The Hatch Green Chile season is here and this year I was determined to do some cooking with them. And now, I think I’m in love! I knew I was going to roast the chiles when I got them home, but then I was stuck. What do I do with them? Then it hit me, CROCKPOT! I’ve been neglecting my crockpot of late so I decided to show it some love and that’s where this Hatch Green Chile Crockpot Chicken recipe came from.
Hatch Green Chile Crockpot Chicken
1 C hatch green chiles chopped (after they are roasted)
4 garlic cloves
1 medium onion
2 C chicken stock
2 Roma tomatoes
1 tsp cumin
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon flour
3 large or 5 normal size chicken breasts
I started out by lining my pan with foil and set my 6 hatch green chiles on them and placed it under my broiler to roast them. It took me about 40 minutes for them to look completely roasted, but I think I maybe over did it a bit. Every 10 minutes or so I would check on them and rotate them so that they would get evenly roasted.
Once they were roasted I dropped them in a plastic bag for 20 minutes so that the steam they released would help make it easier for me to peel the skin off.
I know they don’t look all that pretty any more, but trust me, they’ll taste amazing! Be sure to seal up that plastic bag to trap the steam. I let them sit in the plastic bag for between 20-30 minutes.
Once the Hatch Green Chiles were cooled I began to peel them and chop them. I removed the majority of the seeds from the chiles and chopped off the tops but set them to the side. I grabbed a little homemade chicken broth from my freezer and put it in pot on the stove. My inspiration for this recipe came from Food.com and I thought this next step was pure genius. After it had melted and become completely liquid I placed the seeds and the tops of the chiles in the broth and cooked it covered for about 20 minutes. It will cook down to approximately 1 cup of liquid.
After 20 minutes pour the liquid through a fine strainer and set it to the side. You’ll use it after a few more steps.
Then chop the onions and garlic. I had some elephant garlic left over from a Greenling delivery so I just cut up one because it was enormous! I let them cook for about 10 minutes until the onions and garlic were soft.
You’ll notice I didn’t chop these up finely (same with the chiles), that’s because they are going in the food processor so there is no need. Next I blanched my Roma tomatoes. I did this by dropping the tomatoes into boiling water for about 2 minutes then immediately placing them in an ice water bath.
Then it was easy to peel them. I removed the tomato seeds but again didn’t take time to chop the tomatoes. Put the hatch green chiles, onions, garlic and tomatoes in the food processor until it looks like this:
We’re almost at the end, I promise! Put the tablespoon of olive oil in the skillet and heat it, then add the flour and stir it to thicken the oil. It will take about a min to form the roux then add the chicken broth. Continue to stir to ensure there are no clumps of flour then add the remaining ingredients. Give it a good stir and then let it come to a boil. Once it’s boiling lower the heat and let it cook for about 30 minutes and voila.
I left the sauce in the fridge over night to let all of the flavors really intermingle.
For the last step, I placed 3 (giant) chicken breasts in the crockpot and then covered them with only half the sauce because it was so spicy! I let the Hatch Green Chile Crockpot Chicken cook for 8 hours on low but at about the 6 hour mark I shredded the chicken and gave it a good stir.
When the time was up I could not wait to try this chicken! So I got out some tortillas and made tacos.
Stay tuned, I’ll be sharing how I used this chicken to make enchiladas!
[…] Hatch Green Chile Crockpot Chicken I blogged about a few weeks ago? If not, click here for the recipe. That recipe made a ton of chicken and I wanted to get creative with it and introduce my […]