Baked Chiles Rellenos With Chorizo

Baked Chiles Rellenos are an easy way to enjoy Mexican stuffed peppers without all the hassle of frying. We stuff our peppers with chorizo, rice, and melted cheese, making this a tasty and simple dinner recipe!  

What Are Chiles Rellenos?

At its most simple, chiles rellenos are Mexican stuffed peppers.

They are typically poblano chiles that are roasted and then stuffed with cheese or sometimes meat. Then, the peppers are dipped in an egg batter and fried.

I’ve loved chiles rellenos since I first tasted them. But, they’ve always been a bit of a guilty pleasure food.

I mean, it’s basically battered, fried cheese with a bit of roasted chile so you can say you’re eating your veggies too.

But, my world was changed one day when I found them stuffed with chicken on a restaurant menu. The concept of filling chiles rellenos with something besides just cheese took this dish to a whole new level!

Our Easy Baked Chiles Rellenos Recipe

I’ll be honest, as much as I loved the fried, cheesy version, about halfway through the pepper I start to slow down. I’m big on food textures, so once the crispy, fried coating starts to get soggy in the sauce and cheese grease, a lot of the starry-eyed love I have for the dish starts to fade.

When coming up with our chiles rellenos recipe, I knew texture was going to play a big factor.

We’re not breading our chiles rellenos recipe for a number of reasons

• It’s easier
• It’s lighter
• No soggy breading
• It lets the cheese and chorizo we use to fill these chiles rellenos really shine

And, while many recipes for chiles rellenos don’t use anything besides cheese for the filling, we love the flavor chorizo adds and the way adding a little rice to the filling makes this feel like more of a complete meal.

This recipe takes your restaurant chiles rellenos and transforms it into an easy meal that you could make for a weeknight dinner.

It’s no more difficult than making up a batch of stuffed peppers!

And, it is oh so tasty!

What Is Chorizo?

In this recipe we’re using Mexican chorizo, which is a fresh pork sausage that is heavily spiced with chile peppers.

This is different from Spanish chorizo, which is dry cured and uses lots of paprika and other spices for flavoring. 

Mexican chorizo comes un-cooked and you will typically find it in with other refrigerated sausages and hot-dogs in your grocery store’s meat department cold case. 

What Is Chihuahua Cheese?

The cheese we’re using in our dish today is a chihuahua cheese.

Chihuahua cheese is a traditional semi-soft, Mexican cheese made with cow’s milk. It has a mild flavor similar to a Jack cheese. (Although the flavor can get up to the sharpness of a mild cheddar, depending on how long it is aged.)

Most importantly, it is a perfect melting cheese. 

If you can’t find chihuahua cheese, another mild, good melting cheese like Jack, Monterey Jack, or mild cheddar will work just fine. 

How To Prepare Poblano Chiles

Unlike making traditional stuffed peppers, the poblano chiles for chiles rellenos need to be prepared before being stuffed.

To prepare the poblano chiles, we first roast them under a broiler until the skin is blistered.

Then, we steam them in a sealed container until they are cool enough to be handled.

Once cool, we remove the papery skin from the chiles. Then, we slit them down the side so that we can remove the seeds and membranes before stuffing them with our filling.

Poblano chiles are typically not too spicy, although occasionally you will find a spicier one, so we like to wear kitchen gloves while handling the chiles, just in case.

Even with this little bit of extra preparation, these chiles rellenos are quite simple to make!

We serve them with some salsa and an easy to make cream sauce, to round out the flavors and add a bit of extra creaminess.

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4.56 from 25 votes

Baked Chiles Rellenos With Chorizo

Baked Chiles Rellenos, filled with chorizo, rice, and melted cheese, are an easy way to enjoy Mexican stuffed peppers without all the hassle of frying. 

Yield: 6 large (5.5 inch) stuffed poblanos

Prep Time45 minutes mins

Cook Time7 minutes mins

Total Time52 minutes mins

Course: Dinner

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: cheese

Servings: 6 people

Author: Sarah | Curious Cuisiniere

Ingredients

• 6 large poblano chiles (5-6 inches long)
• 12 oz fresh chorizo
• 2 c shredded Chihuahua Cheese (1 7oz bag) (or other mild, shredded cheese like Jack or cheddar)
• 1 ½ c cooked rice
• ½ c sour cream
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 2 c salsa (to serve)
• Chopped cilantro for garnish (optional)

Instructions

• Roast the poblanos under your broiler, until blistered, 5-10 min, turning every few minutes to blister evenly. Place the blistered poblanos in large bowl and cover with plastic wrap or a lid to steam the chiles and let them cool slightly.
• Preheat your oven to 450F.
• While the chiles are cooling, cook the chorizo over medium high heat, breaking it up with a wooden spoon as it cooks, 5 minutes. Transfer the cooked chorizo to double paper towel lined plate to cool.
• While the chorizo is cooling, remove the papery skins from the chiles by gently pulling. The skin should come off easily. (If the skin doesn’t come off easily, don’t worry about getting it all off. The main point is to remove the charred sections so you get all of the roasted flavor without a burnt taste.)
• After removing the skins, gently cut a slit down the side of each chile and carefully remove the seeds and veins.
• Mix the cooled chorizo with the shredded cheese and cooked rice. Spoon the filling into the prepared chiles, using roughly ¾ c of filling per chile.
• Place the filled chiles into a greased baking dish.
• Bake at 450F for 5 - 7 min, until the cheese is melted through.
• While the chiles rellenos are baking, blend the sour cream and milk to create a pourable cream sauce.
• Serve the chiles on top of a bed of salsa, topped with the cream sauce and chopped cilantro, if desired.

Notes

These chiles rellenos can be made ahead of time and refrigerated until ready to use. Simply refrigerate them, covered, in your baking dish. Uncover the dish and place it, from the refrigerator, into a cool oven while the oven heats to 450F. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the centers of the filling is warm and melted.

Sarah - Curious Cuisiniere

Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.

www.curiouscuisiniere.com/about/