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Ancho chiles are a versatile and popular Mexican ingredient known for its unique sweet and smoky flavor. Use it in moles, salsas, soups, or stews!
What Are Ancho Chiles?
Ancho chiles (also called chile ancho) are dried poblano peppers.
Emerald green poblano peppers are what you typically find in most grocery stores and are staple ingredients for recipes like chile rellenos.
To turn them into ancho chiles, poblanos are ripened to a red color and then picked and sundried until they are dark burgundy and have a dried leathery skin.
What Do Ancho Chiles Taste Like?
Ancho chiles have a distinct smoky, slightly fruity sweet flavor, and are fairly mild. They add richness to the recipes they’re used in and have a similar effect of raisins and plums.
They’re great to use as a base flavor when making salsas, moles, or pastes with other dried chiles.
How to Use Ancho Chiles
If you’ve never used dried chiles, ancho chiles are a great place to start. They are very mild and add great layers of flavor. To use them, you have to either rehydrate them to use in sauces or pastes or grind them into a powder. Most Mexican recipes call for rehydrating them and blending them based on the type of recipe it is.
- To prep the ancho chiles, you first have to remove the stems and seeds. You can use kitchen scissors to cut off the stems and make a cut down the middle to discard the seeds. The seeds can add a bitter taste if they aren’t discarded.
- To rehydrate ancho chiles, add enough water to cover the chiles in a saucepan and bring the water and chiles to a boil. Cover and remove from the heat. Allow the chiles to soak in the boiled water for about 10-15 minutes as the skin softens. Remove the chiles from the water with a slotted spoon and use as directed.
- To toast ancho chiles, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil into a skillet and toast the ancho chiles for about 1-2 minutes until fragrant. Some recipes, like salsa macha, use this toasting or frying method to really bring out the flavor of the chiles.
Selecting and Storing
Ancho translates to “wide”, so most ancho chiles you’ll find are fairly large, about 3-4 inches long and 2 ½ inches wide.
You want to pick ancho chiles that are still pliable and slightly soft. If the dried pepper is too dry , dusty, or brittle, it can give a bitter flavor.
Some Mexican grocery stores sell ancho chiles prepacked, and others have a large stand among other produce and dried peppers where you can pick and bag them yourself.
Ancho chiles can be stored in the pantry for up to a year. However, for the best flavor, use them within 3-6 months. You can also store them in the freezer to maximize their shelf life.
Ancho Chile Recipes
Ancho chiles are one of the most popular dried chiles used in Mexican cuisine. It has a great earthy, smoky, and slightly sweet flavor that compliments a wide variety of dishes and sauces. Here are some recipes that feature ancho chiles:
What Is a Good Substitute for Ancho Chiles?
Ancho chiles are fairly easy to find because they are so popular. They are also difficult to replace in a recipe because their flavor is such a unique combination of smoky, spicy, and sweet. However, if necessary, you can substitute mulato or guajillo peppers for ancho chili peppers.
If you can’t find ancho peppers, you can probably find ancho chile powder in the spice aisle.
An alternative in the spice aisle would be chipotle powder. While it will not have the earthy flavor that an ancho chile has, chipotle peppers will give your dish a smoky flavor.
Where to Find Them
You can find ancho chiles in most Hispanic grocery stores and even in some big name grocery stores.
You can also find them online if you don’t have a Hispanic grocery store near you.
Best description I’ve seen!
Thank you
I have a lovely package of Ancho Chilies, that are still pliable. How would I go about making Ancho Chili powder ?
Hi Leslie! We haven’t tried making it, so I’m not sure about that. You may try looking for another recipe, there’s lots of great food blogs that should have what you’re looking for.
I just threw them in a ninja with stems and seeds removed until I got them to a powder. You lose a portion that just doesn’t seem to want to grind down to a powder – but the end result is chili powder. I use it in my chili combined with a little chipotle powder. You could do just as well rehydrating them and cooking them in whatever dish you’re wanting chili powder in.
Hi, just wondering in the water used to rehydrate chillies can be used in cooking, or should this be discarded. Many thanks.
Hi Julie! It depends on the recipe. If you’re making salsa or a sauce with it, it’s good to use about a cup or so of the Chile water for extra flavor but some recipes don’t need it. I hope this helps!
Sometimes the water turns bitter, so taste it before deciding to add it into a recipe…
Thank you for this recipe. You are probably one of the few who would understand the lengths I have gone thru the last 20 years to have Ranch Style Beans in my adopted North Carolina.
Why does my sauce taste bitter? I have boiled them, fried them, snd wrapped them foil before cooking, but the sauce is bitter .
Hi Regina! That can happen when the chiles are fried a little too long. Next time try shortening the time and let us know how it turns out.
Miss isabel
I’ve made chili rellenos out of dried chili ancho n they were very tasty.
Do you have any recipes of your own or a favorite one?
Hi Anabelinda! There is actually a recipe for chile rellenos on our website and we use poblanos. Thanks!
I want to flavor one pound of ground beef to make chili, but with a subtler flavor than hot powder chili. How many ancho chile peppers shoud I use? Does this blend well with crushed tomato?
Hi Elizabeth! We recommend soaking the peppers in hot water until softened so that you are able to blend them. In regards to how many chiles to use, we recommend softening about one or two and then blending them into your salsa and then adjusting from there. I hope this helps!
Are these also the chiles used for birria?? I’ve been searching for a good birria recipe and I would love if you could add one to your recipes!! My mom makes it from scratch but I live far from her and everytime I ask her for the recipe she just says to use chile ancho lol
Hi Angie! We are currently working on a birria recipe, so be on the look out for that!
Just found your site. Love it! I watch Patti’s Mexican kitchen all the time. I bought some thinly sliced beef at a local carneceria (spelling?) and I’m going to stuff them with celantro rice. Also bought fresh tomatillos, garlic and dried anchos. Going to make a sauce to put over the stuffed beef. Any ideas?
Hi David! Patti is great! We have several salsas on our site that use ancho chiles if you wanted to check them out.
Thank you Isabel, your knowledge and the sharing of it, gives me a new impetus to try more Mexican foods.