Are you in the mood for some cheesy goodness? Great! Follow me as we take a little journey to create a Stuffed Chile Relleno Enchilada Casserole. As the title promises, the chiles are stuffed with cheesy goodness. They’re not chopped up and stirred into the casserole. In case that’s not exciting enough, there’s no oil and no frying involved in this recipe. A traditional chile relleno is dipped in batter and fried, but not this tasty dish! It’s just baked in all it’s ooey gooey goodness. Are you ready to try your hand at making Stuffed Chile Relleno Enchilada Casserole? Let’s go!
It’s a multi-step process and there’s quite a bit of prep before you’re ready to assemble, but it’s worth it! You can use a store bought, canned enchilada sauce for this dish.
Next, you’ll need to get the cheese mixture ready to go, which requires mixing some cheeses and jalapeños and then sautéing onions, garlic and shrimp (the shrimp is optional). Then, prep some eggs and milk to fill the casserole dish. And heat up some tortillas to make them a little more hearty as they bake with the eggs and sauce.
Finally, you can fill the chiles with the cheese mixture, assemble your casserole, and bake up some cheesy goodness. Serve with avocado, sour cream, and cilantro garnish.
Stuffed Chile Relleno Enchilada Casserole
Stuffed cheesy chile relleno casserole enrobed in enchilada sauce and more cheese!
Ingredients
- 2-3 cups enchilada sauce canned
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil
- 1/2 white onion minced
- 2 cloves garlic crushed
- ½ lb shrimp chopped
- 4 oz cream cheese
- 3 1/2 cups Mexican cheese shredded and divided
- 4 oz can chopped jalapeños not the pickled nacho kind, drained
- 3 tbsp cilantro
- 27 oz can Fire Roasted Whole Green Chiles
- 8 corn tortillas
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup milk
- 1 tsp garlic salt
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ can black olives sliced
- 1 avocado
- Sour cream & cilantro to garnish
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Prepare the Filling
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Preheat pan to medium high heat, add olive oil and sauté onions and garlic for 2-3 minutes. Lightly season with garlic salt and black pepper.
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Add chopped shrimp and sauté for about 90 seconds, until shrimp is just barely cooked. (Remember, this is going into the oven as well.) Set aside.
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In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, 2 cups of shredded cheese, the onion/shrimp mixture, jalapeños and cilantro. Mix well with a spoon, not an electric mixer. Set aside.
Prepare the Egg Mixture
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Whisk together eggs, milk, garlic salt, and black pepper until nicely whipped. Set aside.
Prep the Tortillas
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Warm tortillas on a cast iron skillet to firm them up a bit. You do not need oil for this. Set aside.
Stuff the Chiles & Assemble the Casserole
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Pour about ½ cup enchilada sauce in the bottom of an 8x8 glass dish. Top with 4 corn tortillas and sprinkle with a ½ cup of shredded cheese.
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Pause your casserole assembly here and stuff the peppers. This way, you can lay the stuffed peppers directly into the casserole and then finish your assembly.
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Get your cheese mixture and can of Fire Roasted Whole Green Chiles. The chiles will already be prepped and split right out of the can. Stuff each pepper with approximately ¼ cup of the cheese mixture. If you form it into a fat finger, you can easily wrap the pepper around it.
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Arrange the peppers in the casserole dish until all 8 are stuffed.
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Pour the egg mixture into the casserole dish. This mix should only submerge about halfway on the peppers. You do not want to cover the peppers fully with the egg mixture…it expands when baking.
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Top with 4 tortillas and cover well with enchilada sauce. It’s okay to fill any holes between tortillas with sauce.
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Finish with remaining ½ cup shredded cheese and sliced olives.
Bake & Serve
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Cover the casserole with foil and bake for about 45 minutes. Remove foil and bake an additional 5 minutes to lightly brown the cheese.
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Let rest for 5 minutes before serving.
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Garnish with avocado slices, sour cream and fresh cilantro, if desired.
Did you make this Stuffed Chile Relleno Enchilada Casserole? Snap a pic of your creation and share on social with #vegetariant.
Enjoy!
2 Comments
Miranda
September 24, 2018 at 10:49 amI love chile rellenos and I’m so excited to try this recipe! Do you think this recipe will change too much if I use fresh whole peppers instead of canned?
Carissa
September 24, 2018 at 2:38 pmHi Miranda, thank you so glad you like it! Fresh peppers would work well, but I would recommend roasting and cooling before stuffing them. That way, you ensure that they’re cooked all the way through and roasting will add a nice flavor to the profile. Can’t wait to hear how it turns out!