Squash filled with rice and stuffing makes a satisfying vegetarian main meal!
| Prep Time: | 20 mins |
| Cook Time: | 51 mins |
| Additional Time: | 10 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 21 mins |
| Servings: | 10 |
Ingredients
- 6 large poblano peppers, halved and seeded
- 1 ½ pounds ground beef, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- ¼ teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
- ¼ teaspoon ground paprika
- ¼ teaspoon ground dried chipotle pepper
- salt and ground black pepper to taste
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 2 (14.5 ounce) cans diced tomatoes with green chile peppers
- cooking spray
- 3 cups shredded Mexican cheese blend, or to taste
Instructions
- Set the oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven’s broiler. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place poblano peppers cut-side down onto the prepared baking sheet.
- Cook under the preheated broiler until poblano pepper skins have blackened and blistered, 5 to 8 minutes. Place blackened peppers into a bowl and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Allow peppers to steam as they cool, about 10 minutes.
- Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add beef, chili powder, garlic, cumin, oregano, cayenne pepper, paprika, chipotle pepper, salt, and black pepper. Cook and stir until beef is no longer pink, about 4 minutes. Add onion; cook until slightly softened, about 2 minutes. Add tomatoes with green chiles; cook until onions are translucent, about 5 minutes more. Let beef mixture cool.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
- Run water over the poblano peppers to remove skins and discard them; drain peppers on paper towels. Place a layer of peppers on the bottom of the prepared dish; place 1/3 of the beef mixture on top. Cover with 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese blend. Repeat layers twice more in the same order.
- Bake, uncovered, in the preheated oven until golden brown on top, about 35 minutes.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 325 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 9 g |
| Cholesterol | 80 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 3 g |
| Protein | 22 g |
| Saturated Fat | 13 g |
| Sodium | 695 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 23 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I liked it but my family didn’t care for the peppers.
Like the flavor, but way too watery- thinking the canned tomatoes should be drained first ? (and/or half the amount.) Also the spices are off, a little bland.
I used shredded chicken instead, but it was totally delicious!
My husband thought this was excellent. I would use leaner beef next time. I didn’t have tomatoes with green chilies, so I used salsa instead. I also used shredded Halvarta cheese since that’s what I had in the fridge. All worked out great!! Don’t be afraid to substitute.
Recipe Author Here – The poblanos I’m able to purchase from my local produce market are very large. 2, split open, will cover the bottom of a 9 x 13 baking pan. If you only have access to smaller poblanos, you may want to increase to a total of 9 or even 12. When no poblanos are available to us, we’ve often substituted zucchini “planks”, sliced maybe 1/4″ thick, tossed with olive oil and seasoned with salt, pepper, garlic & onion powder, chili powder, cayenne and cumin. Jalapeno powder adds a yummy, slightly spicy, twist!
This was not good. I did everything in the recipe and followed recommendations for more garlic and cheese. Couldn’t eat much of it. Won’t make again.
I cheated. I used canned roasted chili’s. I used 3 of the 7oz. cans of Ortega fire roasted whole green chilis. That is one can per layer. It was delicious.
Not a Chile rellano casserole. Added a layer of retried beans. Great as a dip with tortilla chips and super as a filling for tacos!
Easy recipe to make. Packed with flavor!!
Excellent recipe and I was able to only do 2 layers. Next time I make it the center layer of cheese will be solid chunks of queso.
My whole family loved this. Now they keep asking me when I’m going to make it again. My husband is planning to grow poblanos in our garden next year just so I can make this more often!
Very spicy and loaded with flavor. I have to agree with others that this is a smaller recipe than indicated. You will want to use a small casserole dish if made as written. I’ve made this recipe many times and use an 11 x 8 oval casserole dish. It takes 9 or 10 large poblano peppers. I also use 2lbs of ground beef and slightly heap the tablespoon/teaspoon when measuring. I don’t measure the cheese, but can say with certainty that I use more than stated in the recipe. I like to cook the ground beef first and drain off the fat. Then I proceed with adding the onions, seasonings, and tomatoes. I will drain off all of the liquid again before layering in the casserole dish. If you don’t, you will end up with a watery casserole. In my opinion, poblano peppers are the hardest to roast and peel. I find it is easier to roast the peppers whole, then cut in half and remove the seeds. Either way is messy. It is worth the effort.
Awesome! I cheated & bought taco seasoning instead of adding all of the seasonings. I also added black beans to each layer. Delicious and will definitely make this again!
This took way longer than indicated to make, and turned out tasting kind of boring. Needed a lot more cheese and I wish I would have had tortillas to serve with it. Also was very runny. Tomatoes should definitely be drained before adding to the meat.
I would definitely make this again. I made it exactly as written. It’s so good!!
Listed as the recipe of the day. Made it for family tonight and we all loved it. I consider it paleo and keto friendly. Very savory. My daughter loves tajin spice so I added just a pinch to tang up the beef mixture a bit. But not necessary it’s perfectly delicious as is. Next time I will buy more poblanos as 6 didn’t get me but 2 layers. Would do in a small casserole for 4-6.
I halved the recipe but I should have used the original amount of peppers. Mine were on the small side so I only got 2 layers instead of 3. The flavors in the dish were tasty. Everyone liked it. I served it with white rice, salsa, sour cream and guacamole.
I used an 8×11″ (2 qt) casserole, could have gone down a size, so this is small — 10 servings seems unrealistic, maybe 6 at most. Not a fan, but I made some changes so not going to ding it. I also used turkey, more garlic as recommended, but cut back to 2 cups of cheese. Chipotle seasoning was $6/bottle, no thanks, so I skipped that.
My son wasn’t too impressed with the poblanos but that’s because he’s NUTS, this is delicious as written! Even my somewhat picky hubs liked it!!
Excellent! All I have to say is more garlic and more cheese! Otherwise it was perfect!
Awesome recipe! We had this for dinner 3 nights in a row until there were no more leftovers!