The best dishes you can serve at a dinner party are ones that showcase an ingredient in a new light.
Giving someone a plate of something new, and making them think “how come I’ve never thought of that before?”.
The 18 recipes we’ve collected today will do just that!
What Are Anaheim Peppers?
So what are Anaheim peppers, and why do we want to showcase them? These peppers get their name from a city in California.
They originally came from New Mexico, but when Emilio Ortego started farming them in California, this new population of pepper lovers called them an instant hit.
Their closest relatives are the Hatch chile peppers (see also our favorite substitutes for ancho chile peppers). They are normally green and can grow up to 10 inches long.
If you let them grow for longer, they will turn into a red color. These red chilies are the California Red Chiles classics.
Californian Anaheims are not very spicy. Many people eat them raw without any issues whatsoever. On the Scoville Scale, they range from 500 to 1,000 SHU. For comparison, jalapenos are around 8,000 SHU.
Instead, when you use an Anaheim pepper, you choose it for the taste. You can expect a smokey, tangy, and sweet flavor.
The little heat it does have is more of an aftertaste. It doesn’t linger and instead helps to elevate the smokey and tangy mixture.
18 Anaheim Pepper Recipes
Each of the recipes below uses Anaheim peppers in one of two ways.
They either use their beautiful shape and highlight the vegetable versatility, or they’re used for their taste and show how you can add the spice as a hidden ingredient that steals the show.
Let’s get into it!
1. Sweet Corn With Anaheim Peppers
This recipe turns the side dish into the main event. You can create this sweet corn side as a potluck favorite (see also ‘27 Seriously Tasty Breakfast Potluck Recipes‘) or spice up a mild-mannered meal.
It only takes 15 minutes to make and just needs 6 ingredients – corn, water, Anaheim pepper, butter, cumin, and salt.
Simply saute the butter, pepper, and corn together. Then pour in some water to keep the meal hydrated. Lastly, add in the remaining flavorings and you’ll have created a moreish side that everyone will enjoy.
2. Green Chile Cheeseburger
From sides to mains, adding Anaheim peppers to your burgers will give them a smokey kick like no other.
The sauce in a burger can make or break the meal. By adding Anaheim chilies, you’ll create an instant winner.
In the recipe we’ve sourced, you’ll see detailed instructions about creating the chili’s toppings – including adding minced garlic and mayonnaise to deepen the flavor and easy-to-follow instructions on peeling the peppers.
However, the most important ingredient that helps to elevate the Anaheim flavor is pepper jack cheese. This cheese in particular will add an extra spiciness to the pepper while also keeping the aftertaste smooth.
3. Anaheim Chicken Tortilla Soup
From the summer fun of potluck BBQ, to the winter warmer of a delicious soup. This recipe has a whopping 18 ingredients to its name and yet the Anaheim flavors still shine the brightest.
You need 6 of the tasty peppers to complete this recipe, while the rest of the ingredients are just dashes of extra flavor to enhance the chicken and Anaheim combination.
The recipe we’ve provided has a 6-step instruction list, along with a video recording to help you visualize every step.
4. Stuffed Anaheim Peppers
So far all of our recipes have used Anaheim as the main flavor, but unless you knew what you were looking for, you wouldn’t see the pepper amongst the other ingredients.
That all changes with this next recipe for a stuffed pepper.
Following the Mexican food style of chorizo, cheese, and onion, you can expect an abundance of flavor that can easily turn vegan.
5. Cajun Cream Cheese Stuffed Anaheim Peppers
If you like the idea of stuffed pepper, but fancy a different flavor, then try Chili Pepper Madness’s recipe. Instead of stuffing with chorizo, they use cream cheese for a softer flavor.
6. Stuffed Anaheim Peppers And Homemade Enchilada Sauce
This recipe follows in the same suit as This Wife Cooks.
However, instead of creating a side dish that can be eaten by hand at your summertime cookout, this recipe by One Perfect Bite creates a saucy alternative that turns the meal into a winter dinner.
7. Southwest Anaheim Stuffed Peppers
Continuing on this wintery concept for a stuffed pepper, we have the southwest version to showcase.
This recipe takes 30 minutes to make and uses black beans, salsa taco seasoning, and cream cheese. It’s a creamy dish packed with flavor.
8. Moroccan-Spiced Pork Roast
After a string of stuffed recipes, we are taking a side step into something a little unconventional.
We all love a pork roast, but you can add a little extra kick to the flavor by incorporating Anaheim peppers. All Recipes have a detailed recipe to create this 3-hour-long dish along with a video to follow, step-by-step.
9. Pizza Stuffed Anaheim Pepper
Back on the stuffed train, this time the recipe we’ve found is a little whimsical. If you have a bunch of small Anaheim peppers, you can turn them into mildly spicy pizza bases, stuffing them with mozzarella cheese and pepperoni!
10. Queso Dip
A Queso dip is a type of cheese dip which is extremely popular in Texas. You can find this dip in almost every restaurant in the state, but you don’t have to eat out to enjoy the flavor! Make it at home, yourself.
The ingredient list uses a mixture of peppers, but Anaheim peppers take the lead. The instructions are simple, but it does take over an hour to make.
11. Chile Rellenos
Chile Rellenos is another type of stuffed Anaheim chile, however, this time the last step is deep fat frying. The method is only 3 steps long, and you can reuse the oil to recreate this recipe again and again.
12. Best Damn Chili
This recipe takes almost 3 hours to create, but in the end, you’ll have cooked the best chili you have ever tasted.
The Anaheim chili gives the dish a tangy edge while the other ingredients such as Worcestershire sauce, help bring out the smokey flavor.
The ingredients list is super long, but you’ll end up creating a batch of chili which can serve up to 12 people.
13. Smokey Four-Pepper Salsa
There are four types of peppers in this salsa including jalapeno, poblano, and bell peppers. However, the most important pepper is Anaheim as it has the largest quantity on the ingredient list.
You’ll notice at the bottom of the ingredients list is an optional liquid smoke concentrate. We recommend using this additional extra as it really enhances the Anaheim flavor.
14. Healthy Chicken Tortilla Soup
This soup only takes around 40 minutes to make. It has distinct Mexican flavors which come from the coriander, corn, cilantro, avocado, and of course the Anaheim pepper.
Because this soup concentrates on herbal favors instead of packaged concoctions that mostly include flour, it is a healthy creation.
The most unhealthy part of this recipe is the avocado, which is why the recipe uses it as an added extra that you can easily ignore without harming the finished flavors.
15. Bacon-Wrapped Stuffed Anaheim Peppers
Bacon-wrapped anything will always be an instant hit in most households, however, wrapping anaheim peppers is a whole new level of tastiness.
In this recipe by TS Cookin, they stuff the pepper with cheese, which had been mixed with garlic, onion, chili powder, and black pepper, creating a rich and creamy delight to bite into.
The peppers are then wrapped and stuck together by the bacon slices. This recipe is perfect for an appetizer or a potluck-sharing platter.
16. Harissa Chicken
Although harissa is the main flavor in this chicken dish, the recipe by Yummly doesn’t use harissa in the ingredients list.
Instead, it allows you to create your own. This is why Anaheim pepper is an important ingredient in the recipe.
Without it, you cannot make the iconic flavor of harissa. You can use this recipe to create the chicken meal, or simply note down the harissa instructions and use that reduced recipe to never buy harissa again.
17. Shakshuka
This North African dish (see also our favorite Ethiopian dishes) is rich in flavor. The diced tomatoes create a base for all of the other ingredients to mix with.
It’s infused with basil, oregano, paprika, and cumin, while the eggs which lay on top only have feta changing the flavor.
The Anaheim peppers are blended into the tomato sauce, to create a hidden kick and a mild smokey flavor.
18. Southwestern Spicy Meatloaf
Our last recipe for you is the southwestern spicy meatloaf. Although “Anaheim” isn’t in the title, you can guess that the spicy flavor comes from this delicious pepper.
The meatloaf itself is created with ground sausage, ground beef, panko breadcrumbs, and a mixture of flavorings including green chiles and Anaheim peppers.
Summary
All of these recipes are easy to make, even if some take over 3 hours to create. This means that no matter your difficulty level you can make a show-stopping dish using Anaheim peppers.
Play around and have fun with the delicious Anaheim pepper. It’s a versatile vegetable that can be mixed with almost everything.
Frequently Asked Questions
Have more questions about Anaheim peppers? Don’t worry, we have the answers.
Are Anaheim Peppers Hot Or Mild?
Anaheim peppers are mild, however, it depends on the SHU rate. SHU stands for Scoville Heat Units.
Most Anaheim peppers have a SHU rate of 500, however, some can reach 2,500. As a comparison, a mild jalapeno would be 2,500, while a regular jalapeno would be 8,000.
What Are Anaheim Peppers Good In?
Anaheim peppers pair well with dark meats such as beef and pork. Due to their smoky flavor, they are also easily mixed with cheeses.
Because the pepper isn’t super hot, you can add it to sauces without overpowering the delicate flavors.
We recommend boiling or roasting and then peeling the skin off the pepper. This way you can have the flavor without the crunch, which is often preferred when you don’t want the pepper to steal the show.
Do Anaheim Chiles Taste Like Bell Peppers?
Both Anaheim and bell peppers have a sweet taste, however, unlike Anaheim, bell peppers don’t have an element of heat.
If you want to create a hotter version of a dish, you can swap bell pepper for Anaheim and not change anything but the heat level.
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