Sweet mini peppers and pimento cheese are a match made in snacking heaven! Serve these Pimento Cheese Stuffed Peppers at your next party or picnic and watch them disappear!
I’ve been holding out on you guys.
This flavor-packed, faceplant-worthy pimento cheese recipe has been a snack staple in my home for years. YEARS.
And I haven’t blogged it.
I know, I know! I’m the worst! I just couldn’t for the life of me figure out how to photograph pimento cheese. It’s a hot mess on a plate but MAN is it good! After making it for the millionth time last week I realized I couldn’t call myself a blogger unless I shared this deliciousness with y’all.
So here I am, waving the white flag. Sharing this technicolor recipe and hoping the photos don’t blind you in the process. The recipe is good. Really, really ridiculously good. My friends go bonkers over these and I can’t wait for you to too!
Pimento Cheese Stuffed Peppers
Speed is of the essence when you’re planning a party, picnic, or plain ole snack-a-thon so this recipe is lighting fast to prepare!
You can even prep them a day in advance: Make the pimento cheese + refrigerate in an airtight container. This keeps up to 4 days for all your snacking needs. Prep the peppers by slicing in half, hollowing them out, and storing in a baggie in the fridge. You can stuff them a few hours before you need them and pop them back in the fridge or serve them in a circle around the spread and let your guests dip or stuff ’em themselves!
Pimento Cheese Stuffed Peppers
Ingredients
- 8 oz coarsely shredded sharp cheddar cheese
- 1/3-1/2 cup finely diced red bell pepper, pimento peppers, or mini peppers
- 1 large or two small jalapeño peppers (1/3-1/2 cup minced)
- 3 tsp diced pickled jalapeño peppers
- 1 tsp vinegar from the pickled jalapeños jar
- 1/4 cup quality mayo extra if desired
- 1/4 tsp garlic powder
- 1/4 tsp paprika (regular, not smoked)
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 15 sweet mini peppers plus extra as needed
Instructions
- Prep your veggies by removing the stem, veins, and seeds from your jalapeño pepper(s) and mincing. Finely dice red bell pepper or sweet mini pepper.
- In a medium-large bowl, combine cheddar cheese, diced peppers, pickled peppers, vinegar, mayo, garlic powder, paprika, and a pinch of salt.
- Pimento cheese mixture can be prepped in advance and refrigerated for 2-4 days. The flavors amplify the next day - YUM! If serving right away, allow mixture to sit in the fridge for 15-20 minutes or until chilled.
- Slice the top off of each pepper and discard, or leave the top on for a handy dandy pepper handle.
- Slice each pepper lengthwise and stuff with pimento cheese. If you want to fancy it up, feel free to add some fresh chopped parsley or scallions as a tasty green garnish on top. Commence faceplant!
Notes
Nutrition
I love these oh-so much! The pimento-pepper combo is legen —wait for it— dary! There’s a kiss of heat from the jalapeños too but not in a fire-in-your-face kind of way. Unless you want to be assaulted by heat, in which case you can sneak the jalapeño seeds in as well as some cayenne pepper for a kick! Yowza!
Barney Stinson quotes aside, they really are phenomenal. I basically can’t believe I used to eat my pimento cheese on crackers. The sweet mini peppers are healthier and tastier too! Hallelujah!
As a bonus, this spread makes an AWESOME Pimento Cheese BLT!
more awesome appetizers:
- Healthy Hummus Stuffed Peppers – perfect for a jumbo bag of sweet mini peppers!
- NEW! BLT Pimento Cheese Sandwich
- Spicy Southern Hot Corn – READER FAVORITE!
- Jalapeño Popper Cheese Ball
If you get a chance to try these pimento cheese stuffed peppers, let me know! You can leave me a comment here (LOVE checking those daily!) or tag @PEASandCRAYONS on Instagram so I can happy dance over your creations. I can’t wait to see what you whip up!
It looks like you added diced green peppers and scallions in the pics which are not in the listed ingredients ? I plan on making for super bowl part, just wondering?
I’ll go ahead and add the optional garnishes in the ingredient list – they’re not essential (the parsley and scallions) but are a nice touch when serving them at a party! (We only add them when serving guests and skip the garnish for our at-home snacking)
For the green peppers, they’re the fresh diced jalapeños in the ingredient list. I like to use a mix of diced sweet red pepper, diced jalapeño, and pickled jalapeño. The result is just my absolute favorite! Hope this helps and that you get a chance to try the recipe! xoxo
OMG! These are my new go-to for an easy dish or “side”! These are perfect for adding to week day lunches or snacks (or anytime)! The flavor is perfect and I love the veggie addition! Plus, super easy to make for someone like me who is not great in the kitchen!
So glad you’re loving them Melanie and that they made go-to status! Thank you!
I would like to make this for a luncheon, can this be made the day before?
Hi Jill! Absolutely! I make this one in advance a lot for week-long snacking so it will be perfect for the luncheon. To save fridge space you can prep/slice the peppers and place them in a baggie, then make the pimento cheese and put it in an airtight container, then refrigerate both until you’re ready to make them *OR* if you have room you can stuff them in advance and just keep them on cookie sheets or plates, tightly wrapped so they don’t dry out in the fridge. Hope they’re a hit — we love these peppers! 🙂
Ohhhhh, you have made me break out the happy dance! I confess that I couldn’t even wait 20 minutes to let the flavors marry – I tried one bite and that was it. I’ve been begrudgingly off grains a while and have really been missing my crunchy foods, so thanks for the reminder of these baby peppers. BTW, I topped one pepper with a small piece of bacon since I had some in the fridge and it was completely over the top! My Southern heart thanks you!!
Yay!!!!! So happy to hear you’re happy dancing along with me! I’m so thrilled you loved them! 🙂 (and bacon?! YES GIRL! YES!)
These stuffed peppers are the BEST!! All the teachers at school loved them. In fact, one of the teachers said it would give her a reason to start eating peppers!!! Thank you so much for the recipe and I love the blog. Give your sweet girl a hug from me.
Amy
Amy you’re the sweetest, thank you! I’m so over the moon excited that y’all loved them! I’m lucky to have some awesome taste testers and I’ll give M an extra squeeze for ya 🙂
There are no pimentos in this Pimento Cheese Stuffed Peppers!
I knew I should have clarified – adding a note now. This is a copycat of a deli version that stole my heart years ago. I actually don’t like pimentos and their version was kind of a spicy pepper twist and it’s how I’ve been making it ever since 🙂 Feel free to sub pimentos for the red pepper that I use, Denise. Thanks!