Crema de chile poblano (KREH-mah deh CHEE-leh poh-BLAH-noh) is a smooth Mexican soup built on 6 fire-roasted poblano peppers, blended with stock, milk and a little sweet corn, strained and finished with cream. It comes out pale green and smoky with only a mild warmth, and it makes an easy first course for a Christmas Eve dinner, because nearly all of it can be done the day before. Here’s how to char and peel the peppers so the soup isn’t bitter, how to keep the heat where you want it, quantities for 6 and 12, and what to buy if your supermarket doesn’t stock poblanos.
What cream of poblano soup is, and how long it takes
How do you make cream of poblano soup? Char 6 poblano peppers over a flame for 12 to 15 minutes, steam them 10 minutes, then peel and seed them. Soften onion and garlic in butter, add the peppers and 1 cup of corn, and simmer 10 minutes in 3 cups (720 ml) of stock. Blend with 2 cups (480 ml) of milk, strain, and finish over low heat with 1 cup (240 ml) of cream without boiling. 60 minutes for 6 servings.
A poblano is a large, dark green, heart-shaped chile, about 4 to 5 in (10 to 12 cm) long. Raw it tastes like a grassier green bell pepper; charred, it turns smoky and deep. It’s mild, 1,000 to 2,000 Scoville units, with most of that heat in the white ribs inside.
Time. 1 hour, about 25 minutes of it roasting and peeling the peppers. Difficulty, easy. The only skill involved is knowing when the skin is charred enough.
If you’d rather have a corn-led soup with just a garnish of poblano, try Mexican creamy corn soup. The similarly named mole poblano is a different thing entirely: a dark sauce of dried chiles named after the city of Puebla.
Ingredients for 6 or 12, with US and UK swaps
Each starter portion is about 1¼ cups (300 ml). As a main course with bread, the 6-serving batch feeds 4.
| Ingredient | For 6 | For 12 |
|---|---|---|
| Poblano peppers | 6 medium, 1⅔ lb (750 g) | 12 medium, 3⅓ lb (1.5 kg) |
| Butter | 2 tbsp (28 g) | 4 tbsp (55 g) |
| White onion | ½, 3½ oz (100 g) | 1, 7 oz (200 g) |
| Garlic | 2 cloves | 4 cloves |
| Sweet corn kernels | 1½ cups (225 g) | 3 cups (450 g) |
| Chicken stock | 3 cups (720 ml) | 6 cups (1.44 l) |
| Whole milk | 2 cups (480 ml) | 4 cups (960 ml) |
| Mexican crema or cream | 1 cup (240 ml) | 2 cups (480 ml) |
| Salt | ½ tsp | 1 tsp |
| Queso fresco or feta | 3 oz (90 g) | 6 oz (180 g) |
For 12, use a pot of at least 6 quarts (6 liters) and blend in four or five batches. Simmering times stay the same; roasting and straining take longer.
Finding poblanos, and what to use instead
US. Many supermarkets carry poblanos year-round, especially in areas with a good Mexican grocery selection, sometimes mislabeled as “pasilla”. Pick ones with smooth, glossy, unwrinkled skin and broad shoulders; they char evenly and peel cleanly.
UK. Fresh poblanos are easier to find at Mexican grocers and online chilli growers than in supermarkets. If you can’t get them:
| Swap | For 6 servings | What changes |
|---|---|---|
| Anaheim peppers (US) | 6 to 7 | Closest flavor; thinner walls, char in about half the time, can be a little hotter |
| Green bell peppers + jalapeño | 4 peppers + 1 seeded jalapeño | Paler, sweeter soup with less chile flavor; blend in a small handful (½ oz / 15 g) of cilantro (UK coriander) for color |
| Romano or long green peppers (UK) | 5 to 6 + 1 green chilli | Thin skins tear when peeled, which doesn’t matter in a blended soup |
Which cream to use
Mexican crema, sold in the Latin aisle in the US, is thick and slightly tangy. Heavy cream works the same way here with less tang. In the UK, double cream is the safest choice and crème fraîche adds the tang back. Single cream works too, but it curdles more easily: temper it well and never let the soup boil once it’s in. Sour cream and Greek yogurt split easily in a hot soup; if you use them, stir them in with the heat off.
Boxed stock is already salted, which is why the recipe calls for just ½ tsp. Homemade unsalted stock will need more, so taste at the end.
Equipment. Long tongs, a 3 to 4 quart (3 to 4 liter) pot, a blender or immersion blender, and a fine-mesh sieve.
Roasting and peeling poblanos so the soup isn’t bitter
A bitter batch usually comes from the roast: flesh burned through, or flecks of black skin that went into the blender. The goal is to blister the skin, not cook the pepper.
- Gas burner (best). High flame, pepper straight on the grate, 12 to 15 minutes, turning every 2 to 3 minutes. It’s ready when the skin is black and blistered almost everywhere and the pepper sags a little when you lift it. If it goes limp and the skin turns gray ash, it’s gone too far.
- Broiler (UK grill). Split the peppers, remove stem, seeds and ribs, flatten them skin-side up on a sheet pan and broil 3 to 4 in (8 to 10 cm) from the element for 5 to 10 minutes, until the skin blisters and blackens.
- Oven. Whole on a sheet pan at 450°F (230°C) for 15 to 20 minutes, turning halfway, until blistered. They come out softer, which doesn’t matter for soup.
- Electric stove. A dry cast-iron skillet works but takes noticeably longer and chars less evenly. Keep turning.
Steam, then peel. Into a bag or covered bowl, still hot, for 10 minutes; the steam loosens the skin. Rub it off with your fingers or a paper towel. Rinsing under the tap washes away some of the smoky flavor, so pick off stubborn black bits with the tip of a knife or a damp paper towel instead. Wear gloves if your skin is sensitive.
Controlling the heat
Poblanos from the same bag vary, and the only way to know is to taste. Nibble a small piece of each as you peel.
- For a mild soup, or for kids. Remove every rib and seed. If one pepper is noticeably hotter, keep it out of the blender and slice it for garnish instead.
- For more heat. Leave the ribs in 1 pepper, or blend half a roasted jalapeño or serrano with the soup.
- Already too hot. Stir in equal parts milk and cream, ½ cup (120 ml) of each at a time. It’ll be milder, and also taste less of poblano.
Making the soup
Soften and simmer. Onion in butter over medium heat for 5 minutes, garlic for 1 more. Add the chopped poblanos and 1 cup of corn, then the stock, and simmer covered for 10 minutes. The peppers are already tender from roasting; this is for the corn. Frozen corn goes in straight from the freezer.
Blend hot soup safely. Hot liquid expands in a blender and can blow the lid off. Fill the jar no more than halfway, remove the center cap, cover the hole with a folded towel, start on low and work up. 1 to 2 minutes per batch, with the milk divided between batches. An immersion blender works in the pot, off the heat, but leaves a coarser soup.
Strain it. Bits of pepper skin and corn hulls won’t break down even in a powerful blender, and they’re what make the soup gritty. Push it through a fine-mesh sieve with the back of a ladle; 3 or 4 tablespoons of pulp stay behind.
Add the cream gently. With the strained soup on low heat, whisk the cream with a ladle of hot soup first, then stir it in. Heat for 5 minutes, until steaming with small bubbles only at the edge. From here on it shouldn’t boil.
Thickness. It’s right when it coats the back of a spoon and pours in a thick ribbon. It thickens as it cools.
- Too thick. Stir in hot stock or milk, ¼ cup (60 ml) at a time.
- Too thin. Before adding the cream, simmer the strained soup uncovered over medium heat for 5 to 10 minutes. Or blend in another ½ cup of cooked corn and strain again.
Why it turned bitter, curdled or grainy
- Bitter. Charred through to the flesh, black skin left on, or roasted until it collapsed. A little more cream and a pinch of salt soften it, but won’t remove it.
- Curdled, with white specks and a greasy surface. Most often it boiled after the cream went in; pouring cold cream into very hot soup all at once makes it more likely. Take it off the heat, add 2 or 3 tbsp cold milk and whisk hard; if it won’t come back, blend it for 30 seconds.
- Grainy. Not strained, or not blended long enough.
- Dull olive or brownish. Over-roasted peppers, or a long hard boil. Fresh poblanos and a 10-minute simmer keep it green.
- Bland. Unsalted homemade stock. Season at the end, ¼ tsp at a time.
Allergens. Contains milk (butter, milk, cream, cheese). Gluten-free if your stock is; check the label. Corn tortilla strips are gluten-free too.
Make-ahead plan for a Christmas Eve dinner
Set up this way, all that’s left on the day is reheating the base and finishing it with the cream:
- Up to 2 days ahead. Roast, peel and seed the poblanos. Keep them sealed in the fridge, where they last 3 to 4 days. Store the garnish strips separately.
- The day before. Make the full base: soften, simmer, blend with the milk and strain, without the cream. To cool it fast, divide it among shallow containers (no more than 2 to 3 in / 5 to 7 cm of soup deep) rather than waiting for the whole pot to cool, and refrigerate within 2 hours. Bake the tortilla strips and keep them in an airtight container at room temperature.
- On the day. Reheat the base over medium-low heat, stirring, until it reaches 165°F (74°C) on a thermometer in the center of the pot; for 6 servings that’s about 15 to 20 minutes. Lower the heat, add the tempered cream and heat 5 more minutes without boiling. Toast the corn and crumble the cheese while it heats.
For 12, the plan is the same, but 5 to 6 quarts of base take much longer to heat through: start early and go by the thermometer, not the clock.
It’s a natural opener before a roast such as Mexican adobo pork leg or a Christmas Eve fish course like Mexican Christmas bacalao.
Dairy-free, lighter and other versions
- Dairy-free. Use 2 tbsp oil instead of butter and vegetable stock, swap the milk for 2 more cups (480 ml) of stock, and replace the cream with ⅔ cup (75 g) raw cashews, soaked 30 minutes in hot water and blended with the soup. It’s creamy and thick, with a faint nutty taste and none of the dairy tang; a squeeze of lime at the end brings some back. Not for anyone with a tree-nut allergy.
- Lighter. Leave out the cream and blend all the corn, including the garnish ½ cup, so the soup keeps its body. Thinner and sweeter, about 165 kcal per serving.
- Vegetarian. Vegetable stock instead of chicken. Nothing else changes.
- With melted cheese. Stir 3½ oz (100 g) grated Monterey Jack or Chihuahua cheese into the finished soup over low heat until melted. Thicker and saltier, so taste before salting.
- With potato. One medium potato (7 oz / 200 g), cubed, simmered with the stock and blended, thickens it without extra cream.
Toppings and serving
A smooth soup needs something crunchy and salty on top. Per bowl, roughly:
- 1 tbsp toasted corn, dry-skillet toasted for 4 to 5 minutes until spotted brown.
- A few poblano strips from the ones you set aside.
- ½ oz (15 g) queso fresco, or feta in the UK, which is saltier. It softens in the heat.
- Crisp tortilla strips. Cut 3 corn tortillas into thin strips and fry them in hot oil for 1 to 2 minutes, or brush with a little oil and bake at 400°F (200°C) for 8 to 12 minutes until golden. Broken tortilla chips work too.
- A swirl of cream and a few cilantro leaves.
Add toppings at the table: tortilla strips go soft in the soup within a couple of minutes. If you have poblanos left over, rajas con crema uses the same roasted strips, and chiles en nogada the same roasting technique for whole peppers.
Storing, freezing and reheating
- Fridge. Divided into shallow, sealed containers and refrigerated within 2 hours, it keeps 3 to 4 days at 40°F (4°C) or below. Keep toppings separate.
- Freezer. Freeze the base without the cream for 2 to 3 months, and thaw it overnight in the fridge. Add the cream when you reheat, as on the first day. Soup frozen with the cream can turn grainy or separate; blend it for 30 seconds once hot and it smooths out.
- Reheating. In a pot over medium-low heat, stirring, until steaming and 165°F (74°C), without a hard boil. Loosen with a splash of milk or stock if it thickened in the fridge. In the microwave, use medium power in 1-minute bursts, stirring in between.
Frequently asked questions
Is cream of poblano soup spicy? Usually only mildly. With every rib and seed removed, most batches are gentle enough for children. Taste each pepper as you peel, since the odd one can be hotter.
Can I use canned or frozen poblanos? Peppers you roasted, peeled and froze yourself work well: softer and wetter, which a blended soup hides. Thaw and drain them first. Canned diced green chiles (Hatch or Anaheim type) are a different, milder pepper and won’t give the same smoky depth; use them only as a last resort.
Does it need flour or cornstarch? No. The blended peppers, corn and cream give it body. For a thicker soup, reduce it before adding the cream or blend in an extra ½ cup of corn.
How do I keep it hot through a long dinner? Keep the pot covered over the lowest heat, or move the soup to a slow cooker on its warm setting, stirring now and then. Check with a thermometer that it stays at 140°F (60°C) or above; steam alone doesn’t tell you. Divide any leftovers into shallow containers and refrigerate them within 2 hours of turning off the heat.
Nutrition
Per serving (about 1¼ cups / 300 ml, one sixth of the recipe), without cheese or tortilla strips, worked out ingredient by ingredient from the quantities above:
- Calories: 245 kcal
- Protein: 8 g
- Carbohydrates: 24 g
- Fat: 15 g, of which 8 g saturated
- Fiber: 2 g
- Sugars: 14 g
- Sodium: 745 mg
The cream accounts for about 80 kcal a serving and the corn about 30. A ½ oz (15 g) sprinkle of queso fresco adds about 45 kcal. Sodium depends heavily on your stock, so taste before salting.
Poblanos aren’t part of the Venezuelan cooking I grew up with, and in Colombia I don’t always find them, so I’ve made this soup with bell peppers and a jalapeño more than once; it’s good, just paler and sweeter, and the cilantro helps. When I do have poblanos, I roast and peel them two days before. That’s the slow part, and once it’s done the soup nearly makes itself. I also taste every pepper before it goes in the blender, because Dylan eats at our table and it’s easier to set one hot pepper aside than to rescue a whole pot. Josnaisis.