Cheesy Stuffed Poblano Peppers Recipe

For these incredibly tasty stuffed poblano peppers, we fill the peppers with Southwestern spiced chicken, rice, and cheese, then bake them in the oven until tender. Easy, flavorful, and a meal in one!

When you are given a veggie with a nice big cavity in the middle, the obvious thing to do is stuff it! This recipe does just that, layering heavily spiced ground chicken, cheese, and fluffy rice into each pepper before baking them until the peppers soften and the cheese becomes irresistibly melty.

Adam and I have become utterly obsessed with these stuffed poblanos. They’re a perfect standalone dinner (thanks to the rice, they are a meal in one). Beyond that, we often repurpose the leftovers into quick and delicious tacos, chopping the filled peppers and tucking them into warm tortillas. For more inspiration, explore our sausage stuffed bell peppers or cheese stuffed zucchini!

Key Ingredients

• Poblano Peppers: Poblano peppers are dark green, glossy peppers usually sold near the bell peppers. They aren’t hot but can have a bit more heat than your typical sweet pepper. If you are sensitive to spice, substitute green bell peppers in our recipe below.
• Ground Chicken: I like a mix of ground breast and ground chicken thighs, so I buy ground chicken with at least 7% fat. Any less, and the chicken becomes too dry. Feel free to substitute ground turkey, beef, or pork.
• Rice: I stir 1 ½ cups of cooked rice into the filling, which makes leftover rice perfect for this dish. You can substitute cooked quinoa or leave it out for a low-carb option. You will have slightly less filling, so consider increasing the ground chicken (about 1/2 pound) or filling your peppers a little less than what’s shown in our photos.
• Onion, Garlic, and Spices: We don’t hold back on flavor with the filling and combine sauteed onion and garlic with a generous amount of chili powder, paprika (sweet, not smoked), cumin, and oregano. The spices seem like a lot at first, but once we stir in some sour cream and fresh lime, everything pops and makes sense.
• Corn: You can use raw corn kernels or frozen corn for this. I usually go for frozen corn since it’s less prep.
• Lime: Fresh lime juice brings this whole dish together. So, you’ll add a good amount to the filling before stuffing it into the poblano peppers. Then, once baked, you’ll want to serve the stuffed peppers with a few lime wedges.
• Sour Cream: We don’t want a dry, crumbly filling, so to bring it all together, you’ll stir sour cream into the spiced chicken. It makes all the difference.
• Cheese: You can use any melty mild cheese. Monterey Jack, cheddar, or my favorite, Oaxaca cheese, are all great options. If you see a smoked version of any of those, it would be great!

How to Make Stuffed Poblano Peppers

You are looking at three easy steps for this stuffed poblano peppers recipe: (1) Par-bake the peppers and remove seeds, (2) Make the chicken filling, and (3) Fill and bake the peppers.

So that the peppers turn out tender in the end, you’ll want to par-bake them for about 30 minutes. As they bake, you can make the filling and simply set it aside until your peppers are ready to stuff.

You have two options for preparing the peppers. First, you can partially roast them to soften them a little, let them cool a bit, and then make a slit down the middle of one side in order to remove the seeds. I prefer this, but it adds a little extra cooling time. The photo below shows how I do this (basically, I make the slit then gently open the peppers enough to get my spoon in there and scrape out the seeds).

Second, you can slice each pepper in half lengthwise before partially baking them. This will mean you may need a second baking dish, as all the pepper halves will not fit into one. Halving the peppers is easier, but because of the oblong shape of poblanos, you may have some trouble stuffing them later on.

Once you stuff the peppers, you’ll top them with cheese and bake for another 25 minutes, then you can enjoy!