About this Recipe

By: Rachel

Whenever I go out for Mexican food, it’s hard to resist chiles relleños (stuffed peppers). Roasted poblano peppers are stuffed with cheese, battered, fried, and served with a savory, tomato-based sauce. While absolutely delicious, traditional chiles relleños take a lot of time and effort to make. I created this easy baked chiles relleños recipe to capture the flavor of this classic dish with a fraction of the time, effort, and mess.

Chiles Relleños: Stuffed Peppers and Their Many Variations

Like many dishes, the preparation of chiles relleños varies throughout Mexico. Some chiles relleños are stuffed only with stretchy, mozzarella-style cheese, like in this recipe. Other varities are stuffed with creamy goat cheese. The filling might contain vegetables, meat, seafood, nuts, or even dried fruit. While many chiles relleños are coated in egg, battered, and fried, other preparations are wrapped in an omelette. Some variations have no egg coating at all.

Chiles en Nogada is a traditional Mexican dish made of roasted poblano peppers stuffed with a sweet-and-savory meat filling, topped with a walnut cream sauce, and garnished with pomegranate seeds and parsley.

My Favorite Chiles Relleños

My favorite chiles relleños are (obviously) the fried, cheesy kind. However, I wanted to create a baked chiles relleños recipe—easy to make at home, no frying, and plenty of cheesy, satisfying flavor.

This recipe delivers on craveable, cheesy flavor with a fraction of the prep time involved in the original version—which involves roasting peppers, filling them with cheese, making a fluffy egg batter, and frying them while somehow keeping the whole fragile thing from falling apart. This is basically an act of wizardry, since I barely manage to keep the poblanos intact through roasting process.

For this version, you’ll remove the stem and seeds prior to roasting the peppers (I find this much easier!), stuff the roasted peppers with cheese, and bake them in a savory red salsa.

What To Serve With These Easy Baked Chiles Relleños

You can build a meal around these baked chiles relleños by starting with a selection of homemade guacamole and salsas. Serve the chiles with creamy refried beans, and grab a glass of orange wine, per Olivia’s recommendations below. This spicy, chocolate-habanero ice cream is the perfect ending to your Mexican-inspired meal.

Beverage Pairing

By: Olivia

For these cheesy, slightly spicy chiles relleños, you’ll want something to drink that can cut through and even counter some of the spice. Please welcome a high-acid, moderately sweet wine: Das Ist Kein Orange. This German orange wine is a blend of a few aromatic grape varietals that is wildly refreshing. If you can’t stop into Violet Wine to snag this bottle, look for high-acidaromatic white wines, like Riesling and Viognier, to pair with this dish.

Baked Chiles Relleños in Salsa Roja

A cheesy, delicious Mexican classic just got a whole lot easier.

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Ready In 45

Meal Type Main Dish

Good For Mexican

Yield servings

Equipment

Ingredients

For the chiles relleños:

4 large poblano peppers
8 ounces (225g) shredded Jack cheese

For the salsa roja*:

4 medium fresh tomatoes halved
1 medium jalapeño pepper
1 clove garlic (skin left on)
1 small onion halved
Kosher salt

*Or, for a shortcut, use 2 cups (475mL) tomato sauce plus 2 teaspoons taco seasoning

Step by Step Instructions

Step 1

Preheat your oven to broil. Remove the stem and seeds of each pepper by carefully cutting away the stem at the top using a paring knife.
Shake any remaining seeds left, and discard. Place the prepared peppers on a foil-lined sheet pan.

Step 2

Roast the peppers under the broiler (alternatively, do this over your grill) for 2-3 minutes per side, turning as needed with tongs, until the skin of each pepper has blackened.
Once the peppers are fully roasted, place them in a bowl with a lid, or in a Ziplock bag, for about 15 minutes. The steam created will allow you to more easily remove the skins.

Step 3

Next, prepare the salsa roja (skip this step if you are taking the shortcut noted above). Place the salsa roja vegetables on a foil-lined sheet pan and broil, turning as needed until blackened in spots, removing as they are ready.
Remove the vegetables from the oven, and allow to cool. Place the tomatoes in a sieve over your sink and squeeze with tongs, encouraging them to release their liquid. Remove and discard the skins of the jalapeño, tomato, and garlic. If you prefer a mild sauce, remove and discard the seeds of the jalapeño.
Add the vegetables to a food processor, and pulse until combined. Season to taste with salt.

Step 4

Turn your oven down to 350ºF (175ºC). Coat a small casserole dish with a few spoonfuls of sauce (this will prevent the peppers from sticking).
Remove and discard the skin from each poblano, stuff with cheese.

Step 5

Cover the chiles with sauce. Top the peppers with the remaining cheese, and bake for 20-30 minutes or until cheese has melted. Garnish with green onions if desired.