Grilled Chorizo-Stuffed Poblano Peppers Recipe

Grilled peppers get an upgrade with homemade chorizo, veggies, and cheese.

Updated August 05, 2022

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Why It Works

Mexican crema keeps the stuffing moist.
Poblano peppers are flavorful and fruity with just a mild heat.

Making your own fresh Mexican chorizo is a delicious adventure that yields several pounds of sausage. With three pounds on hand, the game now is finding uses for all that sausage. Tacos are an obvious choice, but I was looking for something more ambitious and creative, so I decided to try these stuffed poblano peppers.

It's best to precook the meat before stuffing it into a pepper, so I started by sautéing onions, garlic, and chorizo in a skillet. To keep this mixture moist during the forthcoming second cook, I combined it with Mexican crema and rice along with tomatoes, cilantro, and Cotija cheese. I spooned the mixture into halved poblanos—whose mild spicy and fruity flavor easily makes them my favorite large peppers to stuff—topped them with pepper jack, and grilled over indirect heat until the cheese melted and the peppers softened.

These stuffed poblanos really build upon the awesomeness of the chorizo. The filling was a complex mixture that spread across a gamut of flavors and textures: fresh, tangy, creamy, spicy, cheesy, meaty, and more. The poblanos were instrumental in grounding all of these flavors, providing a base for the stuffing both structurally and flavor-wise.

Between the stuffed peppers and some links I've already downed, I'm about one-third of the way through my chorizo stockpile. Any suggestions for the other two-thirds?

March 2012

Recipe Details

Grilled Chorizo-Stuffed Poblano Peppers Recipe

Prep 15 mins

Cook 30 mins

Active 25 mins

Total 45 mins

Serves 4 servings

Ingredients

1 tablespoon (15ml) olive oil
1 small onion (7 ounces; 200g), minced
4 medium cloves garlic (20g), minced
2/3 pound (300g) raw Mexican chorizo, removed from casings
1 1/2 cups (260g) cooked white rice
2 medium roma tomatoes (220g), seeded and diced
1/3 cup (15g) finely chopped fresh cilantro
1/3 cup (75g) Mexican crema, or sour cream
1/4 cup (25g) grated Cotija cheese
Kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
4 large poblano peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
1 cup (110g) shredded pepper jack cheese

Directions

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering. Add onion and sauté until lightly browned, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add chorizo, breaking sausage into small pieces with a wooden spoon, and cook until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Transfer mixture to a large bowl.
Add rice, tomatoes, crema, cilantro, and Cotija cheese to bowl with meat mixture and mix until combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
Spoon mixture into cavities of split poblanos and top with pepper jack cheese.
Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and arrange the coals on one side of the charcoal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Alternatively, set half the burners on a gas grill to medium-high heat, cover, and preheat for 10 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate.
Place poblanos on cool side of grill, cover, and cook until cheese has melted and poblanos have softened, about 20-30 minutes. Remove from grill and serve.

Special Equipment

Grill

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
555	Calories
40g	Fat
26g	Carbs
24g	Protein

Nutrition Facts
Servings: 4
Amount per serving
Calories	555
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 40g	51%
Saturated Fat 18g	90%
Cholesterol 95mg	32%
Sodium 1160mg	50%
Total Carbohydrate 26g	9%
Dietary Fiber 2g	7%
Total Sugars 4g
Protein 24g
Vitamin C 58mg	290%
Calcium 331mg	25%
Iron 2mg	12%
Potassium 507mg	11%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.