Low Carb Chili Rellenos

One of my favorite dishes to get at our local Mexican restaurants is their Chili Rellenos. These mildly spiced peppers stuffed with gooey cheese then fried are the things my food dreams are made of.

I mean come on now, how can you go wrong when you stuff anything with cheese and fry it? You can’t, plain and simple.

So I knew I wanted to try making these at home.  This was only my first time trying my hand at them and there was that whole silly learning curb that I tripped over a time or two, but even with the few trips we loved them and they were an amazing lunch.

Chili Rellenos is a little more labor-intensive than most of my other recipes, so just be aware. Even though there are a few extra steps to making them they are so worth it!

What are Chili Rellenos?

Chili Rellenos, simply translates to “stuffed chili”, according to sources I’ve read around the internet. As you may already know peppers come in a wide variety of shapes and sizes so choosing the right pepper for this recipe is key.

Not just any chili pepper will do. The traditional recipes are made with whole poblano peppers, which are some of my favorites and in my opinion one of the most delicious peppers.

If you are unsure of what poblano peppers are, then some things that help you identify them are their beautiful dark green color and shape.

They usually longer and larger than jalapeno peppers and typically are able to stand up on their ends like bell peppers. 

As far as their taste, in my opinion,  they are like a cross between a jalapeño and bell pepper. 

Poblanos have an amazing flavor and a spice level that is milder than other varieties of chilies. If you want to remove most of their heat I suggest you remove all of the seeds and membranes in the pepper.

Stuffing the Poblano Peppers

Once you have your peppers cleaned and prepper you’ll focus now on the filling that you will stuff your peppers with. 

When I stuffed my poblano peppers I like to use Monterrey Jack cheese because it is easily found at our local supermarket and I enjoy the way it melts inside the peppers.

However, if you don’t enjoy Monterrey Jack,  you could choose any cheese you prefer when making these for your family.

If you are wanting to keep it more traditional I recommend you use a type of Mexican white cheese such as queso asadero. 

Once you have your peppers and the cheese picked out, the next important part of the recipe will be making a batter and cooking the peppers.

The low carb batter and the cooking process is important because it is what will lend to that crispy out layer around these Chili Rellenos that we all know and love. 

Batter up!

When I started researching Chili Rellenos, I found many varieties out there with lots of batter recipes to use.

But to my dismay, none of these recipes was remotely low carb. Meaning all of the recipes used high carb flours in the batter.

Thankfully, as I studied more of these recipes and the battering process I learned that the flour is mostly to help the egg batter stick to the peppers when you fry them.

Since our family does low carb and THM I don’t use regular flour I decided to replace it with my favorite brand of oat fiber and to my joy, it worked great.

Preparing the Chili Rellenos

As I’ve mentioned in this post earlier this recipe has a few steps, but none of those said steps are overly hard. It is more time consuming than hard.

Here is the Steps Included:

• Blister or Blacken your Poblano Peppers
• Steam and remove the skins and seeds
• Stuff your Poblanos with cheese
• Prepare your batter and dip each pepper
• Fry each pepper until golden brown on both sides

You can find the details for each of these steps lined out in order below on the recipe card.

When I started this recipe isn’t hard, I meant it. However, if you are not used to working with this type of recipe it might some practice to get it just right.

I’ll admit that it took me a few peppers to get it just right but by the end of the batch I felt more confident and I know that I’ll feel even more confident the next time I make them.

Yes, even with the extra time it takes to make this recipe there will definitely be a next time. Many more times I’m sure! Because they certainly didn’t disappoint in flavor.

So you know what they say, practice makes perfect and I can’t wait to get plenty of “practice” in!

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Yield: 6 Servings

Low Carb Chili Rellenos, Gluten Free & THM

Prep Time: 40 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Tender and flavorful peppers stuffed full of cheesy goodness then battered and fried to perfection. A great way to have a low carb version of a restaurant favorite.

Print

Ingredients

• 6 medium Poblano Peppers
• 3 cups of Monterrey Jack Cheese, shredded or cubed
• 4 large eggs
• pinch of salt
• 2 Tbsp Oat Fiber
• Peanut Oil for Frying
• Note: if you have a nut allergy use your choice of frying oil.

Instructions

1. To prepare your poblano pepper the first step is to place them on a baking sheet and broil them on high until the skins begin to get nice and charred. The skins will blister and become black.
2. It is important to flip them over carefully to do the same to the opposite side.
3. Once the peppers are blackened on both sides place them in a big bowl and cover it with a plate or lid.
4. Let the peppers sit and steam for about 10 minutes. This will help the skins peel more easily.
5. After the ten minutes take peppers out and gently remove the black skins from both sides of the peppers.
6. Next, make a cut into one side of the pepper but be careful not to cut through both sides. This cut is for removing the seeds if you want and for stuffing the cheese into.
7. Once you have all your peppers cleaned out, you can begin carefully stuffing your cheese into your openings in your peppers. Stuff the peppers generously but not too much or they will not close around the cheese.
8. Then once all the peppers are stuffed, prepare your batter by separating 4 room temperature eggs and add the egg whites to a mixing bowl.
9. Beat the egg whites until they reach stiff peaks. When they are stiff lower the mixer speed to the lowest setting and add in the egg yolks and a pinch or two of salt. Mix well.
10. At this point add in the oat fiber to the egg mixture and combine well.
11. Now you are ready to prepare your skillet and oil for cooking. So add about 1/2 inch of oil to a frying pan and heat the oil on medium-high. It needs to be really hot before you add your peppers. Tip: You can test your oil by dropping a small amount of the batter into the oil and if it starts cooking immediately then it is ready to go.
12. When you are ready to fry, carefully pick up your stuffed poblano and dip it into the egg batter and cover completely.
13. Carefully place the battered pepper into the hot oil and cook the chili until it is nice and brown on once side then slowly turn it over to cook on the other side.
14. After the pepper has browned on both sides remove the cooked pepper from the oil, drain well on a paper towel. Continue this process until all peppers are cooked.
15. If you are cooking several before serving, I recommend placing the cooked peppers on a baking sheet and placing them in the oven at 200 degrees until you are ready to serve.

Nutrition Information

Yield

6

Serving Size

1
Amount Per ServingCalories 364Total Fat 29gSaturated Fat 13gTrans Fat 1gUnsaturated Fat 14gCholesterol 180mgSodium 453mgCarbohydrates 7gNet Carbohydrates 5gFiber 2gSugar 2gProtein 19g

I am not a nutritionist. If you have strict dietary needs I always recommend using an online nutrition calculator to calculate your totals using your exact brands you're using in this recipe as values may vary per brand.

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Keri Bucci

I am a southern girl through and through that loves to laugh, cook, read and spend time with family. My passions outside of home schooling my son are ministering to those in need and creating art in the kitchen! Every day is an adventure in our little house and I wouldn’t trade it or the chance to share here with you for anything!