Hatch Green Chili: No-Meat Recipe

Looking for modern comfort food? This vegan hatch green chili recipe is delicious and different. The slightly spicy green chili stew has just the right amount of kick and fresh flavor. With a hint of heat from the base of hatch green chiles, tomatillos and cilantro, this hearty stew is packed with satisfying potatoes and white beans.

Of course, if this comfort food doesn't sound so "comforting" to your digestive tract (not everyone can eat red and green peppers without aftereffects), pairing this chili with a vegetarian-friendly digestive health formula is a great way to enjoy your meal before and after you eat it—and help you better absorb the beneficial nutrients in this tasty recipe.

What kind of chile peppers are best for your chili?

This question really is about your own personal tastes. There are so many types of chile peppers to choose from when cooking chili. It really depends on the intensity of the heat desired when you choose your chile pepper. Hatch green chiles from New Mexico and poblano peppers are both types of green chiles with lots of flavor and a mild heat.

For a truly spicy chili with a fiery taste profile, use jalapeno, serrano, or even dried chile peppers like chipotles or chiles de arbol. To turn down the heat, forego the chiles and use red and green bell peppers. What if you enjoy the taste of spicy foods but not the aftereffects? Try adding gut health supplements to your daily routine to promote digestive comfort.

What is a hatch green chile?

A hatch green chile is a type of pepper grown in the Hatch Valley region of New Mexico. They are a lighter green than a poblano, and some are longer and larger. There are several types of New Mexican chiles, including varieties like hatch green, hatch red, Big Jim, Sandia and more.

Hatch chiles are typically milder than a jalapeno but can vary, and they deliver a good amount of vitamin C as well as vitamin A with each bite. The harvest season for hatch green chiles is in the winter months, but you can find them canned or jarred as diced green chiles all year round.

These tasty peppers are popular in roasted hatch chile salsa and in enchilada sauces.

How to cook hatch green chile peppers

Cooking hatch green chiles is easy. Roasting or sauteing are great ways to bring out their flavors. For this hatch green chili soup recipe, we are using canned hatch chiles, which can be cooked with the other ingredients in oil. If we were stuffing our chiles to make chiles rellenos, we would first roast and peel the charred skin from the peppers. Using the canned version is definitely the easiest method.

Hatch Green Chili Soup Recipe

This recipe makes four servings and is ready in 40 minutes.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 yellow onion, peeled and diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 teaspoon salt
8 oz. canned diced hatch chiles (or use fresh chiles)
4 small gold potatoes, cubed
4 tomatillos, peeled
½ bunch cilantro
2 cans white beans, drained
4 cups water

Optional ingredients for garnish:

½ bunch cilantro, chopped
1 lime sliced in wedges
1 avocado cut in quarters and diced

Preparation

1. Place a large soup pot over medium heat. Add oil and wait 1 minute until it is hot. Add onion and garlic and sauté for 5 minutes until fragrant and translucent.
2. Add the potatoes and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often to avoid sticking.
3. Add hatch chiles and salt and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often.
4. In a high-speed blender, add tomatillos, cilantro and 2 cups of water. Blend until smooth. Then add to the potato and chile mixture in the large soup pot.
5. Add 2 cups of water to the pot plus the beans, stir well and bring to a boil. Then simmer until the potatoes are fork tender.
6. Serve with garnishes of choice.

Nutritional values per serving

Calories: 562
Carbohydrates: 90 g 
Protein: 21 g
Fat: 16 g 
Sodium: 228 mg 
Fiber: 21 g 
Sugar: 7 g 
Vitamin A: 158 IU 
Vitamin C: 57 mg 
Calcium: 209 mg 
Iron: 8 mg

*All nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and is only an estimate. Each recipe and nutritional value will vary depending on the brands you use, measuring methods and portion sizes.

Tips for success

This chili recipe is really quite easy. Even a beginner can cook this one with great success. That being said, here are a few tips to make your chili cooking experience a hit.

• Experiment:

  There are a variety of different chiles that you can choose from. With options from mild to hot and green to red, there are so many ways to make this recipe your own. If hatch green chiles are unavailable fresh, get them in a can. Poblano and Anaheim chiles can be used as well.

• Take your time:

  Don't rush the steps. Often when people make soup or stew, they just throw everything into a pot and boil it. While that does work, developing flavor takes time. Cooking the onion and garlic in oil brings out the flavors before adding the other ingredients. Because it doesn't contain chili powder like a red chili or sweet potato chili, this chili's flavor comes from the tasty flavors of the hatch chiles, cilantro and tomatillos.

• Don't skimp on the garnish:

  Although the garnishes are optional in this recipe, I strongly encourage you to add them to your bowl. The cilantro magnifies the fresh flavor, and the lime juice really makes it pop. Buttery avocado brings heart-healthy fat and a delicious texture to the mix. Avocados can also help relieve the occasional bloating that some may experience from eating beans.

How to encourage digestive comfort after eating legumes

Although the white beans in this chili recipe deliver a good amount of protein, calcium and fiber, legumes are not easy for some to digest comfortably. You can encourage GI balance and digestive comfort with a supplement that combines a probiotic with digestive enzymes, the chemical compounds that help you break down the food you eat. Enhanced Super Digestive Enzymes with Probiotics is a vegetarian-friendly formula that promotes optimal digestion of protein, dairy and fat. It includes alpha-galactosidase, an enzyme that supports GI comfort by breaking down foods such as legumes and cruciferous vegetables, which are notorious for causing bloating and discomfort. The enzymes in this supplement also help your body absorb nutrients, so you get the most from every meal.

References

• Azlan A, et al. "Antioxidant, Anti-Obesity, Nutritional and Other Beneficial Effects of Different Chili Pepper: A Review." Molecules. January 2022. https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC8839052/
• Rau S, et al. "Prebiotics and Probiotics for Gastrointestinal Disorders." Nutrients. March 2024. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38542689/
• "Beans, Dry, Small White (0% moisture)." U.S. Department of Agriculture. December 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/747442/nutrients
• "Peppers, hot chili, green, raw." U.S. Department of Agriculture. April 2019. https://fdc.nal.usda.gov/food-details/170497/nutrients