Who doesn't love a good scrambled eggs? It's a staple for a reason! I'm a huge fan of just throwing together something simple in the morning. This Queso Fresco Anaheims recipe consists of roasted purple potatoes, scrambled eggs, queso fresco stuffed Anaheim peppers, and a dollop of homemade enchilada sauce.
Scrambled eggs and potatoes are something that anyone with a skillet can master. But one of my favorite ways to elevate the dish is to roast some peppers with queso fresco stuffed inside. This only about 15 minutes from start to finish and can be done while you're roasting the potatoes. It's one of my favorite things to do with an air fryer. All that you have to do is scoop the seeds and innards out with a small paring knife, crumble some cheese inside, and let the air fryer do it's thing! If you don't have an air fryer, this can just as easily be done in the oven or barbecue. Although that process will likely take a few extra minutes.
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Variations of Queso Fresco Anaheims
Queso fresco is one of my favorite cheeses and fits incredibly well with these queso fresco Anaheims. I use it quite a bit to stuff peppers and crumble on top of nachos alike. It's a great way to make scrambled eggs or roasted potatoes feel fancier than it is in the morning or to have as a late night snack. Although I generally consider cheese a junk food that is reserved for desserts or special occasions... or hangry eating in the middle of the night! You definitely don't have to twist my arm to toss some queso fresco into something.
It's also one of those meals that makes you look like much more culinary prowess than the actual process consists of.
These queso fresco anaheims consist of Anaheim stuffed peppers with scrambled eggs, roasted purple potatoes, and homemade enchilada sauce. Eggs are a great way to start the morning and there's almost nothing better than the combination of eggs, potatoes, and peppers. Even midwesterners are known to toss hot sauce on eggs and potatoes on occasion. This is just my own spin on it with Thai chilis from my garden and a mix of miniature purple potatoes, scrambled eggs, and queso fresco-stuffed Anaheim peppers.
For the hot sauce on this, I used Enchilada Sauce w/ Thai Chilis & Red Onion. These recipes take less than an hour and require an air fryer and a large pot on the stove. You can easily substitute your own salsa or hot sauce of choice. But I am quite fond of making it from scratch!
Roast Peppers
Cut the tops off of the Anaheim peppers. Take a small knife and de-vein and de-seed the peppers.The goal here is to hollow out the peppers, without compromising the shape. It's easier to stuff them when there aren't holes in them for the cheese to spill out! I'll use a long, sharp paring knife for this. That way it will fit inside of the pepper and you can just twist it around to remove the seeds. If you're careful and the knife is sharp enough, you can also slice through the veins and pull them out. You don't have to remove every single vein and seed, but they are quite bitter. So, removing as much of the innards as possible is preferable.
Crumble queso fresco and stuff inside of the Anaheim peppers.It helps to crumble the cheese before trying to stuff the peppers. That way, you can push it into the bottom tip of the pepper, without poking through the flesh. This can be easier said than done! Especially with larger pieces of cheese. Although crumbling it certainly helps as well as stuffing small amounts of cheese at a time.I also like to fill the end of the peppers with a larger chunk of queso fresco. This serves as a kind of cap to the peppers to keep the crumbled bits of cheese from falling out during the roasting process.
Put stuffed peppers in the air fryer and roast for 8-10 minutes, or until the peppers begin to char and turn slightly brown in color. Make sure to rotate somewhere between half and three-quarters of the way through the roasting process in order to cook evenly.Also make sure that the peppers are propped up as much as possible, to keep the cheese from spilling out. I tend to place them in the air fryer so that the slight curve of the peppers faces upward. Most peppers aren't perfectly straight and lean to a certain direction. Then, when I rotate them to get an even cook, I'll sometimes stack the peppers leaning against one another so that the cheese still faces upwards as much as possible.
Sautée Potatoes
Preheat a skillet on medium with a splash of olive oil.I like to use a cast iron skillet. If you're using another type of skillet, you might need more oil and the cooking time may vary slightly. I like to start with a very thin layer of oil, just enough to cover the skillet, and then add more as needed while cooking.
Meanwhile, dice the potatoes.
Add potatoes to the skillet. Stir to coat with oil. Cook covered for about 15-20 minutes, or until tender and lightly browned.Make sure to stir rather frequently. If it browns too quickly, add more oil and lower the temperature. If it doesn't brown quickly enough, increase the heat.
Once cooked, add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
Scramble Eggs
Meanwhile, preheat a skillet on the stove to medium-high heat.I use a fairly well seasoned cast iron skillet that doesn't need much, if any, oiling. Although for other types of skillets you will likely want to add a splash of olive oil here to prevent the eggs from sticking.
Crack eggs into a small bowl and whisk until fluffy.
Add eggs to the pan. Move them around gently with a spatula, making sure that they cook evenly.Stirring more constantly will result in runnier eggs. Stirring less vigorously will result in thicker eggs, but you may need to flip them to cook evenly.
Continue to gently move the eggs around until barely cooked. This should only take a couple of minutes. Remove from heat when the eggs begin to form and are no longer runny.
Assemble Plate
Place the potatoes, scrambled eggs, enchilada sauce, and stuffed peppers on a plate. Top with a dash of salt and pepper.
Serve immediately. Eggs don't tend to keep well and I wouldn't suggest making them ahead of time. Although stuffed peppers do reheat well in the air fryer for a couple of minutes and can be used for several days after roasting if you want to make a large batch.
Tips, Tricks, & Notes
Scrambled eggs are so fundamental that we often don't really think about it. But there truly is an art on how to scramble eggs! And there are some very easy pitfalls to fall into that are easily avoided. For tips and tricks, check out my article on The Fundamentals of How to Scramble Eggs.
You can also roast peppers in the oven or on the barbecue. Cooking times are roughly the same if you roast around 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
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