These stuffed poblano peppers are the ultimate healthy dinner! They’re fresh and light, easy to make, and filled with bold, zesty flavor.

This stuffed poblano peppers recipe might be my new favorite summertime dinner. It has all the best parts of stuffed bell peppers – a fresh, flavorful filling, fun garnishes, and juicy roasted peppers – but the poblanos add an extra layer of heat. The whole thing is super fresh, super flavorful, and really darn fun to eat.

If you’ve never cooked with poblano peppers before, they’re a chili pepper with a mild to medium heat level. On the Scoville scale, which measures how spicy peppers are, they range from 1,000 to 2,000 Scoville heat units. For context, bell peppers score 0, while jalapeños can range anywhere from 2,500 to 8,000. In my experience, poblano peppers are typically mild, but if you’re sensitive to spice, choose them with caution. Look for larger poblano peppers (they’re typically less spicy) or use regular bell peppers in this recipe.

Stuffed Poblano Peppers

This stuffed poblano peppers recipe is a wonderful light summer dinner! If you can’t find poblanos, bell peppers would also work here.

• Prep Time: 20 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins
• Total Time: 40 mins

Ingredients

• 4 medium poblano peppers
• Extra-virgin olive oil, for drizzling
• 1/3 cup diced red onion or chopped scallions
• 1 heaping cup cauliflower florets, broken into small pieces
• 1/2 cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon coriander
• ½ teaspoon oregano
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 cup cooked black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 cup cooked white or brown rice
• 3 cups fresh spinach
• 2 tablespoons lime juice, plus wedges for serving
• ¼ cup tomatillo salsa, store bought or this recipe
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• optional: Monterey Jack cheese, for topping (see note)

Serve with:

1. avocado slices
2. tomatillo salsa
3. green chile cashew cream, or cotija or feta cheese

Instructions

• Preheat the oven to 400°F and line a baking sheet with parchment pepper.
• Slice the peppers in half and remove the seeds and ribbing. Place on the baking sheet, drizzle with olive oil and pinches of salt and pepper, and roast cut side up for 15 minutes.
• In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium heat. Add the onion, cauliflower, red pepper, cumin, coriander, oregano, garlic, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and several grinds of black pepper. Cook until the onion is soft and the cauliflower is lightly browned, about 5 to 8 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and stir in the black beans, rice, spinach, lime juice and tomatillo salsa. Taste and adjust seasonings.
• Scoop the filling into the peppers and bake for 15 minutes.
• Serve with avocado slices, cilantro, tomatillo salsa, green chile cashew cream and lime slices on the side.