.

Grated Monterey Jack and pepper jack cheese on top of creamy soup in a Dutch oven.

Step 15: Take the pot completely off the burner. Add the cheese, freshly grated from a block, a handful at a time, stirring until melted and smooth. Bagged shredded cheese has a coating that keeps it from melting smoothly.

🧀 Why jack cheese: A real jalapeño popper is cream cheese and jack under crispy breadcrumbs, not an orange cheese sauce, so we skip the cheddar. Monterey Jack and pepper jack also melt smoother and are less likely to turn grainy than aged cheddar. With that said, feel free to use whatever cheese you wish!

⚠️ No boiling after the cheese: Once the cheese is in, keep the soup below a boil, or it can turn grainy. Gentle heat only when reheating.

Crispy beef bacon stirred into jalapeño popper soup, with a package of Godshall's beef bacon.

Step 16: Stir in most of the crispy beef bacon, saving the rest for topping. Taste and add salt as needed.

🧂 Salt last: Beef bacon is well salted, so wait until it's stirred in before adjusting. We use Diamond Crystal kosher salt. If you're using Morton, start with about half as much.

Torn pieces of sourdough bread in a skillet before toasting.

Step 17: Heat some of the reserved beef bacon fat in a skillet over medium heat. Add the torn bread in a single layer, sprinkle with salt.

Golden toasted sourdough croutons in a white skillet.

Toast, turning occasionally, until golden and crisp. Adjust salt to taste.

🍞 Make them your own: We love day-old sourdough, but a baguette or any sturdy loaf works. Tear it instead of cubing it, since those craggy edges crisp up best. Use enough fat to coat the bread without it swimming, in a skillet big enough to hold the pieces in one layer, and go by color, not the clock. Short on beef bacon fat? Finish with a little butter or oil alongside it to get the croutons nice and crispy.

💡 Save a few minutes: You can toast the croutons while the potatoes simmer, if you're comfortable juggling two pans.

Ladle into bowls and top with the rest of the crispy beef bacon, pickled jalapeños, a little extra cheese, and the croutons. Add the croutons right at the table, since they soften fast in hot soup.

Pro tip: Want a pretty garnish like ours? Broil a few extra whole jalapeños alongside the halves and tuck one on top of each bowl. 🤤

A bowl of creamy jalapeño popper soup topped with roasted jalapeño, pickled jalapeño rounds, croutons, and crispy beef bacon.

Love jalapeno poppers? Try our reader-favorite this jalapeno popper chicken dinner!

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Save This Recipe! 💌

This Creamy Jalapeño Popper Soup Tastes Like the Beloved Appetizer 🌶️

🌶️Ingredients for Jalapeño Popper Potato Soup

How to Make This Jalapeño Popper Soup Recipe ✨

🌟Leave a Review!

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