How To Make Chorizo Stuffed Poblano Chiles

Chorizo, corn, rice and cheese go inside these beautiful stuffed poblano chiles. Pair this with a bright sauce such as our Roasted Red Pepper Sauce for a striking and delicious main dish. We like to make this dish in October, near the end of pepper season, when the poblanos are big and thick walled. There are lots of other peppers available at that time of year for making sauces. Some simple quartered cherry tomatoes add just enough acidity and brightness to the flavors, or you can serve it with pico de gallo.

Chorizo Stuffed Peppers are naturally gluten free.

Watch a Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Chorizo Stuffed Poblano Chiles:

The Ingredients For Chorizo Stuffed Poblano Chiles

• 4 Poblano Chiles, skins and seeds removed, keeping the stems intact
• 1 lb Chorizo
• 1 Onion, diced
• 1 Tbls Cumin
• 1 Cup Summer Squash, diced
• Kernels from 1 Ear of Corn
• 4 Cloves Garlic, chopped
• 2 Large Tomatoes, diced
• 1/2 Cup Roasted Red Pepper Sauce (or other sauce)
• 1 1/2 Cups Cooked Rice
• 1 Cup Cilantro Leaves
• Olive Oil
• 1/4 Cup Sour Cream
• 1 1/2 Cup Shredded Jack Cheese
• 1 1/2 Cup Shredded Mozzarella
• 1 Cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese + more to top

Roast the Chiles

To begin we have to get our poblano chiles ready to stuff. They need their skins and seeds removed while keeping the chile whole. This is not too difficult but we always start with a couple extra chiles just in case one falls apart too much to stuff. Put your chiles on the grill and then cook them, turning occasionally until the skins blister all over. Then put the peppers in a pot with a lid to steam while they cool down.

Remove the Skins and Seeds

Once the peppers have cooled enough to handle we can remove the skins. Most of the skin should come off pretty easily although there may be a couple tricky spots. Try to get it all off but if some stays behind it won’t be the end of the world. Then we make a small slit with a paring knife near the top of the pepper. The seeds are attached at the bottom of the stem and we can scrape inside the pepper, being very careful not to go through the skin, to loosen those seeds, then reach in with a finger and pull the clump of seeds out.

Then we can gently rinse out the cavity to remove the rest of the seeds. The goal is to have a pepper that is only open on one side so we can stuff it and then close it back up. If you have some that fell apart too much to stuff you can save them for other uses. They’ll freeze well or you can add them to eggs, quesadillas, salads, etc.

Saute Onion and Garlic

To start making our filling, we heat some oil in a pan over medium flame and saute the onion and garlic for about 5 minutes until the onion is translucent. A red onion is good for this but you can use whatever kind of onion you have on hand.

Cook the Chorizo

Next we’ll add in the chorizo and get that cooked. Then give this another 10 minutes or so to get it cooked through.

Add All the Stuffing Ingredients

Once we have the onions, garlic and chorizo cooked we can put everything else in the pan. We’ll add the tomatoes, corn, summer squash and cilantro. We also want to add a little cumin and then a few tablespoons of our sauce. You can use whatever sauce you are using for plating or you can use something different. We feel like if you already have a sauce out for plating it’s just easier to use some of that in the filling. You could just use 1/2 cup of tomato sauce for this but we like something a little more flavorful. Then we add a little bit of sour cream and stir that in to make it creamy. It doesn’t take much, just 1/4 cup will do the trick.

Add the Rice

Our last ingredient to go in at this stage is the rice. This can be plain cooked rice or you can go fancier with a cilantro lime rice or whatever your imagination comes up with. We don’t want this to take over our stuffing, just add enough to give it some body. You can always find uses for leftover rice. Stir the rice in, then remove the pan from the heat and let it cool.

Add the Cheese

Now we are ready for our last ingredient. We’ll add the cheese to the filling ingredients after they’ve cooled. We like to use mainly jack cheese and mozzarella for stuffing because of the mild flavor and how well they melt. Then we’ll usually add a little sharp cheddar as well for the color and extra flavor. Mix the cheese in well and we have our stuffing done.

Fill the Chiles

Now we use a serving spoon to scoop some of the filling into the peppers. Put a spoonful inside and push it around to fill the nooks and crannies. Add more filling and repeat until you have a nice, full stuffed poblano chile.

Place In Baking Pan

Place the peppers into an oiled baking pan. We use a cooking spray to oil the pan but you can also put some oil and then spread it around with a paper towel. Once they are all in the pan you can top them off with the remaining stuffing and add a little more shredded cheddar cheese on top. You may have a little of the stuffing left over but you can certainly find good uses for it later.

Bake At 350° For 40 Minutes

Now we will bake the stuffed poblano chiles for 40 minutes at 350 degrees. They should be a bit bubbly and browned on top when done.

Plate With Sauce

At this point you can do whatever you want with the peppers. We really like these with the Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, and some cut cherry tomatoes or Pico de Gallo to add color, acidity and brightness to the dish. You can also serve this with any of the following sauces and sides:

• Molé Colorado
• Molé Verde
• Classic Molé Rojo
• Easy Molé Rojo
• Molé Coloradito
• Molé Poblano
• Poblano Sauce
• Tostones (Crispy Fried Plantains)
• Esquites (Mexican Street Corn)
• Corn Salsa
• Mexican Pink Onion
• Pico de Gallo

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