Vegan Chile Relleno with Avocado Crema

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Chile rellenos were my favorite thing to order when at a Mexican restaurant and I would use it as a gauge to determine how good the place is. One time in Charlotte, NC I ordered a chile relleno and red chile enchiladas and they gave me a bell pepper laid on a mound of meat and covered in queso with an enchilada with MARINARA SAUCE ON IT! When I questioned the waitress about it, she acted like I was the odd one for not wanting marinara sauce on my enchiladas. Needless to say, I never ate there again.

I have made these before going vegan and they can be tricky with the egg batter. I have seen vegan recipes that use aquafaba as an egg replacement for the batter and it looks like it turns out great. I went back and forth on if I should batter these, considering that is how it is traditionally made.

I also couldn’t decide if I wanted to just stuff them with cheese, or other things as well. I found so many recipes with great fillings that all sounded tasty. As a kid, I remember all the rellenos I had were just stuffed with cheese. As good as some of those fillings sounded, I had to stick with the simple, traditional filling I loved growing up.

To offset the cheese filling, I decided to go an easier and healthier route by not battering them and baking them instead of frying them. Came up with a delish avocado crema to cover the chiles with and crushed up some TJ’s fried jalapenos to put on top for that crunch. I did forget to include them when I first took the pictures, but I added them to some shots after I had cut into the relleno just so you can see what it looks like. I will make this battered next time and will share the recipe with you. I can see it being tricky but totally worth it. I still dream of the battered chile rellenos from Pancho’s in Albuquerque, New Mexico and want to try and make my version of it one day. These were packed with flavor with the avocado crema and melted cheese, so I didn’t miss the breading.

For the crema, I used TJ’s Teeny Tiny avocados and JOI’s organic cashew base to make it creamy and rich. I swear by all of JOI’s bases and if you use PLANTBASEDLIVIN at check out, you get 10% off your order. If you don’t have their base, you can always sub out this for a cup of soaked, raw cashews. I will say, the JOI bases are great for so many things past making milk and are shelf stable which I love. Definitely worth trying a tub to see what you think.

I served these up with a side of beans, green chile, and roasted tomatoes and Spanish flavored organic chickpea and red lentil risoni. I didn’t include these in the recipe below because I just tossed the beans together and cooked the risoni by the instructions on the box. I did include pictures of the box of risoni above for you to reference it because it is loaded with protein and a good source of fiber, iron, and potassium. I poured more crema on the sides because it was so good I had to put it on everything.

Have you made chile rellenos before? Did you batter them or keep them naked? What are your favorite things to stuff them with? Let me know in the comments below.

Thanks for reading,

Jessica

Vegan Chile Relleno with Avocado Crema

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Yield: 2

Author: Jessica Morton

Prep time: 1 HourCook time: 30 MinTotal time: 1 H & 30 M

Ingredients

Avocado Crema Ingredients

• 2 Medium avocados (I used three Teeny Tiny avocados from TJ’s)
• 2 TBSP JOI organic cashew base (sub ¾ cup soaked, raw cashews)
• 2-3 Large garlic cloves, smashed
• ½ Cup water, more or less as needed to thin out sauce
• Handful of organic cilantro
• Juice of two limes or one large lemon, more or less to taste (about ½ cup)
• ¼ TSP fine sea salt
• ½ TSP garlic powder
• ½ TSP TJ’s onion salt
• ½ TSP cumin
• ½ TSP TJ’s umami seasoning
• 1 ½ TBSP nutritional yeast
• Optional sprinkle of TJ’s South African Smoke blend

Chile Relleno Ingredients

• 6 Hatch green chile, roasted and peeled
• 1 cup Daiya pepper jack cheese, shredded
• 1 cup Daiya cheddar cheese, shredded
• Garlic powder to sprinkle over the stuffed chiles
• Lined baking sheet or glass dish (make sure to grease dish if it isn’t lined)
• TJ’s fried jalapeno pieces, smashed for garnish

Instructions

Avocado Crema Instructions

1. Add all the crema ingredients minus the water to a blender or food processor.
2. Slowly add the water to the mix, scraping the sides down as you go.
3. Adjust seasonings to taste and put in fridge in sealed container until ready.
4. Stays fresh in fridge for up to a week.
5. Makes 2 1/2-3 cups

Chile Relleno Instructions

1. Roast and peel green chile using the steps found here.
2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit when you are ready to make this dish. Green chiles can be roasted in advance to make things easy.
3. Shred both blocks of cheese and mix together.
4. Gentle open the slot on the chile where you took the seeds and veins out, and slowly fill with the shredded cheese.
5. Gently lay out stuffed chiles on a lined baking sheet or glass dish.
6. Sprinkle garlic powder all over green chiles.
7. Cover and place in oven for 20-25 minutes until cheese is close to melted.
8. Uncover and cook another 5 minutes or until cheese is melted.
9. Drizzle avocado crema all over the chiles and garnish with smashed fried jalapenos.
10. I served these up with a side of beans, green chile, and roasted tomatoes and Spanish flavored organic chickpea and red lentil risoni. I didn’t include these in the recipe below because I just tossed the beans together and cooked the risoni by the instructions on the box.
11. These chiles can be paired with a variety of sides like beans and rice, mixed veggies, and vegan elote corn to name a few.
12. Not sure how the cooked chiles would do as leftovers so I would make those to order. I kept the shredded cheese separate and stuffed the chiles to order and just reheated the sides.

Notes:

Chiles can be roasted and peeled in advance to save time.