New Mexico Style Chile Rellenos | Erica Robbin
That cheesy middle, the New Mexico flavor of roasted chile, so yummy!
I love chile, especially the heat and flavor of it. This recipe is a traditional New Mexico style dish in which roasted green chiles are stuffed with cheese, coated with a batter and fried to a medium crunch, and smothered in red chile.
Chiles that come from Hatch, New Mexico are exceptionally wonderful. They are grown under prime conditions. The flavor and heat is pretty consistent compared to other places you might get them from. Definitely better than the watery generics you might find in a can. “Big Jim” is the typical type of chile you would use. This type of chile was introduced in the 1970s by New Mexico State university and are great for rellenos because of their large size.
If you are worried about cheese leaking out when you fry them, have no fear. This type of coating and method actually helps prevent that and any cheese that escapes out will get fried along with the coating, just like a cheese crisp cracker.
This recipe is made from Anaheims grown from my garden. Mine were not really hot but the flavor was pretty good.
Credit: ericarobbin.com
Ingredients
- NEW MEXICO STYLE CHILE RELLENOS:
- 8-16 roasted green chiles, Big Jim is best, but Anaheim and poblanos work well too
- 6 – 8 ounces blocked cheese such as colby jack, cheddar jack, or mild/medium cheddar, cut into length-wise pieces to fit into each chile
- 1/2 – 3/4 cup all-purpose flour, divided, cake flour is excellent to use if you have it, crust puffs up better
- 1/4 – 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 – 2 eggs, separated, with egg whites beaten to a light foam, then stir in yolks
- Vegetable oil for frying
Directions
- NEW MEXICO STYLE CHILE RELLENOS:
- Cut a small sliver into side of chile, slide in cheese.
- Coat each stuffed chile with flour.
- Combine egg mixture with 1/2 cup flour and salt.
- Dip each chile into batter.
- Fry until golden on each side, drain on paper towel.
- Drizzle red chile over top (see my New Mexico Style Red Chile recipe) and enjoy!
ASSEMBLY:
What is your favorite Mexican-style dish?
4 responses to “New Mexico Style Chile Rellenos”
I would not use red sauce with this. Green Chile is so unique it stands on its own anything less is … less.
Honestly, either red or green works. Here in NM, lots of people mix and it’s called Christmas 🙂
Green is superb as well! Some days it is a strong craving for just green alone, sometimes a mix as we call “Christmas style.” So yummy! Glad you can appreciate the unique flavor, I especially love green on green chile cheese crisp, super delicious!
[…] majority of restaurant-style chile rellenos are overly salted and greasy, with the same saturated fat content as 27 slices of bacon. Enchilada […]