Texas Twinkies: Jalapeño Stuffed With Leftover Brisket

Take a jalapeño popper and stuff it with brisket, and you’ve got yourself a Texas Twinkie.

These delicious appetizers are loaded with leftover smoked brisket, and cheese, wrapped in bacon, and coated with bbq sauce.

They are easy to make on the smoker, so, let’s get on with the recipe.

Smoked Texas Twinkies

Texas Twinkie is a combination of all that is great about BBQ. Smokey, spicy, smooth, sweet, cheesy, and BACON. What’s not to like?

If you’re wondering where the “Texas” comes from, it’s the addition of chopped smoked brisket to the cream cheese mixture.

You’ll need some leftover brisket for this recipe. If you’ve never smoked a brisket before, check out our in-depth brisket guide. We also have a smoked pellet grill brisket and a hot and fast brisket recipe, if you are short on time.

What you need for Texas Twinkies

• Beef brisket – Hopefully, you have some leftover brisket stashed in your freezer, or maybe you just smoked a brisket. I like to use the fattier point end of the brisket.
• Thin-cut bacon – To make sure it renders properly and gets crispy.
• Fresh whole jalapeños
• Softened cream cheese – For extra flavor, use our smoked cream cheese.
• Shreddeddd cheese – I like using Colby jack but shredded cheddar or gouda would work
• Barbecue rub – I used our Smoke Kitchen Beef Rub, but any BBQ rub will work fine.
• Barbecue sauce – Brushed on at the end, any sweet barbecue sauce will work.

How to make Texas Twinkies

1. Chop the brisket and core the jalapeños

Take your leftover or thawed brisket, and chop it into small pieces. The smaller pieces allow you to get more brisket into the jalapeño, which is the goal here!

You’ll need about one cup of leftover chopped brisket.

To prepare your jalapeños, you could split them lengthways but I prefer to keep them whole and core out the inside, removing the seeds and membrane.

Cut the tops off the jalapeños and take the back handle of a spoon, push it in, and twist. The seeds should come right out. If there are a few bits stuck inside, run some water from your sink, and everything should be nice and clean on the inside. 

If you like a spicier bite, don’t remove all of the seeds. Leave a few of them in there, or you can mix them in with your filling later.

Make sure you are wearing gloves or wash your hands very thoroughly afterward. You don’t want to be touching your eyes or going to the bathroom during this process. Trust me; it’s not fun. 

2. Make the filling

Take your chopped brisket and add it into a bowl along with 16oz of softened cream cheese and one cup of shredded Colby jack cheese. Then add one tablespoon of BBQ rub.

I used Smoke Kitchens Beef rub. Mix that all together until the brisket mixture is well combined.

3. Stuff the jalapeños

Place the cream cheese mixture into a piping or zip lock bag, then cut the corner and pipe it into each jalapeño. Be careful not to overfill, as the mixture will expand when it warms up. 

You can also take a spoon and just spoon the cream cheese mixture in and press down with your finger to ensure the entire jalapeño is filled. 

Wrap each jalapeño with a piece of bacon and secure it with a toothpick if needed.

Place on a wire to make it easy to move the twinkies on and off your smoker. You could place them directly on the grill grates but it can be fiddly to remove the Twinkies one at a time.

4. Smoking your Texas Twinkies

Fire up your smoker and get it up to temp around 350°F. I used my Traeger Timberline with hickory pellets from Bear Mountain BBQ. Use any smoke wood that you would pair with brisket.

The bacon and brisket are already smoked, so the high heat will help get the bacon crispy and the jalapeño soft. The jalapeños will take on some smoke flavor during the process, but it’s not really our focus here. 

Smoke the twinkies for about 45 minutes or until the bacon is where you like it. If you used thick cut bacon, you may have to smoke little bit longer.

About 10 minutes before you remove them from the smoker, brush on some bbq sauce and let them glaze on the bacon before you bring them inside and devour.

It really is that easy!! I serve these as is, but a zesty ranch would work for dipping too. Fries or wedges are also a great extra to a backyard BBQ. Your friends will be back, I promise!

Other spicy jalapeño recipes to try

• Bacon Wrapped Jalapeño Poppers
• Jalapeño Popper Dip Recipe
• Grilled Brisket Breakfast Burrito with Jalapeño Cheese Blanket
• Smoked Armadillo Eggs

Texas Twinkies Recipe