This stuffed cubanelle pepper recipe is a shameless copy of our niños envueltos, OK, maybe more like a loving homage. The beautiful presentation and flavor, but with less effort.
Why we ❤️ it
Although I love niños envueltos (Dominican cabbage rolls), the fact is that they are a lot of work, so I decided to make a recipe inspired by these, but with some changes to make them easier and faster to make, but still with lots of flavor and beautiful presentation. If you ever wondered what to do with cubanelle peppers, then you found your answer.
Another plus of this recipe is that it is made with brown rice, which is an excellent option for cooking brown rice. The result is tender cubanelle peppers, stuffed with juicy meat and rice.
Serving suggestions
This aji relleno recipe produces a main dish that already contains several of the elements of a complete meal. The only thing I would add would be a salad, or, better yet, some avocado slices.
More cubanelle pepper recipes
If you asked yourself what can you do with cubanelle peppers, this is one of our recipes with stuffed peppers:
About this recipe
Esta no es una receta tradicional dominicana, pero todos los elementos son partes de nuestra cocina, y de nuestro gusto nacional.
Esta receta sirve 4 porciones de un ají relleno cada uno.
Recipe
[Recipe] Cubanelle Peppers Stuffed with Brown Rice and Spicy Chicken
Ingredients
To make the tomato sauce
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 4 cups tomato, peeled and seeded
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- ¼ teaspoon oregano (dry, ground)
- 1 teaspoon salt, (or to taste)
- ¼ teaspoon pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground), (or to taste)
To make the stuffing
- 1 cup brown rice
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 large red onion, grated
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 pound ground chicken, [0.45 kg]
- 1½ teaspoon salt, (or more, to taste)
- ½ teaspoon pepper (freshly-cracked, or ground)
- 1 tablespoon hot sauce, (or agrio de naranja)
- ¼ cup basil, chopped
To assemble the stuffed peppers
- 8 cubanela (cubanelle pepper)
- A bunch of basil leaves to garnish
Instructions
How to make tomato sauce
Making the tomato sauce: Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a skillet over low heat. Add the tomatoes and garlic.Cover and simmer until the tomatoes are cooked through, mash them with a potato masher. Add oregano, and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.- Making the filling: While you are making the sauce, soak the rice in enough water to cover it, plus an inch. Let it rest for an hour.Heat the oil over very low heat, add the onion and garlic, cook and stir until they start to release their aroma. Stir in the chicken, salt, pepper, and hot sauce, increase heat to medium and simmer covered for five minutes.
Cooking rice: Remove all rice from the water. Add the rice to the pan and stir. Add 1 cup of the water in which the rice was soaked and a cup of the tomato sauce you prepared previously (set the rest aside). Simmer until almost all the liquid evaporates. Cover tightly, lower heat to the minimum, and simmer for five minutes. Remove the pan from the heat. Mix in the chopped basil.- Cleaning peppers: Cut a slit in the cubanelle peppers and scoop out the seeds and white parts with a small spoon.
- Stuffing peppers: Preheat oven to 400 ºF [200 ºC].Stuff the cubanelle peppers with the chicken mixture.
- Roasting peppers: Pour the remaining tomato sauce on a baking pan big enough to accommodate the peppers, or divide between two smaller pans (which is what I did). Place the peppers on the tomato sauce. Cover tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, garnish with the basil leaves and serve.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutritional information.
Yum! Yum! Yum! I don't have Cubanelle peppers but I have loads of green bell peppers from the garden so I think I'll give this a try this week.
Hi, Tia Clara. This is my 1st time using cubanelle peppers. I'm a little confused as your ingredients say, "hot sauce (or this)". What other option besides hot sauce or was that a typo? Is the hot sauce necessary with all of the other spices? Please let me know. Thanks… Read more »
My family this! Used some leftover baked chicken breasts and cubanelles and tomatoes from our garden. Rice was just a little al dente, might simmer a bit longer next time. Will definitely make again. Thanks
This was really a fantastic recipe. I swapped in ground turkey and I sprinkled goat cheese on top when serving and thy were amazing!