A vegan adaptable, Roasted Chile Rellenos Recipe – that is lightened up with the addition of black beans. Simplified by roasting (instead of frying) the peppers and Rancheros sauce ingredients are all baked together on one sheet-pan – saving a step!
My husband Brian loves Chile Rellenos. The problem is I love them too, but they don’t look quite as good on me. Typically they are battered and fried and often greasy and heavy, dripping with fat and calories. This Roasted Bean Chile Rellenos recipe calls for roasting, not frying, and the addition of cholesterol lowering black beans. I’ve even included a vegan version, if you want to eliminate the cheese all together which surprisingly got a huge thumbs up from my husband as well. The nice thing is you can make some vegan, some with cheese and even “beef” some up for heartier eaters.
But what I love MOST about this recipe, is the sheet-pan roasting method, where the peppers are roasted, along the Ranchero Sauce ingredients! It saves a step. So easy, and much quicker than traditional chile rellenos while being much lighter and super delicious!
Once the chilies are roasted, slit them vertically and run under cool running water, removing the seeds with your fingers. Some of the peels will slip off, some will not and with poblanos, the peeling is so thin, I rarely fuss over it, leaving whatever wants to stay on, on.
Pasilla peppers have a much thicker peel that you will want to remove. They also roast much faster than poblanos. The chilies, once peeled are more delicate, making them a little more difficult to work with, so if you are new to this, pick poblanos, they are sturdier and less fussy.
I wanted to show you two products that come in handy at home- I try to keep in my pantry. Tomato Paste in a tube– because so rarely do we use the whole can, and the rest often goes to waste. And seasoned black beans- a faster way to add more flavor to meals- these have onion, garlic and green chilies in with them. 
Here Poblanos are stuffed with a black bean and cheese mixture and placed over the ranchero sauce in an extra large baking dish. These poblanos are HUGE by the way.
Here below is the vegan version in a mini cast iron skillet. My point being, you can bake them all together, or separately if you choose. This way it’s easy to adapt them for vegans and non vegans.
This vegan version is made with a combination of black beans and herbed tofu ricotta – it’s really flavorful!
Or bake them all together in a large skillet. Keep them lean like you see below or add melty cheese to the top, up to you!
Even the bean and cheese stuffed chilies are relatively low in calories when made this way.
The Roasted Rancheros Sauce is really yummy and flavorful too- use it with enchiladas or Mexican Pizza or in this Enchilada Casserole!
A delicious and healthy Sunday Supper, full of great flavor without the added fat and calories! Give it a whirl and rate it below!
Have a beautiful fall weekend!
PrintRoasted Chile Rellenos with Black beans
Roasted Chile Rellenos with Black beans and a Roasted Sheet -Pan Rancheros Sauce. A healthy, lightened up version that can be made vegan. Gluten – Free!
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 4 1x
- Category: Main - GF & Vegan Adaptable
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients
- 4–6 poblano peppers, leave whole with stems on. ( see notes)
- 6 ripe, medium tomatoes, ( roma, or vine ripened)
- 6 fat garlic cloves
- one medium-large onion, sliced into ½ inch wedges or slices
- 2 small jalapeños
- 1–2 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed ( seasoned or Cuban Style are nice)
- 4–6 ounces grated jack cheese or Mexican queso fresco ( or 1 cup vegan Herbed Tofu Ricotta )
- ½ cup stock ( chicken or veggie) or sub water
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste (optional, but good)
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro plus more for garnish
Serve with rice, sour cream, toasted pumpkin seeds, cilantro
Instructions
Preheat oven to 45oF
Cut the tomatoes in half and arrange them on the sheet pan. Add the onions to sheet pan, along with the whole garlic cloves, halved jalapeños and whole poblano peppers, making sure they are not overcrowded. You may need to use two sheet pans. ( You can also char the peppers on a gas burner, see notes) Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place in the oven and check after 15 minutes. If the peppers are tender remove them (pasilla peppers will cook much faster than poblanos- please see notes) and check the garlic. Otherwise continue roasting with the tomatoes and onions another 15-20 minutes, until peppers and onions are tender and tomatoes are juicy.
In the meantime make the filling. Mix the beans ( drained, rinsed) with the cheese. If going vegan, mix the beans with 1 cup of vegan herbed tofu ricotta. Season the mixture with salt and pepper.
When the poblanos are just tender, take the sheet pan out of the oven ( leave the oven on) and let it cool. Add ⅓ of the onions, chopping them up, into the filling mixture and stir.
Blend up the Roasted Ranchos Sauce. Place the other half of the onions into a blender along with the tomatoes, pan juices, jalapeño, garlic, ½ cup stock, cumin, coriander, chili powder, oregano, salt, tomato paste and fresh cilantro – and blend until smooth. Set aside.
Cut a slit in the poblano peppers from stem to pointy end and using your fingers, gently remove seeds while rinsing them under cold running water. If the thin skins slip off, let them, but don’t worry about actively peeling them, especially poblanos – their skins are quite thin -Leaving some of the skin on is perfectly fine. Pasillo peppers have thick skin and should be peeled.
In a large baking dish ( or oven proof skillet) pour a little of the roasted tomato ranchero sauce to coat the bottom ( use about half the sauce). Place the peppers overtop of the sauce, slit side up, then spoon the filling into each one. Pour the rest of the flavorful ranchero sauce over top. At this point you could add more shredded cheese to the top, or leave it off.
Cover with foil and bake 20-25 minutes in a 425F oven- or until the filling is warm and melty, uncover and bake 5 more minutes.
Garnish with cilantro leaves, toasted pumpkin seeds and sour cream if you like.
Notes
Poblano Chilies ( vs Pasilla peppers) are easiest to work with- they are sturdier. They will most likely take 30 minutes to roast while pasillas roast much quicker, so check after 10-15 minutes or they may get too soft to handle. You can also blacken either of peppers on a gas grill or on a stovetop gas burner ( easiest) rotating with tongs until charred on all sides, then wrap up in foil for 8-10 minutes to allow them to soften before seeding and peeling under cool running water.
If cooking for mixed households you can bake these individual baking dishes or even in mini cast iron skillets like you see here – which is especially nice if cooking for both vegans and meat-eaters. You can easily add meat to some while keeping others vegan or vegetarian. If adding meat, browned Mexican chorizo is nice as well as cooked shredded chicken or browned ground turkey.
The peppers you see in the photos were abnormally large poblanos. One pepper was one serving. If you only have smaller ones available, get more, you may need to serve 2 as a serving.
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Hillary Harper says
October 7, 2017 at 9:04 pmThese look delicious! I will definitely have to get that tomato paste the next time I’m at Trader Joe’s! I hate having to throw out the can each time.
Sylvia Fountaine says
October 8, 2017 at 7:41 amI know, it’s such a pet peeve of mine too. The TUBE rocks!
Sarah says
October 8, 2017 at 8:02 pmMade this tonight and it’s so perfect for fall! I added in about a cup of chopped fresh spinach and some pumpkin puree to the filling and added more pumpkin puree to the rancheros sauce. It worked out really well!
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
October 9, 2017 at 6:25 amLove this idea of adding pumpkin!! Thanks for sharing Sarah!
Sandra Lea says
October 13, 2017 at 3:16 amI stumbled across your blog recently and am excited to start trying some of your recipes starting with this one. Thank you!
Jen says
November 2, 2017 at 8:41 pmThis was so delicious! I was so happy to be able to use peppers (I used ancho because they’re what I grew!), jalapeños, garlic, onions, and tomato all from my garden!! This dish made me happy to make and to eat. I did brown some ground (local, grass-fed) beef and added it to the filling to appease the two other mouths I was feeding. The sauce, though! The sauce was absolutely amazing. My 9 y/o son started out insisting he wouldn’t be eating dinner, to take a grudging bite, to “this is a try again, Mom!”. Made my heart sing.
★★★★★
MariaEasterday says
December 5, 2017 at 2:24 pmI made these because I wanted to go healthy and my first thought was that they looked good. I wasn’t too excited about just beans and cheese, but much to my surprise they were delicious!!!!! Will definitely make these again since it’s cheap and I just love chile rellenos! Thank you so much!
★★★★★
Lisa says
February 18, 2018 at 7:03 amAnother great recipe! Made this Friday night. Had to use 2 sheet pans as the poblanos at the market were huge! I love just roughly chopping the vegetables and roasting them and throwing it all in the blender. The sauce was really good. This is a great alternative to breading and frying. We still have 2 left for a fast weeknight dinner this week!
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
February 18, 2018 at 8:27 amYay, I’m so happy you liked it Lisa!!
Sarah says
July 19, 2018 at 6:59 pmDelicious!! I’ve made this twice, the second time I added canned chipotle peppers and adobo sauce and recommend it!
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
July 20, 2018 at 9:51 amYummmm…..Sarah! Great idea!!!
margaret says
August 22, 2018 at 6:16 pmI have made this twice. Once with chorizo and punto beans and once with black beans and leftover corn I added 2 eggs aling with the other filling ingredients when i used the black beans. It is delicious and so simple to prepare. The ranchero sauce is also excellent on its own. I had leftover sauce that i added to an oven omelet and it really made it pop. Very adaptable recipe and even ok for a weeknight if you have all the ingredients on hand
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
August 23, 2018 at 8:19 amThanks so much for sharing your adaptions Margaret! So helpful!!! Have a great day!
Bert says
August 31, 2018 at 2:22 pmIt’s fabulous! And polenta cakes are a perfect complement. Thank you for this recipe!
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
September 2, 2018 at 2:00 pmPolenta Cakes sound absolutely delicious with these!
Cathy says
September 2, 2018 at 5:20 amDelicious. My husband commented that it had just the right amount of spice and flavor. Another great use for all those garden tomatoes this time of year. I was thinking of making this sauce to freeze; do you think that would work?
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
September 2, 2018 at 1:59 pmIm so glad you both enjoyed and YES, I think it would totally freeze well.
Victor Figueroa says
September 8, 2018 at 7:55 amAbsolutely amazing! I made this with black beans and the sauce was incredibly tasty with such flavor loved the cheese and the synergy of the roasted poblano with the beans, cheese and sauce. Very easy to make.
Tonie M says
September 15, 2018 at 9:41 amThis was SO GOOD! I did the vegan option and I didn’t want to stop eating it! And my non-vegan husband wants to make it again! Yay!
★★★★★
m says
November 2, 2018 at 5:04 pmOh my, this was so delicious! I made it for our weekly supper club and it was devoured!! I served it with polenta squares baked crispy in the oven while the pablanos baked. And guacamole and sour cream helped cool it down for those who needed it. I did substitute some chipotles for half of the jalepenos. Yum! I made a double batch to be sure I had a few left over! Definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing your talents with us! You are my “go to” recipe site.
★★★★★
mert says
November 2, 2018 at 5:06 pmOh my, this was so delicious! I made it for our weekly supper club and it was devoured!! I served it with polenta squares baked crispy in the oven while the pablanos baked. And guacamole and sour cream helped cool it down for those who needed it. I did substitute some chipotles for half of the jalepenos. Yum! I made a double batch to be sure I had a few left over! Definitely a keeper. Thanks for sharing your talents with us! You are my “go to” recipe site.
★★★★★
Amiee Sauble says
December 7, 2018 at 2:39 pmI made this and a lot of fresh limes,it came out fantastic I did add fresh corn to the black bean, Ricotta and grated cheese, also I used a can of Rotel tomatoes to the Blended roasted vegetables and peppers,smothered it with cheese cooked it for about 30 minutes!! It was delicious my husband loved it ♡thank you will do it again!!!
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
December 8, 2018 at 7:31 amAwesome Amiee, thanks !
Sylvia Fountaine says
December 10, 2018 at 5:09 pmSounds perfect, thanks Aimee!
Julie Peterson says
December 8, 2018 at 6:46 pmIt’s winter in Florida and our tomatoes are not very flavorful. Could I substitute diced, fire roasted tomatoes for the fresh and just add them to the blender when I make the sauce? And if so, would I use 1 can (14 oz) or 2?
Sylvia Fountaine says
December 9, 2018 at 1:58 pmHi Julie, yes you can sub canned tomatoes and fire roasted would be perfect. As for 1 or 2 cans, I think this will land somewhere in between. Start with one, and see what you think. You may need to add another ½ can.
Jill Rider says
January 21, 2019 at 3:26 pmAbsolutely loved this recipe! I made the herbed tofu ricotta with this and kept it vegan – it was delicious! It was great to make something new and different!
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
January 22, 2019 at 8:11 amGreat to hear you tried the vegan version!
Jennifer says
February 3, 2019 at 4:07 pmI grew up in a Mexican household with traditional chilies rellenos. I must say these are a delicious and easy alternative to the egg battered and fried version. I only made two, and I wish I had more chilies to roast. Thank you for this deliciousness!!
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
February 3, 2019 at 4:51 pmThanks and I’m so glad you approve! 😉
Anonymous says
March 18, 2019 at 4:14 pmSurprisingly good and tasty option for paleo or keto.
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
March 19, 2019 at 8:58 amSo glad you enjoyed!
Monica says
March 23, 2019 at 7:11 amIt’s crazy how good this is! Your recipes are spot on every time. The portions are perfect, and the ingredients are easy to alternate because the recipe is so well designed.
Interesting side note, I used half a Serrano instead of the jalapeños and their heat combined with the heat of the poblanos erased a 4 day migraine! I had no idea pepper could do that. Turns out capsaicin has shown it studies to be highly effective against the placebo every time.
Thank you for another beautiful recipe 🙏🏻
Sylvia Fountaine says
March 23, 2019 at 9:37 amWow~! That is really interesting!!! I love how food heals us. Thanks for sharing!!!
Gaye S. says
April 20, 2019 at 12:20 pmThank you for this recipe. It is excellent! And I appreciated the instructions and pictures.
★★★★★
Kristin says
May 5, 2019 at 7:42 pmJust delicious! Happened to have all the ingredients so didn’t change a thing. Will definitely make again.
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
May 6, 2019 at 8:13 amSo happy you liked this one! I love it too!
Anonymous says
May 13, 2019 at 4:21 amExcellent and straight forward to prepare. I included chIcken in the filling and will make this again trying other meat like ground lamb.
★★★★★
Sylvia Fountaine says
May 13, 2019 at 2:13 pmSounds delicious! let us know how it is with lamb….thanks!