Jalapeño Popper Detroit Pizza

Candied-pepper bacon, cream cheese dollops, three cheeses, and fresh jalapeño on a Detroit crust. The popper, panned.

Time: 18 min | Yield: 1 pizzas | Difficulty: Intermediate | Serves: 4 | Published: 2026-07-24

Everything you love about a jalapeño popper, cream cheese, bacon, heat, mapped onto a Detroit pan pizza.

The bacon gets the full treatment: laid on a wire rack, hit with cracked pepper and brown sugar, and baked to slightly underdone so it finishes in the pizza bake instead of burning. The cream cheese must be room temperature, cold dollops sit there as lumps; warm dollops spread into a tangy layer as the pie bakes. Cheddar goes on in half-inch cubes rather than shreds, they melt into distinct molten pockets.

Par-baked Detroit dough, heavily buttered pan, and the jalapeños go on last so they roast on top. Three thinly sliced peppers reads spicy but bakes friendly, the heat mellows in the oven.

Ingredients

Ingredients

• Par baked Detroit Dough
• 3 thinly sliced Jalapenos
• 1 pack of bacon
• Brown Sugar

Pepper

• 1/3 pack of cream cheese (room temp)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella
• 1 cup shredded provolone
• ½ cup cubed cheddar

Directions

1. Start by preparing your bacon and preheat the oven to 450 degrees.
2. Lay all your bacon strips on a wire rack. Optional: Sprinkle Cracked pepper and brown sugar (highly recommend)
   You'll know it's right: The brown sugar and cracked pepper turn the bacon candied-savory. Light, even sprinkle, it caramelizes fast.
3. Bake for about 10 minutes, we want the bacon to be slightly underdone.
   You'll know it's right: Slightly underdone means flexible with rendered fat, not crisp. It crisps the rest of the way on the pizza.
4. Let cool then chop.
5. Turn the oven up to 550 degrees.
6. Follow the attached directions for the par baked dough.
7. Heavily butter the Detroit pan
8. Place your par baked dough in the pan.
9. Apply dollops of cream cheese evenly so it will spread. It really needs to be room temperature here. The alternative is to cube it while it's cold and evenly distribute it after you've added the base layer of cheese in the next step
   You'll know it's right: Room temperature cream cheese is non-negotiable. It should dollop soft and spread under its own weight in the oven.
10. Blend your mozzarella and provolone together, then spread evenly on the sides and in the middle of the pizza.
11. Next evenly distribute your cheddar chunks. They should be about 1/2 inch. You can also shred but I like how this melts if they are bigger.
    You'll know it's right: Half-inch cheddar cubes, spaced. They become molten pockets instead of disappearing into the blend.
12. Evenly distribute your bacon first.
13. Next, your jalapenos.
14. Bake for 8 minutes.
15. Let cool for 2-3 minutes before removing from the pan.
    You'll know it's right: The 2-3 minute rest lets the cream cheese set from molten back to creamy before the pan release.
16. Slice it up and Enjoy!

Troubleshooting

Cream cheese stayed in cold lumps

Straight from the fridge. Room temperature, a full hour on the counter. It's the difference between dollops and a layer.

Bacon burned

Fully cooked before the pizza bake. Slightly underdone off the rack. It's going back into a 550°F oven.

Too spicy for the table

Left every seed and rib in. Thin slices, and scrape seeds from a pepper or two if you're serving heat-averse people. The bake mellows what's left.

Cheddar vanished

Shredded it. Half-inch cubes. The pockets are the point.

No frico edge

Cheese blend never reached the pan sides. Spread the mozzarella-provolone blend on the sides AND middle, Detroit rules apply.

Nutrition (2 squares (1/8 of the pan)): 440 calories, 19g protein, 33g carbs, 26g fat.