Chile Colorado

4.78 from 319 votes

Chile Colorado made from tender pieces of beef in a rich and flavorful red chile sauce. A delicious authentic and traditional Mexican dish!

Prep Time15

Cook Time1 35

Total Time1 50

Course: Main

Cuisine: Mexican

Diet: Diabetic

Servings: servings

Author: Isabel Orozco-Moore

Ingredients

8 guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
2 ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
1 árbol chiles, stemmed
½ yellow onion
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 ½ teaspoon kosher salt, divided, plus more to taste
1 clove garlic
½ teaspoon ground cumin
2 pounds beef stew meat, like chuck shoulder or roast, cut into ½-inch chunks
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 ½ cups beef broth
1 bay leaf

Instructions

Make the red chile sauce. Add the guajllo chiles, ancho chiles, árbol chiles, and onion to a medium pot. Cover with water until they’re completely submerged and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from heat, cover, and let it sit for 20 minutes 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, 1 teaspoon 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. Set aside.
Toss together the beef, flour, the remaining ½ teaspoon salt, and black pepper in a large bowl.
Heat the oil in a large pot or Dutch oven 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.
Add all the meat back into the pot, and add in the blended red chile sauce, broth, and bay leaf. Stir to combine and bring to boil. Reduce heat to simmer, cover, and cook for 45 minutes or until the meat is tender.
Uncover, taste, and add more salt as necessary. Raise to medium heat and cook for another 15 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.

Video

Notes

Make ahead. The red chile sauce can be made ahead and stored in the freezer for up to 6 months until needed.
Swap the protein. You can easily swap the beef stew meat for pork (I recommend pork shoulder) or even chicken (I recommend chicken thighs).
Make it vegetarian. While it won’t be authentic, you can easily make this dish vegetarian by using nopales instead of beef. Prepare the nopales (here’s a quick post on how to cook nopales) and then toss them together with the red chile sauce for about 15 minutes. You could also use potatoes or chickpeas, or a combination of your favorite hearty veggies.
Add richness. Add ⅛ tablet of Mexican chocolate to the red chile sauce for a hint of sweetness and earthy flavor from the cocoa.
Make it in the slow cooker. For a more hands off recipe, you can make this chile colorado in the slow cooker. Just make the red sauce and sear the beef as directed, add all the ingredients into the slow cooker and cook for 4-5 hours on high or 6-8 hours on low. Keep in mind that the texture of the beef will be different and will likely be fall-apart tender and shredded instead of little chunks.
Make it in the Instant Pot. Make the red sauce as directed, sear the beef using the sauté function on the Instant Pot. Close the lid and pressure cook on high for 40 minutes using the manual setting. Keep in mind that the texture of the beef may be different and may be fall-apart tender and shredded instead of little chunks.
To make gluten-free, use a gluten-free flour like tapioca starch or white rice flour instead of all-purpose flour.

Nutrition