Canning Green Chiles (Hatch Style)

Canning green chiles puts roasted Hatch chile in your pantry, ready to stir into enchiladas, chile verde, breakfast eggs, and pots of soup all winter long, without a trip to the freezer or the store. Roasting and peeling a big batch in late summer, when the chiles come in by the case, means you can pull a jar off the shelf any time you want that smoky, mildly spicy green chile flavor.

Green chiles are a low-acid vegetable, which means they cannot be safely water bath canned and have to go into a pressure canner instead. This recipe follows the USDA and National Center for Home Food Preservation process for canning plain peppers, the same tested process New Mexico State University publishes in its green chile guide, so the roasted chiles reach a temperature that makes them safe on the shelf.

It sits alongside my other pepper canning recipes, though those mostly pickled or salsa, and this one keeps the chile plain so it works in any dish.

The one detail worth flagging up front is jar size. Peppers and chiles are only safe canned in half-pint or pint jars, never quarts, because a taller jar of dense chile will not heat through reliably in the tested time.

Everything else is the roasting and peeling, which takes some elbow grease but is the same work you would do for a batch of green chile to freeze.

Selecting Green Chiles

Hatch chiles are the classic choice here, grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico and sold by the box in late summer, but any mild roasting chile works the same way.

Anaheim chiles are the widely available stand-in, with a similar mild heat, and poblanos will give you a deeper, earthier flavor if that is what you have. Whatever you use, pick chiles that are firm and heavy for their size, with smooth skin and good green color, and pass over any that are shriveled, bruised, or soft.

Meaty, thick-walled chiles are worth seeking out because they hold their shape through roasting and peeling and give you more chile per jar. Thin, small chiles work too, but you will spend longer peeling them for less to show for it.

A good rule of thumb is about a pound of chiles per pint jar.

Ingredients for Canning Green Chiles

This is about as short an ingredient list as canning gets, which is part of why plain green chile is so useful to have on hand. The exact amounts are in the recipe card below, so this section is about what each part does and where you have room to choose.

• Green chiles: The star, and the one vegetable in the jar. Hatch, Anaheim, or another mild roasting chile all work. They get roasted and peeled before canning, both for flavor and because the tough skin does not soften in the jar. Keep the chile plain and single-variety, since adding other vegetables or aromatics to the jar would change the density and is not part of the tested process.
• Boiling water: Covers the packed chiles to a 1-inch headspace and fills the gaps so the jar heats evenly. Fresh boiling water from a kettle works well.
• Salt (optional): Purely for flavor, and safe to leave out entirely. The usual amount is 1/2 teaspoon per pint or 1/4 teaspoon per half-pint or 1/8 teaspoon per quarter pint. Skip salt substitutes in the jar, since the heat of canning can turn some of them bitter or metallic, and add one at serving instead if you need to.

Everything that turns green chile into a finished dish (garlic, onion, cumin, a squeeze of lime, or a splash of oil) goes in when you cook with the jar later, not before canning.

That keeps the pack to a single low-acid vegetable, which is what the tested process is built around.

How to Make Canned Green Chiles

The process breaks down into roasting, peeling, packing, and processing.

The roasting and peeling is where the time goes, so it helps to have your jars washed and your canner heating while the chiles cool enough to handle.

Roast the Chiles

Wash and dry the chiles, then cut a small slit in the side of each one so steam can escape as they roast (this keeps them from bursting). Spread them in a single layer and roast under a broiler or in a hot oven at 400 to 450 degrees F for 6 to 8 minutes, or set them over a grill or a gas flame, turning often, until the skins blister and char all over.

You want the skin blistered and loose, not the flesh cooked to mush, so keep them moving and pull them once the skins have blackened in patches. Roasting in batches on a couple of sheet pans keeps things going quickly if you have a big box to get through.

Since they ripen mid-summer, I put them up in my outdoor canning kitchen and roast them all on a grill to keep the heat out of the kitchen.

Steam and Peel

Move the roasted chiles into a bowl or pan and cover them with a damp towel for a few minutes. The trapped steam loosens the skins and makes peeling far easier, so it is worth the short wait.

If you are not going to pack them within about two hours, refrigerate the roasted chiles to keep them safe while you work.

Wearing rubber or plastic gloves (chile oils will burn your hands and eyes, especially with hotter varieties), peel off the charred skins and pull out the stems, cores, and seeds.

Keep your hands away from your face the whole time, and wash up well when you finish.

The chiles can be left whole or cut into pieces, whichever suits how you plan to use them.

We tend to can whole hatch chilis in pint jars, and then diced chilis in half pint or quarter pint jars. But really, it’s completely up to you.

Once you have them roasted, peeled and seeded you can can them immediately or refrigerate them and can them the following day. Since the prep often takes a while, and we’re usually working with 50 to 75 lbs of green chilis each year, we pack them up and can them the following day.

Pack the Jars

Pack the peeled chiles loosely into hot half-pint or pint jars, leaving 1 inch of headspace, and flatten whole chiles as you go so they settle in without big air pockets.

Add salt now if you are using it, 1/2 teaspoon per pint or 1/4 teaspoon per half-pint.

Cover the chiles with fresh boiling water, keeping that 1 inch of headspace, then run a bubble remover or a plastic spatula down the sides of the jar to release trapped air, and re-check the headspace after.

Wipe the rims clean, set the lids on, and screw the bands down to fingertip tight.

Canning Green Chiles

Green chiles are pressure canned, since that is what keeps a low-acid vegetable like this safe on the shelf. The tested process comes from the USDA and NCHFP, and it is the same whether you are canning mild Hatch chiles or a hotter variety.

To can, prepare your pressure canner, jars, and lids. Pack the roasted, peeled chiles loosely into half-pint or pint jars, leave 1 inch of headspace, cover with boiling water, remove air bubbles, wipe the rims, and apply the lids and bands fingertip tight. A canning funnel with headspace measurements makes the fill neater. Load the jars into the canner with 2 to 3 inches of hot water, and vent the canner for 10 minutes before you bring it up to pressure.

Process half-pints or pints for 35 minutes at 10 pounds pressure in a weighted gauge canner or 11 pounds in a dial gauge canner, adjusting for altitude. Green chiles are only safe in quarter-pint, half-pint or pint jars, so do not use quarts.

When the time is up, turn off the heat and let the canner depressurize on its own, and never force cool it.

Tips for Success

Roast more than you think you need, since the chiles cook down and lose their skins, so a heaping box of fresh chiles turns into a more modest pile of peeled flesh. Working with a friend makes the peeling go faster, and it is the kind of task that is much better with company and a cold drink on the counter.

Do not skip the gloves, especially with hotter chiles, because capsaicin lingers on your skin for hours and finds its way to your eyes when you least expect it. And resist the urge to cram the jars, since packing too tightly can keep the heat from penetrating evenly. Loose is the goal.

Ways to Use Canned Green Chiles

A jar of green chile is a shortcut to so many meals. Drain and chop it into enchiladas, green chile chicken, chile verde, or a pot of white chili, or stir it straight into scrambled eggs, cornbread, and cheese dips. Since the chile is already roasted and peeled, it goes in without any prep, which is the whole point of having it on the shelf.

This is also where you add everything that could not go in the jar. Build a green chile sauce by simmering a jar with sauteed onion and garlic, a little broth, and a thickener, or brighten a bowl of chili with a squeeze of lime at the end. The plain chile is the base, and you flavor it however the dish calls for when you cook.

A few common questions come up every chile season, so here are the ones I hear most.

Canning Green Chiles FAQs

For more ways to put up peppers and chiles from a late-summer harvest, here are more of my pepper canning recipes.

Pepper Canning Recipes

Pickled Banana Peppers

Peach Salsa

Southwestern Vegetable Soup

And if you are heating up the pressure canner anyway, here are more pressure canning recipes to work through.

Pressure Canning Recipes

Canning Boston Baked Beans

Canning Sausage Potato and Kale Soup (Copycat Zuppa Toscana)

Canning Taco Soup