Hank's Dove Poppers - Dove Poppers Recipe | Hank Shaw (2024)

As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Yep. I went and done it. I made dove poppers, by far the most popular dove recipe in America. But mine are a little different, maybe even better than any you’ve had before.

For more than a decade, I heaped hate on the venerable popper: A dove breast, usually skinless, nestled into a blob of cream cheese that is itself stuffed into half a jalapeno, all wrapped in bacon. Sometimes soaked in Italian dressing.

Yech, my old snooty self sniffed. This was how philistines ate. I plucked all my doves, preferring whole grilled dishes. And to be perfectly honest, I still do. But I have come to love the popper.

Dove poppers, you see, are more than just food. They are tradition. Dove poppers on the grill are to Labor Day in much of this country what candied yams or green bean casserole is to Thanksgiving. A dish laden with cultural weight. An edible touchstone.

I did not grow up dove hunting, or I might have realized this earlier. I didn’t start hunting these tasty, speedy little birds until 2003, when Minnesota hosted its first dove season in generations. I got three, if I recall right.

Why Dove Poppers Matter

Since then, I have hunted great blizzards of white-winged doves in Yuma, Arizona, and Brownsville, Texas, as well asmany places less spectacular but still memorable. A safflower field just outside the Sacramento city limits is one such place, as is a vineyard in Clements, in the Lodi hills, owned by my friend Bill.

Dove hunting is about friendship, and laughter — doves aren’t terribly smart, but they are very agile, and a freaked-out dove can be among the hardest things to hit with a shotgun. This leads to a lot of hilarious misses on our part. I’ve seen doves reverse themselves 180° in a heartbeat, seemingly anticipating the cloud of steel No. 7s headed his way.

But we do tend to shoot our share, which leads to the next tradition: Beer and Barbecue. It is custom to eat your first day’s doves on that day with all your friends. Grilled, almost always.

And on that grill will always — always — be some dove poppers.

The origin of the popper is lost to the mists of history, but given what I know about American food traditions, it feels like a post-World War II creation, probably from Texas. Who knows for sure?

Everyone makes dove poppers differently, and I am no different. I simply could not bring myself to put cheese in my poppers; I find this ingredient to be the most off-putting part of the traditional dish. So I switched it up for roasted garlic, mashed into a paste with a touch of olive oil and salt.

But I realize that there is a reason for the cream cheese: It is to offset the heat of the jalapeno. So I went with a milder chile that still has a touch of heat, the poblano. And I roasted it, which I think makes for better dove poppers.

I also soaked the chiles in lime juice, because the Italian dressing aficionados aren’t wrong: There is so much fat in a popper it needs acidity to balance it. Lime juice-soaked poblanos does it for me.

Other than that, these are pretty recognizable dove poppers. Fun to eat, balanced with fatty, smoky bacon, zippy poblanos, deep savoriness from the garlic, and a nugget of meaty goodness from the dove.

So go out there today, Opening Day of dove season, and shoot well. Then, come back, pop open a cold one, and make some poppers.

OTHER GREAT DOVE RECIPES

I have 25 dove recipes here on Hunter Angler Gardener Cook, ranging from Moroccan-inspired bacon-wrapped doves to dove enchiladas. Some great Labor Day grilling or barbecue options include:

• Doves la Mancha. An irresistible Spanish preparation that has become one of my signature dishes.
• Grilled doves Cajun style. Super easy with a Louisiana flair.
• Smoked doves bathed in a Mexican guajillo sauce. Rich and only moderately spicy.
• Grilled doves with an Arizona desert inspired barbecue sauce.
• Slow and low barbecued doves.

If you liked this recipe, please leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating and a comment below; I’d love to hear how everything went. If you’re on Instagram, share a picture and tag me athuntgathercook.