Muy Bueno: Fiestas 
Chiles en Nogada (Stuffed Poblano Chiles with Walnut Sauce)
Chiles en Nogada are full of Mexican history. Puebla nuns invented the dish in 1821, to honor a visit by Mexican General Augustín de Iturbide. The dish features the colors of the Mexican flag: white creamy walnut sauce sprinkled with bright red pomegranate seeds and fresh green parsley. This dish is commonly served to celebrate Mexican Independence Day on September 16.
Ever since I saw the movie Like Water for Chocolate I have always wanted to make chiles en nogada. The film is about love, tradition, passion, communication, and food. At the end of the movie Tita and Chencha roast chiles, shell walnuts, and tear open pomegranates in preparation of this very traditional Mexican dish.
This dish intrigued me and ever since I saw the movie I told myself I wanted to make this dish, but unfortunately never did. This year I finally committed, and it was worth every hour (three to be exact).
Something came over me as I was in the kitchen – as the chiles were roasting and while I was opening a pomegranate I just started to sob uncontrollably. These ingredients bring back so many memories for me and when I see or smell them I miss my grandma. Maybe I just needed a good cry, but after my tears stopped I felt happiness and love envelop me.
On this blog I try to share recipes that are easy to make with readily available ingredients, but sometimes that is not the case when it comes to complex Mexican recipes like chicken mole, rosca de reyes, and these chiles en nogada.
To be completely honest, I had never eaten chiles en nogada, I know, shame on me. Although my grandma was born in Mexico she never made this dish. She was born in Chihuahua, far away from Puebla, Mexico where this dish originated. I’m not sure if she ever experienced this dish.
I researched different recipes and adapted this recipe I found on YouTube by Cocina al Natural. There are hundreds of recipes for this dish. Most of the recipes I found say that in order for it to be “authentic” the chiles need to be deep fried in an egg batter, but I wanted to keep the chiles fresh and light, just like I saw in the movie.
What kinda of Chile peppers are used to make Chiles en Nogada?
Mild poblanos are used and readily available year-round. This heart-shaped chile is wide and dark. It has a wide interior, which makes it the perfect chile for stuffing.
ROAST CHILE PEPPERS
This dish is labor intensive. First, you have to roast the chile peppers, steam them, and then peel them. I roasted them in the broiler. Check out my video to learn how.
Cut and De-Seed a Pomegranate
You need to open a pomegranate. Watch my video to see how I cut and de-seed a pomegranate.
Ingredients in Chiles en Nogada
The moist filling of ground pork is seasoned with garlic, onion, tomatoes, a variety of fruits, almonds, raisins, and aromatic fall spices like nutmeg, cloves, and cinnamon. The key to making this dish is patience and lots of prep work.
- Chile poblanos
- Roma tomatoes
- Olive oil
- Onion
- Garlic
- Ground pork
- Salt
- Ground pepper
- Dried oregano
- Ground cloves
- Ground cinnamon
- Ground nutmeg
- Dried thyme
- White vinegar
- Peaches
- Gala or golden delicious apples
- Bartlett pears
- White cooking wine
- Raisins
- Blanched almonds
- Milk
- Crema Mexicana
- Cream cheese
- Goat cheese
- Shelled walnuts
- Sugar
- Pomegranate seeds
- Fresh parsley
Then you have to peel fresh fruit and chop all the ingredients.
This is not a dish you can race to make. It takes time and patience. As Tita said, “The secret is to make them with lots of love.”
Traditionally, the sauce for this dish should be made with freshly shelled walnuts that are soaked in milk overnight, but I skipped this step and made the sauce with shelled walnuts I purchased. I had no idea what to expect but the sauce exceeded my expectations – it was velvety, nutty, and flavorful.
My daughter said the flavors tasted like Christmas, and now has inspired me to make this again as an elegant Christmas dinner.
Making this dish made me appreciate the history and thoughtfulness. I can just imagine nuns making this dish with all the wonderful ingredients that were in season. This dish is so special, unique, and memorable.
If you have ever wanted to attempt making this dish I encourage you to try it. It’s worth it!
My grandma, Jesusita!
How I miss her cooking…
the smell of her kitchen…
her talking while she prepared meals.
She’ll continue to live as long as someone cooks her recipes.
More Chile Relleno Recipes
- Chiles Rellenos (Chiles Rellenos Capeados)
- Chiles Rellenos de Camarones y Queso
- Chicken Chiles Rellenos
- Chiles Rellenos de Carne Molida
- Chiles Rellenos de Picadillo
Chiles en Nogada (Stuffed Poblano Chiles with Walnut Sauce)
Ingredients
- 12 chile poblanos
- 3 roma tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- ½ white onion, finely chopped
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 1 pound ground pork
- 1/4 tablespoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon ground pepper
- ½ tablespoon dried oregano
- ½ tablespoon ground cloves
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ½ tablespoon ground nutmeg
- ½ tablespoon dried thyme
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- 4 firm peaches, peeled and chopped
- 2 gala or golden delicious apples, peeled and chopped
- 2 Bartlett pears, peeled and chopped
- 1 ounce white cooking wine
- ¼ cup fresh parsley, chopped
- ½ cup raisins
- 1/2 cup blanched almonds, chopped
Nogada (Walnut Sauce):
- ¼ cup milk, plus more if needed
- 1/2 cup crema Mexicana
- 1 ounce white cooking wine
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 1/4 cup goat cheese, softened
- 1 cup shelled walnuts
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
Garnishes:
- Pomegranate seeds
- Fresh parsley
Instructions
- Preheat broiler.
- Rinse pepper thoroughly to remove dust particles. Place peppers evenly in a single layer on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Pierce each chile with a knife.
- Place under broiler. Watch them closely as the skin will blister and turn black within minutes. Turn the peppers after 3 to 5 minutes to blister all sides evenly. When done, the pepper skins should be evenly blistered and mostly black.
- Place roasted peppers in a plastic bag, and when cool, peel off blackened skin. Using a small sharp knife, carefully slit roasted chiles open along one side. Remove seeds, leaving stems attached. Set aside to fill later.
- Boil tomatoes for 5 to 10 minutes and peel. Let cool and chop.
- In a large skillet, over medium heat, add oil. Add onions and sauté until translucent, about 2 minutes add garlic and continue to cook for another minute.
- Add ground pork and add all spices and vinegar.
- After 8 minutes of stirring and breaking up meat and meat is cooked add chopped tomatoes, peaches, apples, pears, wine, and parsley. Stir and cook for 5 minutes uncovered. Cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes to steam and soften fruit.
- Add raisins and almonds and combine and let cook for an additional 10 minutes uncovered.
- While mixture is cooking make the sauce. In a blender place milk, crema, wine, cream cheese, goat cheese, walnuts and blend. Add more milk as needed to make mixture creamy. Add sugar and blend.
- Assemble poblanos by stuffing with filling.
- Pour cream sauce over the poblanos and ganish with pomegranate seeds and chopped parsley.
Notes
Disclosure: The ground pork and some of the produce was sponsored by Tony’s Market.
Originally published: September 2015
14 Comments on “Chiles en Nogada (Stuffed Poblano Chiles with Walnut Sauce)”
I’m sorry to say this but I really didn’t like the Chiles en nogadas For my taste buds they were too sweet.
If ever I do them again, I will use less fruit and spices.
Can’t wait to make it, recipe sounds wonderful. After the chilies are stuffed and the sauce put over , are they cooked longer or served immediately.
Served immediately, but feel free to bake on warm if you’d like.
Did you take the brown skins off the walnuts before you used them? I saw a different recipe that called for skinned walnuts, but I don’t think you can buy them here in Southern California.
Some recipes recommend soaking walnuts overnight in milk. I used regular walnuts and did not soak or peel.
Thank you for posting this. I appreciate that this doesn’t have bananas in it, like others. That said, I find it very sweet for my liking and am planning to modify it somewhat to be less so and more savory. I think the nogada is spot on. Thanks again.
I used to live in Dallas, and often went to a restaurant in the Lakewood area called Matts Martinez…they had the most amazing chili rellenos…your recipe here reminds me of Matts’ dish. Because the ingredients listed look to be relatively easy to track down, I’ve pinned this to try soon. Thanks for what looks like a winner! –G
The walnuts have to be peeled. That is the only way to get an authentic, whiter (not brown) Puebla style salsa nogada.
Hi Jay, yes traditionally the walnuts are peeled. I used a shortcut and omitted this step to make this recipe less complicated. But to be honest this recipe still is very time consuming. IF you choose to make it “authentic” I encourage you to peel the walnuts. Buen provecho.
Yvette, yo también siempre he querido hacer chiles en nogada desde que vi ‘Como agua para chocolate’. Ese día entendí la complejidad de la gastronomía y la cultura mexicana, y por qué todo lo mexicano no se parece a nada sino a México. Hoy estoy escribiendo sobre eso. Y te agradezco tantísimo este post!
Mil gracias Enriqueta! Gracias por compartir.
Yvette, yo también siempre he querido hacer chiles en notada desde que vi ‘Como agua para chocolate’. Ese día entendí la complejidad de la gastronomía y la cultura mexicana, y por qué todo lo mexicano no se parece a nada sino a México. Hoy estoy escribiendo sobre eso. Y te agradezco tantísimo este post!
I am so glad you posted this recipe. I’ve been seeing the name everywhere and it has always fascinated me. It does sound like a wonderful holiday meal, so I’ll plan on making it for Christmas. The stuffing for the peppers reminds me somewhat of the stuffing for chiles rellenos from the Mexico City area.
So happy to hear you are inspired to make them for Christmas. I know I’ll be making them again.