Baked Cheesy Chicken Chile Rellenos
Remember those chickens we roasted? I'm still finding ways to use up the meat! I love chile rellenos, but they're really heavy and kind of a pain in the butt to make at home – so I decided to try an easy, at-home version.
It took a couple of tries to get it right but these are SO good!
Baked Cheesy Chicken Chile Rellenos
4 Poblano peppers
2 tbsp oil
1 cup cooked, shredded chicken
2 cups shredded cheddar or jack cheese (divided)
hot sauce to taste
1 1/4 cup corn meal (divided)
1 egg
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp black pepper
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 tsp cayenne (more or less to taste)
Turn your broiler on as high as it will go and rub the peppers with 1 tbsp of the oil. Set them on the rack of your oven, under the broiler, and let them blacken. Watch them closely and turn them frequently. When the skin is all black and crackly, take them out and set them in a bowl on the counter, and cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap. Let them sit for about 30 minutes to steam and cool.
When they're cool enough to touch, peel most of the blackened skin off and set the peppers aside.
Filling: Combine the cornmeal with the spices and mix until well blended. In a separate bowl, combine the chicken, 1 cup of cheese, egg, hot sauce, and 1 tablespoon of the seasoned cornmeal mixture. (You can add chopped onions and jalapenos at this point but I was lazy.)
Gently stuff the filling into the roasted peppers, mash it in there, but try not to rip or pierce the peppers. When they're stuffed, rub the outside of the peppers with a little of the remaining oil and then coat them in the seasoned cornmeal. Lay them on a baking rack set on a cookie sheet and bake them at 400 for about 10 minutes. Cover them with the remaining cup of cheese and bake for another 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted.
Take them out of the oven and let them sit 5-10 minutes before you eat them, they'll be hot-pocket-hot inside if you try them right out of the oven!
*I only had 3 peppers, so I had a lot of filling left over – I made it into a patty, coated it in the cornmeal, and baked it beside the peppers – it was very good!
