You will love this traditional New Mexico Hatch Green Chile sauce, made from freshly roasted chiles, smothered on burritos, enchiladas & more.
There isn’t a better smell than that of freshly roasted hatch green chiles. Whether you pick them up directly from Hatch, New Mexico or you get them at your local ethnic grocer, they make some really amazing Hatch green chile sauce.
For many that’s also known as enchilada sauce.
But… it’s not reserved “only” for enchiladas. You can dump it on burritos, use on your eggs, or even better, a great tamale.
If you can’t get your hands on Hatch chiles (whether in person or online), you can roast your own chiles at home on the grill, too.
Visiting Hatch, New Mexico
Every year in September, Hatch, New Mexico celebrates their Chile Festival. The weekend festival falls right around Labor Day and the weather is always still pretty warm.
The festival includes lots of fun festivities. You can watch the music, entertainment and even make and buy a ristra.
If you aren’t certain what a “ristra” is, it’s made with chile pods and comes ready to hang in your home or porch.
What looks very light is actually very heavy (ask me how I know!) I had to carry two of them a very very long ways to the truck!)
My 6 hour drive back to Phoenix with 2 huge ristras hanging in the back of the truck made for a really pleasant chile smell in my truck. Who needs an air freshener when you have dried chiles? 😜
Are Hatch chiles really that hot?
Every once in a while I can be a spicy food lover. However, I do know chiles all too well… sometimes they aren’t as mild as they appear to be.
I wandered by a tasting table at the festival, with chiles that were mild, medium and hot. The festival folks were offering samples, so I agreed that I would start on the mild end of the table just to be safe.
Less than 30 seconds later I had smoke coming out of my ears as I struggled to talk. Come to find out, not all mild Hatch chiles are exactly “mild”. 😉 My kids had a good laugh watching me struggle with the heat, that’s for sure.
If anything, it certainly brings about a sort of fun and crazy mystery to the whole chile eating experience!
I had a rather large bag of roasted Hatch chiles in my fridge for several days following my return. While I love that smell of green chile, I knew they needed to be used. A fridge can only fit so much Hatch chile.
Hatch Green Chile Sauce
This sauce is super handy to have for enchiladas, burritos, over eggs at breakfast or poured on your meat & potatoes at dinner.
This sauce is not only easy to put together, it requires some pretty simple ingredients, and freezes beautifully.
The recipe will give you just over two cups and can be doubled quite easily. If you like yours thinner, then add more broth (liquid).
But I don’t think you would want to make it any thicker as it might be challenging to use up. I highly recommend doubling the recipe as it’s handy to have in a pinch. And, it freezes up beautifully.
Traditional Hatch Green Chile Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 C onion chopped
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
- 1 C Hatch chiles roasted, peeled and chopped
- 1/4 tsp dried oregano
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin
- 1/2 tsp salt or more, to taste
- 1/4 tsp ground pepper or more, to taste
- 1.5 C chicken stock
Instructions
- In a medium skillet, saute the onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat until softened - about 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the flour and continue to cook over low/medium for another few minutes. The onions and garlic will be lumpy as they are coated in flour.
- Pour in the chicken stock, and simmer on low/medium heat until the mixture thickens up and starts to get smooth. Add the Hatch chiles, cumin and oregano and continue to simmer on low for 2-3 additional minutes.
- Pour the mixture into the blender and blend until smooth - add salt/pepper as desired. Refrigerate & use within 3-4 days or ladle into jars/freezer bags and freeze for later use.
Notes
- Recipe makes just over 2 C. of sauce.
Nutrition
Did you make this recipe?
If so, please leave a comment, rate the recipe and be sure to follow me on Pinterest for more Hatch-inspired recipes!
First time making. Is to die for!! 14 chlie’s made 2 cups. Going to make alot more. Thank you!
So glad you enjoyed it! I just roasted chiles on Sunday to make some too – ’tis the season for Hatch chiles!
Two cups of sauce? Or 14 chilis made 2 cups of chopped chilis ?
2 Cups of sauce..
Sounds delish only thing is us New Mexicans dont use Cumin
Or pepper.
This looks good as a smothering sauce. Different parts of NM prepare chile differently. Many of us chop up the chiles and maybe add a little salt and/or garlic salt, that’s it. Add much more and you have a stew, but not authentic NM chile. chile is a highly debatable topic within the state and this is a good attempt, nonetheless.
I grew up in New Mexico and lived there until I was 40, I’m now 68. I agree this is a good attempt at Hatch chile sauce. I have never has one that is smooth like this so I will try it since I love Hatch chile so much. I also grew up with just chopping it and add a little salt, and occasionally a little oregano depending on what I was using it on. Nothing beats chopped Hatch chile in scrambled eggs with chopped ham. I have lived in Idaho for about 15 years and have a very hard time finding Hatch chile. I miss it so much. I used to buy a 40 pound bag of Hatch chile every fall to roast and freeze. We ate it almost every day.
Hi Kathy, you can order Hatch chiles online from the Hatch Chile store. They will ship them straight from Hatch. I used to drive out to Hatch once a year to buy mine and haul them back, and just took the kids for a road trip at the same time. But this past year they shipped them to me and I it was so much easier than driving with kids. I love cooking with them… jam, eggs, cornbread.. relish, everything. Literally my favorite item to eat and cook with in the kitchen. Hope you stay well – New Mexico is simply beautiful!
Kathy every year super one grocery has fresh hatch chilies and they will roast them for you. I live in Coeur d alene ID
So, is it not possible to make this and can it?
Traci – I haven’t ever canned it. If I do happen to make extra I always freeze it (and it thaws beautifully).
I tried this today and it came out really good, I tweaked the recipe a little bit and added some tomatillos but it still tasted great!
Ashlyn, I’m so glad you loved it! Sounds like a winner!
I just finished making this sauce and it it awesome!! I add about 2 tsp cilantro and the juice of 2 limes. This will be my go to green sauce from now on! It takes longer to peel the chili’s then it does to make this!
I’m so glad you like it.. it’s one of my favorite things to make!
I love green hatch Chili Sauce. As I live in Canada is there a reasonable substitution for the hatch chilies?
Anaheim chiles aren’t quite the same as Hatch chiles.. but you might be able to find them. Otherwise, the Hatch Green Chile store online ships — I believe they do ship to Canada but you have to call or email them first because the form online doesn’t allow for a drop down selection for “Canada”. Hope that helps!
Thankyou, I will try that for sure
Great, easy recipe. I tried to track down Hatch Chile’s but they weren’t in season (Pacific Northwest). Use Poblano peppers and it turned out fine. I will make again when I find some Hatch Chile’s.
Hi, it looks delicious I have the frozen chopped Hatch roasted green chili I got at Walmart, can I use it for the recipe?
Absolutely you can!
Wow, this recipe turned out delicious as is and was pretty easy to make. Preparing to make more but this time instead of chicken stock will use vegetable stock for the vegan in the family 😀
So glad you like it!
This looks like a lovely recipe! I grew up in the Southwest. Love those Hatch green chiles!