Scrolling through instagram last month, I saw a food blogger (and now TV personality!) that I have followed for a long time, Molly Yeh, post about “veggie sprinkles” and was immediately intrigued. I decided to order some on a whim just to see what cool things they could be used for.
The veggie crumbles from Vegify are made of various vegetables and potatoes, and that’s pretty much it. They look slightly like bread crumbs, though are very light and airy. The version I used for these is their Carrot Turmeric crumbles, which has just three ingredients in them: carrot, potato and turmeric.
When I cam across these beautiful black jalapeños at Whole Foods, I knew I wanted to make them into poppers, and thought this would be the perfect experiment for my new veggie crumbles. And I gotta say, I was AMAZED at how well they worked. The crumbles got so nice and brown and crunchy in the oven, they were the perfect replacement for bread crumbs. The ones that get really browned even remind me of the flavor of potato chips, which is unsurprising considering there are potatoes in them.
I don’t normally buy or suggest to others such niche ingredients. But how well these crumbles worked as a brown and crispy toppings make them completely worth it. And I’m excited to see what other cool ways I can use them.
Notes on recipe
This is a small recipe, good for a snack for 2 people. It can be easily doubled, and in the future I will most likely do so.
I used Kite Hill’s dairy-free cream cheese and thought it was great. It would also probably be delicious with their chive-flavored version, though you may not need much onion powder if you do that.
Nutritional yeast can be purchased at most grocery stores and is commonly used in vegan cooking to mimic the flavor of cheese. I LOVE it. I use it often for cashew cheese spread, vegan mac n cheese, and even just sprinkling it on bowls or avocado toast. It’s a great pantry item and definitely worth a purchase if you don’t already have it and are interested in cooking dairy-free sometimes.
Vegan Jalapeño Poppers with Gluten-Free Crunchy Coating
~6 medium-small jalapeño peppers (makes 12 poppers, a snack size for 2 people)
Spray oil, like avocado oil
1/2 cup dairy-free cream cheese, or 4 oz aka half of one kite hill cream cheese container
1 tbsp nutritional yeast
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
Vegify Carrot Turmeric Crumbles—found here or here
Preheat oven to 400F. Cut the jalapeño peppers in half lengthwise, and de-seed using a spoon. Be careful handling the peppers—do not touch your eyes during or after. Spray a baking sheet with avocado oil (or another spray oil), as well as the skin side of the peppers.
In a bowl, mix the cream cheese, nutritional yeast, garlic powder, onion powder, salt and pepper. Taste the mixture and adjust seasoning if desired. Spoon the mixture into each of the jalapeño halves. Do not worry about overfilling as the dairy-free cream cheese will not spill out during cooking. Generously sprinkle the carrot turmeric crumbles over the jalapeños, gently pressing the crumbles into the filling. Transfer jalapeños to baking sheet and spray the crumble coating with the spray oil.
Transfer to oven and bake for 13-15 minutes, until the jalapeños are soft and browned on the bottom. Switch the oven to broil for 1-2 minutes to let the crumb coating brown. Watch carefully as it will brown quickly. Remove from oven to let cool slightly. Garnish with cilantro, if desired.