How To Dry Poblano Peppers?

If you love the spicy zing that accompanies poblano peppers, and wish to preserve them so that they can be dashed into your favourite dishes, then you’ll be pleased to know that I have a few solutions for you. Dry poblano peppers last a long time, if they’re void of moisture and stored correctly, like safe and sound in an air tight container. Poblano peppers are great for adding to pasta, stews or soups, sometimes even rice stir-fries. It’s a brilliant way to incorporate the perfect kick of spice that comes from this delectable triangular shaped pepper.

Table of Contents

• What Is A Poblano Pepper?
• What Dishes Can Be Made With Poblano Peppers?
  • Easy Stuffed Poblanos
  • Turkey and Cornbread Stuffed Poblanos
  • Fiery Stuffed Poblanos
  • Beef Wrapped Stuffed Peppers
• What About Dried Poblanos?
• How To Dehydrate Poblano Peppers?
• Drying Poblano Peppers
  • Dehydrator
  • Hanging
  • Oven
• So Now What?
• What Can You Do With Dried Poblanos?
  • Ancho Chile BBQ Sauce
  • Roasted Adobo Pork Tacos
  • Red Peanut Mole With Chicken
  • Poblano to Ancho
• FAQs

What Is A Poblano Pepper?

The poblano pepper is a Mexican chilli pepper, it has a mild to medium heat with a sweet fruity flavours, and little bursts of cherry, prune and fig. It is a very dark green colour and when it starts to ripen its colour changed from dark red to brown. They are large and heart or triangular shaped, and commonly plucked for cooking when they’re a deep dark green.

They have thick skin making them a perfect candidate for stuffing them with rice or meat and plopping them in the oven, where the edges of their skin will darken and release a sweet burning aroma. Poblano peppers are often roasted, and peeled when cooking with them, when their dried they are called ancho chillies.

What Dishes Can Be Made With Poblano Peppers?

Poblano peppers can be stuffed, added to a salad, wrapped in beef, and much more. The brilliant spicy flavours of the pepper makes it the perfect candidate for rich, hearty meals, where you’d expect a cheeky slip of spice here and there, a truly exciting treat to have at the dinner table. Here are some dishes that are commonly made with poblanos:

• Easy Stuffed Poblanos
• Turkey and Cornbread Stuffed Poblanos
• Fiery Stuffed Poblanos
• Beef-Wrapped Stuffed Peppers

Easy Stuffed Poblanos

Poblanos are the perfect candidate for edible bowls that are stuffed with meats, cheese or tomatoes, simply slice the peppers down the middle and strip them of their innards, place them face down on a tray and broil them for 5 minutes. Start to fry and cook the stuffing, like ground beef and rice in a pan, then stuff the peppers with this mixture evenly. Top with some sauce and your favourite cheese and broil them for 2 minutes.

Turkey and Cornbread Stuffed Poblanos

To make these crispy, delicious stuffed poblanos, fill your broiled peppers with left over cooked and chopped turkey, then roll the stuffed peppers into a corn muffin mix, then egg and again in the corn muffin mix. Fry the stuffed peppers a few at a time until they’re a beautiful brown, and let the water drain on some paper towels. Top with cranberry sauce, and adobo sauce, and have this delightful dish for dinner with your family.

Fiery Stuffed Poblanos

To make these fiery scrumptious stuffed peppers, broil them until the skins blister, then in a separate bowl mash some black beans and set aside. In a large pan cook and stir some chopped courgette and onion until they’re tender, add garlic and cook for another minute. Then plop in some corn, tomatoes, rice, your favourite seasonings and your crushed beans. Stir in half a cup of cheese and remove the pan from the heat. Spoon this mixture into your poblano peppers and bake for about 18 to 22 minutes, sprinkling them with green onions and grated cheese.

Beef Wrapped Stuffed Peppers

These mouth-watering beef steak wrapped poblano peppers, are a dish that you simply must try if you’re planning on cooking something with these magical heart-shaped peppers. Fill your peppers with some pepper jack cheese and a filling of your choice, like ground beef or chicken, then wrap a piece of steak around your peppers and tie with a string. Cook on low heat for 6-8 hours or until the meat is tender.

What About Dried Poblanos?

Just like the mouth watering dishes that are made with fresh poblano peppers, dehydrated red poblanos, or ancho chillies can be added to salsa, turkey, dropped in soup and lots more! Just add boiling water to the dry, and shrivelled up peppers, to extract the preserved sweet, spicy aromatic flavours that will taste wonderful when added to your desired meals.

Most poblano peppers are green which means they’re unripe, and to produce ancho the peppers must turn red in colour, then they’re picked and dried. They are as spicy as fresh poblano peppers, and are milder in heat compare to jalapeno peppers.

Traditionally, ancho chillies are pureed and used in sauces, and is one of the key elements used in making mole sauce. Ancho chillies are softened in hot water, but first the stems and seeds are removed and then their soaked in water for 15 to 20 minutes.

How To Dehydrate Poblano Peppers?

There are a few strong and effective ways to dry poblano peppers, although it is worth mentioning that the process used to dry poblano peppers can also be used for many other vegetables like bell peppers and habanero peppers, they can be strung along a fishing wire and left to shrivel up before the beaming rays of the sun – bearing in mind that this technique of dehydration is only perfectly effective in really warm climates with promised heat and sunshine. They can be dried in a dehydrator, an oven, an air fryer or even hung near a window that must be void of moisture.

Drying Poblano Peppers

There are several creative forms of preservation for these magical peppers, they can be ground and sprinkled as a spicy seasoning in curries, or soups, or rehydrated in water as whole peppers. The great thing about this is, you can dehydrate these peppers from the comfort of your own home, no matter where you live, as long as you have an oven or air fryer in your kitchen you’re good to go!

Dehydrating your peppers in an electrical appliance will take less time than if you were to place your peppers in front of direct sunlight, because you’ll have to bring them inside at the end of the day, once the sun retires for the night. And they will take up to a few weeks to be completely dry and ready to use, or store in a tight lidded container.

Let’s take a close look at the different methods of drying poblano peppers:

• Dehydrator
• Hanging
• Oven

Dehydrator

To dry the peppers in a dehydrator, you’ll want to remove the stems, and seeds, then place the sliced peppers in single layers on the trays. Place them sliced side down towards the heating element and set the temperature to 100F. Occupy yourself for about 8 to 12 hours, checking on your slowly shrivelling peppers, and then you can place them in little airtight jars, for future use.

Hanging

Using a strong fishing line, thread your poblano peppers through the wire, you can either hang them from their stems by threading the fishing line through them with a needle, or just clip the stems on the wire with some pegs. Hang these peppers in a cool and dry spot, they don’t have to necessarily be placed in a desert, or a very hot climate, although that is also an option. If you have a cupboard or pantry that is void of moisture and humidity, then the peppers will shrivel up delightfully in there. Give them a few weeks, and occasionally check up on them to make sure they’re wrinkling nicely!

Oven

Cut the peppers into halves and remove the seeds, then start to spread them out on baking sheets and place them in a 150 degrees Fahrenheit oven. Leave the oven door open slightly, allowing the moisture to escape. Check on the peppers every 30 minutes, some peppers may dry quicker than others, so get rid of the dried up peppers and place them in a container. Drying poblano peppers in the oven can take around 1 to 2 hours.

So Now What?

Dried poblano peppers can be crushed into ancho chilli flakes, or ground and added into pans simmering with onions and tomatoes. They’re perfect for an evening meal, especially if you love the feel of sweet spice zooming along your tongue. If you plan on pureeing your ancho chillies for some sauce, then soak them in boiling water. You can lightly toast these shrivelled peppers in a little oil to intensify their flavours, before they’re added to a dish.

What Can You Do With Dried Poblanos?

There are a variety of tasty ways to use ancho peppers, soak them in hot water for 30 minutes, then remove the seeds and stems. Combine the reconstituted peppers with some sour cream and puree until its smooth. Serve this with baked potatoes, stir them into mashed potatoes or simply enjoy with any food you already eat, with a side of sour cream.

You’ll be pleased to know that there are lots and lots of delicious ways for you to use dried poblano peppers in either sauces or meals. Here are some recipes for you to try:

• Ancho Chile BBQ Sauce
• Roasted Adobo Pork Tacos
• Red Peanut Mole With Chicken

Ancho Chile BBQ Sauce

A mix of dried poblano peppers that have been rehydrated in water, fresh poblano peppers and jalapeno are the elements that will give this sauce a might kick, a hearty sauce made from the deep flavours of beef.

In a pot over medium heat add some cumin seeds and cook stirring constantly for 1 minute. Add onions, ancho chillies, jalapeno, poblano peppers, and garlic, and cook for 7 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from the heat and let it cool for 10 minutes.

Place the mixture into blender and blend for 2 minutes until the sauce is nice and smooth, you can store the sauce for up to a month in the fridge.

Roasted Adobo Pork Tacos

This sauce containing hints of orange and garlic, will go perfectly with shrimp, grilled tuna or fried eggs, and it works brilliantly as a marinade.

Begin by soaking the dry ancho’s in some hot water so that they soften. Then transfer them to a blender, add the orange juice, vinegar, garlic, oil, cumin, cayenne, and 1 teaspoon of salt. Blend all of this until it is smooth, then refrigerate and use within 3 days.

Red Peanut Mole With Chicken

This divine Mexican chicken dinner, is easy to make with lots of sauce providing the delectable depth of flavours within the meal, that just make the tips of your fingers tingle with anticipation.

In a heavy pan add ancho chillies, garlic and onion and cook until the onion and garlic have browned, the ancho’s having toasted releasing a wonderful aroma. Scrape this mixture into a blender and set the pot aside.

In a blender add chicken broth, tomatoes and their juice, bread, chipotle chillies, peanuts, cinnamon and allspice; blend all of this until its very smooth. Add this sauce to hot oil in a pan over medium-high heat, and cook for about 20 minutes. Stir in some more chicken broth, and 1/2 an ounce of Mexican chocolate, reduce the heat to low and let it simmer, stirring occasionally until the sauce thicken to a heavy cream consistency.

Add in some salt and sugar, and then coat this sauce over some oven cooked chicken, and top with peanuts and parsley. Serve this immaculate dish with boiled rice.

Poblano to Ancho

The transformation isn’t disheartening at all, in fact its actually delightful, to be able to dunk your shrivelled poblano peppers in some hot water, watching it grow releasing delicious flavours as it is slowly brought back to life. Drying poblano peppers is the perfect method in keeping your peppers for long periods of time, without having to jump out of the house to grab a couple at a time.

FAQs