New Mexico Green Chile Stew

A pot of green chile stew that serves eight takes about 3 cups of chopped roasted green chile. Not a 4 ounce can. Not half a cup. Three cups.

That single number is why most green chile stew tastes like pork and potato soup with a hint of something green. New Mexico's own published recipe on the New Mexico True site calls for 3 cups for eight servings. The Santa Fe School of Cooking calls for 3 cups for eight servings. Plenty of recipes written elsewhere build the whole pot around a small can.

The chile is not a seasoning in this dish. It is the dish.

Here is the recipe, the ratios for any size pot, and the two technique decisions that separate a good pot from a flat one.

What green chile stew is, and what it is not

Three different dishes get called green chile stew, and they are not the same thing.

All three are good. Only the first one is what somebody from here means when they say stew.

The distinction that matters most is tomatillos. New Mexico green chile stew has none. If a recipe under this name starts by husking tomatillos, you are making something else, and it will taste tart where this should taste roasted.

The second distinction is the thickener. Neither New Mexico's published recipe nor the Santa Fe School of Cooking version uses flour. The potato releases enough starch to give the broth body, and the stew stays a stew rather than becoming a sauce. That is a real difference from the Colorado style and it is worth knowing which one you are aiming at before you start.

The recipe

That is the whole thing. No flour, no roux, no browning of the chile.

Ratios for any size pot

Green chile stew scales cleanly, which is why it feeds a crowd so well. Everything moves together.

The product column is approximate and rounds in your favor. Figure roughly two cups of chopped chile to the pound.

The ratio to remember is a little over half a cup of chile per serving. Everything else follows from it. If you are improvising with what is in the freezer, count the chile first and build the pot around it, rather than making a stew and adding chile at the end until it seems like enough. It never seems like enough that way.

When to add the chile

This is the technique point, and it is the one most recipes get backwards.

The green chile goes in near the end, for the last 15 to 20 minutes. The Santa Fe School of Cooking builds their classic version this way, finishing with the chile after the meat and potatoes are already done.

The reason is that roasted green chile has already been cooked once. The flame did the work. An hour and a half of simmering on top of that flattens it out, dulls the roast, and turns the pieces to mush. What you want is the chile still tasting like chile, with the pieces holding some shape, sitting in a broth that has been building depth for two hours without it.

Two practical consequences.

Taste after the chile has gone in, not before. The stew is underseasoned until the chile is in it and will taste bland right up until that moment. Salting early leads to oversalting.

If you reheat the pot the next day, the chile keeps cooking. Day two stew is better in every way except the chile, which softens. Some people hold back half a cup to stir in when reheating. That is not traditional, it is just good.

The five decisions

1. Pork or beef

Both are traditional. New Mexico's published version offers either, and says beef chuck or pork butt. Pork shoulder is the more common choice and the more forgiving one. Either way you want a cut with connective tissue, because the long simmer turns collagen into gelatin and that is what gives the broth body without flour. Lean cuts will not do it. Pork loin turns to string, and stew meat labeled only as stew meat is a gamble.

2. Which potato

New Mexico's recipe specifies red waxy potatoes, and that is the right call. Waxy potatoes hold their shape through a long simmer and a reheat. Russets fall apart, which thickens the broth more but leaves you with fewer actual potatoes. If you want a thicker stew without flour, use one russet among the reds and let it disintegrate on purpose.

3. Heat level

Stew is the dish where heat is most forgiving, because the potato and the stock buffer it. A Hot chile that would be aggressive on eggs is comfortable here.

• Mild or Medium if you are feeding a table you do not know, or children.
• Hot for most households that eat chile regularly. This is the default.
• XXHot if you mean it. Cut it with Medium at about one to three rather than going all in, unless you have done it before.

4. Thicken or not

Not, is the New Mexican answer. The potato does it. If your broth is thinner than you want, simmer uncovered longer or mash a few potato cubes against the side of the pot and stir them back in. Both concentrate flavor. Flour dilutes it.

5. What else goes in

Corn is common and good. New Mexico's version lists corn, carrot or a diced red bell pepper as optional, and the Santa Fe School of Cooking includes a red bell pepper. Cumin is a matter of household. Beans are not traditional and will start an argument. Tomato is not traditional either and moves the dish sideways toward something else.

Storing and freezing, and the potato problem

Refrigerator: 3 to 4 days, which is USDA guidance for cooked leftovers, and into the refrigerator within two hours of cooking. Divide a big pot into shallow containers so it actually cools in that window. A full stockpot left on the stove to cool does not.

Day two is better. The meat has relaxed, the broth has settled, and everything tastes more like itself. Green chile stew is one of the dishes worth making the day before.

Freezing, and the honest warning: potatoes do not freeze well. They go grainy and slightly hollow, because freezing ruptures the cell structure and the thaw leaves the texture behind. The stew is still perfectly good. The potatoes are just not what they were.

Three ways around it, in order of how well they work:

1. Freeze the stew before the potatoes go in. Stop after step 3, cool, freeze. Add fresh potatoes and the chile when you reheat. This is the best version and it costs you nothing.
2. Use waxy reds and accept a small hit. They hold up better than russets, which turn to paste.
3. Freeze it as is and do not worry about it. Plenty of people do. It is stew, not a souffle.

Freeze flat in bags and it stacks and thaws fast. And freezing does not reset the refrigerator clock, so freeze it while it is fresh rather than on day three.

When it goes wrong

It tastes flat, like soup with chile in it

Not enough chile, almost always. Three cups for eight servings. If you used one cup, that is the answer, and adding more now will still help even though it will not have simmered in.

The meat is tough

Either the wrong cut or not enough time. Tough at ninety minutes usually means it needs another thirty, not less heat. Connective tissue needs time above all else. If you used a lean cut, more time will not save it.

The potatoes fell apart

Russets, or they went in too early. Waxy reds, added after the meat is already tender, hold together.

The chile turned to mush and tastes dull

It simmered too long. Roasted chile was already cooked. Add it in the last 15 to 20 minutes.

It is greasy

Pork shoulder renders a lot of fat. Chill the pot and lift the cap off the top, or skim it while it simmers. Some fat is the point, a slick is not.

It is too hot to eat

A dollop of sour cream, or more potato and stock. Dairy and starch both work. Water alone thins the flavor without doing much about the heat.

Where the chile comes from

Three cups is a lot of chile, and where you get it is most of what determines whether this is worth making.

If you are in New Mexico during harvest, go buy a sack. Chile you bought raw in September and roasted and froze yourself is what a lot of New Mexicans cook with all year, and a sack makes a lot of stew. We worked out how many pounds are actually in a bushel and what you get after cleaning, and a 35 pound sack comes out around 36 to 44 cups, which is roughly a dozen pots of stew.

For a lot of New Mexicans that is simply how the year works.

The rest of the time, and everywhere else, somebody has to have done the roasting. There is no roaster running in Tacoma in February. That is what we are for.

• Frozen Hatch green chile is the right product for stew, because stew is where the volume is. It comes flame roasted, peeled and flash frozen in 5 lb bags, in 10 or 20 lb orders, in Mild, Hot or XXHot. Five pounds is roughly three pots for eight. It ships UPS air in two days or less, and if it arrives warm to the touch we refund the entire order plus shipping, no questions asked.
• 16 oz jars make more sense if stew is an occasional thing rather than a staple. Figure about a jar and a half for a pot of eight. Four ingredients: Hatch chile, salt, garlic, lime juice.
• In New Mexico, the store locator shows who carries us, and if your store does not, they can order through the retailer request form.
• Restaurants putting stew on a menu should work from case weight. Pricing is on the wholesale page.

What to do with the rest of the bag once the stew is made: green chile enchilada sauce uses a cup, green chile beer queso uses a jar faster than anything else we publish, and cheddar biscuits are what to serve alongside the stew instead of bread. If you want the other pod, the New Mexico red chile sauce is built the same way from red, and the red and green blend exists because Christmas is not a compromise.

Common questions

How much green chile goes in green chile stew?

About 3 cups for a pot that serves eight, or a little over half a cup per serving. New Mexico's own published recipe and the Santa Fe School of Cooking both use 3 cups for eight. Most recipes written outside New Mexico use far less.

What is the difference between green chile stew and chile verde?

Green chile stew is built on roasted green chile with potato and stock. Chile verde is built on tomatillos. They are different dishes from different traditions, and swapping one for the other changes the whole flavor.

Is green chile stew thickened with flour?

Not in New Mexico. The potato starch gives the broth body. The Colorado version is often thickened with flour and used to smother a burrito, which is a different dish.

Pork or beef for green chile stew?

Either is traditional. Pork shoulder is the more common and more forgiving choice. Use a cut with connective tissue, because the collagen becomes gelatin over a long simmer and that is what gives the broth body without flour.

What kind of potatoes should I use?

Red waxy potatoes. They hold their shape through a long simmer and a reheat. Russets break down, which thickens the broth but leaves you with fewer potatoes.

When should I add the green chile?

In the last 15 to 20 minutes. Roasted chile has already been cooked once, and a long simmer dulls the roasted flavor and turns the pieces to mush.

Can you freeze green chile stew?

Yes, though the potatoes go grainy because freezing ruptures their cell structure. The best approach is to freeze the stew before the potatoes go in and add fresh ones when you reheat.

How long does green chile stew last in the fridge?

Three to four days per USDA guidance for cooked leftovers, refrigerated within two hours of cooking. Cool a big pot in shallow containers so it gets cold fast enough.

How much stew does a 5 lb bag of frozen chile make?

Roughly three pots serving eight, at about 1 1/2 pounds of chile per pot.

Is it chile or is it spelled with an i?

In New Mexico it is chile, with an e, always. Chile is the pepper and the sauce made from it. The spelling with an i belongs to the Texas dish with meat and beans, which is a different food entirely, and it is not what this is.

The short version

Brown the meat, soften the onions, simmer in stock until the meat gives, add waxy potatoes, then add 3 cups of roasted green chile in the last 15 to 20 minutes. No flour. Salt after the chile is in.

A little over half a cup of chile per serving is the ratio that makes it taste like New Mexico instead of like soup. Three to four days in the refrigerator, and if you are freezing it, do it before the potatoes go in.

If you have a freezer full of chile you put up yourself, go make this tonight. If you do not, our frozen green chile is the one to buy for this, because stew is where the volume is.