Stuffed Poblano Peppers Recipe

Humans can be so senseless sometimes or is it exactly the opposite? Let’s stuff some Poblano Peppers and find it out!

From all the living things on Earth, only humans seem to enjoy events that are innately negative. We seemed to be thrilled by the emotions and feelings that we get when we realize the threat, our body tries to fight hard against, is not a real one.

What’s the rush?

The ultimate fight between the primitive part and the thinking part of our brain. All the signals that are carried into our brain scream about danger, all our instincts tell us that something bad will happen from this and we should leave right now. But we know, it won’t and we are in control.

We dive headfirst into horror movies, jump off from bridges with an elastic rope on our legs or just most innocently pay to torture our stomach on a roller coaster.

When we can’t trick our body into releasing adrenaline by threatening to kill it by brute force, we can do it sneakily with chemicals by chewing on capsaicin the predominant component in hot peppers.

What’s in the spice?

A bit of extra joy never hurts at the dining table and it seems that hot peppers aren’t just for fun.

Many spices that we use flavoring our meals have significant antibacterial and antifungal properties that can be vital when refrigeration isn’t available. Not coincidentally, studies concluded that countries with hotter climates use spices more frequently than countries with cooler climates.

This may explain where Indian and Mexican spiciness is coming from. They are not hot just to have some fun but to protect us from microscopic assailants.

What is Poblano?

Stuffed Poblano Peppers are nothing more than what they sound like, stuffed peppers. Poblano is simply the name of the state where people are particularly fond of this pepper, most likely because Poblano Pepper is native to this region and it was widely available without much effort.

Since then, of course, Poblano Pepper has grown out of its native region and widely consumed not just around Mexico but around the world too. Due to its hotness, it isn’t that popular as bell pepper that is available fresh anytime but in worst case scenarios, canned versions can be found online.

Of course, where demand is, persistent supply rushes to meet it even if that’s outside its native borders. Many Mexican dishes require Poblano Pepper as one of their staple ingredients and some of them like the Stuffed Poblano Peppers are based entirely on them.

What’s in Poblano Peppers?

What goes in the Poblano Peppers is another matter entirely. If we have these things in Mexico, probably we’ll have something a bit different than in our local Tex Mex or what we feel appropriate for spice pepper filling but that’s the beauty of such fillings.

We can throw anything in there that was left from another day, sprinkle a bit of cheese on top, grill it and we have an amazing brand-new dish, ready faster than ordering anything from anywhere. Sure, enough we can just make everything from scratch and use our favorite ground meat with vegetables or go totally vegan and still we are ready in no time with so little effort.

One thing to keep in mind though that kids are not nearly as receptive to hot peppers as some of us would like to, nor are family dogs.

Ingredients

2lb / 1kg Poblano peppers (12)
½ cup / 125ml Cooking oil
2 medium / 250g Onion (diced)
2 teaspoon / 10g Salt
2 cloves Garlic (diced)
1½ / 700g Ground meat (Pork, beef, turkey…)
8 oz / 200g Shredded cheese (Mozzarella)
Optional filing
- Sweetcorn
- Rice
- Beans

How to make Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Poblano Peppers preparation

Poblano Peppers have a fairly thick waxy protective skin that is edible but mostly removed in recipes. There are various methods including scorching the peppers on the open fire of the gas burner, we use the more comfortable oven method. Apply a thin layer of oil and salt on the Poblano Peppers.
Place them onto the top rack of a 360°F / 180°C preheated oven until the waxy outer layer starts to burn off then flip them over, 15 – 30 minutes.
Place the peppers into a plastic bag or kitchen cloth so they won’t cool off.
Peel off the wax layer.

Filling

While the peppers are in the oven, we can start preparing the filling. In a skillet, heat oil to high to saute the diced onions and salt until glassy / translucent look. Stir in the diced garlic and saute for another minute longer.
Add the ground meat and stir fry until browned. If any optional filling is prepared, like sweetcorn, rice or beans then this is the time to mix it with the meat.

Assembly

Make an incision along the long side of the Poblano Peppers then fill them up with the meat. Make sure not to cut it all the way down.
Top it up with grated cheese and place the stuffed Poblano Peppers under the broiler at the highest temperature until the cheese gets a golden brown color, about 10 – 15 minutes.