These jalapeno cream cheese pinwheels are a copycat of Canadian chain restaurant Montana's delicious appetizer menu item. Soft flour tortillas get stuffed and rolled tight with a savory, cheesy filling packed with briny jalapeños, crisp bell peppers, and crunchy scallions. These antojitos or cheesy pinwheels are the perfect addition to an appetizer spread packed with sausage rolls, everything bagel dogs, grilled onion and cheddar sliders and taco biscuit bites!
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👩🏽🍳Why This Recipe Works
Just like the restaurant version: If you have ever tried the Montana's restaurant version of these antojitos, this recipe is incredibly similar. Personally, I only go to Montana's for this menu item, so this homemade version eliminates my need to go at all! If you love the idea of delicious cream cheese fillings, give my Keg copycat mushrooms neptune a try!
Super easy prep: There is minimal prep work to make these pinwheel sandwiches. The filling gets mixed together, spread onto the tortillas, and rolled up. This is as easy as an appetizer gets! If you are a fan of pinwheels, give these Pesto Pinwheels a try!
Customizable: Pinwheel sandwich bites are very easily customizable. This is a delicious recipe based on a restaurant favorite, but you can change up the filling to your taste and favorite ingredients, with no additional work, like these italian pinwheels.
🥘Ingredients
- Cream cheese: I recommend using full-fat cream cheese for this recipe. The higher the fat content, the more creamy the filling will be when heated up. Lower fat cream cheese does not melt into the most creamy filling - as this is the base for these pinwheels, don't skimp on it!
- Colby Jack cheese: Colby Jack cheese is otherwise known as marble cheese. While most of the time I recommend using freshly shredded cheese for most recipes, you can get away with pre-shredded cheese in these pinwheels. The fat from the cream cheese will help the pre-shredded cheese melt just as well.
- Red bell pepper: I specifically use red bell peppers for this recipe, as it adds a layer of sweetness to the filling that you would not get from a green bell pepper, which are otherwise on the bitter side.
- Pickled jalapeños: Pickled jalapeños are key to this recipe. They are not overly spicy, but they add a good background heat with a dash of tang to the filling.
- Spices & seasonings: You will need garlic powder, cajun seasoning blend (I used Slap Ya Mama but Tony's works well too), and salt.
A full list of ingredients with measurements is located on the recipe card, below.
📖Substitutions
- Colby jack cheese: You can use your favorite mild cheese such as plain cheddar, pepper jack, Monterey jack, or even a shredded Tex-Mex blend if you have it on hand.
- Red bell pepper: Orange or yellow peppers will work in this filling as well, as they are on the sweeter side. I do not recommend substituting with green bell pepper.
- Green onions: You can use fresh or dried chives in place of green onions.
- Cajun seasoning: If you do not have a cajun seasoning blend on hand, you can use some smoked paprika and a dash of cayenne pepper to mimic the smokiness.
- Garlic powder: One freshly minced garlic clove is a great substitution.
🔪Variations
- Meaty: Add some cooked and crumbled bacon to the mixture, for a smokey and meaty twist.
- Cold: You can serve these cream cheese pinwheels cold or room temperature, too. You do not have to heat them up if you don't want to.
- Garlic butter: Spread the outsides of the tortillas with garlic butter, for a butter, garlicky exterior.
⏲️ Step-by-Step Instructions
Prep Work Before Cooking
Collecting all your ingredients - This will make cooking so much easier. Gather all the spices you will need, and keep them nearby.
Prep the vegetables - Finely dice the bell peppers, scallions, and pickled jalapeños. You do not want large chunks of vegetables in the filling, so do your best to cut them down as small as you can get them.
Add the ingredients for the pinwheel filling to a large mixing bowl. Mix the filling together with a rubber spatula or clean hands, until the cream cheese is smooth and all of the ingredients are combined together. [photo 1]
Spread the cream cheese mixture across the flour tortilla into an even layer from edge to edge. [photo 2]
Roll the tortillas up tightly, to keep the cream cheese filling inside the tortillas. Arrange the rolled tortilla logs on a baking sheet, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. [photo 3]
Once the rolled tortillas have chilled, cut the logs into 6 even-sized rounds. Arrange the rounds into an air fryer basket or a baking dish if making in the oven. Air fry for 15 minutes at 375°F, or bake for 20 minutes at 375°F. [photo 4]
While the pinwheels are cooking in the air fryer or oven, mix together the dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Keep refrigerated until you are ready to serve.
💭 Expert Tips
If you forgot to soften your cream cheese: place the unwrapped cream cheese in a bowl and microwave in 10 second increments, on 50% power.
If you are serving these to entertain: I recommend trimming the edges off of the rolled pinwheel logs. This will give you even-sized rounds, with no rounded edge pieces.
Be sure to chill the wraps: By allowing the tortilla wraps time to chill in the fridge, the cream cheese will set-up and make it easier to cut the pinwheel rounds without the filling oozing out. The tortillas will also absorb some of the moisture from the filling, and will prevent the tortillas from getting too crisp while cooking.
🍽 Make Ahead & Storage
- The cream cheese filling for these antojito pinwheels can be made up to 5 days in advance. Store in an airtight container in the fridge, and remove from the fridge in advance of assembling the pinwheels to let the cream cheese soften.
- You can assemble and cut the pinwheels 1-2 days in advance. Store the cut pinwheels in a baking dish in a single layer, and bake when you are ready to serve.
- The pesto sour cream dip can be made up to 1 week in advance, as long as your sour cream is still fresh.
⭐ Recipe FAQs
Cream cheese pinwheels in general should not be overly soggy. If your pinwheels end up soggy, it may be because some extra jalapeño brine got added to the mixture. I recommend keeping the added ingredients are dry as possible, to avoid extra moisture in the filling.
You do not need to secure these pinwheels with toothpicks. The cream cheese is acts as the glue that keeps these pinwheels together. No additional reinforcements needed.
📝More Appetizer Recipes
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Jalapeño Cream Cheese Pinwheels {Montana's Antojito Copycat}
Equipment
Ingredients
- 8 oz Cream cheese - softened
- ½ Red bell pepper - diced
- 2 stalks Green onion - chopped
- ½ cup Pickled jalapenos - finely minced
- 1 cup Colby jack cheese - shredded
- 1 ½ teaspoon Garlic powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon Cajun seasoning - Slap Ya Mama or Tony's
- 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- 4 Flour tortillas - medium-sized
For the Dipping Sauce
- ½ cup Sour cream
- 2 tablespoon Basil pesto
- 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
Instructions
- Add the ingredients for the pinwheel filling to a large mixing bowl. Mix the filling together with a rubber spatula or clean hands, until the cream cheese is smooth and all of the ingredients are combined together.8 oz Cream cheese, ½ Red bell pepper, 2 stalks Green onion, ½ cup Pickled jalapenos , 1 cup Colby jack cheese, 1 ½ teaspoon Garlic powder, 1 ½ teaspoon Cajun seasoning, 1 teaspoon Sea salt
- Spread the cream cheese mixture across the flour tortilla into an even layer from edge to edge.4 Flour tortillas
- Roll the tortillas up tightly, to keep the cream cheese filling inside the tortillas. Arrange the rolled tortilla logs on a baking sheet, and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour.
- Once the rolled tortillas have chilled, cut the logs into 6 even-sized rounds. Arrange the rounds into an air fryer basket or a baking dish if making in the oven. Air fry for 15 minutes at 375°F, or bake for 20 minutes at 375°F.
- While the pinwheels are cooking in the air fryer or oven, mix together the dipping sauce ingredients in a small bowl. Keep refrigerated until you are ready to serve.½ cup Sour cream , 2 tablespoon Basil pesto , 1 teaspoon Garlic powder
✱Recipe Notes
- If you forgot to soften your cream cheese: place the unwrapped cream cheese in a bowl and microwave in 10 second increments, on 50% power.
- If you are serving these to entertain: I recommend trimming the edges off of the rolled pinwheel logs. This will give you even-sized rounds, with no rounded edge pieces.
- Be sure to chill the wraps: By allowing the tortilla wraps time to chill in the fridge, the cream cheese will set-up and make it easier to cut the pinwheel rounds without the filling oozing out. The tortillas will also absorb some of the moisture from the filling, and will prevent the tortillas from getting too crisp while cooking.
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