Chiles Rellenos Made Easy

I made this for the first time tonight.  It's a bit time consuming--if I'd had the peppers prepped ahead of time, which I usually do, it would be most helpful.  No big deal.  I thought the crispiness was great!  So hard to get that to happen effectively.I made a couple of adjustments:  I didn't put cheese in the peppers until I flipped them over on the second side in the skillet.  Putting it in before the dipping, or even on the first side in cooking, doesn't make sense.  Yes, the peppers will tear.  I didn't find that a big deal--I stuffed some cheese inside and then put it on top, since I saved that for skillet time.I improvised my own sauce (a red sauce), and it worked great.  BUT--I almost didn't want to put it on there because the peppers were so beautiful with the crispy brown exterior and melted, slightly browned cheese.  Maybe a pico de gallo would be pretty, and enough spice, since unless you cut the tops of the peppers, it's impossible to get the seeds out and they're SUPER hot.  I put avocado and cilantro on top, just fresh.  I do wonder if the 'made easy' phrase refers to using a deep fryer.  Since most of us don't have that.  This came out very close to restaurant quality.  I will make them again--and I will prep peppers and cheese beforehand to save myself some time.  :)

The recipe was actually not that difficult and the estimated time turned out to be pretty accurate for me.  I used toothpics to secure the open slits in the peppers before breading.  Rather than transfer to a cookie sheet after cooking on the stovetop i just put the skillet in the oven because i was afraid they were too fragile to survive the transition.  They tasted very good

The taste is wonderful. My sole problem with this recipe lies in the idea that it is "easy". I am not an inexperienced cook, to say the least. But putting the coating on the stuffed chiles was an exercise in frustration that left both me and my kitchen a mess. The chiles split whist I was deseeding/stuffing them, so that while that first flour dredge worked OK, "dipping" them in the egg foam was not possible. I poured some of the egg into a shallow dish, and attempted to roll the chiles while I was trying to hold the split chile together, but the foam would stick to some places not others and I ended up having to smear it on the chile, making a gooey mess. As for only 3 Tbs cornmeal being enough to coat 4 chiles in this manner - not a chance. And as soon as I attempted to pick up the newly cornmeal coated chile and transfer it, the coating came off on my fingers. Frying was OK as long as they were placed on their sides in the pan. There has got to be a better way. :-(

Not easy! I thought when I saw some reviewers say that it was not 'made easy' that perhaps they just weren't big cooks. Well, whether you cook a lot or not, this recipe is a lot of work. The saving grace, however, was that it was good. I will be seeking out another recipe for chile rellenos in the future.

Delicious! Not hard, but a bit time consuming. I used queso fresco instead of goat cheese and think it tasted very authentic. Also used regular salsa instead of verde because that is what I had...I bet it is even better with the verde. The beating of the eggs made it foamy enough to help it really stick to the pepper. It is messy when you are dredging the peppers, but they cook up great.

Holy crow this was a complicated recipe recipe. I used regular salsa and it worked out fine, I think the sauce would have been a great salsa on its own. The peppers would take a lot of practice to get right. I found it hard to get all the skin off the pepper without ripping them, I had a hard time getting the membranes and seeds out of the peppers without ripping them even more and the dredging was really difficult since I had to use both my hands to wipe the egg white mixture all over the pepper since it wouldn't stick, the corn meal pulled all the egg off, I kind of had to force it on. It did cook up fine however I found the inside of the pepper was holding quite a bit of water so it was watery. The taste was good but not good enough for me to make again.

So good!! I added shredded chicken to the mixture inside the peppers. I also didnt bother separating and beating the eggs into peaks. I found it unnecessary. You definitely need to pin the peppers together with toothpicks! They will never make it into the pan if you dont!

The others reviewers were right that this is not "made easy." However, we loved it. I added a jalapeño and some red pepper to the sauce to give it some heat. We also used 2-3 toothpicks per pepper to hold them together. Just be sure to remove them before serving :) My husband eats lots of chile rellenos (he is from Phoenix and lived in Texas) and said this this the second best he has ever had...not bad for a light recipe. We plan to freeze the left over sauce to save time next timewe make it.

It was really good, but this this is the easy version, I can't imagine the difficult version.

It wasn't easy, but it was good! I used poblanos and tomatoes from my garden. There is a trick to making these without the filling falling out, and trial and error will help. My husband says these are a keeper.

"Chiles Rellenos made Easy," what a misnomer. This recipe was a pain in the butt! It took me over 2 hours! Usually, CL recipes tend to be more complicated, but this recipe had way too many steps for what is supposed to be a simplifed version. The egg fluff was goopy and messy. It didn't really coat the pepper well. I had to rub it on to get the cornmeal to stick. I had to use more than double the amount of cornmeal. I used toothpicks to keep the pepper closed while coating, but didn't need to when actually cooking them. Overall, the taste was good, but it wasn't worth the time and effort required. I would not make this again.

Tasted great, but very messy to make. Ended up dumping cheese out into the egg fluff while trying to batter the whole thing, thought the whole dish was going to be a disaster, but it cooked up well.

I made this recipe tonight after reading about it in Cooking Light for the June 2011 issue- it was delicious, but not as flavorful as I expected. I did add some cumin and one chipotle in adobo to the sauce to add more flavor.My husband and I do like it hot- and flavorful. I really liked the whipped eggs whites as the dip for the cornmeal, but I think the egg yolks were not needed. It would have saved on the fat content in the calories. I also added a skewer to hold the poblanos closed. I don't care how good of a cook you are- after charring, peeling, slicing a slit in the pepper and pulling out the seeds, you still need something to keep the cheese in the pepper. I liked the technique. I loved the crunch of the cornmeal. Thank you Daniel and Cooking Light :)