Chilis rellenos, or stuffed chilis, have been on my to try list for a while and when I came across some poblano peppers at the market this weekend I knew that it was finally time to make them. Common stuffings for chiles rellenos include cheese and picadillo and although a simple melted cheese filling sounded good I was more in the mood for a picadillo filling. Picadillo is a dish consisting of a ground meat with a tomato sauce, raisins, olives and almonds that has an amazing blend of sweet and savoury that I figured would go really well in the stuffed chiles. In addition to using the tomato sauce in the picadillo, chiles rellenos are often served in a tomato sauce and with this in mind I went with a pretty simple ranchero sauce that could be used in both places. Although it is not required, chiles rellenos are commonly dipped in an egg based batter and fried until nice and golden brown and crispy. At this point the chiles rellenos were pretty much done but I was still thinking about that melted cheesy filling that I had passed up on and I thought, why not cover them in melted cheese? I quickly pulled out a baking dish, threw in the chiles rellenos, covered them with the remaining ranchero sauce and cheese and baked them until the cheese had melted.
The chiles rellenos turned out amazingly well! The combination of the sweet and savoury picadillo filling along with the mildly hot and smoky roasted poblano peppers and the melted cheese and ranchero sauce was out of this world! This was my first time using an egg based batter and I was quite impressed by the light, airy and crispy texture that it produces. Although the chiles rellenos took a bit of effort to make they were so worth it in the end and I will definitely be making these again!
Tip: These chiles rellenos are rather labour intensive but you can make the tomato sauce and the picadillo filling the day before and greatly cut down on the amount of time and effort required on the day that you make them.
Chiles Rellenos
ingredients
- 4 large poblano peppers (or 6 medium or 8 small)
- 4 eggs (separated)
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 cup flour
- oil fo frying
- 2 cups ranchero sauce (warm, see below)
- 1 cup jack and cheddar cheese (grated)
- 1 handful cilantro (chopped)
directions
- Broil the poblano peppers on the top oven rack until blackended on all sides.
- Place the peppers in a plastic bag and let them sweat for 10-15 minutes before peeling the skins.
- Make a small cut along the length of the pepper and scoop out the seeds.
- Fill the peppers with some of the picadillo and seal the peppers back up with toothpicks.
- Beat the egg whites until they form stiff peaks and then beat in the flour followed by the egg yolks one at a time.
- Dredge the peppers in the flour and then dip them in the egg white batter.
- Fry the peppers in oil heated to 350F/180C until golden brown, about 3-4 minutes per side.
- Place the chiles rellenos in a baking dish, pour the ranchero sauce over them and sprinkle with cheese.
- Bake in a preheated 350F/180C oven until the cheese has melted and the sides are bubbling, about 15-20 minutes.
- Serve garnished with cilantro.
Picadillo
ingredients
- 1 pound ground pork
- 2 cups tomato sauce (see above)
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon oregano
- 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
- 1/4 cup raisins
- 1/4 cup pimento stuffed green olives (chopped)
- 1/4 cup slivered almonds (toasted)
- salt and pepper to taste
directions
- Cook the pork in a pan and drain any excess grease.
- Add the tomato sauce, cinnamon, cloves, oregano, vinegar, raisins and olives.
- Simmer until the sauce thickens, about 20 minutes.
- Mix in the almonds and season with salt and pepper.
Ranchero Sauce
ingredients
- 1 (28 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 1 small onion (diced)
- 2 cloves garlic (chopped)
- 1 jalapeno (seeded and diced)
- 1 handful cilantro (chopped)
- 2 tablespoons corn oil
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon cumin (toasted and ground)
- salt and pepper to taste
directions
- Puree the tomatoes, onion, garlic, jalapeno and cilantro in a food processor.
- Heat the oil in a pan.
- Add the tomato mixture, chicken broth and cumin and season with salt and pepper.
- Bring to a boil and simmer until it thickens, about 10 minutes.
never made these kevin, so many steps but you make it look so easy. this is way better looking than any i've had in a restaurant. i should give it go….
Kevin, this looks really good. Another fabulous dish.
Delish! I wish you could come over and teach me a thing or two! I could use some knew tips and an update in my traditional cuisine!
xo tash
How interesting!!=)
I can't wait to try this! I made Tyler Florence's recipe and they were awful – difficult and messy to put together and bland. Your sound much more simple and flavorful!
Very new to me….looks delicious….
Looks great, Kevin. I made a less involved version of this just the other day and now I've got a freezer full of ranchera sauce. I'll have to try battering them next time.
Superb use of chillies, Kevin!
Ellerinize sağlık. Çok leziz görünüyor.
Saygılar.
I don't know how this dish has become a misnomer, but the correct spelling is "chiles rellenos" because chili peppers in Spanish are "chiles" while "chili" is the bean and meat mixture you often see in the States.
Anyway, this dish looks amazing. I love how you presented it. Wow. This is my girlfriend's favorite dish. I don't know why, but I guess because it hails from her country.
A mouthwatering speciality!
Cheers,
Rosa
Que buen plato, esto se ve rico rico. Saludos
Another fabulous dish, awesome colours and flavours ♥
You really went all out with these rellenos! I love the picadillo filling as stuffing!
what a great site i would love to follow.
I have several mexican cookbooks with similar recipes and none of them look this easy. I will definitely give this a try! Looks delicious!
These have my mouth watering already!
Becca
Those look amazing. My mouth is watering from your description. I grew up in Arizona and miss eating Mexican food on a regular basis. Thanks for the inspiration. I will have to give it a try.
Intersting dish! Yum!
Great sauce and this is a favorite dish of mine, looks perfect:)
Chiles rellenos is one of my favorite dishes… Your version looks incredible!
This looks really, really delicious, Kevin!
Kevin, I'm coming over to help you eat the leftovers!!
Ummmm que buenisima pinta,encontrar chiles poblanos donde yo vivo es complicado,pero intentare hacer la receta de otra forma.
Muchas gracias por la receta.
Saludos desde España
The filling sounds terrific, Kevin, and that much cheese on top is a sure winner!
There are definitely a lot of ingredients here, but that's who you know there is a lot of flavor going on. So many different elements in this dish make it very unique.
I absolutely love chiles rellenos but haven't had them in forever. And I've NEVER made them myself. Definitely adding them to my list. Yours look beautiful 🙂
Sues
Kevin, Kevin, Kevin, how I wish you were my neighbor and would share all of your tasty recipes with me. This one is truly drool worthy!!!
OMG I LOVE chiles rellenos! Every time we go to my mexican friend's house I BEG for these 🙂 It's a bit of a pain to find the chiles here in the UK – you have to get them from some sort of specialist mexican place, but it's well worth the trouble. Yours look heavenly!
These look wonderful!
Kevin,
This looks so delicious, with red sauce surrounding the rellenos. I love Chiles Rellenos, but do not eat as often as they are fatty. I make it with tofu cheese and bake it!
This would do my chili addiction no end of good.
Delicious looking chili dish.
Oh man this looks delicious!
Everything here looks so yummy! And your photographs are beautiful.
I recently launched my own blog http://www.prettygoodfood.com I'd love for you to check it out and let me know what you think! Thanks and Happy Cooking!
This was absolutely fabulous… and I'm Mexican. Grew up eating my mom's great chiles rellenos, but this one just kicked it up 5 notches!!! Loved it and my picky husband raved about it too.
I came across your site recently cause of a search for chili rellenos. I make my own version but wanted something a bit different. I tried yours last night. The only thing i modified for preference was i used ground turkey instead of pork. All else was the same. I really enjoyed the flavors however i had a mess cause my peppers became a bit to soft and would not hold the filling. Also, i would next time cut the two tomatoe sauce & diced, quanties in half… it was alot of sauce.
Overall the flavor was worth the extra work… oh you might also want to correct the flour/egg/white wash directions, some people might mis read that.
Hi Kevin. My husband and I are fairly accomplished cooks. We liked the looks of your recipe for chiles rellenos, and gave it a shot. Kevin, it is a very sophisticated recipe with complex layering of flavors. We used Anaheim pepper, which we grow in our garden, as well as our home made tomato puree. Everything came together quite well in the end. We are making it again tonight with a few tweaks – having spent lots of time in California, we like our food spicer, so we've added that. I've kicked up the ranchero sauce just a bit with the addition of chili powder and cinnamon. Kevin, congratulations, this is a fabulous recipe.
I made these last evening with poblanos. The taste is very good. I prepared the ranchero sauce to top the chile. However, instead of stuffing with picadillo, I stuffed with cheese.
My problem was stuffing the chile. I blackened them and left them to cool in a plastic bag. I peeled the skins off. The result was a very soft, formless chile that fell apart. I did what I could to close and tighten the chile with toothpicks so to fry them.
Thoughts on how I might do this better?