This Roasted Chile Relleno Recipe – is a traditional Mexican dish, made healthier by roasting the poblano chilies rather than frying them in an egg batter, and is lightened up with the addition of black beans with an easy homemade rancheros sauce.
My husband Brian loves a good Chile Relleno. The problem is I love them too, but they don’t look quite as good on me. 😉 Typically they are battered and fried, oozing with cheese, and often greasy and heavy, dripping with fat and calories. This lightened up Roasted Chile Relleno recipe calls for roasting, not frying, with the addition of cholesterol-lowering black beans instead of using all cheese.
I’ve even included a vegan version if you want to eliminate the dairy 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 with meat for heartier eaters. Keep in mind, this is NOT a traditional recipe by any means, but a healthier take on Chiles Rellenos. OK??? 😉
But what I love MOST about this recipe, is the sheet-pan roasting method, where the peppers are roasted, along with the Salsa Ranchero Sauce ingredients. It saves a huge step. So easy, and much quicker than traditional Chiles Rellenos while being much lighter and super delicious!
Roasted Chile Relleno! | 45-second video!
What are chiles rellenos made of?
Essentially, Chilies Rellenos are a traditional Mexican dish made from whole poblano chilies that are stuffed with cheese, battered in an egg batter and fried until golden brown and the cheese is melty, and served with Rancheros Sauce.
How to make “healthier” Roasted Chile Relleno:
- Roast the poblanos and the ranchero sauce ingredients on a sheet pan.
- Once the chilies are roasted, slit them vertically and stuff with a mixture of cheese ( or vegan ricotta) and black beans.
- Blend the rancheros sauce ingredients.
- Bake the stuffed peppers with the sauce in a baking dish.
TIPS:
- Get the biggest Poblano Chilies you can find. The peppers you see in the photos were abnormally large poblanos (like 8 inches long!). One pepper was one serving. If you only have smaller ones available, ( like 4-inch ones) get double the amount, you may need to serve 2 as a serving.
- Poblanos (vs Pasilla or Anaheim peppers) are the easiest to work with- they are sturdier! They will most likely take 30 minutes to roast while the others roast much quicker, so if using Pasillas or Anaheims – check after 10-15 minutes or they may get too soft to handle, and hard to stuff.
- You can also blacken the peppers on a gas grill or on a stovetop gas burner (easiest) rotating with tongs until charred on all sides, then wrap up in a paper bag, or foil for 8-10 minutes to allow them to steam and soften before seeding and peeling under cool running water.
- Two products that come in handy at home- that I try to always 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. One is one serving.
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 until golden brown.
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.
MEAT: If cooking for mixed households you can easily add browned, seasoned ground meat to some while keeping others vegan or vegetarian. If adding meat, this Mexican Turkey chorizo is nice, as well as cooked shredded Chicken Carnitas.
The Roasted Salsa Ranchero Sauce is really yummy and flavorful too- use it with enchiladas or Mexican Pizza or in this Enchilada Casserole!
What to eat with Chile Rellenos!
- Mexican Slaw with Cilantro and Lime
- Cilantro Lime Rice
- Killer Guac (three ways!)
- Mexican Street Corn ( Elotes!)
- Hibiscus Margaritas with Ginger and Lime
- Mexican Papaya Salad
- 35 Fresh and Tasty Mexican Recipes!
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!
Sylvia
PrintRoasted Chiles Rellenos with Black beans
- Prep Time: 20
- Cook Time: 60
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 4
- Category: Main - GF & Vegan Adaptable
- Method: Roasted
- Cuisine: Mexican
Description
A healthy, vegan adaptable, Roasted Chile Relleno Recipe – that is lightened up with the addition of black beans. Simplified by roasting (instead of frying) the peppers with the Salsa Ranchero Sauce ingredients – all baked together on one sheet-pan – saving a step!
Ingredients
- 4–6 extra-large poblano peppers, leave whole with stems on. (see notes)
- 6 ripe, medium tomatoes, ( roma, or vine-ripened)
- 6 fat garlic cloves
- one large onion, sliced into ½ inch wedges or slices
- 2 small jalapeños
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
FILLING:
- 14 ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed -seasoned (see notes) or Cuban Style are nice
- 6 ounces grated jack cheese or Mexican queso fresco (or 1 cup vegan Herbed Tofu Ricotta )
SAUCE ADDITIONS:
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- 1 teaspoon coriander
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon tomato paste (optional, but good)
- ¼ cup fresh cilantro plus more for garnish
- 1/4–1/2 cup water or broth ( to the desired consistency)
Serve with cilantro lime rice, sour cream, hot sauce, avocado, toasted pumpkin seeds, cilantro
Instructions
- READ DIRECTIONS ALL THE WAY THROUGH
- Preheat oven to 45oF
- ROAST Poblanos and Sauce ingredients: Cut the tomatoes in half and arrange them on the sheet pan. Add the sliced 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 all with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper and place on the middle rack and check after 15 minutes. (If your oven runs hot, you could turn it down to 425 if needed.) If the peppers are tender remove them (pasilla peppers will cook much faster than poblanos- please see notes) and check the garlic, removing it if tender. 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 canned beans (drained, rinsed) with the cheese. OR If going vegan, mix the beans with 1 cup of vegan herbed tofu ricotta. Season the mixture with salt and pepper. If using plain black beans, add a teaspoon of cumin and chili powder.
- 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, and add into the filling mixture and stir.
- Blend up the Roasted Ranchos Sauce: Place the remaining onions into a blender along with the tomatoes, pan juices, jalapeño, garlic, cumin, coriander, chili powder, oregano, salt, tomato paste and fresh cilantro, adding a little water (or broth if needed) to thin it out, and blend until smooth. Set aside.
- STUFF POBLANOS: Carefully 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 greased 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 over top of the sauce, slit side up, then spoon the black bean 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
If you have an electric oven, or your oven runs hot, lower heat to 425F
PEPPERS: Get the biggest Poblano Chilies you can find. The peppers you see in the photos were abnormally large poblanos (like 8 inches long!). One pepper was one serving. If you only have smaller ones available, ( like 4-inch ones) get double the amount, you may need to serve 2 as a serving.
Poblanos (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 be sure to check pasillas after 10-15 minutes or they may get too soft to handle, and hard to stuff.
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 a paper bag, or foil for 8-10 minutes to allow them to steam and soften before seeding and peeling under cool running water.
MEAT: 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 browned, seasoned ground meat to some while keeping others vegan or vegetarian. If adding meat, this Mexican Turkey chorizo is nice, as well as cooked shredded Chicken Carnitas.
Keywords: chilies rellenos, healthy chilies rellenos, chilies rellenos recipe, vegan chilies rellenos, baked chilies rellenos, chilies rellenos healthy
BEST RECIPE! I also add rice with added smoked paprika to the filling!
Dangerously delicious. Difficult to stop eating this dish! Served with rice and slice of lime and sourdough garlic bread. Put lime in my water to drink as well. Loved this combination! And the house smelled marvelous for hours!
Suggest roasting one side of the chiles until the top is blistered. Turn, and roast the other side until it is also blistered. Then, remove from oven and run under cool water to release the blistered chile skin.
After stuffing the chiles with the filling from the recipe, I added an extra slice of the queso fresco to the top. Yum!
★★★★★
Perfect!
Absolutely delicious!
★★★★★
The peppers were great and the sauce was absolutely superb. We all felt that the stuffing wasnt quite as good as the rest — it needed something more
So VERY good! The grocery only had one large poblano so we got that and four much smaller ones. We split the four small ones for dinner and then split the larger one for breakfast the next morning with scrambled eggs and avocado. AMAZING! We can always count on you……
★★★★★
Probably one of the most flavorful vegan/ vegetarian recipes I’ve had to date. On a scale from 1 to 10… An 8.5 Hard to make. Between the ranchero sauce, tofu ricotta, and deseeding the pablono, probably a 3 hr. Production!! Well worth it..
★★★★★
Absolutely delish. A real keeper!
★★★★★
I agree completey. Delicious and flavorful, but 3 hours of labor for me too
★★★★★
I’ve made this recipe couple of times and it’s amazing!! Thank you !
Can I freeze them ?
I haven’t tried freezing this yet, but I bet it would be ok?
Omg this recipe is so good! The SAUCE!!! I’m obsessed and have already made it 3 times haha.
★★★★★
So good! And my house smells amazing now. I have been looking for vegetarian recipes I can get my husband excited for and this is definitely it.
★★★★★
This is insanely good!!! Like I can’t even explain how delicious this recipe turns out. We followed this recipe to the T, outside of using canned beans we decided to make & season our own dried beans. This meal is so clean and so tasty, it satisfies that Chili Rellenos need while still keeping you feeling light. And that sauce is TO DIE FOR!!
★★★★★
thanks Missy!
These are so delicious and remind me of the best chile rellenos I had great little restaurant in Los Gatos. Like this recipe they were roast which makes all the difference in the world. To make them more like Zona Rosa’s we add butternut squash which goes perfectly with everything else in the recipe. They also serve theirs with carnitas as chorizo but were mostly vegan when cooking at home.
As always this is a fantastic recipe.
★★★★★
Made this last night and I was really impressed. The sauce is so flavorful! I used queso fresco in the filling and loved the texture. It was like any other protein. I split the jalapenos in half and roasted them. i would remove the seeds next time. It wasn’t too hot for me but my wife squirmed the entire meal. I topped my with some shredded smoked gouda. It was amazing,
★★★★★
Incredible flavour! I never comment online but just had to, this is an absolute winner – thank you.
★★★★★
Thanks Katie- appreciate you leaving a comment. 😉
I have made this recipe now, about 10 times. It has become a bimonthly favorite in our household. I have also passed it along to friends and family. Because we liked this dish so much I am actively making more recipes from this site and have not been dissapointed yet. (Just made the Thai Crunch Salad for lunch). Thank you so much Sylvia!!
★★★★★
Thanks Sampda and glad these worked for you!
Delicious! Great recipe!
★★★★★
These are the best chili rellenos I’ve ever made and ever eaten! I made them exactly like your recipe and my family and I loved them! I will make them again and again! Roasting the peppers (and veggies for the sauce) instead of dipping them in egg and flour made this recipe so much better! Yum!
★★★★★
Love it!
I made these as instructed, using the tomato paste and extra cheese on top, with the addition of ground beef. They were delicious. I wouldn’t want them to be any more spicy. I will be making these again. Thanks for the healthy recipe!
★★★★★
An excellent recipe! I’ve made this multiple times for both vegetarians and meat-eaters. Here are some notes that I’ve found whilst making them (not that anyone asked!):
– To anyone wanting to add meat, I would say: I used chicken chunks similar to the carnitas and they were far too large to be stuffed inside with the beans – I’d recommend using minced beef or cutting chicken into very very small pieces
– Also, I removed the tops of the peppers (I used the kind you find in british supermarkets, no idea what their ‘breed’ is) and de-seeded them before cooking, throwing away the tops, and stood them upright in the sauce
– The recipe works without a blender (thought my girlfriend had one but she didn’t) if you continue to fry the onions, tomatoes, garlic etc. and add additional water/broth
– In celsius it’s 220C/ 200C (fan) for the first part and 200C/180C (fan) when you’re baking the stuffed peppers
I’ll be checking out more of your recipes Sylvia, thanks 🙂
★★★★★
Thanks for your notes Matthew!