By Pati Jinich
Published Nov. 27, 2023
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Prep Time
- 10 minutes
- Cook Time
- 50 minutes
- Rating
- 4(372)
- Notes
- Read community notes
One of the most popular and traditional burritos of the El Paso-Ciudad Juárez borderlands, this chile verde burrito is referred to as a purist burrito: It has no toppings, no garnishes and no salsas or crema to drizzle on top. It is neat, clean, slim and tightly packed; its filling is intensely flavorful, but delicate in its texture and bite. Everything in it is cooked al punto, on point: The Anaheim chiles are fire-roasted to bring out their exuberance, tenderly cooked over soft heat with almost-caramelized onions and soft-to-the-bite potatoes, and then coated in creamy crema. The fact that the best renditions of this burrito are made with freshly made flour tortillas makes the experience sublime.
Featured in: On the Border, the Perfect Burrito is a Thin, Foil-Wrapped Treasure
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Ingredients
Yield:8 burritos
- 12ounces (about 4 to 6 large) fresh Anaheim chiles (also known as California chiles), or chilaca or New Mexico chiles
- Kosher or sea salt and coarsely ground black pepper
- 1pound Yukon Gold or yellow potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-by-¼-inch matchsticks
- 2tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1medium white onion, halved and slivered
- 1cup Mexican crema or crème fraîche (or even heavy cream, in a pinch)
- 8large store-bought or homemade flour tortillas
- 2cups shredded asadero, quesadilla or Monterey Jack cheese
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
424 calories; 23 grams fat; 10 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 9 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 41 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams dietary fiber; 6 grams sugars; 15 grams protein; 578 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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Preparation
Step
1
Place the chiles on a baking sheet under the broiler, or directly on the grill, or right on the burner of a gas stove over medium-high heat, or on a preheated comal over medium heat. Turn them every couple minutes, for a total of about 10 minutes, until they are completely charred and blistered all over.
Step
2
Place the roasted chiles in a lidded container, close it tightly and let them sweat for at least 10 minutes. Set them under a thin stream of cold water (or in a bowl filled with water) and peel the charred skin, which should come right off. Make a slit down one side and discard the cluster of seeds and veins. Remove the stems and cut the chiles into 1-by-¼-inch matchsticks (about the same size as the potatoes). Set aside.
Step
3
Meanwhile, bring a medium saucepan of salted water to a boil over medium-high heat. Once it comes to a boil, add the potatoes and cook until very soft, about 8 minutes. Drain and set aside.
Step
4
Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until wilted, translucent and barely starting to lightly brown around the edges, 7 to 8 minutes. Stir in the roasted chile strips and cook for 3 to 4 minutes, until the chile strips have softened even more. Incorporate the cooked potatoes, sprinkle with ½ teaspoon salt and ¼ teaspoon pepper, and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally, until all the vegetables are coated with the same cooked glimmer.
Step
5
Reduce the heat to medium-low, stir in the crema and simmer until it thickens and slightly darkens, about 4 minutes. Set aside.
Step
6
Heat a comal, griddle or nonstick skillet over medium heat for 3 to 4 minutes. Once it’s hot, reduce the heat to low and place a tortilla on it. Once it lightly browns on one side, about 30 seconds, flip it and top with ¼ cup shredded cheese. Once the cheese starts melting, 30 to 45 seconds later, remove the tortilla.
Step
7
Add a scant ½ cup of the chile verde and potato filling in a thick strip to one side of the tortilla. Tuck in the top and bottom, fold and roll it into a burrito. (You can also leave it untucked and just roll it.) If you’d like the tortilla to brown a bit, you can place the filled burrito on the comal for another minute or two. Repeat with the remaining tortillas, cheese and filling. Serve hot. (Though best eaten right away, you can prepare the filling ahead of time and refrigerate it in a sealed container for up to 5 days.)
Ratings
4
out of 5
372
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Cooking Notes
Sandra Moreno Casas
Love how authentic is the flavor. Sometimes is hard to get good asadero, so I have found some delicious turkish cheeses that melt just like our asadero, chihuahua o Chester cheese in México. This recipe is perfect. Sometimes, for a change, I add a little corn kernels, frozen or from a can, and it is just great. I'm a huge fan of Mrs. Jinich, all her recipes are as close as home as possible, and her advice is the perfect guidance to mexican food. I'm so proud of her and her work!
Murray
Never remove chile skins with water - it washes away flavor and leaves you with wet chile. Scrape the skins off with a knife or spatula.
Will
The roasting adds some flavor, but is primarily to remove the tougher outer skin of the chile. The canned chiles are going to be wet enough, it'll probably be hard to get any char on them without totally killing them. I'd say just go straight to Step 3 and swap in the drained chiles in Step 4.If you're really worried about losing the little bit of charred notes, a pinch of smoked paprika or chipotle powder will get you there, but I don't know that it'd be worth worrying about.
Helen B.
I live in a small town in rural New England. Any idea how/where I can buy Anaheim chilis?
Bob
OR, go to the grocery store and get an Evol egg & green chile burrito, which has potatoes, beans, eggs, green chiles, onions, and cheese, for around $3.75, pop it in the microwave, enjoy, and notice that there is no mess to clean up in your kitchen. Bob's your uncle!
joanna
Q- what do we think of adding canned green chiles drained and placed under the broiler if we can’t find the fresh ones?
Tony Adams
Crema is essentially interchangeable with sour cream. Not sure why this recipe would suggest a more complicated alternative (crème fraîche being DIY sour cream)?
Mimikano
Order chile from hatchgreenchile.com - a family run chile grower in Hatch NM. They will come frozen, peeled and delicious - the best you can get other than home grown!
Paul Schmolke
Only Hatch Green Chile’s for these and they typically have a piece of bacon rolled in. They’re a favorite breakfast food in New Mexico. A scrambled egg can be successfully included as well. They’re meant to be eaten hand held and hot. Possibly New Mexicos favorite breakfast food. There are a few restaurants that have achieved local fame with their ‘Breakfast Burrito’. Don’t know about El Paso, it’s in Texas.
Carl
Creme fraiche is a better alternative, it’s not “more complicated,” most stores have it.
Nancy S
Using green chile we froze last fall and over-guestimating the amount (think we used 8 chiles without removing many seeds), these were HOT for me but worth the burn, and perfect for my partner. The leftover filling mellowed. Delicious.
Stephen
We couldn't find crema immediately (although we found it later at Walmart) so we used sour cream cut with some heavy cream and a little lime juice. I wasn't quite the same, but it was pretty gosh darn good. Roasting the peppers was easier than I expected.
Danny V
Pretty delicious. Has anyone tried assembling them freezing and reheating in the microwave? Single dude here who can’t eat 8, but can freeze and eat over time. Thoughts?
Garth of Izar
Wear gloves and peel by hand. I have found stemming and coring before broiling to blister the skin makes the task so much easier than afterwards. Reach in with a spoon or strawberry huller to get as much of the ribs and seeds as you can and a good tap of the open end on your cutting board will get most loose seeds out as well. Starting at the bottom of the pepper and working towards the top, roll the blistered skin between your finger tips and you can almost get it off in one piece.
Doteve
I'm from El Paso, and we use Hatch chile as Hatch is right up the road from EP. We also add pork to the chile verde (with potatoes of course) which makes for an awesome and filling breakfast or lunch burrito.
Hector Camacho
For those pressed for time - i simplified the cooking a lot.Steamed the potatoes and onions and some salt in a covered skillet for 8 mins. Uncovered and added jarred hatch green chile from Costco…. Cooked as directed and the. Added some sour cream thinned out…The jarred chile does bring some salt so add less than you might in the cooking step…Brain to plate in 15 mins and very tasty!
elizabethglass1234
Used 6.5 oz thawed New Mexican chili to 1 pd russet potato ( seasoned with carne asada seasoning, salt, pepper, and msg homemade crema. Next time try tillamook Mexican cultured crema and fry potatoes to a crisp.
Kansas City
Sour cream is thick and is not a good substitution in my opinion. Crema Mexicana is more liquid like and thinner with a more dairy, creamy, less sour taste and is much better for this recipe. Only thing we did differently was add 6 scrambled eggs near the end and added chorizo from a different skillet and combined them together. Ended up with 14 burritos and one was enough for each of us! Might be good with refried beans instead of egg and chorizo as well so they’re a bit more filling.
Steve
Somewhere between a burritosAnd a knishBliss
TJ in NJ
Made a quick weekday version of this using tips mentioned in comments. Used a can of fire roasted green chilis instead of roasting my own, sour cream in lieu of creme fresh and baked them all in a 400 oven for about 10 minutes to crisp up. They were a big hit and leftovers were happily devoured for breakfast. Will definitely make again!
LADNYC
Delicious. Made with creme fraiche. The melted cheese is not necessary, a sprinkle of cotija is good. Rolled some in a thin scrambled egg pancake.
Susan
If you want authentic El Paso-Ciudad Juarez flavor, use Hatch green chiles, not Anaheim.
Nipa
I squeezed some lime juice into the mix. It added another layer of flavor.
Mimikano
Order chile from hatchgreenchile.com - a family run chile grower in Hatch NM. They will come frozen, peeled and delicious - the best you can get other than home grown!
Jorge
My Latin grocery store sells not only Mexican crema, but also Salvadorian and Honduran, all next to each other. Apparently they're different!
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