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Stuffed Poblano Peppers with Cilantro Lime Crema

Poblano peppers are great for stuffing. They lay flat, they are thinner, and cook up faster. And with a festive filling and tasty sauce, these stuffed peppers are worthy for weekend eating as well!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican, Tex-Mex
Keyword cilantro, lime, poblano peppers
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 50 minutes
Servings 4

Ingredients

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

  • 4 poblano peppers, sliced in half, deveined and seeded, see Notes
  • olive oil
  • salt and pepper
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked chicken shredded, see Notes for a quick poach method if you want to make these from scratch
  • 1 1/2 cups cooked rice, I used basmati, but you can use whatever you like, even brown rice
  • 1 398 ml (14.5 oz) can diced or crushed tomatoes
  • 1 398 ml (14.5 oz) can black beans drained and rinsed
  • 1/3 cup cilantro chopped plus more for topping
  • 1 jalapeño pepper seeded and cut into small dice cube, divided
  • 1 tsp garlic powder
  • 1 tsp chilli powder
  • 1 tsp cumin
  • 1/2 tsp pepper
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, optional
  • salt to taste
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded monterey jack cheese, or a blend of mozzarella and softer cheddar

Cilantro Lime Crema

  • 1 cup cilantro, packed
  • 1/2 of a small ripe avocado, or 1/4 of a medium to large one
  • 1/4 cup plain yogurt, (Greek yogurt will make it a bit thicker, so you may need to use less, or thin it out)
  • 3 tbsp olive oil plus more if you find it too thick
  • 2 tbsp lime juice, about the juice of 1 lime Have a second one handy if the crema ends up being too thick for you.
  • 1 tbsp honey
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/4 tsp black pepper

Instructions

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Grease or spray a baking pan in which all the peppers can lay flat. If needed, use two pans.
  3. Spread out the peppers halves, and drizzle just a little olive oil into each one. Use your fingers to spread out the oil all over the interior of the peppers. Sprinkle the insides with salt and pepper.

  4. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes to help soften the peppers.

Meanwhile, prepare the stuffing:

  1. In a bowl, combine chicken, rice, tomatoes, beans, jalapeño, cilantro, and spices. Stir to combine.

  2. When the peppers have baked for 15 minutes, remove the pan to a cutting board or cooling rack and divide the filling evenly between all the peppers, gently packing the filling in.

  3. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove the pan and top each of the peppers with the cheese and bake for an other 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted. If you want that extra bit of melty goodness, feel free to place the peppers under the broiler for a few minutes. Keep and eye on them.

  4. Allow to cool for several minutes and then sprinkle with the remaining jalapeño, and more cilantro and serve with Cilantro Lime Crema

Cilantro Lime Crema

  1. Place all ingredients in a blender or food processor.
  2. Blend until completely smooth, about 30 seconds.

  3. taste and season with more salt, if necessary. Thin it out with a bit of olive oil and lime juice if needed.

  4. Transfer to jar, cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, or preferably overnight, before serving to help the flavours really meld together. If you don't have time to let it sit, you can serve it immediately.

  5. See blog post for more details and serving suggestions.

Recipe Notes

Feel free to use bell peppers instead of poblano peppers.  Prepare as above, but bake in the oven for about 45 minutes or until they are softened and pliable. Then they will be ready to be stuffed.

Stuffed Peppers
Feel free to replace the chicken with cooked ground beef, chicken or turkey (just make enough to fill 1 1/2 cups.) You can also make these vegetarian if you simmer up 1 1/2 cups worth of green lentils. Or just increase the amount of black beans. If you want to prep and freeze the peppers, prep and bake to the point where cheese would go on. Cool and place into a baking pan that can go into the freezer. After thawing them in the fridge overnight, bring them to room temperature and proceed with re-warming and then adding the cheese.  The filling on its own can also be frozen.

How to poach chicken for the stuffing:

Bring 2 cups of chicken stock, or 1 cup of white wine and 1 cup of water mixed with 1 tbsp of my Faux Chicken Bouillon Powder to a boil in a skillet. Depending on the size of the skillet, you may need more liquid, so that the meat will be more than half way covered by liquid once added to the pan. Once the liquids are boiling, add 1 lb of chicken breast which has been sliced in to thinner pieces to the liquid.  Once the liquid is up to a rolling boil, cover the skillet and reduce the heat to a low simmer. Poach until the meat is cooked through, between 15-20 minutes, depending on how thick the slices of chicken were cut, and how high the heat is.  Let it cool, then shred for the filling.

If you have filling leftover after packing the peppers, feel free to use the filling in quesadillas!.

Cilantro Lime Crema
Feel free to double the crema ingredients if you know you will use it all within a week. After blending all the ingredients together, it is best to let the dressing sit in the fridge for at least 1 hour but preferably overnight to really help the flavours meld together. It makes a big difference and is worth the wait!
The dressing should be pourable and not too thick. If needed, thin out with a bit of lime juice or water. If it is too thin, add a bit more yogurt or avocado.
When measuring out the cilantro for this recipe, go ahead and use the stems and the leaves. Of course you can remove any large excess stems (especially if they’re super long), but you don’t have to individually pluck off the cilantro leaves.