How to Make Authentic Red Chile Sauce from Dried Chili Pods
Big thanks go to The Hatch Chile Store for sponsoring this post. All thoughts and opinions are my own :0)
Living in New Mexico for 30+ years and cooking up a whole lot of New Mexican food, this red chile sauce has withstood the test of time. Just ask the thousands of readers who come back here over and over for the most delicious red chile sauce recipe made with dried chili (chile) pods. (BTW, both chile and chili spellings are correct.)
Here’s what readers are saying
Is it Authentic? Try it, and you’ll become a believer.
Red chile sauce can be used in all sorts of recipes, such as Huevos Rancheros, Carne Adovada, Posole, tamales, Enchiladas, grilled ribs, holiday turkey, and more. It’s a fun way to add a little ‘kick’ to any meal!
I no longer live in New Mexico and miss the authentic flavors. As soon as the sauce I made following your recipe touched my lips I was instantly transported home.
raphael r
Reader
What is red chile sauce?
Authentic homemade red chile sauce (sometimes called chile colorado) is made when dried spicy red chili peppers are rehydrated with hot water or broth. This mixture is then blended until a rich, smooth sauce is formed, then cooked on a stovetop to deepen the flavor.
TLDR: Why are they dried? Drying chile peppers is an ancient traditional method of preservation, so red chili sauce can be made all year round.
Watch how to make this recipe
Is red chile sauce spicy?
The short answer is YES, expect red chile sauce to be spicy!
However, the answer to this question is subjective because it depends on who’s eating it, how much spiciness they can tolerate, and the actual level of heat (Scoville units) in the chiles used to make the sauce. Yes, there is an actual scientific scale that measures spicy-ness.
In order to create the most delicious and authentic Red Chile Sauce, sourcing high-quality chile pods is essential. Not all chili pods are created equal. That’s why I’ll never use anything but verified Hatch Chiles in my New Mexican cooking. The quality is fantastic, and there really is something special about the flavor of this natively grown chile!
How to make Red Chile Sauce from Dried Chile Pods
Step 1
Once you have your bag of Hatch dried chili, begin to make your sauce by creating what I’ll call your “re-hydrating” broth. I enjoy complementing the natural flavor of the chile with onion, garlic, dried herbs and chicken bullion. I usually add these into the pot raw, but sometimes, if I feel like it, I’ll sauté the onion and garlic in a little bit of butter until golden brown before continuing with the recipe.
Adding depth of flavor is an important part of being a great cook, and I think it really makes my Red Chile Sauce stand out. Some in New Mexico are chile ‘purists’, and scoff at the thought of using anything but water and chili pods to make their sauce. That’s not me.
Step 2
Measure out 4 ounces of dried chile pods. If you don’t have a food scale, this is roughly as many as will fit into a 4-cup measuring cup. Dried chili pods can still have quite a bit of capsaicin, the chemical that gives chiles their spicy-hot flavor. I strongly recommend wearing gloves whenever handling chiles. Rip the pods into smaller pieces over a large bowl, discarding the stems. I am a mild chile sauce person (I know I’m a wimp), and I dump a lot of the seeds out and discard them as well. If you like it hot, by all means leave the seeds in with your ripped chile pieces.
When your broth is at a simmer or low boil, stir in the ripped chiles. Cover and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes. This simmering speeds up the process of the individual flavors of chile pepper, onion, herbs, etc. to meld together.
Step 3
Separate by pouring the mixture through a strainer. SAVE THE BROTH.
Why don’t I just pour the entire contents of the pot right into a blender? Because if you do, the sauce will be too thin. Plus, you’ll get chunks of chile in there that will never get blended properly, and you won’t get a completely smooth consistency. The trick here is to add just a small amount of liquid into the blender to keep the solids close to the blades, so that everything gets blended nice and smooth. Then just add broth as needed to thin out the sauce to your liking.
If you love your chile sauce, then you know how essential a great blender is to get the job done right. (How did people even make chile sauce without blenders back in the day???) If you’re thinking of upgrading your blender or gifting one to someone you care about, consider my recommendations below.
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Step 4
If you plan to serve your Red Chile Sauce right away, it should be cooked a little further on the stove. Why? Because it will taste better; the heat speeds up the process of deepening the flavor notes of this sauce. Feel free to use the same pot as for the broth (why dirty yet another pot or pan???) I used a pan in the pic below JUST so you could see it better :0)
You can totally skip this step if you’re in a hurry, especially if you’re going to cook the sauce again, as in enchiladas. You can also skip it if you’re making your sauce a day ahead, as the flavors will naturally deepen as it sits in the fridge overnight.
There are so many uses for this sauce– smothering your morning eggs, or a burrito, spicing up a soft taco, the flavor base for Pork Posole, and my personal favorite, Red Chile Pork Ribs. You can find more recipe ideas for Authentic Red Chile Sauce made with Dried Chili Pods in my cookbook, New Mexican Food Made Easy. Available in bookstores, libraries and Amazon.
I am just in love with this deep-red color! You’ve just gotta spice up your life with a little Red Chile Sauce now and then.
And don’t forget to order your Genuine Hatch Chile from The Hatch Chile store– the premier online resource for all Hatch chile products, fresh, frozen, dried, jarred; however you like it, they’ve got it!
Wondering how to make red chile sauce from chile powder? Click here for the instructions.
I would be happy to chat with you about Authentic Red Chile Sauce made from dried chile pods, and how your Abuela made it, and your memories surrounding it. Experiencing delicious food is about making life memories with the people you love. Please rate the recipe and share a comment below, it always helps The Goldilocks Kitchen to continue to bring you the best recipes on the web!
You know what else is fantastic? Simply giving this recipe a star rating and a comment below! Your comments and ratings are greatly appreciated by me AND the Google algorithm. Thank you!
Did you know I have a full-color cookbook with lots more easy and delicious New Mexican recipes? You can learn more about it here!
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Authentic Red Chile Sauce from Dried Chili Pods
- Total Time: 0 hours
- Yield: 8–10 servings 1x
Description
The real, authentic recipe for making traditional Red Chile (chili) Sauce from dried chili pods. The flavor is deeper and less bitter in this sauce than red chile made from chili powder. No matter how you spell it, this spicy condiment is the life blood of New Mexico, and in antiquity was made with chile pods plucked from hanging ristras. This sauce provides the base for many traditional dishes such as Huevos Rancheros, Enchiladas, and Carne Adovada. As we always ask- “Red or Green?”
Rating this recipe below in the comments is like giving it a thumbs up for the Google Algorithm. Thanks for your support!
Ingredients
- 3 cups water
- 2 teaspoons dried Mexican Oregano
- 1/2 cup chopped onion
- 4 garlic cloves, chopped
- 2 teaspoons cumin
- pinch of ground coriander
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon chicken bouillon powder (or one cube)
- 4 ounces dried Hatch Red Chile pods
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- In a medium saucepan, add 3 cups water, oregano, onion, garlic, cumin, coriander, salt and bouillon. Bring to a low boil.
- While the water mixture is heating, put on some gloves and rip dried chile pods apart into 1-inch pieces, discarding the stems and dumping out excess seeds. (If you like it spicier, leave the seeds in.) When water mixture comes to a boil, stir in chile pieces and cover. Simmer on low for about 10 minutes.
- Remove the chile-broth mixture from heat and carefully pour through a fine-mesh strainer into a 4-cup measuring cup or mixing bowl. Set broth aside; do not discard.
- Place all solids into a blender. Add 1 cup of strained broth and the honey. Blend for about 1 minute, or until the sauce is pureed and very thick. Blend in 1 additional cup of broth and taste. Adjust the sauce to taste and desired consistency by adding more broth, salt etc.
- If you plan to use the sauce immediately: pour into a large saucepan set over medium-low heat. Heat the Red Chile Sauce, stirring often, until it comes to a slow, gloppy boil. Cook for about 5 minutes, then remove from heat and let it cool until safe enough to handle.
- If you plan to use it later: you can skip step 5 and store the sauce in airtight containers placed in the refrigerator. Sauce can be stored for up to 4 days.
Notes
Leftover red chile will stay good in the fridge for 4 days.
Some from NM are what I would call “chile purist” and simply use water and dried Hatch chiles to make this sauce. If you would like to try it this way, simply follow the recipe with water and dried chiles.
Curious about steps 5 and 6? The flavors of this sauce will slowly meld and deepen simply on its own, and the heat level will slightly increase as well over time. (I’m talking in terms of hours.) You can speed up this chemical process by adding heat if you desire to serve the sauce immediately. I personally like to make it ahead and save myself the extra step :0)
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25-35 minutes
- Category: Sauce
- Method: blender
- Cuisine: New Mexican
I will surely gonna try this. I am from India we make many kind of red chilli sauce. This recipe is mouth watering, thanks for sharing.
Smoky, delicious. Doesn’t need the bouillon cube if you want to trim the sodium, since there’s plenty of flavor from everything else!
Excellent recipe! I left out the honey. Didn’t see a need for it, and didn’t want any kind of sweet after-taste. I simmered the chilis for 30 minutes instead of 10. Under-cooking guarantees there will be pieces of tough skin in the mixture that are almost impossible to get out. Got that tip from a friend who was raised in Mexico, and grew up making chili with her mother and grandmother.
It’s useful information’s for me. i can try it on specials birthday
authentic red enchilada sauce this recipe was amazing ….
Thank you Jason! Glad you were amazed :0)
Hello Emily,
I should have rated this before. I’ve had your recipe saved since last Christmas and I love it! I was born and raised in Albuquerque, NM and come from generations of proud New Mexicans. I no longer live in New Mexico and miss the authentic flavors. As soon as the sauce I made following your recipe touched my lips I was instantly transported home. I just bought 24 oz of chile pods and plan on making many batches more throughout the holiday season. Regards!
Thanks so much for sharing your experience, Raphael! I love it, and I’m glad to help.
Adding coriander, cumin, and honey is not the authentic way of making Northern New Mexico hatch red chile. No es bueno!
Hi Shelina, thanks for your comment. I do mention in the article above that if you are a chile purist, to simply use water and chiles. However, I’ve had several friends and family (all fellow New Mexicans) say “muy deliciosa!”. This is the way I was taught to make chile sauce. :0)
tentative 4* I’m going to make this sauce, then some menudo and some carne adovada!
I’ll report back…
Hi Kris- Thanks for the tentative 4 star rating! I wanted to follow up to see if you made the menudo and carne adovada? I sure love slow-cooked carne adovada and how the red chile becomes such a deliciously rich and complex gravy…. so delicious :0)
I did use it for Carne Adovada. Except for the fact that I couldn’t eat it in Stuffed Sopapillas (THE BEST way to eat Carne Adovada), due to celiac limitations, it was perfect. Taste of home for sure!
So glad to hear, thanks for sharing!
I needed a red sauce that didn’t require tomatoes because I’m not able to eat them, and somehow came across your recipe and decided to try it. WOW!! Yum!
I made this sauce to accompany a chile relleno casserole (layered – roasted anaheim chiles, Oaxaca and pepper jack cheeses & traditional fluffy egg mixture), if you’ve never had it, it’s a must. So delicious and cheesy. Your sauce went together with it so well, even though it was thicker than most Chile relleno sauces (and I could have added more broth to thin it out), but I was enjoying it just the way it was and it had so much flavor that I didn’t want to mess around losing.
I used what I had in my pantry without making a trip to the store: dried guajillo chile pods and a few chile de arbol for a spicier kick, marjoram because I was out of Mexican oregano, and I left out the honey. In a skillet, with a drizzle of olive oil, I charred a whole quartered onion, 4 whole garlic cloves and a jalapeño and blended it all up with the broth mixture. I hope I didn’t deviate too much from the original recipe, but next time I make this I will attempt to get the right ingredients.
Chile Relleno is one of my all-time favorite dishes! This red chile sauce recipe is perfect for it. You did a great job improvising and using ingredients that you had on hand. I’m so glad you loved it, thanks so much for sharing your experience!