How To Make New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

This New Mexico Red Chile Sauce sings with the flavor of dried New Mexico, Guajillo and de Arbol chiles. We tried several versions of this sauce while on a road trip to New Mexico. They ranged from mild to spicy. Our favorite was this spicy version. Food in New Mexico often came with a choice of red or green sauce or both, called Christmas style.

This New Mexico Red Chile Sauce is naturally gluten free.

The Chiles

The chiles for this sauce are New Mexico or Hatch, Guajillo and de Arbol. New Mexico chiles are dried Anaheim peppers. The Hatch Chile is of the same variety but can have a little more heat. We went to Hatch, New Mexico to get the Hatch Chiles.

Watch a Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making New Mexico Red Chile Sauce:

The Ingredients For New Mexico Red Chile Sauce

• 8 New Mexico Chiles
• 4 Guajillo Chiles
• 3 de Arbol Chiles
• 1/2 Onion
• 5 Garlic Cloves
• 1 Cup Chile Soaking Water
• 1 Cup Chicken Stock
• 3/4 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Mexican Oregano

Sweat the Chiles

To start making this sauce we need to get the chiles ready to use. We’ll bring life back into them by sweating them in a dry pan before soaking them in hot water. We can just sweat these whole by heating up a dry pan and laying the chiles in it a few at a time. They’ll cook for about a minute on each side until they get fragrant and change color a little. The skins may even bubble a bit. remove them to a plate to cool.

Remove the Seeds

Next we need to remove the stems and seeds from all the chiles except the de Arbol. Since we are adding those for their heat we want to keep the seeds in our sauce. Tear them into pieces and put the pieces in a bowl.

Soak the Chiles

Add hot water to cover the chiles and let soak for 30 minutes. Then we’ll strain them and reserve the soaking water. The water has a lot of chile flavor so we will use it to help blend up the chiles.

Dice and Cook the Onion and Garlic

Next we need to dice our onion and chop the garlic. We use a red onion here for the color but you can use whatever you have on hand. heat some oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 5 minutes, until the onion is translucent.

Blend the Chiles With Soaking Water and Mexican Oregano

While the onion is cooking we can put the soaked chiles into the blender along with one cup of the soaking water. This is a good time to add salt and Mexican Oregano. We can get that blended part way. The smaller the chile pieces the easier this is to blend. Adding a whole cup of soaking liquid makes this work pretty well.

Add the Onion and Garlic to the Blender

Now our onions should be cooked. We’ll add these to the blender and blend it until it’s fairly smooth. We like to get it smooth before adding the chicken broth but if it’s too thick to blend properly you can add the broth any time. We’ll add the broth and then blend some more, looking for a smooth sauce. You can use vegetable broth if you want to make a vegetarian version of this sauce.

Cook the Red Chile Sauce

Next we want to cook and reduce this into a nice, smooth, thick sauce. We’ll heat some more oil in the saucepan over medium-low heat and then pour the contents of the blender into the hot oil. You’ll want to cover the pan as this sauce will splash a lot as it heats up. Cook for 30 minutes or until the sauce reaches your desired consistency.

We used this sauce to make Chorizo Stuffed Chiles Christmas Style. ‘Christmas style’ is from New Mexico where a dish has both red and green sauces. Here is our recipe for the New Mexico Green Chile Sauce.

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Here are some other chile sauces you might enjoy:

• Poblano Sauce
• Classic Enchilada Sauce
• Roasted Red Pepper Sauce

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