Chile Rellenos are roasted poblano peppers stuffed with cheese and dipped in a fluffy egg batter then deep fried until golden brown. These stuffed peppers are a classic Mexican dish with a salsa roja topping making a delicious vegetarian meal along with your favorite Mexican side dishes.
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❤️ Why you'll love it
Authentic chile rellenos recipe: this authentic chile relleno recipe was shared with me by my cousin's fiance, who is of hispanic heritage. She made this recipe for me and then shared it with me so I could share it with my readers!
Simple ingredients: Just a few simple ingredients with the end result of a meal packed with flavor.
Traditional Mexican dish: this chili pepper dish is easy to make and will impress the family by serving them at your home dinner table!
🥘 Ingredients
Poblano peppers: these are a green chile pepper you can find in the produce section of any grocery store. Look for medium to large peppers that are without blemishes.
Cheese: you will want to use Queso Oaxaca cheese and Monterey jack cheese. Oaxaca can be found in specialty grocery stores or Walmart. Some grocery stores may carry it as well. If you can't find it, you can substitute mozzarella cheese.
All purpose flour: you only need enough to coat the outside of the peppers before dipping in the egg white mixture.
Eggs: you will need to separate the egg whites from the egg yolks.
Fresh tomatoes: to make the sauce.
Onion: flavors the sauce
Garlic powder: flavors the sauce
Vegetable oil; for frying
Olive oil: for making the tomato sauce
Salt and black pepper
Optional ingredients: Queso Fresco (crumbling cheese) and fresh cilantro to garnish the rellenos.
🔪 Instructions
Roasting the poblano peppers
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place whole peppers on a baking sheet. Coat lightly with cooking spray and place in oven.
- Roast for 10 minutes. Using a pair of tongs, flip peppers over. Return to the oven and continue to roast for another 5 minutes.
- Remove peppers from oven and immediately place in a ziploc bag, sealing bag shut tight. Set aside for 15 minutes.
Make the salsa roja
- While peppers are steaming in the bag, make the tomato sauce. Place tomatoes, onion, garlic powder, and water in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer tomato mixture for 10 minutes, until onions have softened and tomatoes have broken down. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, toss together the cheese and set aside.
Stuff the peppers
- Carefully remove the peppers from the ziploc bag and peel as much of the skin off each pepper as possible. Cut a small slit down the pepper (vertically) and remove the seeds. Rinse gently with water if needed to get all of the seeds out.
- Add oil to a large skillet (about 2 inches in depth) and heat oil until hot (350 degrees f).
- While oil is heating, gently stuff the peppers with the cheese and securing the pepper where it was cut with toothpicks to hold it together.
Fry the chiles rellenos
- Place egg whites in a large non-reactive bowl, and beat with an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes, until stiff peaks form. Add the egg yolks to the egg whites, and beat until thoroughly combined. You will no longer have stiff peaks, but should have soft peaks with the whites and yolk mixed together.
- Place 1 cup flour in a large shallow bowl, season with salt and pepper if desired. Lightly coat each pepper with flour, tapping to remove any excess flour from the pepper. Place each pepper on a baking sheet once coated with flour.
- When oil is hot, dip pepper in the egg mixture and carefully place pepper in hot oil. Fry pepper for 2 minutes, until golden on bottom side, then flip pepper over to fry the other side, deep frying another 2-3 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove chiles rellenos from the hot oil and place on a paper towel-lined baking sheet and allow the paper towel to absorb any excess oil from deep frying.
Reheat the salsa roja and serve
- Transfer the tomato sauce from the saucepan to a food processor and blend until smooth. Place sauce back in saucepan and reheat over medium heat until hot.
- Serve each chile relleno with 2 tablespoons of sauce, a sprinkling of queso fresco, and fresh cilantro (if desired).
🥄 Equipment
Paper towels
Baking sheet
Large frying pan
Skimmer
Large saucepan
Plastic bag
Food processor or immersion blender
🥫Storage
Refrigerate: store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge up to 5 days.
Freeze: store freezer safe, airtight container in the freezer up to 3 months.
Reheat: Reheat rellenos in a 400 degree oven or air fryer for 15 minutes, until hot. I highly recommend using the air fryer for reheating as it allows the coating to crisp back up. Using the microwave to reheat is not recommended.
📖 Variations
- Cook ½ pound of ground beef with ½ tablespoon of chili powder, 1 teaspoon ground cumin, ½ teaspoon salt and black pepper to taste. Reduce the cheese by half and toss beef and cheese together. Stuff peppers with the meat mixture.
- If you don't want to take the chance of a spicy pepper, use anaheim peppers instead. You will need a larger volume of peppers if doing so as they are smaller than the poblano.
💭 Tips
- If you own a gas grill or stove, roast the chilies on the open flame of the gas burner instead of the oven. This will give you charred chiles with a more smoky flavor.
- If the poblano chiles do not get blackened skins at the roasting temperature, once roasted, place them under the broiler on high for 1 minute on each side to char the skins.
- Make sure to use a thermometer to gauge the temperature of the hot oil. It must be at 350 and stay in that range or you risk the chance of the chiles being grease logged.
- Separate egg whites and yolks when eggs are cold. Then allow the components to come to room temperature before whipping. Room temperature eggs will whip up in a greater volume when room temperature.
🙋 FAQ's
As with any pepper, the poblano are ranked as a medium heat pepper. It is spicier than a banana pepper but not as hot as a jalapeno however there may be the occasional pepper that is more on the spicy side!
📚 Related Recipes
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Buffalo Cauliflower Tacos are a vegetarian take on the taco with buffalo flavors.
Everyone loves this Ground Beef Mexican Casserole
Mom's Skillet Home Fries are one of my childhood favorites.
🍽 Serve with...
Serve chili rellenos with a side of arroz con tomate and refried beans.
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📖 Recipe
Chile Rellenos with Salsa Roja
Equipment
- Ziploc bag
- Food processor , or immersion blender
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Ingredients
- 8 poblano peppers
- ½ pound oaxaca cheese
- ½ pound Monterey jack cheese
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 3 large egg whites
- 2 large egg yolks
- 4 medium tomatoes , diced
- ½ medium onion , diced
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 tablespoons Vegetable oil , for frying
- Salt and pepper , to taste
- 2 tablespoons queso fresco , optional
- 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro , optional
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees F. Place whole peppers on a baking sheet. Coat lightly with cooking spray and place in oven.
- Roast for 10 minutes. Using a pair of tongs, flip peppers over. Return to the oven and continue to roast for another 5 minutes.
- Remove peppers from oven and immediately place in a ziploc bag, sealing bag shut tight. Set aside for 15 minutes.
- While peppers are steaming in the bag, make the tomato sauce. Place tomatoes, onion, garlic powder, and water in a large saucepan over medium-high heat and bring to a boil.
- Reduce heat and simmer tomato mixture for 10 minutes, until onions have softened and tomatoes have broken down. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, toss together the cheese and set aside.Carefully remove the peppers from the ziploc bag and peel as much of the skin off each pepper as possible. Cut a small slit down the pepper (vertically) and remove the seeds. Rinse gently with water if needed to get all of the seeds out.
- Add oil to a large skillet (about 2 inches in depth) and heat oil until hot (350 degrees f).
- While oil is heating, gently stuff the peppers with the cheese and securing the pepper where it was cut with toothpicks to hold it together.
- Place egg whites in a large non-reactive bowl, and beat with an electric mixer for 4-5 minutes, until stiff peaks form. Add the egg yolks to the egg whites, and beat until thoroughly combined. You will no longer have stiff peaks, but should have soft peaks with the whites and yolk mixed together.
- Place 1 cup flour in a large shallow bowl, season with salt and pepper if desired. Lightly coat each pepper with flour, tapping to remove any excess flour from the pepper. Place each pepper on a baking sheet once coated with flour.
- When oil is hot, dip pepper in the egg mixture and carefully place pepper in hot oil. Fry pepper for 2 minutes, until golden on bottom side, then flip pepper over to fry the other side, deep frying another 2-3 minutes, until golden brown.
- Remove chiles rellenos from the hot oil and place on a paper towel-lined baking sheet and allow the paper towel to absorb any excess oil from deep frying.
- Transfer the tomato sauce from the saucepan to a food processor and blend until smooth. Place sauce back in saucepan and reheat over medium heat until hot.
- Serve each chile relleno with 2 tablespoons of sauce, a sprinkling of queso fresco, and fresh cilantro (if desired).
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