A fiesta of flavors and colors, these oven-baked, chicken stuffed poblano peppers are delicious, gorgeous, and surprisingly easy to make.
This is such a flavorful dish! And it also so pretty! Take a look at the photos - I just love the way this dish looks. And while it may look like a complex recipe to make, it's actually quite easy, especially if you have pre-cooked chicken.
Best of all, whenever I make these stuffed poblano peppers, everyone raves about them and asks for the recipe. So here it is!
The ingredients you'll need
You'll only need a few simple ingredients to make this tasty recipe (the exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below):
Olive oil: This is such a delicious oil. But if you'd rather use an oil with a higher smoke point, you can use avocado oil instead.
Poblano peppers: They are widely available in supermarkets.
Tomatoes: Try to pick red, ripe-yet-firm tomatoes.
Onion and garlic: I'm lazy, so I use the food processor to chop the onion, and I frequently use jarred minced garlic.
Seasonings: Kosher salt, dried oregano, and ground cumin. Make sure the spices are fresh! A stale spice can easily ruin a dish.
Shredded cooked chicken breast: You can also use shredded rotisserie chicken. Just make sure to remove the skin.
Shredded cheeses: Mozzarella and cheddar. You can experiment with other melty cheese such as provolone.
Cilantro: Fresh cilantro adds a great flavor to this dish.
How to make stuffed poblano peppers
It's a surprisingly easy recipe. The detailed instructions are in the recipe card below. These are the basic steps:
Cook tomatoes, onions, garlic and spices in olive oil.
Remove from heat and mix in cooked shredded chicken and mozzarella.
Stuff the mixture into the peppers and bake. Use a broiler-safe pan.
Then sprinkle cheddar cheese on top and broil just to melt the cheese.
Are poblano peppers very spicy?
Poblanos have a rich flavor, a meaty texture, and mild to medium heat.
Three of us loved the extra heat. One of us - the one who's under twelve - said she would have preferred stuffed bell peppers instead.
If you're not fond of spicy foods, you can certainly use the same tasty chicken filling to stuff sweet bell peppers.
How to serve stuffed poblano peppers
You can serve them as an appetizer, one per person. But I often serve two per person as our main course, with a simple side such as a tossed green salad or a quick tomato salad.
Can I use a different cheese than those listed in the recipe?
Absolutely! This recipe is very flexible and forgiving. You can use any melty cheese that you like instead of the mozzarella and cheddar. Fontina, asiago and provolone will all work beautifully.
You can also replace the mozzarella, or part of it, with softened cream cheese. Reviewers of this recipe on Pinterest have made all sorts of yummy substitutions, with great success.
Having said that, I first published this recipe in 2014, and I've played with it a lot over the years (I can't even follow my own recipes!). 😀 But I do like it best when I make it as originally written.
Reviews of this recipe
I love finding reviews of my recipes on Pinterest! The good reviews make me happy, of course. And the not so good reviews make me aware of issues in my recipes and enable me to improve them.
As mentioned above, Pinterest reviewers seem to like this recipe very much. I do enjoy reading their interesting suggestions. Here are just a few:
- Use ground beef, cream cheese, and Mexican blend cheese.
- Use shredded rotisserie chicken and add sour cream.
- Sub cooked ground turkey or chicken for the shredded chicken.
- Serve with sour cream and salsa on the side.
What about leftovers?
Keep leftovers of these stuffed poblano peppers in the fridge, in a sealed container, for 3-4 days. Reheat them in the microwave, covered, on 50% power, or in a 300°F oven.
More pepper recipes you might enjoy
As mentioned above, stuffed bell peppers are wonderful. I stuff them with a seasoned mixture of ground beef, but you can stuff them with the chicken mixture used here.
Another very good - and easy - pepper recipe is this recipe for roasted bell peppers. It's one of my favorite side dishes!
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Stuffed Poblano Peppers
INGREDIENTS
- 1 teaspoon olive oil for the pan
- 4 medium poblano peppers (1 lb. total weight w/ refuse, 12 oz. cleaned)
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 2 medium tomatoes, diced (10 oz.)
- ½ medium onion, diced (4 oz.)
- 1 tablespoon minced fresh garlic
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt (not fine salt)
- 2 cups cooked chicken breast, shredded (10 oz.)
- 1 cup part skim mozzarella, shredded (4 oz.)
- ½ cup chopped fresh cilantro
- ½ cup cheddar, shredded (2 oz.)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a large rimmed oven and broiler-safe baking sheet with foil and brush it with a little olive oil.
- Rinse and dry the poblanos. Cut a thin slice off the tops and remove the core and seeds. Cut a slit down the side of each pepper. Set aside.
- Heat the olive oil in a large, deep skillet over medium-high heat. Add the tomatoes, onion, garlic, oregano, cumin and salt. Cook, stirring often, until liquids have evaporated, about 7 minutes. Off heat, stir in the chicken, the mozzarella and the cilantro, mixing well.
- Divide the filling among the peppers, adding it from the top and pressing on it to fill the entire pepper. Place the stuffed peppers on the prepared baking sheet. Bake until the poblanos are soft and charred in places, 20-30 minutes (the smell will be amazing!).
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and switch the oven to broil. Top the peppers with the cheddar cheese and broil just until the cheese is melted, about 2 minutes. Let rest 5 minutes before serving.
NOTES
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Vered DeLeeuw, LL.M., CNC, has been following a low-carb real-food diet and blogging about it since 2011. She's a Certified Nutrition Coach (NASM-CNC), has taken courses at the Harvard School of Public Health, and has earned a Nutrition and Healthy Living Certificate from Cornell University. Her work has appeared in several major media outlets, including Healthline, HuffPost, Today, Women's Health, Shape, and Country Living. 