What do you do if poblano peppers aren't hot enough for you? Stuff then with a spicy shrimp and cheese sauce! Using pepper jack cheese and an Asian pepper flakes blend really amps up the flavor!
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Stuff Those Peppers!
It's farmers market season, so there's lots of great, fresh produce available. One of the vendors at our local market—they're an actual farm!—always has a table piled with all kinds of peppers... sweet, medium, and hot. Some of them get chopped up and put into casseroles, soups, and other dishes. But when we get some nice, big, hot peppers, like poblano or Anaheim, we love to stuff them!
This recipe fills poblano peppers with a cheesy shrimp sauce. Now, if you watch a lot of food competitions, like we do, you've heard the judges say that you shouldn't cook seafood with cheese. That's pretty much true, especially with fish. But like all rules, this one is made to be broken! in particular, cheese can work well with crustaceans (shrimp, lobster, etc.). Hello... Lobster Mac and Cheese, anyone? And cheese sauces also frequently used with bivalves (clams, oysters, mussels, scallops, etc.).
We're also using a unique pepper flakes blend, "Asian Reds", from Flatirons Pepper Company. It uses Gochugaru, Thai, Ghost, and Tien Tsin peppers. Okay, the base recipe... poblanos, Mexican spices, and pepper jack cheese, is Southwestern. But the Asian peppers compliment those flavors extremely well.
Ingredients You'll Need
- poblano peppers
- butter
- onion
- shrimp
- garlic
- Flatiron Pepper Company "Asian Reds" blend (or other red pepper flakes)
- lime juice
- kosher salt
- cream cheese
- Mexican spice blend
- pepper jack cheese
Bring On the Heat, Make These Spicy Stuffed Peppers!
Here are the ingredients: shrimp, surrounded by lime juice, cream cheese, Mexican spices, garlic, butter, red pepper flakes, onion, salt and pepper jack cheese.
And, of course, the poblano peppers. When you get produce from a farmers market, it may not be "perfectly shaped" like you would find at the supermarket. For example, these peppers are pretty pointy at the bottom, which makes stuffing them a bit more difficult. On the other hand, we never find poblanos like this at our grocery store! So I'll take the pointy ends any day.
Kitchen Hint: After you cut the peppers in half, make sure they will stay even when you turn them over. Some peppers will sit relatively flat, other are more rounded and will tip over. For those, cut a thin slice off the round side of the pepper so it will stand up properly. (Careful, don't cut into the inside of the pepper or your filling will leak out!)
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking pan with foil and spray it with cooking spray.
Put the peppers on the pan, cut side down, and spray them with cooking spray. Put them in the oven for 12 - 15 minutes to soften them up a bit.
Melt the butter in a large skillet, Add the onions and sauté until they turn translucent, 3 to 4 minutes.
Add the shrimp, garlic, and red pepper flakes. Sauté until the shrimp just turn pink, 3 to 4 minutes. Be careful not to overcook the shrimp!
Stir in the lime juice and salt. Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid is reduced by about half.
Remove the pan from the heat and add the cream cheese and Mexican seasoning. Stir until you get a smooth sauce.
Mix the pepper jack cheese in until it's melted.
Turn the pepper halves over and fill them with the sauce. (Did you cut a slice from the bottom so they won't tip over? I didn't! I had to lean some of them against each other. Some of them still fell over. Don't be like me! Read the recipe three times before you make it, and read it again, step by step, while you're making it! No shortcuts!
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. Serve immediately, while the sauce is hot and melty!
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📖 Recipe Card
Spicy Shrimp-Stuffed Poblano Peppers
Special Equipment Needed
- 1 Large baking pan
- 1 Large skillet
Ingredients
- 4 poblano peppers halved lengthwise and seeded
- 2 tablespoons butter
- ½ cup yellow onion diced
- 1 pound shrimp peeled, deveined, and roughly chopped
- 1 tablespoon garlic minced
- ¼ teaspoon Flatiron Pepper Company "Asian Reds" blend or other red pepper flakes
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 ounces cream cheese softened
- 1 ½ teaspoons Mexican spice blend
- 1 cup pepper jack cheese shredded
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray with cooking spray.
- Put the peppers, cut side down, on the prepared pan. Lightly spray the peppers with cooking spray. Bake until slightly tender, 8 to 10 minutes.4 poblano peppers
- Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, 3 to 4 minutes.2 tablespoons butter, ½ cup yellow onion
- Add the shrimp, garlic, and red pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the shrimp just turn pink, 3 to 4 minutes.1 pound shrimp, 1 tablespoon garlic, ¼ teaspoon Flatiron Pepper Company "Asian Reds" blend
- Stir in the lime juice and salt. Bring to just below a boil and cook until the liquid is reduced by about half.1 tablespoon lime juice, ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- Remove the pan from the heat. Add the cream cheese and Mexican seasoning and stir until smooth.4 ounces cream cheese, 1 ½ teaspoons Mexican spice blend
- Add the pepper jack cheese and stir until the cheese is melted.1 cup pepper jack cheese
- Spoon the mixture into the pepper halves. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
- Serve immediately, while the sauce is hot and melty!
Nutrition Estimate
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