Cheese Stuffed Green Chiles (Pimientos Rellenos)

Cheese Stuffed Green Chiles is a tapas using the small green chiles (Pimientos de padrón) from the municipality of Padrón in Galicia. The first time I ate the chiles was in a Spanish restaurant near Frankfurt, a tapas of the Pimientos de padrón fried in oil and seasoned with sea salt. Later, the bright green chiles have been showing up in German supermarkets. 

I have tried different recipes back at home, for example, stir-fry the green chiles with pork meat, a Chinese way of eating this vegetable, and the recipe described here. As an Asian, I am not fond of cheese. But as a tapas fan, I enjoy the Cheese Stuffed Green Chiles recipe very much. 

Main Ingredients

The main ingredients are the Pimientos de padrón, cow’s milk cheese, and kosher salt.

Pimientos de padrón

I learned that the green chiles could be spicy sometimes. But those from the German supermarkets are all with mild flavours. For this recipe, I do not use the spicy type. And, pick those straight green shape for easy stuffing.

Cheese

The original recipe suggests Spanish Mahon or Tetilla cheese. Tetilla has a thick texture with a creamy flavor. Mahon has buttery, sharp, salty flavour. It is not easy to find them in the German supermarkets, so I use Gouda instead. The younger Gouda cheeses have a mild, soft, and almost sweet taste and texture.

Kosher salt

In some recipes, table salt and kosher salt are not interchangeable in cooking. The kosher salt enhances the flavor of foods instead of making them taste salty. In this recipe, I use kosher salt to bring out the flavour of the green chiles. 

How to make Cheese Stuffed Green Chiles (Pimientos Rellenos)

How to cut the green chiles

The key step is to stuff the cheese into the chiles. Cut an opening in each chile lengthwise carefully. The opening part should be short, just enough for the stuffing process, as otherwise, the melted cheese will run out when melting. Then hollow out the seeds if they are too much.

Stuff the cheese

Chop cheese into single bars and stuff the cheese into the chiles. I chop some small cubes to fill up the gaps. After filling, squeeze the chile to close the opening as much as possible.

Cooking and serving

Heat a large sauté pan to medium-high heat and heat the olive oil. Working in batches, roast the chiles until they are slightly brown and the cheese is melted.

Sprinkle kosher salt and transfer to a plate. Enjoy it with a glass of wine.

Tips for the recipe

I have tried not using the kosher salt but dip the stuffed green chiles in aioli. The tapas taste super yummy!

Did you make the recipe?

You can print the recipe or pin it for future cooking. Please let me know how it turned out for you! Leave a comment below and tag @cuisinereinvented on Instagram and hashtag it #cuisinereinvented.