Signpost Recipe: Armadillo Eggs

Knowing that I love to cook, especially BBQing, a friend suggested that I periodically publish my recipes. My first posting describes how to make armadillo eggs, which are great appetizers for your summertime party. Not only do they taste great, but they are easy to make.  

 

If you have never heard of armadillo eggs, they are Jalapeño peppers filled with a mixture of cream cheese, shredded sharp cheddar cheese and BBQ rub.   The armadillo eggs are covered in sausage and then either wrapped in bacon or left as they are. Below is a photo of armadillo eggs wrapped with bacon. Personally, I feel that most things are better with bacon.

To get started, set your grill up for indirect cooking in which coals are mounded on one side of the grill so you can use the other side for barbequing the armadillo eggs.

 

The optimal temperature for cooking armadillo eggs is 250º F. If you are using a Weber-style grill, you won’t need very many charcoal briquettes to attain the recommended temperature.

 

In the photo below, only 12 briquettes were initially used. As you monitor the temperature of your grill, control the temperature of the grill by adjusting the vents or adding additional coals, as needed. Knowing how much fuel that you will need requires some experimentation with the particular type of grill that you cook on.

The next step is to make the filling. Before you set up your grill, take a package of cream cheese out of the refrigerator and allow 15 minutes to a half of an hour for it to soften.

In a medium size mixing bowl combine the following ingredients:

 

Standard Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 oz. package of softened cream cheese

• 1 cup of shredded sharp cheddar cheese

• 2 tablespoons of a honey BBQ rub.

 

The ingredients are easily mixed with the backside of a sturdy fork. This is enough filling to make 8 armadillo eggs. See the photo below.

 

 

The above filling isn’t the only one that people use. You can experiment with variations. One variation combines cream cheese with blue cheese crumbles and a dusting of BBQ rub. Another combination blends cream cheese with crushed pineapple and brown sugar. As you are blending the filling, you can adjust your recipe after taste-testing the mixture.

 

Pineapple Cream Cheese Filling

• 8 oz. of softened cream cheese

• ½ cup of crushed pineapple (squeeze out the excess moisture)

• ¼ cup of brown sugar

• ½ teaspoon of honey BBQ rub

 

Note: Be sure to squeeze out the juices from the crushed pineapple or your mixture will be too runny.

 

Cream Cheese Filling with Blue Cheese Crumbles

• 8 oz. package of softened cream cheese

• 2/3 cup of Blue Cheese crumbles

• ¼ teaspoon of garlic powder

 

The ideal size of Jalapeño peppers for armadillo eggs is about 3.5 to 4 inches long. What’s more, select peppers with a thicker girth, which makes it easier to extract the core and stuff with the filling. After slicing off the top of the Jalapeño pepper, scoop out the seeds and membrane with a coring tool, shown below.

 

Pepper Corer easily cores and deseeds Jalapeño peppers.

You will notice in the picture below that I am wearing nitrile gloves. This prevents getting the Jalapeño oils on your hands and inadvertently touching your eyes. Ouch!

The seeds and white membrane are the hot parts of the Jalapeño pepper. You want to get rid of all of that. Using a table knife or the handle end of a spoon is helpful in this operation. Wash out any remaining seeds with cold water.

 

I have heard that some people fill the scooped-out peppers using a pastry bag. This is, in my opinion, completely unnecessary. It is easy enough to stuff the filling into the cavity of the pepper with your fingers. Make sure that you do not leave any air pockets.

You can use different types of pork sausage to cover the filled Jalapeño peppers, including Italian sausage or breakfast sausage. You will need about 4 oz. of sausage for each armadillo egg.  That amounts to one tubular package of breakfast sausage for every four peppers. The amount needed, of course, will vary depending on the size of the pepper.

 

After you make a ball of sausage, place it between two pieces of a plastic grocery bag or kitchen cling wrap. Then, use a rolling pin to evenly spread out the patty of meat. Use this patty to envelop the pepper completely. No part of the pepper should be exposed.

 I left 4 of the armadillo eggs as shown above. 3 were wrapped in bacon. If you decide to wrap the armadillo eggs, you will need at least 2 slices of bacon per each egg. The thinner sliced bacon is usually preferred.  Before using a slice, gently stretch the bacon to give you more coverage. Secure the bacon pieces using toothpicks.

 

To prevent the armadillo eggs from sticking, coat the grill grate with olive oil or a non-stick cooking spray. Before placing the eggs on the grill, sprinkle all sides with a honey BBQ rub.

 

Smoke the armadillo eggs for about 45 minutes and then check the progress. Use a digital thermometer to monitor the internal temperature of the armadillo eggs. In checking temperature remember that when you open the grill, you are losing heat. As the saying goes, “when you’re looking, you ain’t cooking”.

 

At the specified cooking temperature, cooking time is generally two hours or longer.  Obviously, if the temperature is higher, the cooking time will be reduced. At an elevated temperature between 300º F to 400ºF, the time to fully cook the armadillo eggs may only take between 45 minutes and 1 hour.

 

However, when BBQing, the general rule of thumb is that “low and slow” usually produces the best results.  When cooking armadillo eggs, use a digital temperature probe (shown below) to gauge doneness. The internal temperature should reach 165ºF.  Begin to periodically monitor the temperature after 45 minutes to an hour.

ThermoPro Digital Meat Thermometer provides precise temperature readings when grilling or BBQing.

 

When the bacon is crisp, or the cream cheese filling starts to ooze from the eggs, the armadillo eggs are likely done. After the internal temperature reaches 160-165º F, baste the outside with a sweet and tangy BBQ sauce as shown below. Cook the armadillo eggs for an additional 10 minutes until the sauce becomes tacky.

If you have secured a wrapping of bacon with toothpicks, be sure to remove them before serving, so you guests don’t skewer the insides of their mouths with the needle-sharp points. 

 Bon Appetit!

Try These Other Signpost Recipes

Easy Turmeric Yellow Rice

The Best Bacon Wrapped Jalapeno Poppers

The Best Beef and Cheese Enchiladas

The Best Hot Dog Toppings

Meatloaf Burgers

Beer Brats

Grilled Buffalo Wings

About Jim Hingst: Sign business authority on vehicle wraps, vinyl graphics, screen printing, marketing, sales, gold leaf, woodcarving and painting. 

After fourteen years as Business Development Manager at RTape, Jim Hingst retired. He was involved in many facets of the company’s business, including marketing, sales, product development and technical service.

Hingst began his career 42 years ago in the graphic arts field creating and producing advertising and promotional materials for a large test equipment manufacturer.  Working for offset printers, large format screen printers, vinyl film manufacturers, and application tape companies, his experience included estimating, production planning, purchasing and production art, as well as sales and marketing. In his capacity as a salesman, Hingst was recognized with numerous sales achievement awards.

Drawing on his experience in production and as graphics installation subcontractor, Hingst provided the industry with practical advice, publishing more than 190 articles for  publications, such as  Signs Canada, SignCraft,  Signs of the Times, Screen Printing, Sign and Digital Graphics and  Sign Builder Illustrated. He also posted more than 500 stories on his blog (hingstssignpost.blogspot.com). In 2007 Hingst’s book, Vinyl Sign Techniques, was published.  Vinyl Sign Techniques is available at sign supply distributors and at Amazon. 

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