What are Hatch Green Chiles?
Green Chiles or hatch chiles are a smokey, sweet chile with a certain earthiness to them. If I had to describe them to someone who’s never had them, I’d say they’re between a jalapeno and a bell pepper combined, but intensified! If you’ve never tried one, you must try them when they’re in season! It’s a completely different flavor profile than that of a jalapeno or poblano.
Where do Hatch chiles come from?
Green chiles can sometimes be considered Anaheim chiles. However, as the name clarifies: Anaheim chiles are grown and harvested in California whereas hatch chiles are grown in Hatch, New Mexico. Although peppers are grown in this general region- because of it’s location, climate and mineral-rich soil, Hatch green chiles from Hatch, New Mexico have a unique environment to thrive in and thus their distinct flavor. Their peak season is the beginning of August through the end of September. People from the surrounding area and from all over the world travel to taste Hatch chiles at their peak.
How to use Hatch chiles:
Because of it’s short harvest season, hatch green chiles come to grocery stores by the bags during August and September ( I have seen them available as early as July). While in season- I usually will buy in bulk and freeze serving size portions to use all year long. I like to make green chile (which on a menu, by itself can also mean soup as a menu item) and freeze it. We put green chile on our eggs, on our ground beef, we eat it as a soup and my most favorite: smothered burrito! With the start of fall right around the corner, stuffed green chiles sounds like a great tailgaiting dinner!
How to enjoy Stuffed Hatch green chiles
Stuffed Hatch green chiles are fun to make because they are versatile; They can be appetizers, they can be a favorite game night snack, you can even turn them into tacos! I have served them by themselves as an appetizer and as an entrée with Cilantro lime rice and salsa verde.
Hatch Green Chiles Rellenos
Ingredients
- 6 Whole Hatch Green Chiles
- 1 lb Picadillo (Mexican Beef)
- 1 lb bacon
- Oaxaca Cheese
Instructions
Dry Roast Hatch Chiles
- In a large pan dry roast chiles. Dry roasting means there isno oil or liquid in the pan. Turn them every 5 minutes until blackened on allsides. When their skin is black on all sides, place in a plastic bag or sealedcontainer. We want the chiles to sweat to so they’re easier to peel. Afterchiles have sweat for about 10 minutes, peel skin off and discard. Do not runthem under the water. Have a towel next to you or wet your fingers if you needto wipe your fingers in between. You may also use gloves if needed.
Make Stuffed Hatch Green Chiles
- I like to dry roast chiles in bulk so I can have as many asI need with leftovers. I will freeze aportion of them for later use. That way, when I make picadillocon papas again, I will remember I havereadily prepped green chiles and whipping up stuffed Hatch Chiles will be abreeze!When peppers have been peeled, I line them up on a bakingsheet. While oven preheats, I line up my assembly line: chiles, beef, cheese,bacon.
- Carefully make an incision and scoop out the membrane andseeds.
- With a smaller sized spoon, stuff peppers with yourpreferred filling It can be cheese, ground beef or veggies!
- For this particular stuffed hatch chiles recipe, I stuffedthem with picadillo and wrapped the chile with bacon. It helped in keeping themtogether and added another layer of flavor making them extra delicious!
- Since my picadillo was already made and the hatch chileswere cooked, they only need about 15 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees.
Pro Tip
Try to not cut the entire length of the pepper as it will be hard to keep together. This is one of those things you learn the more you make them. I have slit the peppers too far plenty of times for the sake of going faster, but it’s not biggie. Another tip I can share to make your hatch chiles be the best they can be is to not over roast. If the skin gets over charred, the “meat” of the pepper will be too thing and it will be harder for the pepper to hold its shape. One of those things you get better with practice.
