This Easy Chile Relleno Casserole is made with canned green chiles, eggs, and plenty of cheese for a simple baked casserole that tastes like classic chile rellenos without all the work.
Unlike traditional chile rellenos, there’s no stuffing peppers, frying, or separating eggs. Everything comes together in one baking dish, making it perfect for breakfast, brunch, or an easy weeknight dinner.
Jump to:
- Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Ingredients
- Ingredient Notes
- How to Make Chile Relleno Casserole
- Variations
- Storage & Reheating
- Can I use canned green chiles?
- Can I add meat?
- How do I know when chile relleno casserole is done?
- Serving Suggestions
- More Easy Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
- Chile Relleno Casserole Recipe (with Canned Green Chiles)
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Made with canned green chiles instead of roasted peppers
- No frying or stuffing peppers
- Great for breakfast, brunch, or dinner
- Made with simple grocery store ingredients
- Can be customized with sausage, ground beef, or chorizo
Traditional chile rellenos are made with roasted peppers that are stuffed, battered, and fried. This easy chile relleno casserole delivers those same cheesy flavors without all the extra work.
Instead of roasting fresh peppers, I use canned diced green chiles, which are easy to find and make this casserole quick enough for a weeknight dinner. The egg mixture comes together in one bowl and bakes into a light, cheesy casserole that’s perfect for breakfast, brunch, or dinner.
Ingredients
See recipe card for exact amounts.
Ingredient Notes
This recipe uses canned diced green chiles rather than whole roasted peppers, making it much easier to prepare while still delivering classic chile relleno flavor.
- Canned Green Chiles: Use canned diced green chiles for convenience, or substitute roasted Hatch chiles, poblanos, or Anaheim peppers if you have them. Mild or hot both work.
- Eggs: Large room temperature eggs are best.
- Milk: We like whole milk for this.
- Shredded Cheeses: We like equal parts cheddar cheese & Monterey Jack cheese. You can use pre-shredded cheese, if grating your own it takes about ¾ of a 1 pound block to get 3 cups.
- Flour: A small amount of all purpose flour holds everything together.
- Baking Powder: Just a bit to make our casserole light and fluffy.
- Optional Toppings: Green onions, fresh chopped cilantro, sour cream, guacamole, salsa, hot sauce, or pico de gallo.
How to Make Chile Relleno Casserole
- Drain the green chiles in a strainer and allow to drain while you prepare the baking dish and eggs. Grate cheeses reserving one-half cup of each type of cheese.
- Preheat the oven to 350°. Coat a 13 X 9 inch casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs until fluffy, add flour and baking powder and whisk until almost no lumps remain. Add milk and continue to whisk until well combined.
- Spread half of the green chiles in the bottom of the dish, sprinkle half of the cheese on top, add the remaining chiles, top with the remaining cheese. Pour the egg mixture on top and then top with the reserved cheese.
- Bake 40-45 minutes or until the center of the casserole puffs up and the edges are golden brown.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes then serve with your favorite toppings.
Variations
This casserole is easy to customize based on what you have on hand.
Swap some of the cheese with pepper jack cheese for a little more heat.
Add cooked meat; ground beef, ground sausage or chorizo would work. Just add half onto each layer of chiles. Make it however you like, there are no rules when you cook for yourself!
Storage & Reheating
Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat individual servings in the microwave until heated through.
Can I use canned green chiles?
Yes. This recipe was specifically developed using canned diced green chiles because they are easy to find and require no roasting or peeling.
Can I add meat?
Yes. Cooked chorizo, breakfast sausage, or ground beef can be layered with the cheese and chiles.
How do I know when chile relleno casserole is done?
The center should be puffed and set, and the edges should be lightly golden brown. A knife inserted in the center should come out mostly clean.
Serving Suggestions
Serve chile relleno casserole with beans, rice, or corn for an easy Mexican-inspired meal.
- Mexican Black Beans (with canned beans)
- Refried beans
- Healthy Spanish Brown Rice
- Mexican rice
- Spanish Style corn
More Easy Breakfast and Brunch Recipes
Love this recipe?
Leave a comment and a ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating below!
Chile Relleno Casserole Recipe (with Canned Green Chiles)
Ingredients
- 8 eggs
- ½ cup flour
- 1 cup milk
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 4 cans green chiles 7 ounces each
- 3 cups cheddar cheese divided
- 3 cups Monterey Jack cheese divided
Instructions
- Drain the green chiles in a strainer and allow to drain while you prepare the baking dish and eggs.
- Preheat oven to 350°. Coat a 13" X 9" casserole dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk eggs until light and fluffy, add flour and baking powder and whisk until almost no lumps remain. Add milk and continue to whisk until well combined.8 eggs, ½ cup flour, 1 teaspoon baking powder, 1 cup milk
- Spread half of the green chiles in the bottom of the prepared dish, sprinkle 1 ¼ cups of both cheeses on top, add the remaining chiles, top with another 1 ¼ cups of both cheeses. Pour the egg mixture in and top with the remaining ½ cup of both cheeses.4 cans green chiles, 3 cups cheddar cheese, 3 cups Monterey Jack cheese
- Bake 40-45 minutes or until the center of the casserole puffs up and the edges begin to brown.
- Let cool for 5-10 minutes then serve with your favorite toppings.
Great recipe! Made with frozen hatch chiles from last fall. Did not chop them up. Was worried that the egg mixture was too liquid , but it turned out perfect, and hubby loved it. Cut the 1X recipe in half, baked in a 7×11 pan.
I’m so glad you both like it! Thank you for commenting and rating!
Can I prep this ahead and bake the next day?
Yes, you can prep this ahead with a small adjustment for best results. Assemble everything except the egg mixture, cover, and refrigerate overnight. When you’re ready to bake, whisk together the eggs, flour, baking soda and milk – pour it over the dish, and gently spread it so it settles into the layers. Then bake as directed. This keeps the layers intact and prevents the egg mixture from soaking in too much or changing texture overnight. Let the dish sit at room temperature for about 20–30 minutes before baking so it cooks more evenly.
Great recipe! I used a 27-ounce can of whole Ortegas cut into 4 pieces each, added 3/4 teaspoon salt, cracked pepper, and gave it a light topping of crunched tortilla chips. I used around one-fourth less cheese. It was a big hit, thanks for posting it!
Sounds delicious, I wish I could find the whole chiles here in Wichita. Thank you for commenting and rating!
Hey Mindy, It is Hatch Chile season and my local grocery store here in Sacramento always carries them in three flavors, mild, medium and hot. I have a big bag of the medium and just roasted them on my gas stove till the skins were crispy black and then put them into a plastic bag to steam. I made this recipe yesterday and used the whole chile split open and then put the cheese on top of each one and then placed another whole chile on top of that. A bit of cumin sprinkled on it too just because. Was delicious.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for commenting and reviewing!
Excellent. We used roasted Hatch Green Chiles. We bought 50lbs of Hatch Green Chiles this year. Roasted them and then ran across this recipe. We were going to make Rellenos but did this instead. For info you can buy Hatch Chiles online and they ship overnight. We always use The Hatch Chile Store. Great service always. Roast and Freeze and use them all year. This is a great recipe
Thanks for the information, comment and review! While I have resisted ordering ingredients online I think I am going to have to look into. There are many products I can’t find here in Wichita.
The Hatch Chile Store is top notch. UPS made an error and the chiles sat in a warehouse over the weekend and 3 lbs turned to mush. I emailed them (Pam) and they promptly replaced the whole order. You won’t find canned chiles in my pantry.
Thanks Mindy
Bob
I will definitely try this recipe, but I will use Hatch 505 Southwestern green chiles.
I am going to have to look around and see if I can find those, I have only found Hatch canned green chiles in my area.
This was really good! I followed the recipe exactly other than halving it since we are only 3. Really tasty, I had one large piece, my daughter had a piece and my husband finished off the casserole dish! lol High praise indeed! Thank you for a delicious and simple recipe. 🙂
So glad y’all liked it. Good to know that halving it worked out, thanks!
Hatch Chili Rellenos – How much milk is used for recipe? It’s not listed with ingredients. Looking forward to making this! Thank you.
Oh my goodness, thank you for pointing that out! It is 1 cup and I have edited the recipe to include it.
Thanks again!
Why is the word “Hatch” part of the name of this recipe?
Because that is the brand of chiles I use. That brand may not be available for everyone so the recipe simply calls for green chiles.