Hatch Green Chile Pasta with Chicken is a fantastic pasta recipe that takes advantage of chile pepper season. The pasta is mixed with a spicy cream sauce, chicken breast and spinach. An easy chicken dinner with Southwestern flair!
If you love pasta and you love the flavors of the Southwest, don’t miss this recipe for Chipotle Mac and Cheese with Chicken.
For those of you who are not familiar with a Hatch chile peppers, the chiles are a Southwestern delicacy grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico.
In August, we celebrate and evangelize their arrival and start throwing them into everything to Mexican Scrambled Eggs to soups, like this New Mexico Pork Posole.
My latest creation using Hatch chile peppers is making a Hatch Chile Cream sauce for pasta. Adding chicken makes this a hearty savory and just right spicy pasta dinner.
The green chiles are bright and a little tangy and become a natural partner for a cheesy creamy pasta sauce. It’s super easy to make and a decadent way to enjoy roasted chile peppers.
Let’s take a look:
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Baby Spinach
- Half and Half of cream.
- Pasta: I used bucatini noodles. Fettuccine, pappardelle or spaghetti noodles would also work well here. Want to make this recipe extra special? Order some Hatch Green Chile Pappardelle from Pappardelle’s Pasta, a Colorado local company.
- Hatch Green Chile Peppers: Roasted, peeled and chopped. Note: once these peppers are left on the vine to ripen more, they turn the color red. You most certainly can use red chile peppers for this recipe, they’re not any spicier. Most red chile peppers are sold dried or made into ristras.
- Butter: Makes any pasta sauce creamier.
- Grated Cheese: I used creamy salty Muenster cheese. It’s soft cheese that melts very easily.
- Seasonings: Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, Southwest Spice Blend, and New Mexico Red Chile Powder.
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.
Ingredient Substitutions
- Chile Peppers: If you don’t have access to freshly roasted Hatch Chile Peppers, use canned chile peppers found on the Mexican food aisle at the supermarket. Poblano peppers are also a good choice here. Just roast them directly on the gas burner stove top, or under the broiler in the oven. Turn them often until they’re blistered but not burnt. Zip them in a plastic bag for 15 minutes then slide off the peels and clean out the seeds. And you can easily order Hatch Chile Peppers delivered straight to your doorstep from the Hatch Chile Store.
- Cheese: Use any good quality white melting cheese. Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, or Queso Asadero are all good choices.
- Seasonings: Don’t have any New Mexico Red Chile Powder? Substitute ancho or cayenne. Don’t use a commercial chili powder blend, it’s a blend of spices used to season Tex-Mex Beef Chile Recipes. It brings a completely different flavor profile.
Step by Step Instructions, It’s Easy
- Step 1: Heat a skillet over medium high heat and then add neutral oil. Add cubed chicken breast that has been seasoned with the Southwest Spice Blend and cook until no longer pink inside, but don’t over cook.
- Step 2: In a saucepan, melt butter. Add half and half and heat through. Slowly bring to a simmer. Add spinach, chile powder and parmesan cheese. Cook on low until spinach is wilted. This will only take a minute or so. Add green chile peppers and cooked chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off burner, cover, keeping warm.
- Step 3: Add cooked pasta to cream, chicken, spinach and chile pepper mixture. Stir well and serve immediately.
Questions You May Have
That’s the beauty of chile peppers. Purchase them mild, medium, hot, or even extra hot. Use what you think your heat tolerance to be. I suggest medium heat for a good chile pepper flavor experience.
Shrimp, a firm white fish like halibut, or even Salmon would work well here. This Hatch chile pasta would also be good with cooked ground chicken. The texture of steak would not enhance the quality of this recipe. Stick with a softer protein.
Tips for Success:
- Don’t let the half and half come to a full boil or it will curdle. Heat it slowly and let it bubble a few minutes before adding the rest of the ingredients.
- If the green chile pasta sauce is too thin, make a slurry using 1 Tablespoon corn starch and 1 Tablespoon of the warm cream sauce. Stir to make a paste and add it back into the sauce. Simmer it for a few minutes and the sauce will thicken.
Storage:
- Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- To reheat, add a drizzle of milk or half and half and heat in 30 second increments in the microwave.
- I’m not a fan of freezing cream based pasta dishes.
More Southwestern Pasta Recipes
And if you’re Hatch Green Chile crazy like us, don’t miss the most popular recipe on my site for Colorado Green Chili, with pork and Hatch chile peppers. And take a look at my recipe category for Mexican Southwest Recipes, you’ll find lots of ideas to spice up those meal plans.
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Hatch Green Chile Pasta with Chicken and Green Chile Cream Sauce
Ingredients
- 1 pound boneless skinless chicken breast cubed and sauteed
- 1 tablespoon Neutral oil Canola or vegetable oil work well here
- ½ pound Bucatini Pasta or plain pappardelle pasta, or fettuccini
- 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 cup half and half or cream
- 1 cup spinach packed
- ¼ cup chile peppers roasted, seeded, peeled and chopped.
- ¼ teaspoon Chimayo chile powder medium heat, or ancho chile powder
- ½ cup Muenster cheese or Parmesan, grated
- ½ teaspoon Kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon Fresh ground black pepper
- Garnishes: Crumbled Cotija cheese, thin sliced jalapeno peppers, chives, or a sprinkle of New Mexico Red Chile Powder all optional
Instructions
- Cube chicken breast into bite sized pieces and season with Southwest Spice Mix.
- Heat a skillet over medium high heat and then add neutral oil. Add cubed chicken breast and cook until no longer pink inside, but don't over cook.
- In a saucepan, melt butter. Add half and half and heat through. Slowly bring to a simmer.
- Add spinach, chile powder and parmesan cheese. Cook on low until spinach is wilted. This will only take a minute or so. Add chile peppers and cooked chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Turn off burner, cover, keeping warm.
- In a large saucepan, bring 3 quarts of water to a boil. Add salt and pasta. Cook pasta according to package instructions.
- When pasta is cooked through, drain, reserving ¼ cup pasta water. Add pasta to Cream mixture. Turn burner on low, if it needs to be warmed up. Drizzle in a little bit of the pasta water to add starch and creaminess.
- Divide between two plates, serve immediately and top with crumbled Cotija cheese for garnish if you'd like.
Notes
- Don’t let the half and half come to a full boil. The fat content of half and half is lower than cream and it will curdle if allowed to get too hot. When cooking the sauce, keep the heat on low and the half and half at a low bubbling simmer.
- If the green chile pasta sauce is too thin, make a slurry using 1 Tablespoon corn starch and 1 Tablespoon of the warm cream sauce. Stir to make a paste and add it back into the sauce. Simmer it for a few minutes and the sauce will thicken.
- Want to make this recipe extra special? Order some Hatch Green Chile Pappardelle from Pappardelle’s Pasta, a Colorado local company.
Nutrition
Hatch Green Chile Pasta with Chicken and Spinach …It’s what’s for Dinner.
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.
I made a vegetarian version with mushrooms instead of the chicken. It was delicious. I made my own pasta with some pureed chilis.
Moved away from Colorado 7 years ago. Recently visited Seattle were I saw Pappardelle’s Pasta at the Market! Couldn’t believe my eyes as I always bought it at the farmers market in CO! Was blown away a second time when I saw they now make a Hatch Green Chili pasta. Of course I brought some home and plan on doing mail order! Anyway I decided to look for inspiration on the internet and had a 3rd surprise! Thanks so much!
I live in Highlands Ranch too! I cooked this, then read your page and realized. Loved this dish. Added Chile’s to the sauce and had green Chile pasta, it was amazing. Thank you!
Best pasta dish I’ve ever had! Husband, daughter and 10 month old grandson couldn’t eat it fast enough. My only advice is to add a can of green hatch chilis to the sauce. Turned this recipe from amazing to out of this world.
Hi Dominique. Thanks so much for your note. I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe. My next project is to make homemade hatch chile pasta. I’ve made spinach pasta, it can’t be much different. Again, thanks for your note.
I’ve been practicing my pasta making skills for a while not and have ventured out to some tame flavored ones (sun dried tomato, porcini), but you’ve inspired me to try my own version of hatch green chili pasta! I’ll keep you updated. Thanks for the great post!!
They have the best pasta just wish it wasn’t so pricey! Love their mushroom version! This looks great Lea Ann. Anything with chilies and cream and chicken is a winner in my book!
The Hatch pasta sounds wonderful! Even though I’ve still yet to taste a Hatch chili, I think it be delicious with the creamy chicken sauce. Not sure if I can find that brand of pasta but I’ll take a look next time I shop!
Lea Ann, that’s going on the menu real soon! I don’t have a local source for the new pasta, but I’ve always got Hatch chiles in my cupboard. Can’t wait!
I want to make this dish! I’ve actually thought of green chile pasta, but have never gotten around to figuring out how to make it. So thanks for this! Love Hatch chilies, so I’m going to be in heaven when I make this. 🙂
This does sound fabulous! It’s been a while since I bought Pappardelles pasta, but now I know they have a Hatch Chile Pasta…yum!
I’m sure it’s pretty amazing with that cream sauce\\
Looks delicious birthday girl. I must admit that I was really excited when I read your post title as I thought it would be about your homemade Hatch chile pasta.
I haven’t done green chili with pasta before! I must try! Yum!
Here’s the thing.. This looks gorgeous and delicious! And I just happen to have my handy-dandy Atlas pasta roller. Doubt my version is as good as theirs but still. Thanks for the inspiration! 🙂
What an attractive pasta dish, full of flavor and gorgeous. I MUST taste a Hatch chile one day!
Sam