Green Chile Mac and Cheese brings a creamy, cheesy, just right spicy bite of Fiesta to your next Mexican meal. This is a mac and cheese recipe you simply can’t stop eating.
Are you macaroni and cheese lovers like us? Don’t miss our favorite for stovetop White Cheddar Mac and Cheese. 30 minutes to a creamy addictive side dish.
What You Can Expect From This Recipe
Deliciously cheesy, pleasantly inexpensive, macaroni and cheese is a warm blanket of comfort food that gives us every reason to engage in a lifetime love affair.
From the low-brow out-of-the-box, to clever and fancy expensive restaurant combinations to stove-top homemade … we love it all.
We love this version simply because we’re adding Hatch Chile Peppers, and for its use of Colby Jack Cheese. And lots of it.
Colby Jack is an American made marbled cheese, a combination of Colby Cheese and Monterey Jack Cheese. A mild and mellow flavor, it’s a great melting cheese that compliments those chile peppers.
To make a great mac and cheese, you must get the cheese sauce just right. For this recipe we’re using six cups of shredded cheese paired with just the right amount of dairy, brings you a luscious sauce for the cheesiest and creamiest macaroni and cheese recipe.
And because we love Hatch chile peppers so much, this macaroni and cheese with green chiles might just be our all-time favorite.
Green Chile Mac and Cheese comes together easily, as it’s a stovetop mac and cheese and a topping of toasted Panko bread crumbs makes this a special dish.
Let’s take a look.
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Macaroni: I feel mac and cheese should be made with elbow macaroni. It’s just seems traditional. I chose large elbow shells for this recipe. You can use any curly shape of pasta to make this recipe. Rotini also works well here.
- Dairy: Half and Half and Whole Milk. A big pot of macaroni and cheese is not the time to count fat calories. Please use whole milk as opposed to 2% or even worse, skim milk. You’ll be happier with the creamy texture that a full fat milk product brings.
- Cheese: For this recipe, we’re using a Colby Jack Cheese, a mix of Monterey Jack and Colby Cheese.
- Flour and Butter: Is used to make the roux.
- Panko Bread Crumbs and Butter: Are used to make an au gratin style crunchy topping.
- Chopped Tomatoes: To add red color and a bite of sweetness.
- Hatch Chile Peppers: Chopped. The star of the show.
- Seasonings: Kosher Salt, Chile Powder (preferably Chimayo), White Pepper and Ground Mustard.
Ground White Pepper or White Peppercorns have a milder flavor than black pepper. White pepper can be used for appearance reasons as it can blend in when using it in light colored sauces. As far as flavor, white pepper adds a gentler and earthy flavor, while black pepper has a spicier note. Chefs commonly use white pepper in French cuisine, as well as Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese dishes.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Chile Powder: This recipe calls for Chile (with an e) powder, a single blend ground chile. I have a stash of New Mexico Chile Powders, Chimayo being the recommended. You can substitute cayenne pepper if you don’t have a New Mexico chile powder. Please don’t use chili powder (with an i). Chili powder is a blend of spices used to make Chili Soup, like this Bourbon Beef and Bean Chili.
- Hatch Chiles: I purchase Roasted Hatch Chile Peppers from vendors each Fall, keeping a stash in my freezer. If you simply don’t have access to fresh roasted peppers, you can use eight ounces of canned Hatch Chiles found on the Mexican aisle at the grocery store. Roasted Poblano Peppers would be a good substitute here.
Resource: If you don’t have access to fresh roasted Hatch Chile Peppers, you can order them straight from The Hatch Chile Store. Headquartered in Hatch, New Mexico, their history and heritage ensure that when you buy their Hatch Green Chile, you’re getting the very best you can find, straight from a family farm. Disclaimer: I have received free product from the Hatch Chile Store.
How to Make Green Chile Mac and Cheese
Cook pasta according to package instructions for al dente. Reserve ¼ cup of the cooked pasta water.
- Step 1: Melt 1 Tablespoon butter in a small fry pan. Add Panko bread crumbs and cook until toasted. Stirring often for about five minutes. Add a little bit of chopped cilantro, if you’d like, for extra flavor. Remove from heat and set aside.
- Step 2: Heat a stick of butter over medium heat until melted, then stir in the flour. Stir until the mixture is blended and smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Step 3: Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the milk. Add the dry mustard, white pepper and Chimayo chile powder, and salt. Return to heat and stir until mixture begins to simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for three minutes, stirring occasionally, until it starts to thicken.
- Step 4: Stir in the grated cheese and blend well.
- Step 5: Stir in the chopped Hatch chile peppers, tomatoes, and cooked elbow macaroni.
Pro Tip: Purchase good quality cheese and grate it yourself. Pre-grated cheese in bags includes additives to keep it from clumping, which will also compromise the melting factor. Grating cheese from a block of cheese will result in a creamier and more consistent melting experience. Plus, it’s less expensive.
- Step 6: Drizzle the half and half and reserved pasta water over the top of the casserole. No need to stir.
- Step 7: Cover the Hatch mac and cheese and bake 20 minutes. Remove the lid, add the toasted Panko bread crumbs and bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes.
- Step 8: You can serve green chile mac and cheese directly from the Dutch oven, or from a favorite Southwestern serving bowl.
Questions You May Have
Yes. Simply prepare everything and refrigerate until you’re ready to bake. Let the macaroni and cheese set out on the kitchen counter about 30 minutes before baking.
Simply cover and store in the refrigerator for up to 3 – 4 days. I like to reheat individual portions using the microwave. Any macaroni and cheese recipe may thicken during storage, so, add some milk to thin the consistency before reheating.
Yes, any traditional mac and cheese recipe will freeze quite well. I like to use freezer safe zip-loc style bags. You can fill them, squeeze out the air and lay flat to optimize freezer space.
The beauty of this recipe, is that you can control the spice level and customize it to your heat tolerance. You can purchase chile peppers in mild, medium and hot heat levels. And the same goes with chile powders. I’ve used medium heat Hatch peppers for this recipe, which is perfect for us.
Not really. Even though it’s made with chile peppers that are green in color, the term Green Chili (with an i) commonly refers to a soup and stew, like in this Colorado Green Chili recipe. For this to be Hatch Green Chili Macaroni and Cheese, you would have to add a prepared green Chili product, which routinely includes pork, to macaroni and cheese.
Tips For Success
- Be sure to cook the macaroni according to package instructions for al dente. The macaroni will continue to cook during the baking process. Over-cooking during boiling may compromise the texture of the macaroni to turn out mushy.
- Why save pasta water? It’s pure gold. Adding the starchy water before baking will improve the texture of the macaroni.
- There’s a lot of cheese in the recipe, use a food processor cheese grater attachment to make quick work of the task.
- Set the milk and half and half out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before starting this recipe. Room temperature ingredients will simply lessen the time it takes for the sauce to thicken.
Chef Tip: I like to purchase Cherub brand tomatoes. Cherubs are a variety of grape tomatoes which have a stronger outer skin and meatier, less watery flesh. They are easier to slice for salads, hold up better during cooking or roasting and are reliable year round with their mild, sweet flavor.
What to Serve it With
Anything and everything. This is a side dish that will compliment your favorite grilled burger, like this Steakhouse Burger, or this popular Cole Slaw Burger.
Grilled steaks are also a good choice. Take a look at this Tangy Grilled Flank Steak, or these Grilled T-Bone Steaks.
Don’t forget about chicken dinner recipes. This Mexican grilled Chicken Asado recipe would truly love to be served with Hatch Chile Macaroni and Cheese. As would this more traditional Grilled Half Chicken recipe.
In Conclusion
Please tell me you’ll give Green Chili Macaroni and Cheese a try. Whenever I serve this macaroni and cheese recipe, I get overwhelming compliments. It’s brings a just right spicy warmth to everyone’s favorite comfort food.
More Macaroni and Cheese Recipes
And you’ll find several mac and cheese recipes on my site, including a recipe for Bechamel Mac and Cheese, which was voted best macaroni and cheese in Boulder.
And if you’re pasta lovers like us, don’t miss my Pasta Category, You’ll find lots of comfort food recipes including the most popular on my site for Fettuccine mio Amore.
And 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.
As far as Southwestern Pasta dishes go, this is a favorite along with this very popular recipe for Cowboy Spaghetti. It’s Yee-haw good.
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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Green Chile Mac and Cheese
Ingredients
- 1 pound Elbow macaroni cooked and drained, reserve ¼ cup of pasta water
- ½ cup panko bread crumbs
- 1 Tablespoon Butter
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup flour
- 5 cups milk
- ½ teaspoon dry mustard
- ½ teaspoon white pepper
- ¼ teaspoon Chamayo Chili Powder or cayenne
- 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
- 6 cups Shredded Colby Jack Cheese
- 12 Hatch chiles Roasted, skins removed and chopped. About 1 Cup
- 2-3 medium tomatoes Chopped. About 1 Cup.
- ½ cup Half & half
Instructions
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Melt the one tablespoon of butter in a small fry pan. Add Panko bread crumbs and cook until toasted. Stirring often. About 5 minutes. Add some chopped cilantro if you'd like for extra flavor. Remove from heat and set aside.
- In a 7 quart oven safe Dutch oven, cook macaroni according to package directions for al dente . Drain, reserving ¼ cup of the pasta water.
- In the same Dutch oven, heat the stick of butter over medium heat until melted, then stir in the flour. Stir until the mixture is blended and smooth, about 1-2 minutes.
- Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the milk. Add the dry mustard, white pepper, Chamayo chile powder, and salt. Return to heat and stir until mixture begins to simmer. Reduce the heat to low and simmer for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until starting to thicken.
- Stir in the cheese until blended and smooth. Stir in the chopped chile peppers , tomatoes and the cooked elbow macaroni and stir until macaroni is well coated. Drizzle half and half and reserved pasta water around the edges of the casserole, no need to stir.
- Cover the Hatch chile mac and cheese and bake 20 minutes. Remove the lid, add the toasted Panko bread crumbs and bake uncovered an additional 10 minutes.
Notes
- Be sure to cook the macaroni according to package instructions for al dente. The macaroni will continue to cook during the baking process. Over cooking during boiling may compromise the texture of the macaroni to turn out mushy.
- Why save pasta water? It’s pure gold. Adding the starchy water before baking will improve the texture of the macaroni.
- There’s a lot of cheese in the recipe, use a food processor cheese grater attachment to make quick work of the task.
- Set the milk and half and half out of the refrigerator about 30 minutes before starting this recipe. Room temperature ingredients will simply lessen the time it takes for the sauce to thicken.
Nutrition
Hatch Green Chile Macaroni and Cheese … It’s What’s for Dinner
