COOK: Venison and Queso Chile Rellenos with Smoky Salsa Roja
- What can I substitute if I don’t have venison?
- Serving your Venison and Cheese Chile Rellenos
- Smoky Salsa Roja
- Chile Relleno Make-Ahead Tips
- Venison and Queso Chile Rellenos
Chile rellenos are one of my favorite savory indulgences. I have a hard time not ordering at least a taco if not a full platter whenever we go to a taqueria or restaurant that has them. There’s just something about the combination of spicy roasted poblano, melted gooey cheese, and crispy egg batter that hits JUST right. But what if we made it even better? This venison chile relleno recipe does just that!
My partner usually doesn’t love these fried cheesy stuffed peppers quite as much as I do. I made this venison chile relleno recipe for him, and I prefer these to the regular kind now too. He likes them a lot more when they’re stuffed with seasoned ground venison mixed with the melty cheese. I think you’ll love these too!
They’re a little bit labor intensive to assemble but so worth it, and this venison and cheese stuffed chile relleno recipe is definitely worth the time! The egg batter is light and fluffy, and the filling is more substantial than the poblano peppers that are just stuffed with cheese. The smoky quick tomato sauce is quick to throw together and is sooo good.
We’re trying to work through some of last year’s venison in our freezer before visiting my partner’s parents for the holidays, as they have 80 pork burgers for us in their deep freezer, and fingers crossed, will also have some more game meat and fish?His dad hasn’t gotten anything yet but it’s still early in the deer season. He almost always catches more fish than he can eat and is happy to share that and most of his venison with us… (I know, we’re super lucky!). Hopefully next year we can join him and K’s uncles at deer camp. Covid and the fella’s class schedule have kept us home for the last two. Ah well, at least we still have a full freezer, and we’re very grateful for that!
What can I substitute if I don’t have venison?
If you’re eating “tag soup” or don’t otherwise have a source for wild ground venison for the filling, you can still make a variation of these chile rellenos. Just substitute lean ground beef or Mexican chorizo sausage in this recipe, or other ground game meat.
You can make these vegetarian by omitting the ground meat, or substituting soy-rizo (soy chorizo) or a ground meat alternative.
Serving your Venison and Cheese Chile Rellenos
I made fresh blue corn masa and flour tortillas to wrap these in, and topped them with a quick and smoky simmered salsa roja made with some fresh roma tomatoes and jalapenos from the garden, sauteed onions, and a dab of mesquite-smoked butter.
They’re great as an entree platter with rice, beans, and a small side salad. Serve with warm corn or flour tortillas on the side (especially nice with fresh homemade tortillas) and make tacos with your stuffed peppers. Delicious!
Smoky Salsa Roja
This warm and rich sauce takes less than thirty minutes to make. It’s made from a few garden fresh veggies and some basic spices. This quick salsa gets its smoky flavor from a hint of mesquite-smoked butter.
If you don’t have any smoked butter on hand, you can still make a version of this smoky tomato sauce. Use regular salted butter, and add more smoked paprika, some smoked salt, or a chipotle pepper or two to approximate the smoky flavor. You could also replace the smoked butter with bacon drippings if you have them in your fridge!
But if you have a smoker, definitely make a pan of smoked butter next time you are running it and stash some in your freezer- it’s a delicious way to add complexity to a dish! A little bit goes a long way and it’s a great secret ingredient.
Roasting, grilling, or smoking the tomatoes would have added even more depth to this sauce, but it is absolutely delicious as-is and ready in less than the time it took to stuff the peppers.
This smoky tomato sauce is a perfect accent for these venison chile rellenos, but it’s a great stand-alone quick recipe. Try this quick sauce on enchiladas, grilled or roasted chicken, fish, or veggies. You can even use it as the sauce on a Mexican pizza (with a quick pan pizza dough).
Chile Relleno Make-Ahead Tips
You can roast and peel the poblano peppers a day or two ahead of time, and the ready-to-fry stuffed peppers will hold in the fridge. You could also prepare the filling in advance and stuff the peppers just before frying them.
The smoky salsa roja tomato sauce can be made ahead and refrigerated for 3-4 days, or frozen for 3-6 months without any loss of quality or flavor.
The egg batter does not keep at all, so make that and dip the peppers in it just before frying them. Ideally, serve these stuffed peppers while they’re piping hot! You can reheat leftovers, but they won’t be crispy the next day. They still make good tacos though, if you make too many!
Venison and Queso Chile Rellenos
Ingredients
Chile Rellenos
- 4 large poblano peppers
- 2 c. grated Chihuahua cheese
- ½ lb ground venison can use beef or chorizo
- 1-3 T. chili powder to taste
- 1-2 tsp. ground cumin
- ½ large onion small dice
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- Neutral oil for frying peanut
Egg batter & dredge:
- 1 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp. salt
- 2 eggs room temperature, separated
Smoky salsa roja
- ½ large onion medium diced
- 6-8 medium roma or paste tomatoes cored & diced
- 1-2 Tbsp. minced jalapeno (use green jalapeno, or a mix of green and red jalapeno)
- 1 tsp. ground cumin
- ½ tsp. smoked paprika
- 1-2 Tbsp. mesquite smoked butter (substitute bacon drippings or plain butter and increase smoked paprika to 1 tsp)
- 2-3 cloves garlic chopped
- salt to taste use smoked salt if you don’t have smoked butter
Instructions
Prepare Peppers & Filling
- Roast whole poblanos over gas burner, in broiler, or on a grill until lightly charred. Put the hot roasted peppers in a covered container to steam.
- Rub to remove the skins, and carefully cut out the stem and remove the seeds. Set peppers aside.
- Preheat a saute pan and sear ground meat with spices over medium-high heat until browned. Reduce heat to medium, add onion and garlic and sweat until onion is translucent. Let cool slightly.
Smoky Tomato Sauce
- Start your sauce- sweat the onion in the butter with a bit of salt until onion is transparent. Add chopped tomatoes and seasonings and simmer on low for about 20 minutes, stirring often.
- Puree sauce lightly with an immersion blender or transfer to a regular blender. Leave somewhat chunky- this is a thick, rustic sauce. Keep hot.
Assemble and Fry Peppers
- Stuff your peppers- alternate with spoonfuls of cheese and meat filling. If any tear or have large openings in the top, secure with a toothpick.
- Season the flour to taste on a plate or shallow dish, and dredge the peppers in the flour to evenly coat. Pop them in the freezer on a sheet pan for a few minutes to firm up while you make the batter and they’re easier to handle.
- A heavy cast iron pan or dutch oven works well to pan fry these. Fill with several inches of oil- about halfway up the pan or enough to half cover the peppers if using a dutch oven. Start heating your oil.
- Put a wire rack on a sheet pan in the oven and set it to keep warm (170-200 F).
- Separate the eggs, and beat the whites to stiff peaks, then fold in the yolks and add a pinch of salt.
- Roll the peppers in the egg mixture and fry 2 at a time- this is messy! Make sure the batter covers the top of the pepper to seal in the filling.
- Transfer the peppers with a slotted spoon to the rack in the oven to drain and stay hot while you fry the second batch. Remove any toothpicks before serving!
- Serve with rice, warm tortillas, taco garnishes (onion, cilantro, radish, and avocado) and refried beans if you like! You can make tacos with any extra ground meat filling or just eat it over rice.
Notes
Loved this? Try these related recipes!
- Jalapeno Popper Wontons
- Foolproof Homemade Tortillas
- How to Make Turkey Mole Tamales
- Creamy Chicken Green Chile Tamale Pie with Black Beans and Hominy
- Chipotle Barbacoa Beef or Venison (pressure-canning recipe)
- Five-Alarm Venison (or Beef) Chili (pressure-canning or freezer-meal recipe)
- Enchilada Roja Sauce (pressure-canning or freezer-meal recipe)
- Roasted Tomato Salsa Ranchera (water-bath canning recipe)
- Roasted Tomato & Ancho Salsa Roja (water-bath canning recipe)
- Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde (water-bath canning recipe)