Chile Relleno can be eaten for breakfast, lunch or easy dinner. Spicy, savory, and perfectly delectable.
Chile Rellenos are one of my husband’s all-time favorite Mexican dishes. It’s basically a chile pepper that is filled with cheese, coated with batter and fried. I mean, where can we go wrong?
The peppers that I used for this dish are poblano chiles, which is fairly traditional. The reason? It has a wonderful large size to it and a mild flavor and heat.
Roasting the peppers prior to stuffing them helps to give a charred flavor to the pepper and makes it easy to peel the skin off. The best way to get the skin off of the peppers is to stick them in a sealed plastic bag or a sealed tupperware after roasting.
This traps the steam and softens the skin making it easy to just grab and peel the skin off. I also find it easy to use a paring knife and scrape the skin off.
To be honest, this is the most time-consuming part of the process. Peel the skin off the pepper and then carefully slice them open, remove the membranes and seeds. This will help keep the dish from being too spicy.
Once the peppers are prepared you can stuff them! These ones are stuffed with cheese, which is my husband’s favorite way.
You can also stuff them with some shredded chicken, or pork, or even some Mexican-style brisket if you wanted!
For the batter – it’s just egg and flour. Separate the eggs so that the egg whites can be beaten and added to the batter, making it so light and fluffy.
The ratio that you want to use 1 tablespoon of flour per egg you use to make the batter. Then dip the stuffed chiles into the batter and fry.
I’ve also seen people who fry up the batter, almost like an omelette, then add the chile pepper to it and fold it all together. I haven’t tried that method yet myself, some say it’s easier though than frying.
The sauce it personally my all-time favorite! It’s a recipe that was originally printed by Gebhardt’s in the 1930’s.
A classic name in Tex Mex cuisine. They still make the BEST and ONLY chili powder I will buy.
But the sauce is basic and so good. It’s a combination of onion, bell pepper, garlic, tomatoes, and cooked up with a roux to make it thick.
Send it through the processor to make it all smooth and creamy. It’s a mild sauce that is great for chile rellenos, and is pretty much perfect on all foods.
It’s very similar to the Texas Chili Gravy that I use on my Tex Mex Cheese Enchiladas.
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Chile Relleno Recipe
Ingredients
- 4 Poblano Pepper
- 3 large Egg divided
- 3 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
- 2 cups Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese
- 4 cups Vegetable Oil or corn oil
- 2 tablespoons Butter
- 1/2 Yellow Onion diced
- 1 Green Bell Pepper diced
- 2 cloves Garlic minced
- 2 tablespoons All-Purpose Flour
- 2 14.5 ounce cans Whole Peeled Tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
- 1 cup Stock chicken, beef or veggie
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 500°F.
- Line a baking sheet with foil or a silicone baking mat.
- Line the peppers on the baking sheet and bake for about 15 minutes, then carefully turn them over to cook the other side. The skins will blacken.
- Place the roasted peppers in a plastic bag or tupperware and seal so that the steam is captured. Allow these to sit for about 10 minutes before moving onto the next step.
- Using a paring knife, scrape the skin off of the roasted peppers, carefully slice into the peppers to open them, leave the tops and only slice enough to open them, don’t slice them completely in half.
- Scrape out the membranes and seeds.
- Stuff the peppers with cheese and fold the peppers closed again. Use toothpicks if needed to close them. (Just remember they are there so you remove them!!)
- Add the oil to a large dutch oven and heat over high heat until the oil is hot enough that a drop of batter will sizzle when dropped in.
- Prepare the batter by adding the egg yolks to a medium size mixing bowl.
- Add the flour and stir to combine.
- Add the egg whites to another bowl and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold the egg whites into the batter. Dip the chiles into the batter until they are coated. Then carefully add the chiles into the heated oil. Allow the chiles to fry for about 1-2 minutes, until the batter is a dark golden-brown color. Remove from the oil and set onto a plate lined with a paper towel.
- To prepare the sauce, add the butter to a large sauce pan over medium heat.
- Add the diced onion, bell pepper and cook until they are softened.
- Add the minced garlic and cook for another 30 seconds or until the garlic is fragrant.
- Add the flour and stir to coat. Cook for about 2-3 minutes to allow the flour to lightly brown.
- Add in the tomatoes, salt, chili powder and stock. Cook for about 5-7 minutes until the sauce is thickened.
- Carefully pour the sauce into a food processor, pulse until no large chunks remain.
- Serve the chile rellenos with the sauce drizzled over.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
Mike H.
Thursday 22nd of August 2024
Wonderful recipe! Came out perfect. The drizzling sauce is amazing, it’s pert near a dish that stands alone.