Hatch Chile Casserole

Close your eyes for a minute and just imagine this peppy zoodle casserole lovingly wrapped in a hatch green chile cream sauce, shredded rotisserie chicken, and pepper jack cheese. It’s got just a hint of a spice, but the bold flavors do not mess around! Well, you don’t have to imagine anymore because today I’m posting a keto Mexican recipe for this very thing.

The cream sauce is made by mixing heavy whipping cream and pureed hatch green chiles with colorful cooked bell peppers. Then it’s thickened up with shredded pepper jack cheese and some cream cheese. I like to cook most of the bell peppers before putting them in the casserole for texture reasons, but if you love these peppers crunchy then by all means feel free to just stir them into the sauce at the end instead.

The Preparation

• 1/4 medium onion
• 1/4 cup water, or chile liquid
• 27 ounces canned whole hatch green chiles
• 2 teaspoons olive oil
• 3 medium zucchini, spiralized or cut into thin strips
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper, diced
• 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 1/4 cups pepper jack cheese, shredded
• 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
• salt and pepper, to taste
• 29 ounces rotisserie chicken, shredded
• 1/4 cup sharp cheddar cheese, shredded

The Execution

1. Set aside ¼ cup of the diced green chiles, ¼ cup of the red bell pepper, and ¼ cup of the yellow bell pepper. Preheat your oven to 350°F

2. Blend together the ¼ white onion, remaining diced green chiles, and ¼ cup of water. You could use ¼ of juice from the can of green chiles instead of water if you like.

3. Heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the spiralized zucchini and saute until the zoodles start to soften. Transfer to a 9×12 casserole dish.

4. Wipe the skillet clean and return to the heat. Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the pan and let it become hot. Then add the diced yellow and red bell pepper, but don’t forget to save ¼ cup of each color for later. Cook until the vegetables start to soften before adding the teaspoon of garlic powder. Then add the blended green chiles to the pan.

5. Once the sauce starts to bubble, stir in the cup of heavy whipping cream. The sauce may seem thinner and will look a lot lighter.

6. Stir in 2 cups of the pepper jack cheese.

7. Cube up the softened cream cheese and add to the sauce. Mix very well, you may even want to use a whisk. If your cream cheese is not soft enough then you can place it in a separate bowl. Mix it up with large spoons of sauce from the pan until it’s fully incorporated and ready to stir into the full batch.

8. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.

9. Layer the shredded chicken over the zoodles in your casserole dish.

10. Pour the green chile cream sauce over your casserole. I think it’s helpful to poke at the chicken and veggies here and there just to make sure that the sauce isn’t just sitting on the top.

11. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup red bell pepper, ¼ cup yellow bell pepper, and ¼ cup green chiles over the top of the casserole.

12. Sprinkle on the remaining shredded pepper jack cheese, and the ¼ cup of sharp cheddar cheese.

13. Bake the casserole at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until the cheese melts and the casserole is bubbling.

14. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. I love to add a sprinkling of chopped cilantro, and Valentina hot sauce.

This makes a total of 8 servings of Hatch Chile Casserole. Each serving comes out to be 543 calories, 37.2g fats, 10.4g net carbs, and 40.6g protein.

Hatch Chile Casserole

This makes a total of 8 servings of Hatch Chile Casserole. Each serving comes out to be 543 calories, 37.2g fats, 10.4g net carbs, and 40.6g protein.

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Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 40 minutes mins

Total Time 1 hour hr

Servings 8 servings

Calories 543 kcal

Ingredients

  

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• ¼ medium onion
• ¼ cup water or chile liquid
• 27 ounce canned whole hatch green chiles
• 2 teaspoon olive oil
• 3 medium zucchini spiralized or cut into thin strips
• 1 medium yellow bell pepper diced
• 1 medium red bell pepper diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 ¼ cup pepper jack cheese shredded
• 4 ounce cream cheese softened
• salt and pepper to taste
• 29 ounce rotisserie chicken shredded
• ¼ cup sharp cheddar cheese shredded

Instructions

 

• Preheat oven to 350F. Blend together the white onion, water, and most of the diced green chiles, reserving a small amount for garnish. Alternatively, use the juice from the can of green chiles instead of water.
• Heat half of the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the spiralized zucchini and sauté until beginning to soften. Transfer to a casserole dish.
• Wipe the skillet clean and return to the heat. Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the pan. Once hot, add most of the diced yellow and red bell pepper, reserving some for garnish. Cook until beginning to soften and then add the teaspoon of garlic powder. Add the blended green chiles to the pan.
• Once the sauce starts to bubble, stir in the heavy whipping cream. The sauce will thin and look a lot lighter.
• Stir in the pepper jack cheese, reserving a small amount for topping.
• Cube up the softened cream cheese and whisk it into the sauce. If the cream cheese isn't soft enough, place it in a separate bowl and mix with large spoonfuls of the sauce from the pan until it's fully incorporated and ready to stir into the full batch.
• Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
• Layer the shredded chicken over the zoodles.
• Pour the green chile cream sauce over the casserole. Gently prod the chicken and veggies to spread the sauce throughout the dish.
• Sprinkle the reserved chopped bell peppers and green chiles on top of the casserole.
• Sprinkle with the cheddar and remaining pepper jack cheese.
• Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the casserole is bubbling.
• Remove from the oven and let cool for 10 minutes. Serve and enjoy!

Video

Nutrition

Calories: 543kcalProtein: 40.6gFat: 37.2g

Keyword casserole, poultry