Armadillo Eggs Recipe: Perfect BBQ Companion

After reading this article, you would know all that there is to know about making tasty and spicy armadillo eggs using our recipe.
By
Jeremy Bivens
Jeremy Bivens
Research Writer
Jeremy Bivens is a passionate writer and grilling enthusiast. He's been working as a freelance journalist for over 15 years now and has a particular interest in food writing read more
reviewed
Reviewed By
Bruce Williams
Bruce Williams
Expert Consultant
Claims that grilling is the art that he has been learning all his life long and is not planning to stop. Has been grilling for as long as he can remember. Author of numerous read more
Last updated: September 11, 2023
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If you’re a foodie like us, it would mean that you are probably always on the lookout for exotic dishes, meals, and snacks that you haven’t heard of or tasted before. That sort of lifestyle comes with its ups, but the gems you’d find are well worth those.

As such, it might come as a surprise to you that you don’t know what the tastiest egg is, and no, it’s not chicken eggs. The honor would have to be reserved for armadillo eggs as they are considered tastier than those obtained from chickens are. You probably haven’t heard about these eggs, right? That’s because they are not eggs, rather, they are a dish (or snack, if you wish) that is so-called because they resemble armadillo Trusted Source Armadillo - Wikipedia Armadillos are characterized by a leathery armor shell and long, sharp claws for digging. They have short legs, but can move quite quickly. The average length of an armadillo is about 75 cm (30 in), including tail. The giant armadillo grows up to 150 cm (59 in) and weighs up to 54 kg (119 lb), while the pink fairy armadillo has a length of only 13–15 cm (5–6 in). When threatened by a predator, Tolypeutes species frequently roll up into a ball (these being the only species of Armadillo capable of such). en.wikipedia.org shells. Why don’t we leave the preliminary introductions for later and get down to learning just what the armadillo eggs are about, and you can have them on your plate courtesy of some home-cooking effort?

What are bacon-wrapped armadillo eggs?

If you are a fan of bacon burnt ends (recipe available here), the bacon-wrapped armadillo eggs will appeal to you greatly, but what are in these tasty wonders.

The bacon-wrapped armadillo eggs contain a jalapeno filling (that could be customized as you wish) wrapped in bacon, as the name implies, and smoked to your taste.

If the smoking caught you off guard and you don’t have a grill already, you might like to browse through our list of tabletop grills for some advice. Alternative options would be these electric griddles.

The history behind the dish

I’ve refrained from saying so until now, but the armadillo eggs, as we know them today, originated from Texas in the early 70s Trusted Source Why Was Food So Weird in the 70s? Pick up any Cold War-era cookbook and you’ll find outlandish dishes like ham-wrapped bananas slathered in hollandaise or Jell-O and tuna pie. In hindsight, it’s easy for our generation of foodies to find this stuff weird, or downright gross. And yet, those dishes were, at the time, culinary revolutions. www.vice.com and since then have grown out of the western state to satisfy the tastes and cravings of people all around the country.

Smoked armadillo eggs

We have dropped a tip above for people looking to make the smoked armadillo egg is the true spirit of the process, using a grill. However, if you don’t have the inclination or resources to own a grill, no need to panic; this can still be prepared using an oven.

Using the oven, all you’d need to do is place the already wrapped jalapenos on the rack and follow the procedures that would be outlined later on in this article. I’d still advise you to purchase a grill, though.

Best ways to serve them

The way you’d like your armadillo eggs served would have to reflect in how you cook it. For instance, if you want your jalapenos to be soft rather than crunchy when the eggs are done, you would need to roast them at 450°F for about 5 minutes before stuffing and wrapping them with the bacon. Using the raw jalapenos without this prior roasting would leave them crunchy after the smoking is done.

Such a consideration would be important for the bacon as well. Naturally, a temperature of 250°F is recommended for the smoking process, and though this might take hours for the cooking to be completed, your cooking would be thorough, and the bacon wrapping you get would be soft.

If, however, you want the bacon wrapping to be crispy instead of soft, raising the temperature to 400°F for the final 3 minutes of your cooking would provide a sort of searing effect and give you exactly that. To make your armadillo eggs as perfect as possible, you should consider a grill, and the Tenergy Redigrill Infrared grill has earned rave reviews from past customers.

How do they taste?

It’s hard to qualify taste with words, but the thought of bacon and jalapenos should get you going. If that doesn’t, imagine the blended flavors provided by cheddar cheese and cream cheese bombarding that of the bacon and jalapenos. You can improve this even further by using BBQ sauce. I’d recommend this keto-friendly BBQ sauce by Keto Primo, but if you are not into sweet sauces, this list of sugar-free BBQ sauces will come in handy.

Armadillo Eggs Recipe: Perfect BBQ Companion 1

Armadillo Eggs - Recipe

Bruce Williams
Honestly, a perceptive reader would be well on his/her way to recreating our recipe with all the snippets we've dropped beforehand, but for those that were too eager to read through all of ourrambling, here is the recipe in straight words.
5 from 1 vote
Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Total Time 2 hours 20 minutes
Course Snack
Servings 6 armadillo eggs
Calories 400 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • 1 pound of pork sausage 1040 kcal
  • 12 slices of bacon 516
  • 6 jalapenos without their seeds, core, and stems – depends on the weight of the pepper (about0.07/g)
  • 4 ounces of cream cheese 388 kcal
  • 4 ounces of cheddar cheese 456 kcal
  • 2 tablespoons of your BBQ rub
  • 1 cup of your BBQ sauce

Instructions
 

  • Preheat the smoker to 250°
  • Add the cream cheese, cheddar cheese, and a tablespoon of the BBQ rub to a bowl and mix
  • Fill the jalapenos with the mixture from (2), and be sure to press the filling into the jalapenos well
  • Wrap each jalapeno in the pork sausage and ensure that the entire jalapeno is covered while rolling the covered jalapeno into an egg shape
    Armadillo Eggs Recipe: Perfect BBQ Companion 3
  • Cover the sausage-wrapped jalapenos with bacon, using two slices per jalapeno
  • Place the bacon in the smoker or oven and smoke at 165° for about two hours before checking
    Armadillo Eggs Recipe: Perfect BBQ Companion 5
  • Once ready, serve the armadillo eggs hot and dive in

Notes

Calories: without accounting for the calories in the rub, sauce, and jalapeno, one armadillo egg made with this recipe should contain not less than 400 kcal.

Nutrition

Calories: 400kcal

Final Thoughts

If you have followed our recipe to the letter, you should have a reddish-brown, egg-shaped exterior with an interior yellow cheese in green look. This description would probably only make sense when you’re staring at a transverse section of your armadillo egg.

The armadillo egg could be fleshy or crunchy, depending on which of our instructions you have decided to tweak. That said, though, the flavor of this dish could be customized according to your tastes by tweaking the fill material for the jalapenos used.

For experimentation, you could even make a batch of armadillo eggs like this, using different fill materials for each jalapeno. Once done, though, don’t keep this recipe to yourself; rather, step out and preach the gospel of the armadillo egg.

References

1.
Armadillo - Wikipedia
Armadillos are characterized by a leathery armor shell and long, sharp claws for digging. They have short legs, but can move quite quickly. The average length of an armadillo is about 75 cm (30 in), including tail. The giant armadillo grows up to 150 cm (59 in) and weighs up to 54 kg (119 lb), while the pink fairy armadillo has a length of only 13–15 cm (5–6 in). When threatened by a predator, Tolypeutes species frequently roll up into a ball (these being the only species of Armadillo capable of such).
2.
Why Was Food So Weird in the 70s?
Pick up any Cold War-era cookbook and you’ll find outlandish dishes like ham-wrapped bananas slathered in hollandaise or Jell-O and tuna pie. In hindsight, it’s easy for our generation of foodies to find this stuff weird, or downright gross. And yet, those dishes were, at the time, culinary revolutions.
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