Pasilla peppers are a perfect pepper to stuff and bake. These stuffed poblano peppers, are mild and add a great flavor that bakes into the meat filling. Make this family meal in under 45 minutes.
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Summer is privately known to me as fresh pepper season. It is their peak growing season, and they have the best flavor! Pasilla peppers are one of my favorite types of pepper to cook with. You definitely can’t go wrong with this Mexican stuffed pepper recipe.
This easy ground beef stuffed pasilla pepper recipe (aka stuffed poblano recipe) is perfect for an easy dinner. If you love pepper flavor, try this hearty Unstuffed Pepper Soup recipe too!
Pasilla peppers are not overly spicy, so many people can enjoy them without being too overwhelming. These peppers provide a subtle warmth that enhances the dish’s overall flavor without making it excessively hot.
If you love Mexican food as much as we do, check out all of my great gluten free Mexican recipes.
What are pasilla peppers?
Pasilla peppers are the dried form of poblano peppers and are mild to medium spicy peppers on the large side. There is often confusion in stores, as I found out recently, where many stores label fresh poblano peppers as pasilla peppers.
🔑 Sandi says: Because of the labeling snafu at the store, I mistakenly titled this recipe stuffed pasilla peppers. It should really be called Stuffed Poblano Peppers.
The fresh produce section at our local Sprout Market is huge, and when I first saw these big fresh pasilla peppers, I knew they would make a great stuffed pepper dish. Pasilla peppers are also known as poblano peppers.
A lot of people wonder if poblano peppers are hot. These peppers have mild to moderate heat, but if you clean out the seeds before making this recipe, they won’t be too spicy. Pasilla peppers are mild and widely liked. I also picked up a bunch of spring onions and fresh cilantro to cook into the meat.
Stuffed poblanos are delicious for bringing to a potluck. Here is another family favorite to take to a potluck: Super Cheesy Zucchini Ribbon Lasagna Alfredo. I also have a lot of gluten-free beef recipes to explore if you need more recipe inspiration.
Allergen Information:
This easy, stuffed poblano recipe is gluten-free, egg-free, nut-free, soy-free, and oat-free.
Ingredient Notes:
For the full list of ingredients and amounts, please go to the recipe card below.
- Ground Meat – I used ground beef, but you can also use ground turkey or chicken.
- Onions or Leeks – Either will taste great in this recipe.
- Poblano Peppers – If you can’t find these, use green bell peppers.
- Canned Diced Tomatoes – You can also use Rotel if you like more spice.
How To Make Stuffed Pasilla Peppers:
Step 1: Brown lean ground beef with spring onions. Add seasonings. This meat mixture will cook for 10 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to break up the ground beef into small pieces while cooking.
TIP: Drain the fat out of the pan into a paper cup. (Don’t dump grease down the sink; it can adhere to pipes, causing blockages later on!) Once the fat cools, toss it into the trash.
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Step 2: Cut the peppers in half lengthwise. They make the perfect vessel to stuff with meat and cheese!
Step 3: Remove the peppers’ tops and seeds. In many peppers, a lot of the spiciness is in the seeds, so make sure you remove all of them. Add the peppers to a casserole dish.
Step 4: Add a can of diced tomatoes and continue to cook on medium heat. When the mixture cooks, stuff each pepper with the meat mixture.
Step 5: Top the stuffed pasilla peppers with corn and shredded cheese. Bake for 30 minutes at 375º F.
Note most shredded cheese brands should be gluten free, but it is important always to read the labels! Serve it with these Gluten Free Cornmeal Biscuits are a fun side for dipping. I also love these Fire-Roasted Shishito Peppers with garlic.
More Ways To Stuff Poblanos:
- Roasted chicken and cheddar cheese.
- Make it vegetarian, and stuff your pasilla peppers with Mexican rice and black beans.
- Go vegan and stuff your peppers with quinoa, kidney beans, tomato, and vegan cheese.
- Stuff and bake your pasilla peppers with chili and top with cheddar cheese.
If you love peppers, this Mini Sausage Stuffed Pepper appetizer recipe is fun to serve on game day!
Frequently Asked Questions:
These peppers can range from mild to moderate heat. To reduce the spice level, remove the seeds when you cut them in half.
This stuffed pasilla peppers recipe is very easy to make vegan by using vegan meat and cheese.
In the refrigerator, these stuffed pasilla peppers will keep fresh for up to 4 days. Be sure to store them in an airtight container.
More Pepper Recipes To Try:
- How to Cook Padron Peppers
- Gluten Free Stuffed Peppers (with bell peppers)
- Blistered Shishito Peppers with Garlic
- Gluten Free Hatch Green Chile Apple Pie (you will love the sweet, spicy combination of flavors!)
Love This Recipe?
If you made and enjoyed this recipe, I would be incredibly grateful if you could leave a comment below. This will help others know this recipe is delicious. Thank you!
Stuffed Pasilla Peppers
Ingredients
- 1 ½ pounds lean ground beef
- 3-4 in pasilla peppers tops and seeds removed, cut in half lengthwise
- ⅓ cup onions sliced thinly
- 1 clove garlic minced
- 14 ounce can corn drained
- 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes
- 1 cup shredded Mexican cheese
- 1 ½ teaspoons chili powder
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
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Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375º F.
- Spray non stick oil in a casserole dish.
- In a large pan, cook ground beef and spring onions.
- Cook until meat is cooked thoroughly.
- Season with salt, chili powder, cumin, and pepper.
- Add diced tomatoes and simmer.
- Place pasilla peppers in casserole dish.
- Fill each pepper with meat mixture.
- Top with corn and Mexican cheese.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Top with fresh cilantro.
- *optional sour cream
Notes
- You can use any ground meat including beef, turkey, chicken, pork, or even vegan meat!
- Although shredded cheese is usually gluten free, it is good to always check the label.
SPECIAL NOTE
Please know that every gluten free flour blend has a different starch to grain ratio. If you use a blend I didn’t test, my rule of thumb is to add more flour if your dough or batter is wet and add more liquid if the dough or batter is too dry!
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer
Nutritional information is an estimate provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the actual nutritional information with the products and brands you are using with your preferred nutritional calculator.
This post was updated from an older June 2017 with more recipe details and a correction due to this pepper being mislabeled in the grocery store.
Pasilla peppers are not poblanos OR anchos (dried ripe poblanos).
Pasilla peppers (or, “little raisin”) are dried ripe chilaca peppers.
Yeah, the store messed up the sign for sure. I didn’t realize at the time and so I really do need to update this soon to correct it. Thank you so much.
Do be precise: chile pasilla is the dried form of fresh chile chilaca chile poblano (which you used here) is the fresh form of dried chile ancho.
The peppers you used in this recipe are not pasilla, they are poblanos. I know, I know – I saw the previous posts about the confusion! Often the grocery stores in the US misname the chilies. It has lots of information about chiles, both dried (like pasilla chiles) and fresh chiles (like poblano chiles).
Your recipe was fabulous! I loved the ease of it and how the flavors melded together. I’m giving the recipe to my sister, who loves Mexican food. Thank you for sharing!
Yeah, I did mess up on the peppers. I plan to rework this old article soon and fix that. Thank you so much for the link and help.
I used fresh pasilla peppers and it tuned out great. Both peppers would work.
Really nice low carb and sugar entree.
I am glad you liked it Glenn. Thank you for coming back to let me know :-).
Recipe sounds very good however the photo you show of the peppers are poblano not pasilla. Pasilla peppers are long and skinnier than a poblano. That’s why the peppers you used stuff so nicely because they are a wider pepper – a poblano.
Hi, at our local farm stand they had beautiful pasilla peppers and although we had never eaten them before, I bought a couple for us to try. They look similar to Anaheims and Poblanos, so why not? I found your recipe and tied it out, although I made it without meat. I used pinto beans instead. This was delicious. A new favorite recipe for us. Thanks for the recipe.
Hi Allyn, I am so glad this recipe worked well for you. I need to try it your way with pinto beans next 🙂 Thank you so much for taking the time to write.
I love Tiburon peppers but I haven’t seen them in the market yet. Thanks for letting me know these are around 🙂