HATCH Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole

It's August...in Texas...and you can find Hatch Chiles where we shop at HEB (best grocery store ever!)  One of the big "events" of HEBs in my area (I assume other places as well) is Hatch Chile Festival.  Hatch chiles are grown in New Mexico and harvested this time of year.  Central Market (the gourmet version of HEB has a huge festival as well).

***I buy the mild Hatch chiles and they are plenty spicy for me.  I feel that they are about the same spice as you would find in Rotel.  With peppers however, one pepper can be milder than the next and keep in mind that most of the heat is found in the seeds and white membrane.  You could also use these in homemade salsa, pico de gallo, chili, tortilla soup, or on top of burgers.  If you've never tried them before I encourage you to try them out.  They are usually out of the stores towards the end of August, so don't waste time!!! 

I wait to make this recipe until I have freshly roasted Hatch Chiles on hand.  Not to worry, I buy about 10 lbs of roasted chiles and freeze them so I can make these until my chiles run out. 

Here's a display of fresh peppers at Central Market

This is what the roasted ones look like....I only buy roasted ones and then bring them home and peel them using a knife by scraping the skin off.

all the black stuff on the right is the skin and tops of chiles with the seeds.  I discard this part.

This photo doesn't do these enchiladas justice...they are simple and SO GOOD!!! 

Here's the recipe to print: Download Hatch Green Chile Chicken Enchiladas

Ingredients:

1 pound roasted Hatch green chiles (remove skin and seeds and chop)

 2 Tbsp olive oil

4 garlic cloves, minced

Pinch of salt

Pinch of pepper

1 cup chicken broth

10 corn tortillas

2 cooked and chopped chicken breasts

2 cups shredded Monterey jack cheese

Sour Cream

 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 400. 

Saute garlic for a minute.  Add chiles, salt, pepper, and broth.  Cook for 10 minutes over medium heat. 

Spread 1/3 of the chile/broth mixture on bottom of 9 inch baking dish. Top with 4 tortillas. Top with half the chicken and 1/3 of the cheese.  Top with 4 more tortillas, 1/3 of chile mixture, the remaining chicken and 1/3 cheese.  Tear last two tortillas and scatter on top of enchiladas.  Top with remaining chile mixture and cheese.  Bake for 35 minutes.  Serve with sour cream.

 

Comments

[Kate]

Thank you for finding something for me to do with the chilies I keep seeing. Do you find them to be very hot? When I tried a hatch chili enchilada at Whole Foods last week it was pretty warm. Haven't bought any yet, but these look amazing!! Thinking dinner on Saturday!

[Omaflinger AKA Marlene Morgan]

Last Friday, we saw HEB roasting the chilies and they did smell wonderful but I did not have any recipe or knowledge of how best to use them. Thank you so much for this step by step yummy idea. I'm heading back there in two days and will purchase everything to follow this casserole.

[Kelli W]

my husband gets giddy like a kid when we start seeing the Hatch chilis. We may have to try this recipe. Last night he cut some up to throw into the meat for the ground turkey tostadas we made for dinner. But his favorite part? Going to Chuy's as much as possible during their Hatch Chili Festival - yum!