Hatch Chile con Queso

in Appetizers, Chile con Queso, Hatch chiles, Mexican & TexMex, Tailgating Favorites

Hatch Chile con Queso

Hatch chiles are back! For a few short weeks in August, you’ll find large roasters stationed outside our favorite grocery store chain, with the smell of the charred New Mexican peppers in the air. They’ll roast and bag up hundreds of pounds of hatch chiles…

And then, just like that, they’ll be gone.

I picked up a couple of pounds of chiles, most of which were frozen for a rainy day. But we wouldn’t be doing hatch season any justice if we didn’t drown a pile of chopped chiles in melted cheese.

Hatch Chile con Queso

I whipped up a batch of our favorite white queso dip, substituting the usual tomato, jalapeno, and cilantro with a mound of hatch chiles. With fewer ingredients to get in the way, the flavors of the roasted chiles and the cheese made it hard to resist going back for seconds. And double-dipping.

Hatch Chile con Queso

The restaurant favorite white chile con queso dip made with late summer hatch chiles.

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1/4 cup chopped white onion
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 2 hatch chiles, roasted, seeded, and chopped (directions here)*
  • 4-6 Tbsp milk
  • 8 oz white American cheese, shredded
  • 2 oz Monterrey Jack cheese, shredded
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • *If using canned, draind extremely well.

Instructions

  1. Heat oil in small sauce pan over medium heat.
  2. Saute onion until translucent, 3-5 minutes.
  3. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute more.
  4. Add chiles and 4 Tbsp milk, stirring until heated.
  5. Add grated cheese one handful at a time, occasionally stirring between additions to incorporate melted cheese with the milk.
  6. Add additional milk by the tablespoon, if necessary.
  7. Salt and pepper to taste, serve warm with chips.
  8. It will get thicker as it cools but it can easily be thinned with a short trip through the microwave.

Notes

Yields: ~1 1/4 cups

Source: Confections of a Foodie Bride

Estimated time: 15 minutes

25 comments… add one
  • ooh this sounds so good! I have a new salsa recipe to try and I think I’ll have to make this too and have a little fiesta 🙂

  • Um, is that a burger to the left? Dear god this sounds good. I buy Hatch chiles in cans, but just not the same. I’m sure poblanos would be great,eh? Wonder if I could grow next year – don’t think they like our soil up here!

  • ya know now I know for sure that the secret behind white chile con queso is white american cheese cause I heard it from you. I have visited the funny little town of Hatch NM during their harvest and drying period. In a word AMAZING. You can order fresh ones during this time but being it’s a bit late they may have sold out.

    Thanks again for the secret behind this tasty dish.

    • Sylvia

      Hi, you are in luck! The Hatch Chile Festival takes place during Labor Day Weekend. You can get as much Hatch chile as you wanat and the vendor(s) will roast it on the spot. You can get mild, medium or hot. It’s the best!

  • It’s kind of weird to me that you guys in Texas already have the chile roasters out, because it’s a little early in the season yet, so it’s spotty here in southeastern New Mexico. I saw one on the side of the road last weekend, but we probably won’t have them at all the grocery stores for a couple weeks.

    • That is weird – they only do “live roasting” for 2-3 weeks here. I actually think this upcoming weekend will be the last time that my closest HEB will have roasters going.

  • Oh man, I definitely have to make this on my next dinner party as an appetizer! The guests will be over the moon for it!

  • Somehow Hatch chiles never quite make it up here and I’m always so sad! Maybe I’ll just have to stalk my Whole Foods…

  • Angie R.

    I love Hatch chiles, I had no idea they did the roasting thing at the store. Just checked and they are doing it at one of the stores here this weekend – I’m there!

  • I think I have some hatch chilies in my freezer!! I could literally start making this right now, and have some delicious queso for lunch! (lunch of champions, right?) Do I spy hatch chilies in the sandwich too? I could get used to a lunch like this.

  • Oh my. Heaven.

  • I wish I lived in a place that had chile roasters outside the grocery store. I also wish I had a bowl of that queso blanco in front of me right. now.

  • YUM this sounds great! I’ve been on a huge chiles kick. Can’t wait to try this out!

  • Stacey

    I just went to go get lunch at Bristol Farms and they are roasting this weekend. I just like to roast them myself so I picked up 4 pounds of the Hot ones. The Hot doesn’t seem that hot this year, I don’t know why.
    This recipe is definitely going into the rotation. Thank you.

  • I wish there were roasters stationed outside our grocery stores! It’s just not the norm in North Carolina.

    My husband & I just got done roasting 15lbs of them & we will definitely be throwing some into some queso!

  • I fell in love with hatch chiles on a trip to NM last year. I wish we could get them here in PA because this recipe sounds heavenly!!

  • Cook from NM

    This picture is devine and mouthwatering! If you wait until a little later in the chile picking season, say early Sept. or so the chile will start to turn red and be the absolute best green chile you have ever had. It turns so sweet, yet keeps the heat, and I promise you will never want to have regular ole’ green again (-; The smell of chile roasting in the air permeates the whole city of Albuquerque and make for a mouthwatering couple of months around here!

  • LindaH

    If I can’t find that variety of chile pepper in my area, what would you suggest as an alternative? Thanks!

  • Haley

    This looks delicious- especially with green chile! I was wondering how this would taste if I made it ahead of time, refrigerated it, and then reheated it to eat later- still good? Does it reheat very well? Thanks!

    • Yeah, it reheats pretty well. We never eat all the queso in just one sitting… although it’s tempting 🙂 Just give it 30-second spins in the microwave until it’s nice and melty again.

  • Duncan Patterson

    The best green chiles do not come from Hatch, they come from Las Cruces NM, at New Mexico State University is where they came up with the green chile strain that you refer to as Hatch, but the Hatch chiles are all decendents of the NMSU chile.

    You should try queso fresco cheese or chihuahua cheese along with the american cheese and skip the monterey jack, jack cheese is not the smoothest melting cheese. Nor the tastiest.

  • Jenn

    This queso is fantastic. We also roasted a couple of jalapeños and added them to the mix. Used jalapeño jack cheese slices- because that’s all we had on hand.
    Also added a generous handful of chopped cilantro- just because I love it so much. We’re making the burgers later for our fantasy draft. With this queso on top, we know they will be great! This is our first hatch dish of the year. Yay for hatch season!

  • Finn

    IMO…The texture and consistency of this queso recipe would work better if you started with a roux. FB.

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