Enjoy this easy homemade Hatch green chile sauce on everything from steak, tacos, burritos or enchiladas. Simple with ingredients This New Mexico sauce adds the perfect Southwestern flair for any main dish you can throw its way. With just a few ingredients and about 15 minutes of your time, you’re on your way to fiesta time.
About This Recipe and Why It Works
Is it normal to get so obsessed with a chile pepper? For us here in Colorado, it’s completely normal because we happen to have neighbors to the South that spoil us with their famous Hatch Chile Peppers.
Each Fall, we celebrate the arrival of Hatch Chile peppers. Parking lots and roadside stands fire up their chile roasting drums and the aromas of New Mexico chiles fill the air. We evangelize and we obsess. We talk constantly about them and we add Hatch chile peppers to almost everything we cook.
The Hatch Valley is considered the chile capitol of the world, and lies South of Truth or Consequences.
One of the recipes I love to make is this Hatch Green Chile Sauce. Or, chile verde sauce.
It’s a simple, but exciting combination of chopped chile peppers, onions and garlic. With chicken broth and flour to thicken the sauce.
It works because it truly showcases the smoky, rich, earthy flavor of Hatch Chile Peppers.
You could also call this Green Chile Salsa, but with the addition of broth and flour pushes is to the green chile sauce category.
Thick, rich and teaming with Hatch chile peppers, grab a spoon and drizzle it on everything from scrambled eggs to breakfast burritos.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients To Make Green Chile Sauce
Making this green chile sauce is easy using just a few simple ingredients and a little prep time.
Mise en place. Always gather ingredients before starting any recipe. It will save you time and organize your mind.
- Roasted Hatch Green Chile Peppers: You’ll need two cups which will equal about 10 roasted chile peppers. Seeds and stems removed, most of the outer charred skin removed and chopped.
- Chicken Broth: 2 cups.
- Onion: Use a sweet onion or yellow onion.
- Olive Oil: No need to haul out the expensive olive oil you’ve purchased to make vinaigrette’s. I keep a big bottle of Costco olive oil that I use for sauteeing.
Ingredient Swaps and Substitutions
- Chile Peppers: If you simply don’t have access to fresh roasted Hatch Chile Peppers, you can use roasted Anaheim or roasted Pueblo Chile Peppers grown in Colorado. Roasted Poblano peppers are also a good choice here. You can also use canned roasted Hatch Chile Peppers and many grocery stores carry frozen roasted, chopped peppers in the freezer section. Keep in mind Anaheim peppers carry little heat.
- Broth: Substitute vegetable broth to make this a vegetarian green chile sauce recipe.
- Onion: You could substitute a red onion for the yellow or sweet onion, however, keep in mind, red onions have a strong flavor and will over-power the Hatch Chile peppers. And after all, those peppers are the star of the show. Stick with a milder onion.
- Oil: Canola oil is a good substitute for olive oil.
- Garlic: Don’t have any fresh garlic? Substitute ½ teaspoon of garlic powder or garlic salt.
How To Make Green Chile Sauce, It’s Easy
- Step 1: Start by heating the oil in a fry pan on your stovetop over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the oil. Once the oil is shimmering, add the onions. Turn heat down a bit and saute until onions are tender, about 5 – 6 minutes, stirring often. Add the chopped garlic and cook until fragrant. About 1 minute.
- Step 2: Add the flour to the onion and garlic mixture. Stir and continue cooking for 2 more minutes. Be careful not to let the flour brown.
- Step 3: Add the chopped Hatch Chile Peppers to the pan and cook, stirring until peppers are heated.
Step 4: Stir in the chicken broth and simmer until the sauce has thickened. This will take about 5 minutes.
This is the beauty of this recipe. You can select either mild, medium or hot chile peppers to make this sauce. Customizing the heat level to suite your taste. We are “medium” people.
Simply stated, for a pepper to be labeled as a Hatch Chile Pepper they must be grown in the Hatch Valley region of Southern New Mexico. These chiles are more than a single variety. In fact, there’s a wide selection of sub-varieties grown in the Hatch Valley, that fall under the title of “Hatch Chiles” which gives Hatch peppers a wide swing on the Scoville scale.
Hatch Chile Pepper harvest begins in August and normally runs through the end of September. But will all crops, weather is king, so the season can start in July and run into October.
If there are not chile roasting stands in your area, you can always order them from The Hatch Chile Store. They have a supply of frozen almost year round to ship. Some grocery stores carry supplies of frozen Hatch Chile Peppers in the freezer section. There are also canned chile peppers that are labeled “Hatch” that you can purchase at your grocery store. From what I’ve been told when visiting the Hatch area, these are not chiles from the Hatch Valley, but a brand name that uses the word Hatch. They’re still a good option for recipes calling for Hatch Chiles.
Roasting chiles gives them a smoky flavor and tender texture. Plus it allows you to easily remove the skins. The answer is yes.
Green chile sauce is made with green chile peppers. If left on the vine longer, chile peppers will turn red and red chiles are usually dried whole or ground to make red chile powder. Either powder or dried red chile pods are used to make red chile sauce.
Simply stated, Chile with an “e” refers to a chile pepper or a single blend dried chile powder. Chili with an “i” refers to a stew, soup, or a chili seasoning that contains a blend of ingredients. If you’re looking to learn more about Colorado and New Mexico Chile Peppers and how to use them, don’t miss my article on Chile vs Chili … Know The Difference.
Pro Tip: When cleaning roasted chile peppers, DON’T rinse the peppers under water. It will rinse away some of that smoky roasted flavor. Use your hands or a knife to remove charred skin. If you’d like a smooth Hatch Green Chile Sauce, let the sauce cool a bit and place in a blender or food processor.
Serving Suggestions
Now that you’ve got a big beautiful bowl of that green chile sauce, here are some ideas on how to use it.
- For an easy steak meal, simply grill a salt and peppered flank steak for about five minutes per side.Slice the steak against the grain, then drizzle some of the Hatch chile sauce over the top. And since the sauce is make ahead, this is such an easy steak dinner.
- A perfect condiment for Yucatan Chicken Breast.
- Drizzle over fried potatoes.
- Add a spoonful to your next serving of scrambled eggs.
- It’s perfect for a Smothered Breakfast Burrito.
- Serve with Chuck Roast Tacos.
Storage
- This Sauce will last for about 5 days in the refrigerator.
- Can I Freeze This Sauce? Yes! This sauce easily freezes. Tip: freeze in pre-measured ½ cup portions to easily pull out the amount you need. It will last about three months in the freezer.
More Mexican Sauce and Condiment Recipes
- Homemade Roasted Tomatillo Salsa Verde
- Chipotle Black Bean Corn Salsa
- Essential Mexican Restaurant Style Salsa
- Chipotle Peach Salsa Recipe
And if you’re looking for even more Mexican food recipe ideas, don’t miss my Mexican Food Category. You’ll find lots of great recipes including the most popular and most classic chile recipe on my site, How to Make Hatch Green Chile, Colorado Style.
If you liked this recipe, please leave a star ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ rating in the recipe card below and leave a comment. I always appreciate your feedback and hearing how everything went.
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New Mexico Hatch Green Chile Sauce
Ingredients
- 2 cups roasted green chile peppers seeds, stems, most of skin and veins removed. Or 2 cups canned chopped chile peppers (already roasted and chopped)
- 2 Tablespoons Vegetable Oil Canola or Olive oil.
- 1 Cup Sweet Onion chopped
- 2-3 cloves garlic peeled, chopped
- 2 Tablespoon Flour
- 2 cups Chicken broth
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice optional
Instructions
- Heat a fry pan over medium high heat. Once the pan is hot, add the oil. When the oil starts to shimmer, add the onion. Cook for about 5 minutes or until tender. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. About 1 minute.
- Add flour, stirring, and cook for about two minutes. Add chopped chiles and cook, stirring, for about a minute.
- Add chicken broth and cook until the sauce starts to thicken. About 5 minutes. Finish with lime juice (optional) and salt.
- Note: If you want a smooth creamy sauce, let the sauce cool and chop it in a blender or food processor.
Notes
Nutrition
Hatch Green Chile Sauce Recipe … It’s What’s For Mexican Food
This post was first published in July of 2015 and updated April, 2021 to add step by step photos.
Why Trust These Recipes? Lea Ann Brown has lived, worked and played in Colorado for 45 years. She has immersed herself in the Colorado Culinary space, is a Culinary School Graduate and publishes her Colorado food Blog, Cooking On The Ranch.
Made it with frozen Hatch green chiles – mild – and it was still waaay too spicy(hot)! Had to toss it and go to the market and get canned green chile enchilada sauce.
Hi Dee and thanks for your note. Yikes about that heat. I know spicy heat levels vary year to year based on the growing conditions. I purchased some Hatch Chiles last week, and I bought mild. They’re in the freezer. I’ll be curious to see about that heat. Usually the mild are “mild”. Wonder if your chiles were mis-labeled? I’ve had that happen also. With that said, canned chiles are also a good option for this recipe.
I don’t understand why you would give this recipe a bad review if the only issue was that it was too spicy… It’s not like the recipe calls for spicy peppers or has any additional spice added to it. If you chose peppers that were too spicy that’s on you!
I buy 50# of hot Hatch Green Chilies yessir and have them roasted. This is my second time on this recipe and decided to throw in did processor after cooking.
Much better consistency, smothered avocado and pork burritos with this sauce and it was super.
Many thanks!
I’ve loved Hatch chili since I was a kid. I was raised in New Mexico about 80 miles from Hatch. This sauce is great with a little ground beef or chorizo added also, and is good on eggs for breakfast!
So simple and so good! A beautiful sauce and love the picture of it poured over the steak. Makes me want to pull the flank from the freezer and have that for supper tonight. Here’s to hoping for a great chile season! If we could only get some rain.
Yum! LOVE Hatch chilies. We usually buy a bunch and roast them, then freeze them to use later. I should just make this sauce right from the get-go — ’cause this is exactly how I often want to use them! Really terrific recipe — thanks.
Salsa looks delicious. Were were in Hatch many years ago and the valley was full of chile fields but when there two years ago there were mostly pecan groves.