Let’s get the obvious question out of the way first: yes, that’s really what they’re called, and yes, they taste about a thousand times better than the name suggests.

If you’ve only ever had jalapeño poppers from a bar menu or a frozen box, I need you to put that experience out of your mind entirely. Those are fine. These are something else. We’re talking jalapeños stuffed with a seasoned cream cheese and sharp cheddar mixture, topped with a Lil’ Smokie sausage, wrapped in bacon, coated in BBQ rub, and slow-smoked until the bacon is crispy and the whole thing is bubbling and caramelized. Every single bite hits spicy, smoky, salty, sweet, and creamy all at once.

I make these at almost every cookout, and they disappear faster than anything else on the table — every single time.

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Where Does the Name Come From?

“Atomic Buffalo Turds” is pure BBQ competition culture. The name originated in the competitive BBQ circuit, where pitmasters have a long tradition of giving their creations ridiculous, memorable names. ABTs became a staple in smoker communities and eventually crossed over to backyard cooks everywhere. Nobody really knows who came up with it first, but whoever did clearly had a sense of humor.

The short version: don’t let the name fool you. These are one of the best things you can make on a smoker.

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What Makes These Different from Regular Jalapeño Poppers?

A few things set ABTs apart from what you’d get at a restaurant or from a frozen bag:

The filling is seasoned. Instead of plain cream cheese, the filling gets mixed with sharp cheddar (or pepper jack if you want more heat) and a good amount of BBQ rub. That rub — with its blend of sweet, smoky, and savory spices — transforms the cream cheese from a simple stuffing into something with real depth of flavor. I use my own homemade BBQ rub here, and it makes a difference.

There’s a sausage in there. A Hillshire Farms Lil’ Smokie gets nestled right on top of the filling before the whole thing gets wrapped in bacon. That little sausage adds a smoky, meaty element that takes these from “appetizer” to “I just ate twelve of these.”

They’re smoked, not baked or fried. This is the real difference. Low and slow smoke penetrates everything — the pepper, the filling, the sausage, the bacon — and ties it all together in a way that no oven can replicate. The bacon renders slowly and gets genuinely crispy rather than soggy.

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How Spicy Are They?

This is the most common question I get, and the honest answer is: it depends on the jalapeños and how you prep them.

The heat in a jalapeño lives almost entirely in the seeds and the white ribs (the membrane running down the inside). When you scrape those out completely, you remove the majority of the heat — what’s left is mostly the vegetal, slightly fruity flavor of the pepper itself. For most people, fully cleaned jalapeños are pretty mild after smoking, especially with all that cream cheese tempering things.

That said, jalapeños vary wildly in heat level. Smaller, darker peppers with stress marks (those little striations on the skin) tend to be hotter. Larger, smooth, bright green ones are usually milder.

Want zero heat? Use the mini sweet peppers that come in bags at most grocery stores. They’re roughly the same shape and size and work perfectly as a substitute.

Want more heat? Leave a little of the rib in when you scrape, use pepper jack instead of cheddar, or throw some extra red pepper flakes into the filling.

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Tips for the Best ABTs

Soften the cream cheese all the way. I mean it — a full 30 minutes at room temperature minimum. Cold cream cheese won’t mix smoothly with the cheddar and rub, and you’ll end up with lumps. Nobody wants a lumpy ABT.

Use thin-cut bacon. Thick-cut bacon sounds better in theory, but at 250°-300° it often won’t fully render and crisp up in the time it takes the peppers to cook. Thin-cut cooks through properly and wraps tighter.

The toothpick is non-negotiable. Don’t skip it. The bacon will unravel as it cooks and you’ll lose the whole package. Push the toothpick through the bacon, through the sausage, and into the pepper.

Don’t rush the smoke. Give them the full 1.5 to 2 hours. You want the bacon genuinely crispy, not just cooked. If the bacon looks pale and soft at the 1-hour mark, leave them alone. They’ll get there.

Make them the night before. The assembled, unsmoked ABTs hold great in the fridge overnight. Prep everything, wrap them up, stick them on a sheet pan covered in plastic wrap, and pull them out when you’re ready to smoke. This is a game-changer for parties — your prep is done before guests arrive.

Once you make these, you’ll understand why they’ve become a staple in the BBQ community. They’re the kind of thing that gets people crowding around your smoker asking what’s in there. Make a double batch — you’ll wish you had.