Chef Lupita
Arroz Blanco Tabasqueno con Platano
Tabasco's everyday white rice, cooked loose and clean with onion and garlic, then crowned with sweet fried ripe plantain from the lowland kitchen.
Culinary Explorer
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Tabasco Baked Stuffed Chayote (Chayotes Rellenos)
Created by
Tabasco's lowland chayote halves, filled with their own tender flesh, sweet elote, chipilín, crema, and queso de poro, baked in clay until the edges turn gold.
Side Dishes
Mexican
Dinner Party
Holiday
Comfort Food
30 min
Active Time
1 hr cook•1 hr 30 min total
Yield6 stuffed halves, 6 servings as a side
Tabasco's Chontalpa and Los Ríos lowlands sit between water, cacao, plantain, corn, and heat that never really leaves the kitchen. This dish belongs there. Chayotes rellenos are not a restaurant showpiece. They are a home side, the kind of thing set in a clay cazuela beside rice, beans, roasted meat, or a holiday table that needs one more generous dish.
The filling tells you where you are. Chayote flesh, elote tierno, chipilín leaves, chile amashito, crema de rancho, and queso de poro from Balancán. Not cheddar. Not sour cream. Not a pile of anonymous grated cheese from a plastic bag. The chile amashito is small and direct, but this dish is not about burning your mouth. It is about the green sweetness of chayote and corn, with enough chile to remind you that Tabasco has its own tongue.
The women who perfected this kind of dish understood water. Chayote looks solid until you cook it, then it gives up liquid like a sponge. You boil it whole, scoop it carefully, and cook the flesh in manteca until the pan goes from wet to creamy. Then you add the crema and cheese. Do it backward and you get soup inside a shell. Así se hace y punto.
I learned this version in Villahermosa from a señora who sold chayotes, elotes, and little piles of chile amashito in a plastic bowl. She told me, if the chayote is old, do not buy it, and if the cheese is bland, do not blame the recipe. She was right. Si no conoces el mercado, no conoces la cocina.
Chayote, Sechium edule, was domesticated in Mesoamerica before 1492, and its common Spanish name comes from the Nahuatl chayotli. The baked, cheese-filled version reflects the colonial and postcolonial layering of Tabasco cooking: an indigenous squash-family vegetable joined to dairy from the cattle country of the Usumacinta lowlands, especially cheeses made around Balancán and Tenosique. Tabasco households also keep savory and sweet chayotes rellenos in the same repertoire, which is why one cook will defend crema, chipilín, and chile amashito while another argues for sugar and canela.
The technique, the tradition, and the story behind every dish.
Discover Culinary ExplorerIngredients
large chayotes
Quantity
3, about 2 1/4 pounds
rinsed
kosher salt
Quantity
1 tablespoon for the cooking water, plus 3/4 teaspoon for the filling
banana leaf (optional)
Quantity
1 piece, about 14 by 18 inches
passed over a flame until flexible
manteca de cerdo
Quantity
2 tablespoons, plus more for greasing
for the cazuela
white onion
Quantity
1/2 medium
finely chopped
garlic cloves
Quantity
2
finely chopped
fresh chile amashito
Quantity
2 to 3
finely chopped
fresh elote tierno kernels
Quantity
1 cup
cut from about 2 ears of corn
chipilín leaves
Quantity
1/3 cup packed
stems removed and leaves chopped
freshly ground black pepper
Quantity
1/4 teaspoon
crema de rancho or crema mexicana
Quantity
1/2 cup
divided
large egg
Quantity
1
beaten
queso de poro de Balancán
Quantity
1 cup
grated and divided
totopos de maíz
Quantity
1/4 cup
finely crushed
| Ingredient | Quantity |
|---|---|
| large chayotesrinsed | 3, about 2 1/4 pounds |
| kosher salt | 1 tablespoon for the cooking water, plus 3/4 teaspoon for the filling |
| banana leaf (optional)passed over a flame until flexible | 1 piece, about 14 by 18 inches |
| manteca de cerdofor the cazuela | 2 tablespoons, plus more for greasing |
| white onionfinely chopped | 1/2 medium |
| garlic clovesfinely chopped | 2 |
| fresh chile amashitofinely chopped | 2 to 3 |
| fresh elote tierno kernelscut from about 2 ears of corn | 1 cup |
| chipilín leavesstems removed and leaves chopped | 1/3 cup packed |
| freshly ground black pepper | 1/4 teaspoon |
| crema de rancho or crema mexicanadivided | 1/2 cup |
| large eggbeaten | 1 |
| queso de poro de Balancángrated and divided | 1 cup |
| totopos de maízfinely crushed | 1/4 cup |
Equipment Needed
- •Wide pot for boiling whole chayotes
- •Sharp spoon or melon baller for scooping the shells
- •Wide skillet for cooking down the filling
- •12-inch oven-safe clay cazuela or ceramic baking dish
- •Comal or gas flame for softening the banana leaf
Instructions
- 1
Cook the chayotes
Put the whole chayotes in a wide pot and cover with water. Add 1 tablespoon salt and bring to a steady simmer. Cook 35 to 45 minutes, until a knife slides into the thickest part with slight resistance. Do not peel them. The skin is the shell, and the shell is the dish.
Buy firm, pale green chayotes without wrinkles or sprouting. Old chayotes turn fibrous in the center, and no amount of crema fixes that. - 2
Prepare the cazuela
Heat the oven to 375F. Lightly grease an oven-safe clay cazuela or ceramic baking dish with manteca. If using banana leaf, pass it over a gas flame or hot comal for a few seconds per side until glossy and flexible, then line the cazuela with it. That leaf is Tabasco on the table: lowland, green, practical.
- 3
Scoop the shells
Drain the chayotes and let them cool just until you can handle them. Cut each one lengthwise. Remove the seed and chop it with the flesh if it is tender. Scoop out the flesh, leaving a 1/4-inch wall so the halves hold their shape. Chop the flesh and let it drain in a colander for 10 minutes. Chayote carries water. Respect that or your filling will slump.
- 4
Build the filling
Melt the manteca in a wide skillet over medium heat. Add the onion and cook until translucent, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic and chile amashito and cook for 30 seconds, just until the garlic smells sharp and sweet. Stir in the elote and cook 3 minutes, then add the chipilín and chopped chayote flesh. Season with 3/4 teaspoon salt and the black pepper. Cook 6 to 8 minutes, stirring often, until the mixture looks moist but no liquid runs across the pan.
This is the step people rush. No me vengas con atajos. If the chayote water stays in the pan, it will come out in the oven. - 5
Bind with crema
Take the skillet off the heat and let the filling cool for 5 minutes. Stir in 1/3 cup crema, the beaten egg, and 3/4 cup queso de poro. The filling should mound on a spoon, creamy but not loose. If the pan is hot enough to hiss when the egg touches it, wait. Scrambled egg in a chayote shell is not a tradition.
- 6
Fill and bake
Set the chayote shells in the prepared cazuela. Fill each half generously, pressing the filling into the corners. Spoon the remaining crema over the tops, then scatter with the remaining queso de poro and the crushed totopos. Bake 22 to 28 minutes, until the cheese is melted, the totopos are golden, and the edges of the chayote look lightly browned.
Use oven-safe clay only. A market cazuela made for serving can crack in the oven. If you do not know, use ceramic and bring the clay to the table for serving. - 7
Rest and serve
Let the chayotes rest 10 minutes before serving. They need that time to settle so the filling holds together. Bring the cazuela to the table family-style with thick hand-pressed tortillas tabasqueñas if you have them. This is a side dish, yes, but it has its own spine. Cada estado, su propia cocina.
Chef Tips
- •Queso de poro de Balancán is the right cheese here: lightly tangy, firm enough to grate, and strong enough to stand up to crema. If you cannot find it, use firm queso fresco with a spoonful of aged Cotija mixed in. That is a compromise, not an upgrade.
- •Chile amashito is Tabasco's small local chile, often sold fresh in tiny market piles. If you cannot find it, use fresh chile piquín or one very small piece of habanero. Use restraint. The point is perfume and bite, not turning the dish into a dare.
- •Chipilín leaves should be tender and green. Strip off the stems. If the leaves are yellow or smell tired, leave them at the market. Pregúntale a las señoras del mercado.
- •Do not skip cooking the chayote flesh after scooping. The filling must lose its extra water before it meets the crema. That is the difference between a gratin and a puddle.
- •The banana leaf is not decoration. It keeps the shells from sticking and gives the cazuela that lowland smell. If you cannot get it, the recipe still works, but you will know what is missing.
Advance Preparation
- •The chayotes can be boiled, halved, scooped, and refrigerated one day ahead. Keep the shells and chopped flesh covered separately.
- •The filling can be made one day ahead without the egg. Reheat gently, cool slightly, then stir in the egg before filling and baking.
- •Bake just before serving. Leftovers keep for two days, but the chayote softens and the totopo topping loses its bite.
Frequently Asked Questions
Nutrition Information
1 serving (about 220g)
Calories
230 calories
Total Fat
15 g
Saturated Fat
8 g
Trans Fat
0 g
Unsaturated Fat
7 g
Cholesterol
65 mg
Sodium
630 mg
Total Carbohydrates
17 g
Dietary Fiber
4 g
Sugars
5 g
Protein
8 g
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