Hey! I'm Des!
Welcome to Life’s Ambrosia where Dinner is served and memories are made. Here you will find over 1000 tried and true recipes for every possible occasion. In the last 10 years, this blog has helped millions of families put dinner on the table and create food memories. Let me help you too.
Roasted Hatch Chile Quesadillas
When I was at the grocery store I saw a big sign that read “Hatch Chiles are here! Get them while you can!” With a sign like that, how could I refuse? Even though I wasn’t quite sure what a hatch chile was, I bought a few to bring home and immediately began doing some research about them. Come to find out these green gems are somewhat coveted in the food world. And after putting them in this quesadilla, I know why.
Hatch chile season is pretty short, running from late August through mid October. The peppers are a little milder than a jalapeno and are most often roasted before using. After roasting, many people will freeze them to keep them all year long to spice up all kinds of dishes like green chili, eggs and enchiladas. In my case, I couldn’t resist using them immediately and decided that quesadillas would be the best way to go. The peppers add a nice roasted pepper flavor without being overly spicy, but just to be sure, make sure you remove the seeds.
Roasted Hatch Chile Quesadillas
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 4 hatch chilies rinsed and dried
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 teaspoon olive oil
- 1 medium yellow onion sliced
- 1 clove garlic minced
- pinch of kosher salt
- 4 medium flour tortillas
- 1 1/2 - 2 cups shredded pepper jack cheese
Instructions
- Turn on your oven broiler. Place the rack 6 inches from the top.
- Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil. Place chilies on baking sheet. Broil until skin is blackened and blistered, about 5 - 6 minutes per side. Note you can also do this part on your grill. The cooking time would be more like 3 minutes on each side.
- Transfer roasted peppers to a paper bag and close for 15 minutes. This will allow the peppers to sweat making removing the skin easier.
- Using gloves, carefully remove the skin, seeds and stems of the roasted peppers. Chop and set aside.
- Heat butter and olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Once butter has melted begin sauteing the onions. Cook until they start to brown, about 15 minutes. Stir in the roasted peppers, garlic and salt. Remove from heat.
- To assemble a quesadilla, place one tortilla on a flat surface, sprinkle half the cheese and half of the pepper mixture onto the tortilla. Place the other tortilla on top. Repeat with remaining ingredients. Cook the quesadillas in a non-stick skillet over medium-high heat until the cheese is melted and the tortilla begins to brown. Slice and serve immediately.
Notes
Hey! I'm Des!
Welcome to Life’s Ambrosia where Dinner is served and memories are made. Here you will find over 1000 tried and true recipes for every possible occasion. In the last 10 years, this blog has helped millions of families put dinner on the table and create food memories. Let me help you too.
Maryanna
August 17, 2013 at 3:10 pmTry this
Stef Howard
October 9, 2012 at 8:43 amWe make Hatch quesadillas every Saturday at our booth “Happy Chiles” at the Corona Certified Farmers markets. Corona, Ca. If you need any Hatch chiles, please contact us–we have them year round. Check us out at Hatch, New Mexico Chiles “Happy Chiles” on Facebook. http://www.facebook.com/stef.howard.7#!/pages/Hatch-New-Mexico-Chiles-Happy-Chiles/235707743108634?fref=ts
Preston Mitchell
August 25, 2012 at 7:05 pmIf you can’t find Hatch Chile locally, you can actually order it from a couple of farms in the Hatch Valley. Take a look at http://hatchnmgreenchile.com if you’re interested in mail-order chile!
Dirts
May 7, 2012 at 5:26 pmGloria Chadwick releases her new cookbook at then end of this month. It’s called Hatch Chile heaven. She went to the festival last year and was captivated by the Hatch and decided publish a cumulation of Hatch chile recipes. There hasn’t been one published for many years. I’m anxiously waiting for it like a child on the night before Christmas
Raine
January 14, 2012 at 4:56 amI live in New Mexico about 2 hours from Hatch. The fields are massive and the specific location of Hatch, New Mexico is what makes the chiles so good. I was born in Arizona, raised in Illinois and moved here not too long ago. The scent of roasted hatch chiles is one that you can definitely get used to. People buy them by the bushel here. They usually roast the green ones and dry the red ones and use those for enchilada sauce or salsa the green ones go into omlettes, burritos, tacos, pizza and several other things I have yet to learn to pronounce. Chile Relleno is quite popular here. The other thing they do is stuff sopapillas with shredded chicken or beef and douse it in chile. They are heavenly for sure!
mjskit
September 19, 2011 at 4:08 pmJust had a green chile quesadilla for lunch today! This is a great use of these lovely chiles. I’m running a series on New Mexico chiles this month on my blog. You might be interested in checking it out since you obviously love and know what to do with chile. Love the picture!
Awesome Dawson
September 6, 2011 at 10:41 amAuthentic Hatch chiles come from only one place in New Mexic…the town of Hatch! In fact, the first sign that summer is winding down is the aroma of roasting chiles in the air for a couple of weeks. All of our local grocers in Albuquerque have them roasting outside the store and we usually buy a 40 lb. sack of them to store in the freezer until next year.
Teresa
August 31, 2011 at 10:09 amI made these quesadillas last night and they were delicious! I like heat and these were hot! The flavor was excellent.
Deseree
August 29, 2011 at 8:29 pmThanks everyone for your comments! Connie- I had no idea thanks so much for the tip! Tasha- I do have a pot sticker recipe on the blog if you want to check it out :) http://www.lifesambrosia.com/2009/07/pork-and-veggie-potstickers-recipe.html
Emme @Food Samba
August 28, 2011 at 2:09 pmJust saw them roasting them at whole foods this morning. I had never tried them before, and they look pretty interesting so I decided to be adventurous and buy some too! I had no clue what I was going t do with them, so I’m glad I found your post cuz now I know what to do with them!
kyleen
August 27, 2011 at 7:23 pmI ate some quesadillas the other day and they’ve been on my mind ever since. Yours look delish!
Jenn's Food Journey
August 26, 2011 at 7:25 pmHatch chiles are huge here in Arizona. One restaurant even prides itself in it’s roasted Hatch chiles :) How can this be a bad thing.. cheese… chiles…I’m sold!!
Connie
August 26, 2011 at 1:26 pmI just had to add a comment to your statment “The peppers are a little milder than a jalapeno and are most often roasted before using”…. the pepper(s) that you bought must have been of the mild version…. hatch chile’s do come in heat strengths and they actually can be hotter than a jalapeno :)
love your recipes…thank you
Connie in Arizona :)
Orla@thepremiumbutcher
August 26, 2011 at 8:17 amThanks for the info on Hatch chile’s, first I’ve heard of them. Looks lovely :)
StephenC
August 26, 2011 at 8:11 amAs former residents of Colorado, we had Hatch chiles in our freezer pretty much year ’round. We put them into everything except our toothpaste.
Tasha, darling, if you want potstickers, forget about the Hatch chiles.
Tasha
August 26, 2011 at 7:16 amYummy! How about a recipe for chinese dumplings/potstickers? :)