Blue Cheese Mashed Potatoes Stuffed Peppers wrapped in thick cut bacon cooked until crispy and served with ranch sauce. These mashed potatoes are filled with blue cheese crumbles, chopped scallions and some cayenne pepper for a little heat than stuffed inside roasted peppers wrapped in bacon. Serve these with extra blue cheese, some hot honey butter and more green onions for a pop of colour. Serve these stuffed peppers alongside some grilled protein as a delicious side.

This is a super fun take on a loaded baked potato and a jalapeno popper. its a bit of a mash up of both with the intent to pair blue cheese with something spicy to give it a nice balance. In all honesty you don’t even taste the blue cheese, it kinda adds that yummy umami to the mashed potatoes. They really are sooo good on their own that they could be served as something extra on the side if you happen to have leftovers.

IMPORTANT STEPS

Now it’s important to blister the peppers that way you can remove the skin and they have been softened making it easier to handle. You want to be able to gently open them up, fill them with mashed potatoes and fold it back shut as best you can. The bacon helps seal the pepper so that no filling can escape and of course adds a delicious taste. I use toothpicks to keep it in place while it cooks and just remember to remove them once their ready. Another, not necessary but helpful step is to refrigerate the mashed potatoes to cool them down a bit that way they have had some time to harden and stick together better before stuffing inside the peppers.

SMOKER VS OVEN

In the recipe card I provide directions for smoking and oven baking. This recipe can be done with either cooking method as long as you can fully cook the bacon and get it crispy it doesn’t matter which method you choose. Of course its always nice to add a smoking element for extra flare and flavors.

TO SERVE

I chose to serve this with some ranch dressing to help balance out the spiciness and i always just love having a bit of sauce to dip in. I also made a homemade Hot Honey Butter, which is just honey, butter and cayenne pepper simmered until thickened and cooled down. More recipes to come with this. Otherwise you can just warm some honey and drizzle it over top for that touch of sweet. If you love honey on pizza, you will enjoy it on this too.

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Print Recipe

blue cheese mashed potatoes stuffed peppers

creamy blue cheese mashed potatoes mixed with fresh herbs and spices stuffed inside roasted peppers and wrapped in thick cut bacon. Served with creamy ranch dressing and hot honey butter.

Prep Time30 minutes mins

Cook Time1 hour hr

Course: Side Dish

Cuisine: canadian

Keyword: bacon, BBQ ranch, blue cheese, hot honey butter, mashed potato, side, smoked, stuffed pepper

Servings: 8 people

Ingredients

• 3 medium russet potatoes
• 1/3 cup crème fraiche
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup blue cheese crumbled
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/3 cup scallions finely chopped
• 6-8 poblano or mini peppers
• 6-8 slices bacon
• toothpicks

to serve

• ranch dressing
• hot honey butter or warmed honey optional
• extra blue cheese crumbles
• scallions garnish

Instructions

• Start by making the mashed potatoes: I like to peel and chop the potatoes into small cubes to speed up the cooking. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, once boiling salt the water and drop in the cubed potatoes. Cook until soft and able to pierce easily or mash with a fork. About 10 minutes. Strain and let cool.
• In the meantime Broil the peppers in the oven until charred on all sides. Be sure to flip once the top side blisters. Once all the sides are black and blistered remove from the oven and cover with aluminum foil for about 5 minutes. Peel the skin off the peppers and set aside.
• Mash the potatoes until there are almost no clumps. Mix with the crème fraiche, milk, spices, blue cheese and scallions. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.
• Preheat the smoker to 275 degrees F or oven to 350 degrees F.
• Use a knife to make an incision to cut open each pepper. Use a small spoon to scoop out the seeds and clean out the inside. Spoon the mash potato filling inside each pepper until its overfilled. Finally, wrap 1 slice of bacon around each pepper as tight as you can and secure with a toothpick.
• Smoke for 2 hours until the bacon is fully cooked and crispy or bake for 40-45 minutes until the bacon is fully cooked.
• To serve: spoon ranch dressing across the bottom of the plate and place each pepper overtop. Garnish with hot honey, blue cheese crumbles, and chopped scallions. Enjoy!

Notes

If time allows, cool the mashed potatoes in the refrigerator for 20 minutes before stuffing in the peppers. 

To make ahead of time: refrigerate fully assembled peppers with bacon (same day only) and cook as instructed once ready.