Followers of this blog, the M Delish Boutique facebook and instagram pages, or just those who know me (Melissa) personally already know I’m obsessed with Hatch Green Chilies. The real ones that you can only get (and even then only in certain parts of the country) for a short time in August/September, depending on the growing season. Check out my recipe for Colorado-style Green Chili Sauce here.

Get up to speed on some of the other posts about Green Chili/Chilies here and here. This topic inspires lots of discussion on all of my social media accounts, so join the fun!

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Now that you’ve watched the slideshow (above), you see what this glorious season looks like from my perspective. The fresh chilies at the store, in my house, on my grill, and in my pot. Plus some roasted tomatoes for canning, and a few magical dishes smothered Colorado-style in green chili. From Huevos Rancheros to burritos, green chili is the king of sauces, and as chili in the bowl you just cannot beat it.

Selecting peppers. Pick peppers that look nice and shiny, with no missing stems or ends, and no major splitting or bruising. You’ll be roasting them, so don’t worry about curvy or straight. Just look for healthy looking peppers and you’re golden.

Roasting (detailed methods can be found in my book “One Dish Wonders“)

Here are peppers roasted in the oven:

Green Chili

Here are peppers roasted over charcoal:

Shown in the photos are my canned peppers. You can also freeze these for future use. I prefer canning because I don’t have much freezer space at the moment, and I like sharing these with my fellow green chili-lovers.

I like to add roasted tomatoes to my canned chilies, as sort of a Ro*Tel version of my home roasted chilies. I drizzle them with olive oil and sprinkle dried cumin and garlic powder on top of the split sides. After they cool, I remove the skins and mix them with my chilies for canning.

Making Green Chili:

Traditional Colorado-style Green Chili is made with pork, but my method uses chicken and a smoked turkey leg to get the smokiness I like. I make 7.5 quart batches of the chili and am often recruited to bring it to serve at football parties, birthday celebrations and potlucks. I so frequently am asked for the recipe, I finally committed my recipe to the page and published it in my second cookbook “One Dish Wonders“. The leftovers can be re-heated, frozen or used in my recipe (same book) for Green Chili Mac & Cheese. Spice kit sets are available for my books, and the One Dish Wonders set comes with spices for “Melissa’s Green Chili” available here.

If you’ve got the book, I hope this post helps inspire you to get out there during Hatch Season and get to it!

Be sure to watch your local grocery stores and farmers markets for signs of Hatch Season near you! Hatch chilies come from Hatch Valley, New Mexico, and they’re the Cadillac of green chilies. If you’re not sold by now, I’ll be back next year with more love for these beautiful gifts of the garden!