These are buttermilk biscuits with a cup of sharp cheddar and a third of a cup of roasted green chile folded into the dough, and they're out of the oven in about fifty minutes. Flour, baking powder, cold butter, cold buttermilk, cheese, chile, and that's the whole list. The one real decision is heat, because the chile is the only thing in here carrying any, and I'd use Hot and let the cheddar take the edge off it.
You get about fifteen out of a batch, they're best warm within a few minutes of leaving the pan, and they're the kind of thing you make because somebody's coming over and you want the house to smell like it.
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The recipe
Green Chile Cheddar Biscuits
- YieldAbout 15
- Prep30 minutes
- Bake15 to 18 minutes
- Oven425°F
Ingredients
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 5 tablespoons cold butter
- 1 cup cold buttermilk
- 1 cup shredded cheddar, plus more for the tops
- 1/3 cup flame roasted Hatch green chile, drained and patted dry
Method
- Heat the oven to 425°F and line a sheet pan with parchment.
- Drain the green chile in a sieve, then spread it on paper towel and press gently. You want it damp, not wet.
- Whisk the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and pepper in a medium bowl. Cut in the cold butter until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces left. Those pieces are the point.
- Pour in the buttermilk and mix just until it comes together. Fold in the cheddar and the chile. The dough will be sticky and shaggy, which is correct.
- Turn it onto a lightly floured surface and dust the top with about 2 tablespoons of flour. Knead six times, no more, and pat to a circle about 1/2 inch thick.
- Cut 2 inch rounds, pressing straight down without twisting the cutter. Place them about 1 inch apart on the pan.
- Top with more shredded cheddar and bake 15 to 18 minutes, until risen and golden. Serve warm.
Cold butter and open layers
A biscuit rises because small pieces of solid butter are still sitting in the dough when it goes into the oven. They turn to steam, the steam pushes outward, and that's what opens the layers. So everything you do between the bowl and the sheet pan is really about keeping those pieces of butter intact.
Butter straight from the fridge will stay in pieces on its own, and if your kitchen runs warm you can grate it frozen and stop thinking about it. Handle the dough as little as you can get away with, both because your hands are warm and because worked flour develops gluten. Six kneads is plenty, and it's worth counting them out loud the first time you make these. When you cut the rounds, press the cutter straight down and lift it straight up, since a twist seals the cut edge that you want opening up in the heat. Get the oven all the way to 425°F before anything goes in, so the butter steams rather than slumping.
Cheddar changes the math a little, because cheese brings its own fat and moisture along with it. These come out slightly denser than a plain buttermilk biscuit would, and for a cup of sharp cheddar I think that's a good trade.
Draining the chile
Roasted chile is packed in its own liquid, and biscuit dough is a tight ratio of flour to fat to liquid. A third of a cup of undrained chile can carry a couple of tablespoons of extra water into the bowl, which is enough to slacken the dough noticeably. Drain it in a sieve and blot it on a paper towel. It takes thirty seconds and it's the one chile-specific thing in the whole recipe.
If you're working from frozen chile, thaw it all the way and drain it harder, because thawed chile gives up more liquid than jarred does. The same goes for anything else you bake chile into, which is why cheesy artichoke and green chile bread and green chile chocolate chip cookies both ask for it drained too.
Storing, freezing and baking later
Baked biscuits keep about two days at room temperature in a closed container, and they're clearly better on the first day. Don't refrigerate them. That stales them faster instead of slower, the way it does with most baked goods.
The better plan is to freeze the rounds unbaked, and honestly it's the only way I bother making these on a weekday. Cut them, freeze them on a tray until they're solid, then bag them and bake straight from frozen at the same temperature with about 5 minutes added. Baked biscuits freeze too, for a month or two, and they come back best at 350°F for about 10 minutes. Don't microwave them, which makes them tough.
What to serve them with
They belong next to a bowl of green chile stew, and they're just as good split and filled with egg and bacon the next morning. If you've got green chile beer queso on the stove and chips aren't keeping up, these will do it.
The chile itself comes in 16 oz jars, Medium or Hot, four ingredients. If you go through it faster than a jar at a time, frozen in 5 lb bags is the same chile in volume. In New Mexico, the store locator shows who carries us, and the whole recipe archive is free.
If they came out dense
They spread flat
Either the dough was wet or the butter got warm. Drain the chile properly and keep the butter cold, and if the dough ever feels slack you can chill it for twenty minutes before you cut the rounds.
They're tough
That's overworking. Mix only until the dough comes together, and knead six times at most.
They didn't rise
That's usually old baking powder, an oven that wasn't up to temperature yet, or a cutter that got twisted on the way down. Baking powder loses strength after about six months open, so if yours has been sitting in the cupboard a while, that's the first thing I'd check.
The bottoms are soggy
The chile went in wet, or the biscuits sat on the hot pan after baking. Move them to a rack as soon as they come out.
They taste bland
They want more salt and more chile. A third of a cup is a modest amount, and you can take it to half a cup as long as you drain it well.
Common questions
Do I need to drain green chile before putting it in biscuits?
Yes. Roasted chile carries its own liquid, and a couple of extra tablespoons of water will slacken the dough enough to make the biscuits spread and go dense. Drain it in a sieve and blot it on paper towel.
How much green chile goes in a batch of biscuits?
A third of a cup for 15 biscuits, and you can take it to half a cup if you drain it well.
Why did my biscuits come out flat?
Usually warm butter or a wet dough. The butter needs to stay in solid pieces until it hits the oven, because the steam coming off those pieces is what lifts the layers.
Can I freeze green chile cheddar biscuits?
Yes, and freezing them unbaked is better. Cut the rounds, freeze them solid on a tray, bag them, and bake from frozen at 425°F with about 5 minutes added.
Why should I not twist the biscuit cutter?
Twisting seals the cut edge, and that's the edge the biscuit needs to open along as it rises. Press straight down and lift straight up.
Can I use frozen green chile instead of jarred?
Yes. Thaw it completely and drain it harder than you would jarred chile, because it releases more liquid.
How long do the biscuits keep?
About two days at room temperature in a closed container, and they're best on the first day. Don't refrigerate them, which stales them faster.
The short version
Keep the butter and the buttermilk cold, drain the chile and blot it dry, knead the dough six times, and press the cutter straight down without twisting. They bake at 425°F for 15 to 18 minutes and you'll have about fifteen biscuits in under an hour. Cut a second tray while you're at it and freeze the rounds, and you can have them again on a Tuesday without doing any of this twice.