Spicy Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Jalapenos

I’m here today with a new recipe for you!

If you follow me on Snapchat (@fitnessandfeta), you got a sneak peek the other night into some recipe creating that Tim and I were doing for the Super Bowl on Sunday. Let’s be honest, I always care more about Super Bowl food than I do the Super Bowl itself. Who else is with me here? We actually aren’t even sure what our plans will be for watching the game this year, but either way I wanted to come up with a fun game time recipe for those of you who do have plans and are looking for something fun to make.

My goal was to create an F&F version of a party favorite, and we decided we wanted to recreate the traditional jalapeno popper! Here’s the recipe:

Spicy Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Jalapenos

Makes one dozen stuffed jalapenos

Ingredients

6 jalapeno peppers
1 hot chicken sausage
1 cup of cooked quinoa
1/4 cup of plain Greek yogurt
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp shredded cheddar cheese
Salt and ground pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
To cook the quinoa, combine 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa with 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes or until all the water is absorbed.
Remove the chicken sausage out of its casing. Heat the extra virgin olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat, then place the sausage in the pan and cook for about five minutes, stirring occasionally.
Once the quinoa and sausage are prepared, mix them in a large bowl with the plain Greek yogurt, paprika, shredded cheddar cheese, and salt and pepper.
Prepare the jalapeno peppers by slicing them in half lengthwise, tearing out the rips, and removing the seeds.
Stuff the peppers with the quinoa and sausage filling, and top with additional cheese if desired.
Cook for twenty minutes, and enjoy!

In this recipe, you can use any kind of sausage you want. We used a hot chicken sausage from Whole Foods to add some heat to the recipe, but choose based on your own spice tolerance. You could also sub the sausage out with any type of ground meat or even black beans for a vegetarian version. If you do, I’d recommend adding more spices like garlic and onion powder or crushed red pepper for extra flavor. We didn’t for the hot chicken sausage version because it had enough flavor as is!

Spicy Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Jalapenos

Traditional jalapeno poppers are made with fried cream cheese, so this is definitely a more nutritious version. The sausage and the quinoa also both provide an extra protein punch, and I always like to have a protein option available during events I know will have a lot of munchies around. Filling up on the protein filled snacks first helps me feel fuller and navigate the food more mindfully.

This makes 12 stuffed peppers, so if you are serving a crowd I would definitely double the recipe. For a time-saving tip, I recommend making extra quinoa than this recipe calls for. This way you can make a big batch at once and have extra on hand for other meals throughout your week. One of the many ways I make food prep easier on myself is to re-purpose ingredients for multiple meals.

If you end up making these, let me know how they come out!

For additional Super Bowl food ideas, check out this Super Bowl menu from a party we hosted a couple of years ago. You might also like some of these recipes:

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Spicy Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Jalapenos

Spicy Sausage and Quinoa Stuffed Jalapenos

For additional Super Bowl food ideas, check out this Super Bowl menu from a party we hosted a couple of years ago. You might also like some of these recipes:

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