Mexican Stuffed Poblanos

If you love poblano peppers and Mexican flavors, you will love these easy Mexican stuffed poblanos. Full of taco meat, rice, beans, spices and cheeses you can have a full meal in each pepper. And if you don’t have poblanos you can use any kind of pepper you want. You can also freeze these stuffed poblanos for an appetizer, snack or dinner another day.

You might also like this keto enchilada stuffed peppers.

I’m a little late to posting these delicious and easy Mexican stuffed poblanos. My husband grows these in his garden and we get so many that we usually stuff them with buffalo chicken dip and freeze for appetizers or dinners later in the winter. Well we have been eating this stuffed pepper a lot this winter and I’m finally posting about them.

This Mexican dish was an experiment at the time we made them and they came out great! They are full of taco meat and seasonings, black beans, corn, rice and lots of cheese. All of these flavors go so well with the bit of spice you get from the poblanos peppers.

These stuffed peppers can be eaten for a meal, appetizer or snack. And while I used poblanos you can easily fill just about any type of pepper. And lastly I highly recommend you freeze these for another day. They come out great.

Recipe ingredients and substitutions.

I tried to simplify this recipe as much as I can by using many simple ingredients I buy at Aldi. I used ground beef, taco mix, canned black beans, frozen corn, jar of salsa, microwave rice, Mexican shredded cheese and fresh poblano peppers.

• fresh poblano peppers – While I used these from my garden you can easily substitute with sweet bell peppers or even green bell peppers. You may have to use more stuffing per pepper though.
• ground beef – While I used hamburger meat you could also use ground chicken, ground turkey or even chorizo or sausage. You might want to use a leaner ground meat so there isn’t much grease. But you can also drain the grease from the pan before adding other stuffing ingredients.
• frozen rice and canned black beans – These are usually my go to vegetables in Mexican food but you can use other beans like chili beans, kidney beans, etc. And the frozen corn is just easier to use than fresh.
• jar salsa and taco seasoning mix – I like using jar salsa because it usually has onions, tomato, chiles or jalapeno peppers, garlic and spices so it adds a lot of flavor and more veggies. You can use any kind you like but I find the chunkier kind to be my favorite. Also any kind of taco seasoning mix will do. If you want to use your own spices try a combination of ground cumin, chili powder, paprika, garlic powder, onion powder, salt, cayenne and maybe a bit of sugar.
• microwave rice – This is a great recipe for leftover rice. I didn’t have any so I just used the packaged kind that takes 90 seconds in the microwave. If you don’t have any you will have to make rice from scratch. You could substitute cauliflower rice for a lower carb option. And if you prefer brown rice to white rice that is fine too.
• Mexican cheese blend – Here you can use any kind of cheeses you want. I like Mexican cheese blends because they have a few different kinds that work well with Mexican food. Good ones are cheddar cheese, Monterey Jack cheese, pepper jack cheese, etc. You want the cheese melt and blend with the ingredients to make it creamy and cheese.

How to make Mexican stuffed poblanos.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Get out a baking dish or baking sheet and spray with nonstick spray and set aside.

Step 1: First thing you want to do is cut the peppers in half and clean out the seeds, stems and ribs. The ribs are where the heat is. Poblano peppers are not really hot but they can have some heat. We like that but if you don’t want any heat cut out the ribs.

Step 2: Get a big pot of water bowling and then place the pepper halves in the water to blanch them for 5 minutes. Then take them out and place in a big bowl of ice and water to stop the cooking process. Dry off and set aside.

Step 3: Now make the stuffing. Get out a large skillet and heat to medium high heat. Add the ground beef and taco mix. No need for olive oil and because the meat will render grease. Nor do you need to add the water that the mix calls for.

Brown the meat and then add in the salsa. Mix well to combine and then add the drained canned beans and thawed corn. Mix again.

Step 4: While that is cooking microwave the rice or just get out leftover rice if you have it. Add it to the taco mixture and mix well to combine. Cook for a minute or two and then add 1 cup of the cheese. Mix well until it melts and take off the stove.

Step 5: Get out the prepared baking dish and take each pepper half and stuff with stuffing mixture and place in the baking dish. Continue with all the peppers and top with the remaining ½ cup of cheese. Place in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.

Take the baking dish out when the cheese has melted and golden brown. Let cool a bit before serving. You can eat these as a meal in of itself or pair it with a green salad or soup for a more complete meal.

If you want you can add a dollop of sour cream on top or garnish with fresh chopped cilantro. Try some hot sauce or hot pepper flakes for heat.

We have frozen a bunch and eaten these for lunch too. Store leftover stuffed poblano peppers in an airtight container. Please scroll down to view the printable recipe card.

More easy Mexican recipes to try.

We love Mexican food and I have a ton of healthy recipes on this site but here are a sampling of a few of my favorites.

• spicy corn side dish or street corn salad or black bean salad
• Instant Pot burrito lasagna
• spicy red lentils or vegetarian chili or slow cooker chili
• veggie bean burrito or chicken burrito casserole
• shredded chicken enchiladas or green enchilada chicken soup
• Mexican rice bowl or meatloaf
• seafood nachos or ground beef and bean nachos

I really loved these Mexican stuffed poblanos recipe. We frozen half of them and have been eating them for a quick lunch or dinner on busy weeknights. I hope you like them as much as we do.