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These vegetarian stuffed poblano peppers are so easy to make! The zesty filling features rice, corn, black beans, and of course: gooey cheese.
Why we love this recipe
Stuffed vegetables are a wonderful meatless main dish, and these peppers were no disappointment! Alex and I have been on a bit of a Mexican-inspired kick lately, so this vegetarian stuffed poblano peppers idea fit the bill for a meal with friends. Since it’s pretty simple to make, it’s perfect for weeknight meals as well. Keep reading for the recipe.
How to roast poblano peppers in the broiler
There are many methods for roasting poblano peppers: on a gas flame, on a grill, in the oven, or using your broiler. In this recipe, we’ve chosen to use your broiler because it’s extremely quick and simple! Here are the general steps for how to roast poblano peppers in the broiler:
- Slice the poblano peppers in half and remove the seeds.
- Place the peppers in a baking dish with the skin side up. Broil on high for about 7 minutes.
- Flip the peppers and broil 7 more minutes until tender.
Can you eat the skin of poblano peppers?
Yes, it is flavorless! Some people find that it has an unappealing texture, but with the broiling method we found you don’t really notice the skin. Some methods remove the skin after roasting, usually by placing the peppers in a plastic bag and waiting 10 minutes for the skin to loosen. We’ve chosen to keep the skins on in this recipe for ease of preparation. If you prefer, remove the skin using the plastic bag trick.
Making these stuffed poblano peppers
This vegetarian stuffed poblano peppers recipe is a result of a fair amount of research. The main idea is simple, and offers a lot of flexibility. While you cook up some rice, you’ll broil the poblano peppers to get them slightly blackened and tender (per the method above). Then mix the rice with some black beans, corn, green onions, and salsa for the filling. Top with cheese and broil again for just 2 minutes!
Instead of rice, you can choose any grain, veggies, and spices for these stuffed poblano peppers. Any whole grain will work here, be it quinoa, farro, millet, freekah or bulgur. You also can boil the grain ahead of time to speed things up. You could also mix it up on the cheese: try goat cheese or gouda.
The result tasted incredible and was fun to serve for guests. We especially liked the earthy taste of the poblano peppers as an alternative a bell pepper, which we often use in our stuffed pepper recipes. We hope you enjoy it: let us know in the comments below!
Are poblano peppers hot?
Before you make this Mexican pepper dish, you might be wondering: are poblano peppers spicy? While they do have a subtle heat, overall poblano peppers are mild. Keep in mind that heat is a continuum. You can have a range of spice within a pepper variety itself.
If you look at various peppers on a spice-level continuum, here’s a snapshot at a glance! (Note how far towards the mild end that you see Anaheim peppers.)
- Green pepper: No spice
- Anaheim pepper: Very mild
- Poblano peppers: Mild
- Jalapeno peppers: Medium hot
- Serrano peppers: Hot
- Cayenne: Very hot
- Habanero: Extremely hot
- Ghost pepper: Outrageously hot
More stuffed peppers recipes
If you like these stuffed poblano peppers, here are a few stuffed peppers recipes you might enjoy:
- Classic Stuffed Peppers
- Stuffed Green Peppers
- Quinoa Stuffed Peppers Recipe
- Samosa Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
- Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers Recipe
Dietary notes
This stuffed poblano peppers recipe is vegetarian and gluten-free.
Stuffed Poblano Peppers
These stuffed poblano peppers are so easy to make! The zesty filling features rice, corn, black beans, and of course: gooey cheese.
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main Course
- Method: Broiled
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 4 cups cooked brown rice (or 4 cups of any cooked grain)
- 4 poblano peppers
- 1 ½ cups salsa
- 1 15 ounce can black beans
- 1 ½ cups frozen corn
- 3 green onions
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- Cayenne, to taste
- Kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
- Shredded cheese (we used a Mexican blend)
- Chopped cilantro for serving (optional)
Instructions
- If necessary, cook the rice according to the package instructions or use our Instant Pot method.
- While the rice cooks, prepare the peppers: slice the poblano peppers in half and remove the seeds and ribs. Place the peppers in a baking dish skin side up. Broil on high for about 7 minutes, then flip the peppers and broil 7 minutes more.
- Chop the green onions. Drain and rinse the black beans.
- In a large saucepan, combine: beans, onions, salsa, corn, a handful of the shredded cheese, cumin, chili powder, and a pinch of cayenne (if you like it spicy!). Season with kosher salt and pepper to taste. When the rice is finished, stir it into the filling.
- Heat the filling a few minutes over medium heat until warm (the timing depends on the heat of the rice).
- Place the pepper halves skin side down in a baking dish, and spoon the filling into each half. Top the filling with shredded cheese and broil until the cheese is melted, for about 2 minutes.
- Serve warm. If desired, garnish with chopped cilantro and sour cream.
Notes
Alternative oven method: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Follow Steps 2, 4 and 5 above to prepare the peppers and filling. Then bake until the peppers are tender and browned, around 25 to 30 minutes.
Can you freeze?
This should work frozen, but we have not tested it! Reheat in the oven before serving (you can go right from frozen.)
Made this recipe tonight. Absolutely delicious and easy to throw together! Used quinoa instead of rice. Thanks for a great dinner!
I’m eating these right now for dinner; made after a long day working from home. They are delicious! I used quick cooking brown rice. Can’t wait to make for my daughters when they come home from college.
I made this tonight using lentils!!! I cooked the lentils in water with: bay leaf, pickled jalepenos, chili powder, chopped onion, pepper, oregano, salt, chopped garlic cloves (4), and chicken stock powder. Then I cut my peppers in half and mixed sour cream, black beans, and corn into my cooked lentils. Filled the peppers, topped with cheese and baked at 400 for 25 minutes. Topped with extra sour cream! So tasty!
At what temperature did you broil the poblano peppers at?
Broil on high! I’ve updated the recipe.
I’m looking for a fun camping main course. Curious…do you think it would work to individually wrap the stuffed peppers and warm/bake them over the fire? Also, what do you think about adding butternut squash?
Very interesting idea! I think this is a possibility — but I’ve never tried it myself so can’t fully endorse it. I think adding butternut squash could work, but it would have to be chopped and pre-roasted — were you thinking of adding it into the rice in chunks?
Thank you Thank you Thank you for NOT peeling the peppers! I made a similar dish by broiling the halved peppers on both sides for 5-6 minutes, then stuffing them with refried beans, chopped kumato tomatoes, and cubed pepper jack. I baked them at 350 for 15 minutes–at which time the jack cheese had melted. I then put the oven back on broil–and let the cheese turn golden brown (3 minutes, maybe). Once the peppers cooled on a platter for 5 minutes they were still firm enough to use as a finger food for my little party–and were a huge success!
I’m making your recipe next!
Followed the recipe to the T and it was a success! Everyone loved it, but unfortunately there are no leftovers. Will definitely make this again and again. Thanks for sharing!
Delish as always. Love the idea of broiling the peppers to speed up the process.
Instead of using the microwave, I sauteed a white onion, then added a clove of garlic + a tiny poblano (that I didn’t have another use for) and a jalapeno. Then I added the beans, corn, and spices. Mixed with the rice and added cheese and salsa. Yummmmmmm
yum
This was delicious. And so simple! Please post the nutritional information!
I’m using refried beans instead of black!
:) SO Making this RIGHT NOW!
Pretty good stuff! Would recommend.
I grew my own poblanos, so admittedly they may not have been as gigantic as the ones in the store that come from Mexico. As I said, not really a problem. I froze the remainder and I’m using it to stuff green bell peppers (also home grown) for dinner tonite. I’ve never had this bounty of peppers before (also grew jalapeños) and it’s been a challenge to find recipes for them!
I made the recipe exactly as written. The filling was delicious! My only comment is that your poblanos must have been HUGE to use all this filling. I started with four as the recipe stated, then added two more, and still I had more than half the filling left over. Not a huge problem, as I can use it to stuff bell peppers some other night. But I’m just wondering: was that a mistake?
Interesting! I believe we did have some extra filling left over when we made them, but not to the amount you described here. Perhaps we filled them more than you may have? I guess I’ll have to defer to other commenters — anyone else have this issue?
I made this tonight and it was delicious! Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed them, Kayla! Thanks for writing!
Simply delicious! I am new to eating healthy, but I can tell that my body craves whole foods. I found your recipe and website via the Internet. Now, I think I am hooked. So many of your recipes appear to be the types of things that I’d like to be eating. Thank you for doing such an exquisite job of making your website and the fare offered here an experience.
You’re welcome! Hopefully you get a chance to try out some more of our recipes. Glad you enjoyed!
Why, thank you! We just made a recipe similar to this one, but with squash — if you were interested in this one, you might like it as well! We’ll post it in the next week or two. I love that you are in tune with your body’s craving whole and natural foods — that is wonderful! That started for us too within the first few months of changing our diet. We hope you find it just as satisfying and delicious!
Love, love love this recipe! I adapted it to suit our low carb diet and used lean ground beef for the brown rice. It was delicious!!
Tender, spicy but not harsh and very easy to make!
Being empty nesters now we love to cook together and for each other and have the time and money (finally) to enjoy experimenting! Your blog is an inspiration keep up the good work!
So glad you enjoyed it! It’s fun to hear about your new found time for experimenting in the kitchen — let us know if you try anything else from this site, or have any ideas on recipes you’d like to see!
Thanks to Michael Natkin at Herbivoracious.com I just discovered the ancient wheat called Farro. Would be a great stuffing alternative to rice or quinoa.
Had to convince my husband to try this. I grow Anaheim Peppers that he is making Chile Rellenos out of. But, I also have a new business, Joyous Herbs out of Elgin, AZ & I have been begging him to use the Poblanos that I grow. Thanks for your recipe. I will use it with my fresh herbs, basil & Asian cilantro.
That sounds delicious! How did the herb filling work out?
These were delicious!! As a college student home for the summer and looking for new adventures to try, I’m going to be revisiting your blog quite often. I even decided I want to grow some herbs after watching your awesome video. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed them. You should definitely grow some herbs! They make everything taste better :)
Mmm…love stuffed poblanos — or any roasted chili for that matter. This recipe sounds perfect.
these look absolutely amazing. Quick question, I’m in the UK and poblanos are very difficult to get a hold of. What would you recommend as an alternative? Other than bell peppers. Any advice is much appreciated.
.)
I’m not really sure! Poblanos are very similar to bell peppers — they just have a little bit of spice to them. Any pepper that is large enough to stuff would work!
These were outstanding! I actually used quinoa instead of rice, and we loved it. I peeled off the most blackened blisters on the pepper skins, but I think next time I might not skin them at all. Definitely a keeper recipe — my husband and I are drawing straws to see who gets to take the leftovers for lunch tomorrow :)
The photo caught my eye and I knew your peppers would be good. I was wrong – they are the bomb! Have shared your recipe with some of my friends and they’ve commented on how great they are too. Thanks so much for sharing your recipe.
Oh, so glad you enjoyed them!
This is awesome! Loved it!
Just picked three poblano peppers from my garden and decided to stuff them tonight. You’ve inspired me!
I’m officially jealous of your garden! Hope you enjoyed them :)
Tried your recipe tonight, what a winner!! Very easy, and super tasty, we really enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing!
Is this a full meal? Do the four peppers fill you up? It’s just me and my husband and we weren’t sure if we needed side dishes and stuff. What would you recommend?
The two of us like to eat a whole bunch of whatever we are making – so it is always hard to judge. I would say that this would be a filling main course for two, but that maybe you’d want a salad to go with it. Hope you enjoy it!
Ooo, awesome! I’m excited to hear that this passed the meat-lovers test as a satisfying dish – yay!
And keep the feedback coming – we love hearing what people enjoy, as well as dishes that might need some improvement :)
Thanks again for writing!
This was the second meal from your website that I’ve made in two days and once again it was an absolute hit! We can’t get poblano peppers here in London so we had to opt for the long red ones and we used grated parmesan cheese, but it still tasted really good. My Italian hubby was uber impressed and was shocked how much he liked it even though it didn’t have any meat in it (he’s from Central Italy where pork is a religion). We will keep checking your site and plan to make your meals part of our rotation. Thank you for your excellent work!
Wonderful – so glad that you enjoyed it, and that you are a fellow cooking couple! Let us know if you try other recipes, or have other ideas of things you’d like to see! :)
We made these last night using quinoa and half of a small onion rather than green onions – SO GOOD! Our peppers were a little smaller than store bought, so we had a lot of leftover stuffing, but it’s so good by itself that my husband took it to work for lunch and there was still some for me!
My husband and I love cooking together, too, so I’m really glad I stumbled upon your blog and will definitely check back for new recipes :)
Wonderful – so glad you enjoyed it! :)
Made this dish for dinner tonight…YUM!! I used couscous and skipped the corn and onions. This recipe is my new fall favorite dish!! The stuffing is also amazing if you don’t have any peppers!! Thanks Sonja!
I made these peppers last night and they were delicious. Thanks so much for the recipe. We officially added it to our rotation of meals :)
Wonderful – I’m so glad you enjoyed it! And we must be on the same page — I just posted a new stuffed pepper recipe today :)
Sonja,
I love poblano and have made similar dishes, but have one question:
did you really NOT
…. “de-skin” the pepper?
……. This is the worst part for me.
If not, do you eat the skin later or does is just peel off?
Anna
Anna — no, we did not peel the skin from the peppers! Several of the recipes I consulted said to peel the peppers but many did not, so we skipped that step. They tasted great to us with the skin on! However, you could definitely peel the skin after broiling the peppers if you don’t like the taste.
Ohh it is very appealing to me
… that poblano peppers do
…… not have to be peeled.
I will try it your way soon and I never peeled the normal green peppers, but thought with poblanos this step is a must.
Thank you so very much for streamlining my cooking.
-Anna
Hope it was okay but shared this recipe on my blog and also provided the link back. This was the most delicious dish it is definitely a keeper!
what a great idea! this is one of those days I’m kicking myself wondering where to get poblanos. they’re not so commonly found here, so it takes a bit of legwork. still, this would be my first thought when i DO find them! and that brown rice – sweet! a gorgeous take on something that most recipes would use cous cous or quinoa (although you’d be trying that next; still good stuff!)
Thanks for all the nice comments, everyone! It’s great to hear everyone excited about healthy and natural recipes! Thank you all for your support! :)
I love stuffed vegetables, I have tried something similar with red, yellow and green bell peppers and tomatoes and even once in small pumpkin!
However, I have yet to make it with Poblano Pepper, I like combination of brown rice, corn and beans, healthy and delicious.
Congrats and those peppers r looking good,yum!
congratulations on your top 9!
Great photo! Wish I was there to have a nibble of this dish! :)
on the menu for next week! and i will be sharing this recipe on my tasty tuesday blog hop! thanks again for your blog. love all your recipes.
Wow! That looks like a tasty slice of pepper pizza!
Love your twist on stuffed peppers. All the flavors sound fantastic together!
The picture caught my eye and the recipe made me run to the kitchen to see if I have what is needed to make this tonight! I have to go to the store, but my mind is made up, I MUST have Stuffed Poblano Peppers!!! Thanks for another great recipe!
Haha, wow! I’m flattered you would be so inspired! Let us know how it turns out :)
looks amazing- great presentation! will try it out for sure
What a great way to use the peppers that are in season now. I love how healthy this is.
Sometimes it’s like you two are reading my mind. We have stuffed poblano peppers on the meal plan FOR TONIGHT! Might have to try your recipe instead of the one we have…
That’s hilarious! What recipe were you planning to use?
Probably this one: http://www.chow.com/recipes/10921-stuffed-poblanos-with-black-beans-and-cheese
Your stuffed poblano peppers recipe sounds delicious. Does this recipe freeze well?