Bratwurst Popper Boats

Bratwurst Popper Boats AKA Sausage Poppers make a great tailgating or game day snack option. These fresh brats are slit open to form a "boat" and filled with a mixture of cream cheese, pickled jalapeños and Meat Church BBQ seasoning to create a very hardy and filling game day treat. 

Meat Church How To YouTube Video: https://youtu.be/OB_0a4vH2EU

Ingredients:

• 5 fresh bratwurst
• 1 C, whipped cream cheese
• 1 C, sharp cheddar, freshly shredded
• 2 T, pickled jalapeños (sub fresh if you want spicy)
• 1 T, Meat Church Honey Bacon BBQ seasoning

• 15 slices of fresh jalapeños (sub pickled if you don't want spicy)

• Instant Read Thermometer
• 

Prepare your smoker or pellet grill
Prepare your smoker at 300 degrees. We used a Traeger Timberline with pecan pellets for this cook. Any wood type would be fine for this smoke since the cook is so quick.

Prepare the mixture
Mix the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, pickled jalapeños & Honey Bacon BBQ seasoning in a medium bowl. Mix to combine and set aside. 

Prepare the bratwurst
Pierce the casing and cut a slit length wise down the entire bratwurst.

Using your fingers, or a small spoon form the bratwurst into a boat as seen in this video. 

Fill the boat with the cream cheese mixture. 

Season the top with more Honey Bacon BBQ seasoning.

Optionally place on a wire rack so that you only have to put 1 item in and out of your smoker vs. each individual sausage. 

Cook the Bratwurst
Place the bratwurst boats in the smoker.

Cook until the internal temperature of the bratwurst hits 165 using an instant read thermometer. That took 30 minutes in this video. 

Remove from the smoker. Garnish with slices of fresh jalapeño.

Allow to cool.

You can enjoy these as a stand alone item or you can add caramelized onions and mustard (Matt's favorite).

Enjoy!