Red chile in an apple pie reads as warmth, not heat. Blended into the filling it sits underneath the cinnamon and the apples the way a pinch of cayenne sits underneath chocolate, and most people who eat a slice cannot name what is different about it. They just know it is not an ordinary apple pie.
A note before you start: this filling is heavily spiced. Two tablespoons of cinnamon is far more than a standard apple pie uses, and that is deliberate here, because the cinnamon has to stand up to the chile. If you want the apple and chile forward instead, start at two teaspoons and work up next time.
Jump to
The recipe
Red Chile Apple Pie
- YieldOne 9 inch pie
- Prep35 minutes
- Bake35 to 45 minutes
- Oven350°F
For the crust
- 4 cups flour
- 2 sticks shortening
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons Greek yogurt
- Cold water
For the filling
- 5 to 6 cups apples, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1/3 cup flame roasted Hatch red chile, blended smooth
- 1 stick butter
Method
- Start with the crust. Mix the flour and salt in a large bowl and cut in the shortening with a pastry cutter. Add the Greek yogurt and keep cutting. Sprinkle in cold water until the mixture looks like coarse cornmeal and holds together when pressed.
- Form into two balls, wrap in plastic, and chill in the refrigerator. Give it at least 30 minutes. Cold dough is what makes a flaky crust.
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Blend the red chile smooth.
- In a large bowl, mix the apples, sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and blended red chile until every slice is coated.
- Roll out one dough ball and lay it in a pie plate, leaving enough overhang to seal against the top crust.
- Add the apple mixture and dot the top with the butter.
- Roll the second ball, lay it over, pinch the edges together and trim the excess. Cut 1 to 3 vents in the center.
- Bake 35 to 45 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and you can see filling bubbling through the vents. Cool at least two hours before cutting.
Why blend the chile
The recipe says blended, and that instruction is doing real work.
Chopped chile in a pie gives you pieces of vegetable in a fruit filling, which most people find strange. Blended, the chile disappears into the syrup and behaves like a spice: it colors the filling slightly, thickens it a little, and delivers heat evenly across every bite rather than in ambushes.
A third of a cup blended into five or six cups of apples is a light touch. Someone who is not told will register the pie as unusually good rather than as spicy. If you want it obvious, go to half a cup or use Hot instead of Medium.
Red rather than green here, and it matters. Red chile is the same pod left on the vine to ripen, so it is sweeter and earthier, and that sits with apples in a way green does not. More on the difference.
Which apples to use
Pie apples need to hold their shape and bring acid. Sweet soft apples collapse into sauce.
- Granny Smith is the reliable default. Firm, tart, holds up through a long bake.
- Honeycrisp holds shape well and is sweeter, so cut the sugar slightly.
- Braeburn and Jonagold are both good and a little more aromatic.
- A mix is better than any single variety. Two tart to one sweet gives a filling with texture variation rather than a uniform one.
- Avoid Red Delicious and Gala. They go mealy and watery.
Slice them evenly, about a quarter inch. Uneven slices cook unevenly and are the main reason a pie has both mush and raw crunch in the same slice.
Knowing when it is done
Time is unreliable for pie because it depends on your oven, your pie plate and how cold the filling was going in. Use what you can see instead.
The crust should be deep golden, not pale blond. A pale crust means a raw, doughy bottom even if the timer went off.
The filling should be bubbling through the vents, visibly and slowly. Bubbling means the apples have released their juice and it has come up to temperature and thickened. This is the real test.
If the crust is browning too fast, tent the top loosely with foil and keep going. Do not pull it early because the top looks done.
Cool it for at least two hours. A pie cut hot runs. The filling sets as it cools and that is not optional.
The two things that go wrong
Soupy filling
Apples release a lot of water. This recipe leans on the apples and the blended chile for body rather than adding a thickener, so the fix is either more patience or a small insurance policy: toss the apples with 2 tablespoons of flour or a tablespoon of cornstarch before they go in the shell. Also make sure you actually saw it bubbling before it came out.
The gap under the top crust
Apples shrink as they cook and the crust stays where it was, so you get a dome over a half-empty pie. Two ways around it: mound the apples higher than looks sensible, or macerate them first. Toss the sliced apples with the sugar and let them sit 30 minutes, then drain off the liquid and reduce it in a pan before adding it back. That shrinks the apples before they go in rather than after.
Soggy bottom
Bake on a preheated baking sheet in the lower third of the oven. The direct heat sets the bottom crust before the filling soaks it.
Not enough chile
Half a cup rather than a third, or Hot rather than Medium. Blended either way.
Storing and making ahead
The dough is better made ahead. It keeps two days wrapped in the refrigerator and freezes for up to three months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before rolling.
A baked fruit pie keeps about two days at room temperature, loosely covered, and 3 to 4 days refrigerated after that.
An unbaked assembled pie freezes well. Wrap it tightly, freeze up to three months, and bake from frozen with about 20 minutes added. This is the best make-ahead option by some distance.
Reheat slices at 350°F for about 10 minutes to bring the crust back. The microwave makes pastry limp.
What else to make with the jar
A third of a cup leaves most of the jar. New Mexico red chile sauce is the main destination, and red chile huevos rancheros is the weekend breakfast version of the same idea.
On the dessert side, red chile brownies use the same jar, and green chile chocolate chip cookies make the same argument from the green side.
The chile is 16 oz jars of flame roasted Hatch red chile, Medium or Hot, four ingredients. The recipe archive is free and there is a printed New Mexico chile cookbook.
Common questions
Does red chile apple pie taste spicy?
It reads as warmth rather than heat. A third of a cup blended into five or six cups of apples sits underneath the cinnamon, and most people cannot name what is different about it.
Why blend the red chile instead of chopping it?
Blended, it behaves like a spice: even heat across every bite, a little extra body in the filling, and no pieces of vegetable in a fruit pie.
Red chile or green chile in apple pie?
Red. It is the same pod left on the vine to ripen, so it is sweeter and earthier, and that works with apples in a way green does not.
What apples work best?
Granny Smith is the reliable default, and a mix of two tart to one sweet is better than any single variety. Avoid Red Delicious and Gala, which go mealy.
How do I know when apple pie is done?
Deep golden crust and filling visibly bubbling through the vents. Time is unreliable. If the top browns before the filling bubbles, tent it with foil and keep baking.
Why is my apple pie filling runny?
Either it was cut before it cooled, or the filling never came up to a proper bubble. Cool for at least two hours, and toss the apples with a tablespoon of cornstarch if you want insurance.
Why is there a gap under the top crust?
The apples shrank as they cooked. Mound them higher than feels right, or macerate them in the sugar for 30 minutes first and reduce the drained liquid before adding it back.
Can I freeze the pie?
Freeze it unbaked and assembled, up to three months, then bake from frozen with about 20 minutes added.
The short version
Blend a third of a cup of red chile into the filling, use firm tart apples sliced evenly, and bake until the crust is deep golden and the filling bubbles through the vents. Cool two hours before cutting. The cinnamon in this one is heavy by design, so start lower if you want the apple and chile out front.