How to roast Hatch green chile

This page is now obsolete, and has been combined with the post How to Roast Hatch Chile to cover both roasting at home and also roasting as a professional! Please view that guide as it is much more detailed than this one!

To begin with, we need to analyze what we want from the roast. In general, the purpose of roasting is mainly to peel the chile, with a smaller emphasis put on giving it a smoky flavor profile.

In order to peel a chile, it has to have a point where it peels FROM. That means you need a lot of direct heat on the chile to blister it. These blisters are fracture points of the peel, and where you can start to pull it off.

So, step 1 is high heat, as hot as you can. This would be your oven’s broiler, a bbq grill, or a blowtorch. Or you can be like me and have a few barrel roasters lying around.

You want to keep it on that high source of heat for about 3-4 minutes, but watch carefully. If you heat the chile for too long, it will burn, and the peel will stick back onto the fruit. Blackening is good, and if up to half of a side of chile blackens, it is still ok. More than that and you will risk burning.

Flip it over, and do the same to the other side. Some chiles have more than 2 sides, just turn it over again. Once you blacken all the sides, you can peel it under a running tap. You can also give it a dump in cold water to help loosen the peel also. The rapid change in temperature can help separate the peel even more.

I hope you enjoy roasting your New Mexico green chile. If you want to skip the work of roasting, we roast chile every day in Albuquerque during chile season. You can find us at 2010 Eubank Blvd NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico 87112. Part 2 will be a guide to roasting with a barrel roaster.

In case you are just looking to buy roasted chile, we will begin roasting on Friday August 2nd, 2024 for our 47th chile roasting season!