This recipe for gorditas de rajas con crema combines two of our absolute favorite recipes – homemade gorditas and rajas con crema! Rajas con crema is one of our absolute favorite fillings to put inside gorditas. The roasted poblanos, tender browned onions, sweet corn, creamy Mexican crema, and cheesy Monterey jack all contribute so much flavor to the dish! This recipe for rajas con crema is gluten free, vegetarian, egg free, and nut free.
How to make rajas con crema
How do you make rajas con crema? Here are the steps you have to go through to make rajas con crema.
- Prepare the vegetables. Prepare the poblano peppers and the onions. De-stem and deseed the poblanos then slice the onions in thin strips.
- Roast the poblanos. Roast the poblano peppers under your broiler until they char. Flip the peppers over and roast them until the second side starts to char.
- Skin the poblanos and slice them into thin strips. Peel back the skin from the poblano peppers and slice them into long, thin strips just like the onions.
- Cook the onions. Cook the onions over medium heat in a little bit of vegetable oil for 15 – 20 minutes until they start to brown. Add the poblanos and corn and continue to cook them for 10 minutes.
- Mix in the cheese, cream, and spices. Add the cheese, Mexican crema, heavy cream, and all of the other remaining ingredients to the pan with the vegetables and mix them well.
Tips for making rajas con crema
Did you know we have a whole article on how to make rajas con crema? If you are looking for more information on how to make rajas con crema then you should check out the full article. For now, here are some of the best tips from that article.
- Tips for peeling poblanos. Are you looking for tips to make peeling your poblanos even easier? Take your poblano peppers out of the oven then put them in a bowl and cover it with saran wrap. Leave the peppers in a bowl for 10 – 20 minutes and the skins will continue to peel away from the flesh.
- You don’t have to remove all of the skin from the poblanos. It is not important that you remove every last bit of skin from the poblanos. You should focus on getting the parts of the skin that have charred, browned, and peeled away from the flesh of the poblano peppers.
- Add the cheese to the dish last. You should make sure to take the vegetables off of the heat before you add the cream or cheese to the rajas con crema. You should also add the cheese to the dish last. This will help ensure that the cheese does not curdle.
Do you need a tortilla press to make gorditas?
Do you need a tortilla press to make gorditas? If it is your first time making gorditas you can use a flat object such as a cutting board to press your dough into a tortilla shape. That being said, using a cutting board is clunky and time consuming. We highly recommend getting a tortilla press like this one if you regularly make gorditas.
How to make gorditas
How do you make homemade gorditas? Homemade gorditas are relatively easy to make at home. Here are the main steps you have to take to make homemade gorditas.
- Make masa dough for the gorditas. It is super easy to make masa dough for gorditas! All you need is some masa harina, water, and a little bit of salt.
- Separate the dough into balls. After you have mixed the masa dough together it is time to separate the dough out into individual balls of dough. Each dough ball should be about 2 inches in diameter.
- Flatten the dough balls into gorditas. Gorditas are flat like tortillas so after you separate the dough out into individual balls it is time to flatten the gorditas into patties. Gorditas should be at least twice the thickness of regular corn tortillas. You can flatten the gorditas using a tortilla press or a heavy flat object like a cutting board or a cookbook. If you are looking for a tortilla press, we recommend this tortilla press as it is easy to use and sturdy.
- Cook the gorditas in a flat pan or comal. After you flatten your gorditas into the appropriate shape it is time to cook them. Gorditas need to be cooked over medium high to high heat so that they puff up in the middle and form a nice little pocket for toppings.
- Cut the gorditas open. Once the gorditas are done cooking it is time to cut them open so you can stuff them with toppings. Use a butter knife to slice into the side of the gorditas and carve open a pocket that can be stuffed with toppings.
Tips for making gorditas
Did you know we have a comprehensive article on how to make gorditas that is full of useful tips and tricks? If you are looking for more information on gorditas and different variations on gorditas then check out the full article! For now, here are some highlights from that article.
- Press the dough balls inside a ziplock bag. When you press balls of masa dough into flat tortillas, you need to line your tortilla press or working surface with a non-stick liner. Most recipes recommend using saran wrap but it is actually much easier to press balls of masa dough inside a gallon sized ziplock bag. If you cut open one of the sides of the bag that is adjacent to the opening it is even easier to get your gorditas in and out.
- Flip the gorditas early in the cooking process. For best results you should flip your gorditas 15 – 20 seconds after you add them to the pan to cook. Flippings the Gordita early on helps trap steam inside of the gorditas which helps them puff up.
- If your gorditas don’t puff up then add more heat. Are your gorditas not puffing up as much as you would like? Try raising the heat on your stove a little. Do not worry if your gorditas do not puff up much, you will still be able to use them.
- It’s okay if your gorditas don’t puff up much. You will be able to use your gorditas even if they do not puff up much. You will just have to do a little more work to cut a pocket into the middle of them. Sometimes it does not look like your gorditas have puffed up much from the outside but once you cut them open you see that there is still a nice pocket inside.
- Cut the gorditas right after cooking. It is easiest to cut through the outside of the gorditas when the gorditas are still warm and the dough inside is still soft.
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Gorditas de rajas con crema
These tasty gorditas de rajas con crema are filled with a creamy mixture of poblano peppers, onion, corn, and monterey jack cheese. These gorditas are gluten free, vegetarian, egg free, and nut free.
Servings: 4 people
Ingredients
- 2 tbsp crumbled queso fresco
Rajas con crema
- 6 poblano peppers
- 1 white onion
- 1 cup corn
- 1 cup shredded Monterey jack cheese
- 2/3 cup heavy cream
- 2/3 cup Mexican crema
- 1 tsp smoked paprika
- 1/2 tsp black pepper
- salt
- 2 tsp vegetable oil
Gorditas
- 2 heaping cups masa harina
- 2 cups warm water
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat your broiler on high. If you do not have a working broiler preheat your oven to 500 degrees.
Prepare your ingredients
- Remove the stem from the seeds from the poblano peppers then lay them out on a baking sheet lined with tin foil. Slice the onions into long thin strips.
- Combine all of the ingredients for the masa dough. If the dough is too wet and it sticks to your hands when you try to shape it then add more masa 1 tbsp at a time until it becomes workable. If the dough is too dry and crumbly add more water 1/2 tbsp at a time until it comes together.
- Separate the masa dough into balls that are about 2 inches in diameter and press the balls of masa dough into flat tortillas that are about 2 times the thickness of regular tortillas. You can use a tortilla press to flatten the balls of masa dough or if you do not have one you can use a large flat object like a cutting board to flatten them on the table. You should line the dough with 2 sheets of saran wrap or place it inside of a gallon sized bag when your press it to prevent the dough from sticking.
Cook your ingredients
- Start to heat a large flat pan or comal on medium high heat. You will use this pan to make the gorditas.
- Heat the vegetable oil up in a medium sized pot or pan and add the onions. Toss the onions with salt and cook the onions for 15 - 20 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally. When the onions are done cooking remove them from the heat until you are ready to use them.While the onions cook you can continue on to the next step.
- Put the poblanos on the broiler and cook them for 5 minutes per side or until they start to char on both sides.While the poblanos roast you can start cooking your first batch of gorditas.
- Add the first batch of gorditas to the large pan and flip them after they have cooked for 15 - 20 seconds. Continue to cook the gorditas until they have lightly browned up on both sides. After the gorditas come off the heat use a butter knife to slice into the sides and open up a pocket that you can stuff with toppings.
- Peel back the skin from the poblano peppers and slice the poblanos into thin strips. Add the poblanos and corn to the pot with the onions and continue to cook the poblanos for 10 minutes.
- After the poblanos, corn, and onions have cooked for 10 minutes add the heavy cream, Mexican crema, and Monterey jack cheese, and all of the remaining ingredients for the rajas con crema.
Assembling the gorditas de rajas con crema
- Stuff the pockets you made in the gorditas open with rajas con crema, add a little crumbled queso fresco, and serve.
Notes
On multitasking. Rajas con crema and gorditas are both relatively easy to make on their own. Once you decide to make rajas con crema and gorditas at the same time you have to think about your timing a little more. If you are okay with a little multitasking you can reduce the amount of time it makes to take this dish significantly. The poblanos, onions, and gorditas do not require much attention as they cook so you should be able to cook some of these at the same time. If you want to make the items separately we recommend making the gorditas first then the rajas con crema and following the standalone recipes for both of these items.
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- Mexican crema. If you cannot find Mexican crema at your grocery store you can replace the crema with sour cream. Sour cream on its own is not a perfect substitute for Mexican crema, but when you mix the sour cream like heavy cream like we do in this recipe then it works much better!
- Poblanos. If you cannot find poblano peppers at your grocery store then you can use anaheim chiles as a substitute. You can use any large green chile pepper you can find, but you should avoid using bell peppers if possible as they are quite sweet.
- Monterey jack cheese. You can use a variety of mild cheeses in this dish. If your grocery store has Oaxaca cheese then that is a great option! Mozzarella cheese and pepper jack cheese can also work.
- Smoked paprika. If you do not have smoked paprika you can substitute the smoked paprika with regular paprika or chile powder. Keep in mind that smoked paprika has a stronger flavor than regular paprika so you might want to experiment with using extra paprika if you use regular paprika.
Other recipes you will love
Are you looking for more tips and tricks on how to make gorditas? Check out our comprehensive tutorial on how to make gorditas! This article includes pictures at every step of the process.
Are you looking for more information on how to make rajas con crema? Check out our standalone recipe for rajas con crema for more cooking tips and progress pictures.
Are you looking for an even easier recipe for gorditas? Check out this super simple recipe for bean & cheese gorditas with lime sour cream and homemade guacamole. None of the ingredients in this filling require any cooking. So easy!
Are you looking for another creamy recipe you can make with poblano peppers? Check out this recipe for poblano cream pasta sauce!
