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Stuffed Poblano Peppers
This recipe includes some meat and some vegetarian stuffed peppers so it’s perfect if you need a flexible meal that accommodates both appetites. If you organize your workstation and the order in which you do things, it is not hard to include both in your plan. To make them all meat-filled, double the ground beef, don’t reserve any of the vegetables or divide the taco seasoning below.
For the roasted green chilies, I used a lighter green pepper than the poblano. My store didn’t have them labeled so I just grabbed two and considered it an adventure. You could use banana peppers, bell peppers, or whatever you like.
The roasted peppers, butternut squash and assembling the peppers in the dish can be done ahead. Store the casserole dishes covered in the fridge until ready to bake. Set the dishes on the counter to take the chill off of them while you preheat the oven. It may need to bake for a few extra minutes. That gives you time to change your clothes after work, set the table, and make a salad.
The leftover butternut squash can be used in my Breakfast Casserole or in a soup. Or freeze for the next time you want to make stuffed peppers. In addition, the stuffing mixture can be frozen. Just thaw, stuff your peppers and continue with the recipe as below.
Ingredients
2 large green peppers, roasted and chopped
8 large poblano peppers, divided, not roasted (these will be stuffed)
1 pound of ground beef
2 medium onions, diced, about 2 cups
1 yellow bell pepper, diced, about 1 cup
2 stalks of celery, diced, about ½ cup or so
2 cups diced and roasted butternut squash, divided
4 teaspoons taco seasoning, divided
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Coconut oil
2 16-ounce jars of salsa, divided
Avocado, for garnish
Cilantro, for garnish
Lime wedges, for garnish
Directions
Before you begin, roast the lighter green peppers per my roasted pepper recipe, chop them and set them aside. (Basically, stick them in a really hot oven until they start to char and annoy your smoke detector. Cover them in a bowl for 30 minutes to steam the skins loose and peel the skins. Then chop.)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Peel and dice the butternut squash and place it in a casserole dish. You can cook the entire squash here to save yourself time. This recipe calls for 2 cups so there will be some leftover, but there is no reason not to cook the entire squash so you can use it in other dishes later.
Toss the squash in melted coconut oil until well coated, about 2-3 tablespoons, and give it a sprinkle with salt and pepper. Cover the squash and bake for 30-40 minutes until the squash is tender giving it a stir about halfway through.
Prepare the peppers:
You may want to wear gloves for this part. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds. Remove the seed bundle near the top of the pepper and shake out the loose seeds. Unless you like the extra heat, then keep the loose seeds in the pepper and just remove the tough bundle at the top of the pepper.
Note: I cut the tops off of a few of my peppers to make it easier to cut them in half. Then I trimmed the pepper parts from around the stem and used those in the vegetable filling. It adds extra heat so omit if you like.
For both fillings:
In a deep saute pan over medium heat, cook the onion, bell pepper, celery, and any extra poblano pepper bits in olive oil with a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Remove half the vegetables to a bowl and set aside for a moment.
To the original pan, add the ground beef, 2 teaspoons of the taco seasoning and an additional pinch of salt and pepper. Cook until the meat is no longer pink. Stir in about ½ cup of the butternut squash. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside.
In a new saute pan, add some olive oil, the reserved vegetables, the rest of the butternut squash, the rest of the taco seasoning, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Stir until well combined. Remove the pan from the heat.
You’ll need two baking dishes, each big enough to hold half the peppers with their filling.
Drizzle some olive oil in the bottom of each dish. Spoon some of the salsa on the bottom of each dish.
Stuff about half of the peppers with the ground beef mixture and place in one baking dish. Spoon the remaining meat stuffing, if any, over and around the peppers.
Stuff the other half of the peppers with the vegetable mixture and place in the other baking dish. Again, spoon the remaining filling on top of the peppers or around them.
When all of the peppers are stuffed, spoon the remaining salsa over the top of both dishes, dividing it equally among the two baking dishes. Evenly divide the green chilies between the dishes as well.
Cover each dish and bake for 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven.
Uncover and bake for an additional 20 minutes, increasing the heat to 400, until the poblano peppers begin to look roasted around the edges.
Serve with a garnish of cilantro, avocado and a squeeze of lime.
