This incredibly savory and comforting Slow Cooker Chile Relleno Soup is rich and creamy, with just a touch of heat. Perfect for an easy, satisfying weeknight meal.

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❤️ Why You’ll Love This Chile Relleno Soup Recipe

• Healthy recipe using only wholesome ingredients
• Set it and forget recipe made right in the crock pot
• All the flavors of authentic chile relleno, but in a soup

I absolutely love Mexican food and there are so delicious many ways to easily make traditional recipes into low carb versions. This slow cooker Chile Relleno Soup recipe is the perfect example!

Roasted poblano peppers, seasoned chicken thighs and a rich and creamy broth slowly simmers in the slow cooker requiring very little hands-on time in the kitchen. The end result is a super flavorful, healthy and protein packed dinner the whole family will love!

This soup is perfect served just the way it is, but if you're feeding a crowd, you can serve it over a bed of fluffy rice, or for a low carb option you can serve it over cauliflower rice.

What’s in Chile Relleno Soup

• Chicken thighs
• Poblano peppers
• Chicken broth
• Cream cheese
• Green chiles
• Cheddar cheese
• Onion
• Garlic
• Cilantro
• Smoked paprika
• Ground cumin
• Bay leaf
• Salt
• Ground black pepper

*Exact measurements are listed in the recipe card below.

How to Make Chile Relleno Soup in a Slow Cooker

You start with roasting your peppers and removing their skin. How do you get the skin off a poblano pepper? Here, let me show you!

Preheat oven to 425°F.  Add the poblano peppers onto a small sheet pan, rub with olive oil and bake for 7-10 minutes or until the skins are charred.

Take the roasted peppers and add them to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for a few minutes.  This will make the skins much easier to peel off.

Peel the peppers, remove the seeds and stem, then dice. If you need a little help, using a dry paper towel will help rub off any stubborn skin.

Add the chicken thighs to the bottom of your slow cooker insert. Sprinkle the cumin, smoked paprika, salt and pepper over the tops.

Add in the onion, poblano peppers and garlic.

Then add in the cream cheese chunks, can of green chiles and chicken broth.  Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours. 

Remove the bay leaf and chicken.  Discard the bay leaf and shred the chicken into bite size pieces.  Before adding the chicken back in, stir in the cheddar cheese, a little at a time, until it has melted. 

Add the chicken back in, along with the cilantro, stir and allow to cook for 5 more minutes.

What Can I Do with a Lot of Poblano Peppers?

If you may find yourself with more poblano peppers than you can use immediately, no worries! Here are a couple of ways you can save and use them for later:

Best Way To Freeze Poblano Peppers

Freezing the peppers will preserve them for later use. You can freeze them fresh or after roasting. Always start with freshly washed and dried poblano peppers:

Freezing fresh peppers:

Start by slicing the pepper in half the long way. You'll want to seed and devein the pepper before freezing it. Leave them in larger chunks in case you want to roast them later.

Next, place all the halves on a sheet pan and flash freeze them in the freezer, uncovered for about an hour. Next, transfer them to a freezer-safe bag or airtight container and place back in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Freezing roasted peppers:

You will want to remove the skin from the roasted peppers. The skin becomes papery from the roasted process and is rather unappealing, so you'll want to follow the steps listed above for removing the skin.

Next, you can go ahead and chop them up or leave them in bigger chunks. Place them in a freezer-safe bag. Squeeze out as much air as you possibly can before closing up the bag. Roasted poblano's will freeze well for up to a couple of months.

Meal Prepping with Poblano Peppers

Another GREAT way to put all those extra peppers to use, is to take an afternoon and meal prep some of these freezer friendly meals that use poblano peppers:

• Creamy Poblano Chicken
• Stuffed Poblano Peppers
• White Chicken Chili
• Poblano and Cheese Stuffed Meatloaf

What Slow Cooker is Best to Use?

I used the Hamilton Beach 6 Quart Slow Cooker and absolutely love it. It's very lightweight and is programmable. But here's my favorite part... you can use the insert on your stovetop to sear before slow cooking.

So if you have a roast that you want to sear to give it more flavor, you don't have to use another pan! You can also deglaze the pan with your liquids and really make the most of all that flavor. Hands down, my favorite slow cooker ever!

More Keto Slow Cooker Recipes

• Tuscan Chicken
• Chicken Soup
• Turkey Breast with Gravy
• Southern Green Beans
• Mississippi Pot Roast
• BBQ Meatballs

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Slow Cooker Chile Relleno Soup

This incredibly savory and comforting Slow Cooker Chile Relleno Soup is rich and creamy, with just a touch of heat.

5 from 13 votes

Author: Julianne

Servings 4

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PREP 20 minutes mins

COOK 3 hours hrs

TOTAL 3 hours hrs 20 minutes mins

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

• ▢ 1 ½ pounds chicken thighs, boneless/skinless
• ▢ 2 poblano peppers, roasted and chopped
• ▢ 3 cups chicken broth
• ▢ 8 ounces cream cheese, cut into chunks
• ▢ 4 ounce can diced green chiles
• ▢ 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• ▢ ½ yellow onion, diced
• ▢ 3 cloves garlic, minced
• ▢ 2 tablespoons fresh cilantro, chopped
• ▢ 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• ▢ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• ▢ 1 bay leaf
• ▢ ½ teaspoon salt
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 425°F. Add the poblano peppers onto a small sheet pan, rub with olive oil and bake for 7-10 minutes or until the skins are charred.
• Take the roasted peppers and add them to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap for a few minutes. This will make the skins much easier to peel off. Peel the peppers, remove the seeds and stem, then dice.
• Add the chicken thighs to the bottom of your slow cooker insert. Sprinkle the cumin, smoked paprika, salt and pepper over the tops. Add in the onion, poblano peppers and garlic.
• Then add in the cream cheese chunks, can of green chiles and chicken broth. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or high for 3 hours.
• Remove the bay leaf and chicken. Discard the bay leaf and shred the chicken into bite size pieces. Before adding the chicken back in, stir in the cheddar cheese, a little at a time, until it has melted. Add the chicken back in, along with the cilantro, stir and allow to cook for 5 more minutes.
• Serve with your choice of garnish: cilantro, cheddar cheese, and/or sour cream.

Recipe Notes

If you don't have the time to roast the peppers first, you can always dice them up and add them in raw instead.  They won't have that same smoky flavor, but will still taste delicious!

*Make sure to scroll up and read the post for substitutions, additions and helpful tips for making this recipe.

Course Soup

Cuisine Mexican

Calories 465kcal

Nutrition Facts

Slow Cooker Chile Relleno Soup

Amount per Serving

Calories

465

% Daily Value*

Fat

 

24

g

37

%

Carbohydrates

 

10

g

3

%

Fiber

 

3

g

13

%

Sugar

 

1

g

1

%

Protein

 

46

g

92

%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

*Nutritional data is provided as a courtesy and is accurate to the best of my knowledge. You can verify it using the nutrition calculator of your choice. All data is based on net carbs, without sugar alcohol: Swerve, Erythritol, Monk Fruit or Allulose.

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