Creamy Poblano Pepper Pasta

Creamy poblano pepper pasta is super delicious! It has delicate béchamel sauce, roasted poblano peppers, corn - all combined together to create a fabulous meal. What is there not to love - rich, creamy, and satisfying pasta meal - you will definitely go for seconds. 🙂

If you like easy pasta meals, try this big-on-flavors cajun spiced pasta as well as pasta with Indian flavors. If you are looking for mild pasta recipes - then you check out these - pasta with asparagus and pasta with garbanzo beans.

The ingredients to make this creamy poblano pasta are pretty straightforward.

You would need:

Pasta

Poblano Peppers - the star of the dish.

Olive Oil - [Not shown in the picture below]. Optional. You can use olive oil or butter to saute your vegetables.

Garlic - I love the garlic flavor in my pasta dishes.

Béchamel Sauce - we make a roux with butter, all-purpose flour, and milk. Add the cheddar cheese to make the sauce cheesy good. 🙂 Butter - use unsalted butter to give you more control over the salt quantity used in the recipe. Cheddar Cheese - I have used mild cheddar cheese, but if you like the stronger flavor, go for the strong cheddar cheese. Cayenne Pepper - Use some cayenne pepper to add some heat - adjust to taste.

Onion - Use yellow onion in the recipe.

Corn - This not only imparts some texture, but it also adds a beautiful, delicate sweetness to the dish enhancing the overall flavor. You can use frozen corn kernels or fresh corn kernels too.

What are Poblano Peppers?

Poblano peppers (pronounced po-BLAH-no) are extensively used in Mexican cuisine. They have a bright green color, are skinnier than a bell pepper, and have a pointy tip making them heart-shaped. They are pretty large in size and are relatively mild. In the US, I buy them from my local grocer in the fresh produce aisle.

How To Roast Poblano Peppers?

We roast the poblano peppers before using them in the recipe. Roasting these peppers enhances the taste and also makes it easier to remove the tough chile skin before using them in the recipe.

Brush oil on the chile peppers on all sides and roast them in a preheated oven for 6-8 minutes on each side - a total of about 20-25 minutes. Remove from the oven and transfer to a bowl and keep them covered for 10-15 minutes or until warm enough to handle. Remove the skin, stem, and seeds. Chop them desired size and use them in the recipe.

What Pasta Shapes Can You Use In The Recipe?

Any short spiral shape would work. I have used fusilli, rotini as well as gemelli shapes to make this dish and they are all wonderful in the dish.

How To Make Béchamel Sauce?

If you thought making Béchamel Sauce is intimidating, don't worry. It is pretty easy to make. I would suggest, you try it when you are ready to give undivided attention to preparing the sauce. The sauce comes together pretty quickly and it is a good idea to have all your ingredients ready before you start the cooking. Mise-en-place seems to be the key. Once you have made it a couple of times, preparing this sauce would become like second nature. This is a versatile sauce that tastes delicious. I learned to make the sauce from Epicurious.

I do increase the quantity of milk from that of Epicurious recipe to prepare the sauce. This is to adjust the consistency to my liking. Other than that I have not changed anything.

What to do If the sauce gets too thick? - The sauce thickens pretty quickly and sometimes a film forms on the top.

You can make the sauce thinner by adding a little milk and warming the sauce.

You can place a wax paper or thin film of milk on the top of the save to prevent the skin from forming on the top (if making for later use).

Time Saving Tips

This recipe has multiple steps in the preparation. These tips might help you to save time.

• Start with roasting the peppers. While the peppers are in the oven, get rest of the ingredients and utensils ready. Simulataneously boil water for the pasta on the stove top. [I usually have two burners running when I prepare any pasta dish - one to cook the pasta and the other to cook the sauce.]
• Once the peppers are roasted and cooling down, cut/chop rest of the vegetables. Once the poblano peppers are cold enough to handle, peel off the skin, chop off the stem, remove the seeds, and dice into ½-inch peices or to your desired size.
• Add the pasta to the boiling water (fusiili, rotini or gemelli pasta take around 9-12 minutes to cook al dente). While the pasta is cooking, cook the vegetebales and prepare the sauce as detailed.
• Prepare (saute) the vegetable mix (more details in the recipe card) and remove from heat.
• Prepare the béchamel sauce.
• Mix in in the vegetables and cooked (and drained pasta) and mix well to combine and coat the pasta with the sauce.
• Serve hot.

Can You Make It Spicy?

This is a pretty mild recipe, but if you are craving something hot, here are a few suggestions:

• increase the quantity of cayenne pepper in the sauce.
• top the pasta with some chili flakes.
• add some chili flakes while sauteing the vegetables.

How To Store Leftovers?

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Reheat thoroughly before serving. If the sauce has thickened on cooling down, drizzle a little bit of milk and mix well before reheating. Reheating can be done either using a microwave or on the stovetop.

If using as a lunch box item, remember to keep an ice pack since we have milk and sauce in the dish.

Serving Suggestions

This pasta is a whole meal in itself and is quite filling with the pasta and the vegetables. But if you want, you can serve some garlic bread along with the pasta. A fresh salad will work well as well. Another idea for a side with the pasta will be a simple yet delicious bruschetta. Do let me know in the comments what will be your go-to side for this creamy poblano pasta. Would love to hear from you.

Recipe Variations

1. Skip the cheddar cheese if you do not like the cheese-y béchamel sauce.
2. You can add some green bell peppers while sauteeing the vegetables.
3. You can blend the roasted pobalno peppers using a blender and add the it to the béchamel sauce instead of adding the pieces. [That being said, it is nice to bite into the roasted pepper pieces].