This chile relleno casserole takes inspiration from one of my favorite Mexican restaurant dishes. It's stacked with cheesy layers and roasted poblano peppers. And it's a total crowd pleaser for anyone who loves south of the border flavors!
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Keyword Casserole, Cheese, Comfort Food, Feeds a Crowd, Jack Cheese, Mozzarella Cheese, Poblano Peppers
Prep Time 1 hourhour
Cook Time 30 minutesminutes
Resting Time 20 minutesminutes
Servings 6
Ingredients
Ranchero Sauce
½tbspneutral oilcanola, vegetable, or light olive oil
½largeonionroughly diced
1mediumred bell pepperroughly chopped
1½tspDiamond Crystal kosher salt
1tbspchili powder
½tbspsmoked Spanish paprika
½tbspground cumin
1tspancho chili powder
1tspgranulated garlic
½cupchicken stock
114.5 oz candiced tomatoes
½tspapple cider vinegar
Chile Relleno Casserole
8largepoblano peppers
6ozMonterey Jack cheesefull fat, block cheese cut into 8 even-ish slices
6 ozshredded mozzarella cheesewhole milk, full fat
9taco-sized flour tortillas3 whole and 6 cut in half; corn tortillas will work too.
1batchranchero saucesee above
Instructions
Place an oven rack in the top most placement in your oven. Turn the broiler on high. Place the poblano peppers on a half sheet pan and place the pan under the broiler. Let the poblano peppers roast until they are fully charred on all sides. Turn them every 5-minutes or so to get an even char. If some peppers char faster than the others, take them out of the oven first. Place charred peppers in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Cool slightly.
Add the olive oil to a medium pot and heat it over medium heat. Add the onion, red bell pepper, and salt. Cook for about 5 minutes until the vegetables have softened and the onion turns translucent.Add the garlic, chili powder, paprika, cumin, ancho chili powder, and garlic powder to the pot. Cook for a minute to lightly cook the garlic and toast the spices.Add the chicken stock and diced tomatoes. Bring to a heavy simmer and cook uncovered for about 15 minutes.Once cooked, blend the sauce with an immersion blender until smooth. If you don't have an immersion blender, you can use a stand blender, just be careful to keep the lid open a little to allow steam to escape. Use a kitchen towel over the slightly opened lid to keep the sauce from spraying everywhere. Really, just get an immersion blender.Once blended, stir in the apple cider vinegar.
Once your poblano peppers are cool enough to touch, remove as much skin as you can. This should be easy, but if you have a few charred spots left on the pepper, it will add a little extra flavor to the dish.Remove the seeds by pulling the stem gently from the top and removing the very crown of the pepper. Most of the seeds should come along for the ride. Use a small spoon to scoop the seeds that are left. Again, you don't need to be perfect here.Once the peppers are peeled and seeded, stuff each one with a slice of Monterey Jack cheese.
Preheat your oven to 375F and grease an 8x8 baking dish with non-stick spray (or lightly coat with oil) and start layering.First add about ½ cup of sauce to the bottom of the pan. Then layer on three tortillas by laying two of the halved tortillas, straight-side out/curved side in, around the perimeter of the pan. Add one whole tortilla to fill out the middle.Add a layer of 4 stuffed peppers, another layer of sauce, and ⅓ of the mozzarella cheese. Then do it again. The final layer should be a layer of tortillas, sauce, and cheese.
Cover the casserole with foil and bake for 25 minutes. Then remove the foil and bake uncovered for another 10.Then, this is the hard part, wait another 20 minutes before cutting into the casserole. It will cut better after a bit of a rest. Garnish with sour cream and salsa, if you'd like, but it's such a flavorful casserole, you don't really need it.