Papas con Rajas 🥔 is an easy Mexican side dish made with tender potatoes, roasted poblano peppers, onion, and melted cheese. It’s simple, filling, and a great way to turn inexpensive potatoes into something the whole family will love.
This recipe was originally published in 2018 and is still one of my favorite ways to use up leftover potatoes.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe ❤️
- Easy to make. Once the potatoes and poblanos are ready, this dish comes together quickly.
- Budget-friendly. Potatoes are inexpensive, and you only need a handful of ingredients.
- Great for leftovers. Have leftover cooked potatoes? Use them and get dinner on the table even faster.
- So versatile. Serve Papas con Rajas for breakfast with scrambled eggs, as a side dish for lunch or dinner, or enjoy it on its own with warm tortillas.
-Maggie
👩🏼🍳 Instructions
Cooking Potatoes
- Peel and dice the potatoes.
- Add the potatoes to a large pot and cover with water.
- Bring to a boil and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 10 minutes.
- Drain and set aside.
Using leftover potatoes? Skip the cooking step and use about 4 cups of cooked, cubed potatoes.
Roasting Poblano Peppers
- Roast the poblano peppers on all sides until the skin is charred and blistered.
- Place the roasted peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let them steam for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the charred skin, stems, and seeds.
- Slice the roasted poblanos into strips.
Pro Tip: Roast the poblano peppers ahead of time and keep them refrigerated until you’re ready to make the Papas con Rajas.
Making Papas con Rajas
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the diced onion and cook for about 1 minute, or until translucent.
- Add the roasted poblano strips and stir to combine. Cook for 1-2 minutes.
- Add the cooked potatoes and gently stir to combine.
- Season with salt and cook for another 1-2 minutes.
- Sprinkle the shredded cheese over the potatoes and peppers.
- Cook until the cheese is melted, about 1 minute.
- Serve with warm tortillas and enjoy!
🙋🏻♀️ Frequently Asked Questions
Papas con Rajas are Mexican potatoes cooked with roasted poblano peppers, onion, and cheese. They make an easy side dish or a filling vegetarian meal served with warm tortillas.
Yes, roasting the poblanos gives them a softer texture and smoky flavor. You can roast them ahead of time to make this recipe come together faster.
Use a cheese that melts well, such as Monterey Jack, Oaxaca, Chihuahua, or a Mexican melting cheese. Shredded cheese works well and melts quickly.
Poblano peppers are generally mild, but their heat can vary from pepper to pepper. Removing the seeds and membranes can help reduce the heat.
Serve them with warm tortillas and scrambled eggs for breakfast, or alongside grilled chicken, pork chops, or Carne Asada Street Tacos. They can also be served on their own as a simple vegetarian meal.
Yes! This recipe is a great way to use leftover cooked potatoes. Skip the potato-cooking step and use about 4 cups of cooked, cubed potatoes.
More Mexican Side Dishes
Papas con Rajas is one of those simple Mexican recipes that proves you don’t need a long ingredient list to make a good meal. Tender potatoes, roasted poblanos, and melted cheese are all you need.
Serve it with warm tortillas for an easy breakfast, side dish, or meatless meal.
Papas con Rajas
Ingredients
Instructions
Cooking the Potatoes:
- Add potatoes and water to a pot.
- Add enough water to cover the potatoes.
- Bring to a boil.
- Cook until potatoes are fork tender. About 10 minutes.
- Drain water and set aside until ready to use.
Roasting Poblano Peppers:
- Roast the poblano peppers on all sides until the skin is charred and blistered.
- Place the roasted peppers in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let them steam for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the charred skin, stems, and seeds.
- Slice the roasted poblanos into strips.
Making Papas con Rajas
- In a large skillet, heat oil.
- Add onion to the skillet.
- Cook for 1 minute or until onion is translucent.
- Add the poblano peppers.
- Stir to combine.
- Cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
- Add the cooked potatoes and salt.
- Cook for 1 minute, stirring occasionally.
- Add the shredded cheese.
- Stir to combine.
- Cook until cheese is melted. About 1 minute.
- Serve with tortillas.
Love dem potatoes. TIP add some salt to water and two bay leafs a Russian told me this tip ,
Love this! Bay leaves add so much flavor.
I use bacon grease to cook my onions and potatoes, crumble the bacon and mix in dish. The bacon bumps the flavors up a huge notch!
That’s a great idea! Adding bacon grease and crumbled bacon to the dish is a tasty way to enhance the flavors of the Papas con Rajas. I’ll definitely have to try this next time I make it.
This looks so yummy, will be trying it out. Thank you for sharing
Yes! Super yummy. Thank you 🙂
Oh wow this looks SO tasty! I’ve never tried anything like it before but I really want to, looks delicious!
Especially with cheese, this dish is DELICIOUS. Hope you get to try it some day.
I don’t think I’ve ever had poblano, or even heard of it so I’m not sure what it tastes like. The rest of the ingredients sound tasty x
Poblanos can be spicy, but because there’s cheese, it tames the heat. Hope one day you get to try poblanos. They’re sooooo good!
Oh my! I will save this recipe and make my own. It looks so yummy and easy to do.
That’s great. Hope you like it 🙂
That looks so yummy! I’m a potato lover and i love seeing new recipes of potatoes. Thanks for sharing this. Nice one.
I know what you mean. I’m always on the hunt of new potato recipes.
Seems like a delicious recipe! I’m not sure I would have it for brekkie but definitely for dinner!
Thank you. Yes, very delicious.
This looked so delicious, This will be one of my favor it recipes in my weekly planning schedule.
I know you’ll love it. Such a tasty dish!