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HomeRecipes

Authentic Chile Colorado

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By: IsabelPosted: 10/18/17

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This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!

This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!

This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!

Chile Colorado makes my heart skip a beat and I’m super excited to be sharing it with you today!

Made of tender pieces of beef simmered in an rich and flavorful red chile sauce, chile colorado is one of my favorite things I ate growing up. I have fond memories of coming home from school and eagerly walking to the kitchen to see what my dad had cooked for me that day. If it was chile colorado, I was a happy girl.

I didn’t need all the extra stuff like rice and beans and tortillas – all I wanted was a bowl of chile colorado, some tortilla chips and life was good.

Those were the days.

This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!

This dish is an attempt to recreate those childhood memories as best as I can. This dish will never taste as good as my Dad makes it, but I think I came pretty freakin’ close!

The most important part of this recipe is the red chile sauce. To make it, you’ll need some dried chiles that can often be found in the Mexican aisle at your local grocery store or a specialty Mexican grocer. If you can’t find any close to you, I recommend ordering from Amazon. Here are the three types of chiles you’ll need.

  • dried Guajillo chiles
  • dried Ancho chiles
  • dried Arbol chiles

They’re pretty inexpensive, especially when you consider how many chiles come in a bag, and they’ll last forever! Okay, not literally forever, but they’ll last in your pantry or cupboard for up to a year.

This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!

I served myself a good helping of this chile colorado alongside some authentic Mexican rice and I felt like I was back at home. So good, so comforting and oh-so satisfying.

Here are some ideas for sides to eat with this dish.

  • Cilantro Lime Cauliflower Rice
  • with some corn tortillas
  • Mexican rice
  • Mexican refried beans
  • with some flour tortillas
  • Cilantro Lime Rice

Or you can be like my 13-year-old self and enjoy it an a bowl with some tortilla chips. Highly recommend.

This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!

I hope you love this recipe as much as I do! Be sure to leave a comment below and rate the recipe if you make it!

Recipe

4.6 from 116 votes

Authentic Chile Colorado

Serves: 6 people
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This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!
Prep: 15 minutes
Cook: 1 hour 35 minutes
Total : 1 hour 50 minutes
This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!

Ingredients

For the red chile sauce

  • 8 dried Guajillo chiles, stems removed and seeded
  • 2 dried Ancho chiles, stems removed and seeded
  • 1 dried Arbol chile, stem removed and seeded (or more if you like spicy food)
  • 1/2 medium yellow onion, quartered
  • 1 teaspoon dried oregano
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 1/2 teaspoon cumin

For the meat

  • 2 pounds beef stew meat (like chuck shoulder or roast), cut into 1/2 inch squares
  • 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt, plus more to taste
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil
  • 3 cups beef broth, divided (or chicken or vegetable broth)
  • 2 bay leaves

Instructions

For the red chile sauce

  • In a medium pot, add dried Guajillo chiles, Ancho chiles, Arbol chiles, and onion to a medium pot. Cover with water until chiles and onions are completely submerged and bring to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, remove from heat, cover and let it sit for 20 minute to soften the peppers. 
  • Using a slotted spoon, transfer the softened chiles and onions into a large blender. Add in 1 cup of the chile-soaked water, the dried oregano, salt, garlic and cumin. Blend until smooth. Add some of the beef broth from the meat ingredients as needed if the mixture is too thick for your blender.
  • Once the red chile sauce is as smooth as possible, pour it through a strainer into a bowl, pushing down on the solids that accumulate to get as much moisture out as possible. Discard the solids. 

For the meat

  • In a large bowl, add the beef, flour, salt and pepper. Toss together to coat.
  • Heat a large pot or dutch oven, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add in half of the meat and brown on all sides so they have a good sear, about 5 minutes. Transfer the browned beef into a bowl and repeat the process with the remaining uncooked meat.
  • Once the second batch of meat has browned, return all the meat into the pot. Add in the red chile sauce, beef broth and bay leaves. Stir to combine and bring to boil. Once boiling, reduce heat to simmer, cover and cook for 45 minutes.
  • Uncover, taste and add more salt as necessary. Raise to medium heat and cook for another 15 to 30 minutes, until the sauce has reduced and thickened slightly. If you prefer a thicker sauce, cook longer. 
  • Discard bay leaves and serve with Mexican rice and beans.

Isabel’s Tips:

Serves 6 big meat-eaters or 8 smaller portions.
Sauce can be made ahead of time and stored in the freezer for up to 6 months until needed.
To make gluten-free and paleo, use tapioca starch or white rice flour instead of all-purpose flour.

Nutrition Information

Serving: 1serving - 1/6th of recipe Calories: 377kcal (19%) Carbohydrates: 8g (3%) Protein: 50g (100%) Fat: 16g (25%) Saturated Fat: 11g (55%) Monounsaturated Fat: 3g Cholesterol: 107mg (36%) Sodium: 1073mg (45%) Potassium: 94mg (3%) Fiber: 1g (4%) Sugar: 1g (1%) Vitamin A: 350IU (7%) Vitamin C: 3.3mg (4%) Calcium: 10mg (1%) Iron: 9.9mg (55%)
Author: Isabel Eats
Course:Main
Cuisine:Mexican
This Chile Colorado recipe combines tender pieces of beef with a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. Serve with rice for an authentic Mexican dinner!
Did you Make my Authentic Chile Colorado?Leave a comment below and tag @isabeleats on social media!
@isabeleats

Did you make this recipe?

I’d love to know! Leave a comment below and tag @isabeleats on Instagram with the hashtag #isabeleatsfood.

This page contains affiliate links. If you make a purchase on Amazon after clicking one of my links, I may receive a small commission. The price of the item stays the same and any money I make goes to supporting this blog. I only endorse products and services that I fully believe in.

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Recipe Rating:




  1. AvatarElizabeth Pacheco says

    Posted on 3/1 at 9:25 pm

    5 stars
    My 1st time making this recipe. Very easy to follow gracias! Delisioso!

    Reply
  2. AvatarTracy says

    Posted on 3/1 at 1:51 pm

    5 stars
    Love this recipe! I’ve made it 3 times now and always have to make extra to gift my dad bc he loves it too. I am wondering if there are any suggestions to make it a little spicier? I’ve increased the arbol chiles each time (I think most recently I used 8) and haven’t noticed an increase in heat. Is there something else I can add to give it a little more kick?

    Reply
    • Morgan @ Isabel EatsMorgan @ Isabel Eats says

      Posted on 3/15 at 1:27 pm

      Hi! Good question. First, I recommend not removing the seeds from the chiles. That should definitely help to spice things up. Then I would just continue adding more arbol chiles until you get it just right! Hope this helps!

      Reply
      • AvatarMichele says

        Posted on 3/15 at 6:28 pm

        I add a few Sarrono peppers to spice things up. They have a nice bite, but won’t set your taste buds on fire unless you get a few seeds. 😂
        I use fresh Sarrono peppers, and throw them in with the dried ones to simmer, then just follow the rest of the recipe.

        Reply
  3. AvatarLisa Wilkinson says

    Posted on 2/24 at 7:32 pm

    5 stars
    Love this meal. I serve with refried beans, salsa, sour cream, guacamole and tortillas fried in a little bit of butter.

    Reply
  4. AvatarLisa says

    Posted on 2/17 at 7:57 pm

    4 stars
    I enjoyed the meal as is… however my daughter wasn’t able to handle the heat. Any tips?

    Reply
    • Morgan @ Isabel EatsMorgan @ Isabel Eats says

      Posted on 3/3 at 10:45 am

      Hi Lisa! I’d recommend completely removing the seeds from all of the chiles or lessening the amount of chiles you use. Just note that this might change the flavor of the recipe.

      Reply
  5. AvatarTracy says

    Posted on 2/15 at 7:21 pm

    Made exactly as is. Perfection!!!

    Reply
    • AvatarEric says

      Posted on 2/21 at 9:25 pm

      5 stars
      Family all loved it!! I made the mistake of using all the liquid with the peppers for the sauce but since my Dutch oven runs a little hot it thickened up nicely. We are from San Diego and are accustomed to Mexican food. Made giant burritos for the kids. My daughter said it was the best burrito I have ever made her. Thanks for the recipe. It is now a family favorite.

      Reply
  6. AvatarJULIE N says

    Posted on 2/8 at 7:38 pm

    5 stars
    My word, this is fantastic! Followed the recipe exactly and I am in heaven.

    Reply
  7. AvatarMer says

    Posted on 2/3 at 9:11 pm

    5 stars
    Absolutely delicious. I made the sauce the night before so the flavors could blend. The only things I did differently was add a about 2T apple cider vinegar (for a little acid) to the sauce and I sautéed the meat in bacon grease.

    Reply
  8. AvatarMickey says

    Posted on 2/1 at 12:25 am

    You mention oregano. Do you mean Mexican oregano? Or the Mediterranean kind?

    Reply
    • Morgan @ Isabel EatsMorgan @ Isabel Eats says

      Posted on 2/9 at 9:48 am

      Hi! Mediterranean oregano works for this, but if you have Mexican oregano in your spice drawer, I would definitely use that instead! Pretty much for any of the Mexican recipes on Isabel Eats, if you have Mexican oregano (even if it’s not specified), use it. Thanks for asking!

      Reply
  9. AvatarJohn says

    Posted on 1/30 at 2:17 pm

    5 stars
    Easy and delish

    Reply
  10. AvatarKay says

    Posted on 1/26 at 11:59 am

    5 stars
    SO SO SOOOO GOOD! So glad I stumbled upon this blog as our family has taken such an interest in Mexican cuisine after traveling there in 2019 (non-resort style). Having not ever used dried chiles like this before – attempting this recipe had me questioning if I was missing something at every step. Even after making the chile sauce and tasting it – I was not confident (more so due to my culinary skills than the recipe!)

    But it turned out so well – this was AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS! We served it with faro and beans and absolutely everyone loved it!

    Reply
  11. AvatarStaci Jamieson says

    Posted on 1/14 at 2:13 pm

    5 stars
    This recipe I’ve made before..only leaving a comment now…. F’in amazing…. my mom used to make Mexican food when I was a kid… maybe that’s where I got my love for Mexican food! (White people here) but I am a 100% lover of all Mexican food… and try to recreate what I’ve had in restaurants… this recipe by far hits that mark!!!! Thank you sooo much!

    Reply
  12. AvatarM Lanier says

    Posted on 1/2 at 5:06 pm

    Made this twice so far. It’s very good and way worth the small extra effort of making the red sauce and cutting the beef. Never eat ground beef chile again

    Reply
  13. AvatarCiaran says

    Posted on 1/1 at 10:34 pm

    5 stars
    Insanely delicious!

    Reply
  14. AvatarJenn says

    Posted on 12/30 at 1:12 pm

    5 stars
    I agree, this can be a bit of a process. My pan would not sear the meat well, but I folowed as is. Simmering on the stove now along with homemade refried beans and rice. I’m sure nobody will even know that my meat was not seared. I will be buying a new pan soon. This recipe is a keeper!!

    Reply
  15. Avatarsilviana says

    Posted on 12/21 at 10:22 pm

    thank you !!

    Reply
  16. AvatarRobert Moya says

    Posted on 12/16 at 10:37 pm

    5 stars
    I made this once and now. I have to make it just about all the time. Thanks Isabel. LOL!!! It was a hit with the family that I am making it for Christmas meal. Awesome

    Reply
  17. AvatarCharles Pascual says

    Posted on 12/9 at 10:12 am

    5 stars
    Makes a terrific dish. We will make this again. Served it simply in bowls along with tortillas but I can see how beans and rice (especially the cilantro lime rice) would go well with this. As one whose conception of “chili” is the Tex-Mex variety; this is a welcomed addition to our table.

    Reply
  18. AvatarMary Friedman says

    Posted on 12/8 at 10:07 am

    This was soooo amazing. Such a great smoky flavor! I made it with venison and cooked it longer than what was called for to make sure it was super tender. My husband and 3 teenage sons LOVED it. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe

    Reply
  19. AvatarKim says

    Posted on 12/6 at 8:19 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you for this recipe 😋 This is one of my favorites when I eat out at a Mexican restaurant. Now I can make at home, and its soo easy!! my family loves it and we enjoy on a weekend!!

    Reply
  20. Avatarernie says

    Posted on 12/6 at 12:51 pm

    5 stars
    Superb! I didn’t have any stew meat so I used a picanha steak I had in the freezer. The cilantro lime rice was great too. Absolutely fantastic!

    Reply
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A first-generation Mexican American who loves to cook! Here at Isabel Eats, you’ll find a mix of all your favorite authentic Mexican recipes with a twist! Read More

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