Jalapeno Popper Potato Cakes

After picking all the jalapenos off my dad’s plant, I really wanted to make some jalapeno poppers, but felt like I should try doing something more original, thus the Jalapeno Popper Potato Cakes were born!

Jalapeno Popper Potato Cakes

• 3 Yukon Gold Potatoes
• 12 Jalapenos (small-medium size)
• Dehydrated Tomato
• 2 Tbsp Margarine/Butter
• 125 g Cream Cheese (half block)
• 1½ Cups Kraft Tex Mex Shredded Cheese
• Milk
• Chives
• Salt & Pepper
• Flour
• Egg
• Panko Bread Crumbs

First peel and boil your potatoes in large pot of salted water until tender. As the potatoes are boiling, roast all of your jalapenos. You can do this on the barbeque (medium-high), or even just roast the skins using the element on your stove. Once the jalapenos are done roasting, put them in a ziploc bag or bowl covered with saran wrap to allow the humidity to help separate the skin from the flesh of the jalapeno.

Peel the skins off the jalapenos, slice them in half, take the spine and seeds out, then chop them up. If you have dehydrated tomatoes and chives on hand feel free to chop some up to add to the potato mixture.

For the potato mixture, mash up your potatoes, add the cream cheese, margarine and cheese, mixing until smooth, adding milk as necessary to get your desired texture. Once this is done, mix in the jalapenos (I threw some seeds in for extra kick!), dehydrated tomato, chives along with salt and pepper to taste. Once you have everything mixed together, take an ice cream scoop (or a spoon) and form small patties until the mixture is used up.

Once you have all the cakes formed, get three dishes for the flour, egg and panko. Dredge the potato cakes in the flour, then the egg and finally the panko. Once everything is breaded you can FINALLY get to cooking! If you have a deep fryer then you can most definitely use that, but I just cooked them in a pan (on medium-high heat) with enough vegetable oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook each side until browned and serve!

If you are a dipper, then I definitely recommend serving with some ranch, which I thought complimented the cakes nicely! Since this recipe makes quite a few cakes, you can refrigerate them for a couple days or freeze them and cook as needed!

It’s a bit of a lengthy process for this recipe but I hope you enjoy!

Bob