GrillinFools
We take poblano peppers and carve them into boats and fill them with Zatarain’s Andouille Smoked Sausage, cooked rice, purple onion and smoke the peppers in a kamado grill until soft. Then we finish the poblanos with some melted cheese and serve this subtly spicy, smoky, cheesy dish that can be an appetizer, side or main course. Indeed, stuffed poblano peppers are so simple to make and at the same time, absolutely packed with flavor. These make for an ideal tailgating or homegating recipe since they can also be finger food
We have a few other stuffed pepper recipes on this website. For instance, if you care for a sweeter pepper, give our stuffed bell pepper recipe a go. And this stuffed pepper recipe may be vintage, but it it still fantastic.
Stuffed Poblano Peppers Ingredients
- 14 ounces Zatarain’s Andouille Smoked Sausage
- 5-6 poblano peppers
- 2 cups cooked rice (we used Zatarain’s Dirty Rice)
- 1/2 purple onion, rough chopped
- 1 cup shredded cheese
- Creole seasoning
- 1/4 cup cilantro
Other equipment needed:
- 1 oven safe skillet
First, spark up the grill and set the cooker for two zone or indirect grilling.
This means we have a hot side and a cool side. In a charcoal grill, as we used in this recipe, we have coals and smoke wood (oak) on one side and no direct heat on the other.
Incidentally, for a gas grill, turn on a burner on one side to low to medium low and leave the rest of the burners off.
Target temp inside the grill is 275F (+/- 25F)
Chop the Zatarain’s Andouille Smoked Sausage:
Place the oven safe skillet over the hot side of the grill and wait for the pan to get north of 300F and pour in the sausage:
Brown the sausage, stirring occasionally. Remove the andouille from the heat once it is cooked through and slightly browned.
Set the skillet to the side and allow to cool.
While the sausage cools, prepare the poblanos.
Carve the poblanos into boats, leaving the stem still attached:
Also, pull that seed cluster out of the poblano and any white flesh:
Poblanos ready for stuffing:
Notice that the two peppers on the right are much bigger than the other three. More on that in a minute.
Next spoon two heaping tablespoons of rice into the smaller peppers and up to four tablespoons for the two larger poblanos:
Then, scoop the cooled sausage over the rice:
Afterward, add a half teaspoon of fresh chopped purple onion:
How to Make Stuffed Poblano Peppers
Carve the fresh poblanos into boats and stuff with rice, sausage and red onion. Set up the grill for two zone or indirect grilling with hot coals on one side and no direct heat on the other. Target temperature inside the grill is 275F (+/- 25F). Then, place the stuffed poblanos on the side of the grill with no direct heat and close the lid. After 45-60 minutes, the peppers will be ready to serve. Afterward, top each poblano with a pinch of cheese and close the lid for a couple minutes to melt that cheese. Finally, carefully remove the stuffed poblano peppers from the grill, dust with creole seasoning and sprinkle with cilantro.
Back to the step by step, pic by pic, foolproof grilling instructions.
Place the two bigger peppers on the cooler side of the grill:
Obviously, The two bigger stuffed poblano peppers will take longer to cook than the three smaller ones so they go on first.
Close the lid on the two peppers and allow the heat soften the poblano and the smoke to infuse.
After about 10 minutes, add the other three stuffed poblanos:
It takes between 45 minutes to an hour to soften the peppers and infuse their stuffing with some sultry smoke.
When the peppers are soft, they will wrinkle quite a bit:
Time to Top with Cheese
Top each pepper with a hearty pinch of shredded cheese:
Close the lid and allow the cheese to melt which should only take a couple minutes.
Once the cheese melts our stuffed poblano peppers are ready:
When the poblanos are soft and the cheese is melted, remove the peppers from the grill.
Be very careful when using tongs to remove these. The peppers are very soft and a little slippery.
Personally, I donned cotton butchers gloves and topped them with nitrile gloves.
Thus I was allowed to pick up each stuffed poblano pepper with my hands without burning my fingers.
By using two hands, I kept the peppers from slipping or tearing.
Plating the Poblanos
I placed my peppers on a mound of red beans and rice and some micro-greens (both optional):
Furthermore, make sure to give the poblanos a dusting of creole seasoning and garnish with some rough chopped fresh cilantro:
What to Serve with Stuffed Poblano Peppers
There are a lot of options because stuffed poblano peppers can be a main course, side or even appetizer. As a main course, we like a big pile of red beans and rice. As a side, tacos or enchiladas finish the meal. Thus, as an appetizer they are good on their own. Additionally, since they can be eaten with fingers, they make for a great tailgating or homegating recipe.
Incidentally, slice them all in half to feed more people from this one recipe:
Stuffed Poblano Pepper Recap:
This is a beautifully balanced flavor profile. The spiciness of the peppers and the andouille is countered wonderfully by the rice and the cheese. These weren’t just good, they were phenomenal. In fact, my camera man, who ate a bunch of these the day we shot this recipe, told me he was cooking that recipe again the day I wrote this one up for the website. There weren’t that many days in between those two occurrences.
Additionally, this sort of looks like a sponsored post, but it isn’t. See, Zatarain’s paid me to do this recipe on Instagram, but it was so good, I had to document it for all of you with the step-by-step, picture-by-picture, foolproof instructions
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them below or send me an email.
And if you could leave us a great review that would be most appreciated!
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Recipe Card:
Stuffed Poblano Peppers
Equipment
- 1 Oven safe skillet
Ingredients
- 14 ounces Zatarain's Andouille Smoked Sausage Chopped
- 5-6 Poblano peppers
- 2 cups Rice Cooked
- ½ Red onion Chopped
- 1 cup Shredded cheese
- Creole seasoning
- ¼ cup Cilantro Rough chopped
Instructions
- Prepare the grill for two zone or indirect grilling with heat/coals on one side of the cooker and no direct heat on the other side. Place the oven safe skillet on the side of the grill with the direct heat and place chopped sausage into the pan. Cook the sausage, stirring occasionally, until it is lightly browned. Once the sausage has browned, remove from heat and allow to cool.
- Carve off the tops of the poblano peppers, leaving the stem in the back, to create pepper boats. Place between 2-4 tablespoons of cooked rice in the bottoms of the poblanos and then top with 2-4 tablespoons of the browned andouille sausage. Sprinkle the tops of each stuffed poblano with a half teaspoon of red onion.
- Place any stuffed poblano peppers that are significantly bigger than the others on the side of the grill with no heat and drop in a chunk of smoke wood on the coals (we used oak). Close the lid for 10 minutes and then add the rest of the stuffed peppers and close the lid again. Allow the peppers to cook for 45-60 minutes until the peppers are soft.
- Once the peppers have softened, add a healthy pinch of shredded cheese to the top of each stuffed pepper and close the lid again for 2-4 minutes until the cheese is melted.
- Finally, carefully remove the stuffed peppers from the grill, and serve. Slice each one in half to be able to feed more people.
Video
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