Green Chile Sauce

Green chile sauce, along with red, are the backbones of New Mexican cuisine. The two flavorful chile sauces are used liberally, smothering and infusing all sorts of New Mexican dishes.

If you’ve ever been to New Mexico, you’re familiar with the refrain: red, green or Christmas. They’re asking: red chile, green chile, or both? In the land of enchantment, there’s no wrong answer because red and green are both delicious. And, both sauces together, well, it’s the best of both worlds.

What is green chile?

Green chile is green chile sauce, although sometimes people call green chile peppers “green chile” as well. Note, it’s spelled “chile” as per the state constitution. Green chile can refer to green chile sauce, Hatch green chiles, or New Mexico green chiles.

What is green chile sauce?

It’s a sauce created from roasted, unripened, fresh green chile pods. You roast fresh green chiles, peel off the skins, then chop and cook them into a sauce with onion, garlic, and stock (or water). There’s a bit of optional flour added as a thickener as well. It’s smoky, savory, and delicious!

How to make green chile sauce

It’s incredibly easy for a huge flavor pay off.

1. Roast. Start off by roasting your green chiles. Place washed, dry peppers on a baking sheet and roast them in the oven until blistered. Place the hot peppers in a heat proof container with a lid and let them sweat so you can remove their skins. Read more about roasting peppers.
2. Peel. Gently rub off the skins, trim off the stems, and deseeded and de-rib the chiles.
3. Chop. Chop up the deseeded chiles in either a rough chop or fine dice, depending on what kind of texture you want your final sauce to have. Most green chile sauces have a 1/4 inch dice, but since you’re making your own, you can customize the size of the chopped chile.
4. Sauté. Sauce diced onions in butter until soft, then sprinkle on flour and stir to cook and coat the onions. Mix in the chopped chile.
   Add the stock. Slowly stream in the chicken stock (or vegetable stock or water) while stirring.
5. Simmer. Bring the sauce to a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, until it thickens to your liking. Taste and season with salt and pepper then enjoy!

What are the best green chiles?

Hatch of course! They’re buttery, crisp, smoky, with just a hint of sweetness. Plus they come in mild to very hot so there’s a spice level for everyone. They’re famous for a reason and almost all of the green chile sauce in New Mexico contains Hatch grown green chiles. If you can’t get your hands on Hatch green chiles, try Anaheims.

What can you make with green chile sauce?

Hope you get a chance to try this magical green sauce!
xoxo steph

Original Post – I am a Food Blog