Creamy Hatch Chili Sauce

Creamy Hatch Chili Sauce - Hilah Cooking
I’m not sure it’s possible to explain to you how delicious and also how hot this sauce is. It is so delicious that we have been putting it on ALL of our food the past few days. I’m talkin’ chicken tacos, carnitas, steamed broccoli, salmon patties, green beans, eggs, taco salad, tostones. Really, everything except our morning smoothies has gotten a dose of this biz and I’m even fantasizing about ways to make savory smoothies that I could put this in, too. That is likely never going to happen, but what WILL happen is that I’m going to keep making this until the Hatch peppers are gone and then I’m going to start making it with serranos because I can not be stopped when it comes to creamy spicy sauces!  

So … in your face, non-creamy hot sauces.


But it is also really remarkably incredibly hot, even with the yogurt. I’ve made it both with the hot variety of Hatch peppers, as well as with a mild Hatch plus one serrano and the two versions were equally high on the Scoville scale (I mean, I assume; I don’t actually own one of those scales, but they tasted equally burning). I’m sure you could use a jalapeño (I just figured out how to do that ~ sign yesterday!) or just a mild Hatch if you want it milder. I think I’ll try that next time, in fact. Jalapeño (did it again!) I mean, not mild Hatch. I gotta have some spice after all, and those mild Hatch peppers to me might as well be bell peppers. In fact, it’s appropriate now to say that I wish someone would hybrid the two and come up with a medium Hatch pepper. Just for me.

For those in Austin, this sauce also reminds me of the Doña Sauce they serve at TacoDeli, which is the same type of green sauce that comes with the roasted chicken dinners from El Pollo Regio and I think they have it at Los Jalisciences, too. This sauce is much lower in fat than any of those, whose ingredients are jalapeños, oil, and salt. Seriously. Not that they aren’t delicious, but in my home-cooking and home-eating, I like to pretend I’m making rational choices. Just go with me on this one, ‘kay?

Print

Creamy Hatch Chili Sauce

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

4.9 from 7 reviews

  • Author: Hilah Johnson
  • Prep Time: 10 mins
  • Total Time: 10 minutes
  • Yield: 1/3 cup 1x

Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 Hatch green chili (hot or mild) or see above for substitutions
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
  • 1/41/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Roast the pepper under the broiler for 2-3 minutes on each side until blistered and blackened.
  2. Remove and place on a cutting board. Cover with a bowl and allow to cool.
  3. Remove the stem and peel skin off. Seed the pepper if you like (I think I will next time).
  4. Place pepper along with garlic and oil in the blender and combine until smooth.
  5. Add yogurt and blend.
  6. Season with salt.
  7. This will keep a week in the fridge. Some separation may occur, but it comes back together with a quick stir.

Notes

Note: You can totally use regular plain yogurt (instead of Greek) but your sauce will be thinner than a dip consistency. It will be more like a buttermilk salad dressing consistency, which works out well since it’s great on salad!

Did you make this recipe?

Share a photo and tag us — we can't wait to see what you've made!

 

41 Comments

  1. Kyle Williams on August 30, 2012 at 4:00 pm

    Loving the new sauce and just in time for the three day wknd. Much Love on this one Hilah for you and yours!!!!

    • Hilah on August 30, 2012 at 5:25 pm

      Thanks Kyle! You have a great weekend, too!

  2. Kate Nicholson on August 30, 2012 at 4:58 pm

    I’m wondering how this would taste with a smoked Chipotle in Adobo sauce. Maybe add a bit of smoky flavor to the sauce?

    • Hilah on August 30, 2012 at 5:25 pm

      Oh yeah, Kate! You don’t even have to ask! I know that will be good. 🙂

    • Wendy Stewart on August 29, 2013 at 8:29 pm

      I make a sauce with Greek Yogurt with 1 or 2 chipotles in adobo, and some chopped green onions and crushed garlic….YUM!!!

      • Hilah on August 31, 2013 at 9:07 am

        Oh that sounds great, Wendy! Thank you!

  3. Pennie on August 31, 2012 at 8:43 am

    I have never even heard of a hatch pepper. Will probs have to use jalapenos.

    I have NO idea how to type a tilde!!

    • Hilah on August 31, 2012 at 4:02 pm

      Hi Pennie! Hatch peppers are similar to (or even the same as?) Anaheim peppers. They are strictly grown in Hatch, New Mexico though and there’s a really short growing season so it’s a big deal to some people. I’m sure it’ll be good with whatever hot peppers you can get your paws on!
      On a Mac, you make the tilde by holding down Option and N at the same time, gives you this: ˜ . Then hit N again and you have a little ñ!

  4. dlab on August 31, 2012 at 11:12 am

    I always love the creamy green sauces but have never been able to nail any of them, and the recipes are all over the place too, the last one I tried used avocados.

    Looking forward to try using yogurt in them! Sadly I don’t have access to any hatch chilies locally so I’ll have to use something else instead.

    @ Pennie, type Alt+164 for the ñ.

    • Hilah on August 31, 2012 at 3:56 pm

      Hey dlab! I’ve made one with avocado, too. It was good, but different from this. And you know, I bet you could even use canned green chilis if you wanted to get the same Hatch flavor. But I’m sure jalapeños or serranos will be great!

  5. Amy on September 4, 2012 at 4:59 pm

    Hilahhhhhhhh!
    Whats up gal? Hope you had yourself a great summer break & are ready to get these recipes on again! 😉 We sooooo need to meet as I said before in my other comment, so get it yo self down here in Houston! Okay, so this is the deal, I am going to attempt to make your potato soup tonight (eeeeek!) wish me luck! 😀 Also, Chuy’s here in Houston start their crazy “burn your mouth off” hatch chili festival coming up soon if its not already started, so if you guys have Chuys over there in Austin you should go check it out!:)Take care & you have yourself a grand one! Shalom out from H-town:D

    • Hilah on September 4, 2012 at 10:24 pm

      Hi Amyyyyyy!!!! I hope you have a good dinner tonight! We started season four today so you got your wish. 😉 xoxo

  6. Amy on September 5, 2012 at 5:56 pm

    Turned out great! Thanks so much for the awesome recipe!!:) The only thing I did different was “tried” to thicken it up :/ Not too sucessful to say the least . I tried flour but I can never get it right, so I stopped before it became potato glue soup! Non the less, it was very yummy!! Thanks so much again:D

    • Hilah on September 7, 2012 at 9:05 am

      Thanks for the update! Next time it will be perfect! 🙂

    • Crojo on August 15, 2023 at 2:33 pm

      Try corn starch next time instead of flour works so much better

  7. J-3 Wilson on September 6, 2012 at 7:20 pm

    OMG.
    Had to follow your cooking from here, G+ was just too much people started harassing me about my comments so I will just view from site. My last comment was about your Hatch green chilies. This picture her looks much better.






    • Hilah on September 7, 2012 at 9:04 am

      Oh boy, I know exactly what you’re talking about! “U r nice cook” “wil be friend?” “hallo”… etc. Lots of robots and spam-bots on G+ I’m afraid.
      Thanks for visiting over here! I think the consensus was this picture is better. 🙂

  8. Haley on September 20, 2012 at 9:08 pm

    This sauce is great, however I used 1 hot hatch chile and it wasn’t spicy (to me) at all. Bummer! I would not enjoy this with jalapeno (I dislike the taste) so I may try it with some serranos next time.

    It has a great flavor though. I was thinking about making a bunch of it to put over chicken enchiladas, but don’t know how it would hold up in the oven. Any thoughts? I’ve never actually cooked with greek yogurt before, I’ve only used sour cream and that tends to survive the oven.






    • Hilah on September 21, 2012 at 1:04 pm

      Hi Haley! That is weird! The Hatch peppers we got this year were hotter than I’ve ever had. I’m glad you liked it anyway. 🙂
      I think it would work fine in the oven! Good idea.

  9. Hugh on November 3, 2012 at 3:43 pm

    Hi Hilah!!!
    I used jalepenos and it turned out amazing. The sauce is Hot, Simple and Easy…just like me!
    Thanks Hilah
    Hugh






    • Hilah on November 6, 2012 at 11:47 am

      Ha! Thanks, Hugh! Glad to hear you enjoyed it.

  10. Zaheer on March 9, 2013 at 2:46 pm

    Awesome recipe this is Hilah, and so easy to make. I did use jalapeno’s instead of hatch chilli, passed on the added salt but increased the garlic content (and chilli !!) and it came out a treat. Thank you and god bless…… 🙂






    • Hilah on March 11, 2013 at 3:09 pm

      Thanks, Zaheer! I like with with either pepper. It’s so versatile and goes well on just about anything! 🙂

  11. Nicki on August 28, 2013 at 11:31 pm

    I still have some beautiful Hatch Chilis in my fridge, direct from NM to SoCal! Never had them before but I now see why they’re special. Made sambal badjak from some of them, they were not hot at all (the sambal is delicious tho’). Will definitely make this sauce! Maybe add a Hungarian carrot pepper or banana pepper from my garden…in fact I’d welcome ideas for banana peppers, we have too many I think!

    • Hilah on August 29, 2013 at 9:10 am

      Hi Nicki!
      It’s great to hear from you. So happy you’re making good use from your Hatch chiles!
      I’ve used banana peppers instead of jalapeños in the past for making jalapeño poppers. That works well. You could also fill them with any stuffed mushroom filling recipe and bake them.

  12. Katricia on January 27, 2014 at 3:54 pm

    Hi Hilah!

    I’m a native New Mexican here, so I was super excited to see this. I have never had a creamy New Mexico chile sauce, with the exception of the nasty green chile and cream of mushroom/chicken stuff some people use as a cheat for spending the time to make something that actually tastes good, but that’s a different story. (I have a favorite recipe for chile sauce that’s basically carmelizing an onion, adding some garlic, making a roux, adding veggie stock and salt, and simmering for at least 30 minutes.) I’m crazy excited to try this out! It sounds awesome!

    I did see in the comments that you were explaining what the chile is. You’re mostly right on the mark. Anaheim peppers and New Mexico chile are very similar, but different peppers. Hatch chile just refers to where the New Mexico chile is grown (of which there are like a bazillion varieties). Hatch is a big chile farming community, so they have festivals and all kinds of fun stuff there, but they are by no means the only or the best chile farms.

    These peppers are totally possible to find outside of New Mexico, as the word seems to be spreading that they are so very special. If you buy canned chile, buy Hatch brand, as you can guarantee it’s the real thing. I’ve seen it in the Hispanic food section in grocery stores all over the country, even in Seattle! It is also possible to find frozen New Mexico green chile in the freezer section too. It’s not as widespread as the canned stuff, but I hear it usually tastes better. (I buy straight from a farm, so I haven’t really tried the grocery store stuff.) It’s in my local grocery store here in Utah, and my sister buys hers at her local grocery store in Wyoming. It’s worth a check. Bueno is a commonly seen brand, but if you see another brand, then buy that instead. And of course, if you’re lucky enough to get it when it’s fresh, you’ll probably be able to track it down with your nose!

    For substitutes, Anaheim would probably be the closest! Thanks for sharing a new-to-me recipe!! I cannot express how excited I am to try this! Oh, and there is such a thing as medium New Mexico chile. If you’re able to get them there in Texas, Big Jim is the variety I buy … but whatever. (Sorry if I’m coming off as a know-it-all. I’m just trying to share some helpful info.) THANKS!!!

    • Katricia on January 27, 2014 at 3:55 pm

      Woops. In that chile sauce “recipe”, I also meant to include chile in that … of course.

      • Hilah on January 27, 2014 at 5:24 pm

        Thank you, Katricia! This is certainly helpful information. Your roux-based sauce sounds really good! What do you do with it? For enchiladas?

        I’ll check my local store for frozen ones. I’ve seen something called just “chopped green chiles” in the freezer, but haven’t looked close enough to remember what brand they are. Once many moons ago I also saw whole, roasted and peeled poblanos in the freezer section and thought I’d died and gone to heave. 😉

        • Katricia on January 27, 2014 at 5:57 pm

          I use the roux-based sauce anywhere where a warm-type salsa can be used. Enchiladas is the classic example. It’s also good in breakfast burritos or just on top of eggs for breakfast. I’ve even made a potato-cheesy-casserole thing with it before. It goes good with most eggy/cheesy/potato-y dishes, and also traditionally with chicken dishes.

          Again, thanks so much for this recipe and for all of your many amazing recipes! You’re pretty amazing! 🙂

          • Hilah on January 28, 2014 at 9:29 am

            Ooh, thanks! It’s so cold here, chicken enchiladas sound just about perfect right now.



  13. Giulia on March 9, 2014 at 8:13 pm

    Okay, so I’m making your spatchcock chicken recipe and made this sauce, HOT DAYAAUUM!
    I did make it with jalapeños and coconut cream instead because I didn’t have yogurt but its really tasty! thanks for the inspiration to cook Hilah, I watch all your videos and I’m really happy you are back.
    much love from wisconsin<3

    • Hilah on March 10, 2014 at 11:23 am

      Woweezowee, Giulia! Coconut cream! You’re a genius. I bet that was amaaazing.
      Thanks so much for writing! I’m glad to be back. 🙂

  14. Lisa Gonzales on August 13, 2014 at 11:04 pm

    I much prefer creamy to meaty sauces. And I love the way you put it on everything. Will have to do this.






  15. stacy j on January 31, 2015 at 8:30 pm

    I made this with a dash of cumin and put on chicken enchiladas!!! Yum. The 2013 hatch were some of the hottest I have ever had. The canned ones are no were near as good as frozen or fresh but will work in a pinch. In new Mexico they put green Chili’s on eggs and it is heavenly. Coming from up north this was a bit of a shock. But it was love at first bite.






    • Hilah on February 2, 2015 at 9:27 am

      Thanks, Stacy! Great to hear it worked on your enchiladas. 🙂

  16. Cynthia on April 20, 2015 at 1:46 pm

    If you do visit Houston, call me too! I love your recipes Hilah!






  17. Ashley Matsko on July 21, 2016 at 4:59 pm

    Thank you for mentioning Hatch Green Chile. We would love to send you a free box of our Hatch Green Chile as a thank you. If you’re interested, please send me an email.

  18. Sumee on September 14, 2019 at 11:19 am

    Does this sauce freeze well? I have a bunch of hatch chilies and I am considering making a large batch

    • Hilah on September 17, 2019 at 5:26 am

      I don’t know. I fear it might separate. I’d recommend roasting and peeling your chiles and freezing those on their own. They are more versatile that way

  19. Sandy on August 27, 2020 at 1:58 pm

    I love anything’s made with Hatch chile!!

  20. Therese Covington on January 13, 2022 at 6:07 am

    Hello from Texas. I cater 5 nights a week for a family of 3 and am excited to use this recipe. They do like their chicken with a kick. I’ll send a comment tomorrow after I get their comments. Also, if you have gluten free recipes, please point me in the right direction. The lady of the house is gluten free…the other two don’t like gluten free. Its a challenge, for sure. Until tomorrow. ?‍?

Leave a Comment

Recipe rating 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star




This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.