Red and Green Chile in Albuquerque: Where to Eat It

Red and green chile in Albuquerque is the heart of the local table: green chile stew and fresh sopaipillas in a neighborhood restaurant, tamales with red chile or green, and red chile sold by the pint to take home. Order one dish two ways, ask for Christmas, and rate each bowl.

In New Mexico, the question at the table is red or green, and "Christmas" means both. This page covers where to find each kind of chile dish, what sopaipillas and tamales are like, how to buy chile to take home and how to order so the heat suits you.

Where do you find red and green chile in Albuquerque?

Start with a sit-down meal. A sit-down New Mexican kitchen is the place for green chile stew, green chile chicken enchiladas and a chile relleno with smoky red chile, with fresh sopaipillas and honey at the end of the meal. Look for those dishes on the menu and ask which chile is hotter that day, since a bowl of stew can taste mild one week and fierce the next.

For a very different style, try a counter that sells chile to take home, and then compare the two.

Chile in New Mexico is a sauce and a vegetable at once. Green chile is roasted fresh and usually served chopped or in a stew, while red chile is made from dried pods and tends to taste deeper and earthier. Neither is automatically hotter, so heat is the question to ask rather than the color. If a menu offers a small cup to taste first, take it.

What are Albuquerque sopaipillas like?

A sopaipilla is a puffed, fried pastry. They usually arrive fresh with honey at the end of the meal, and some kitchens serve them stuffed as a main dish. Tear one open, add honey, and use it to cool the heat.

Rate a sopaipilla on how light and puffy it is and whether it arrived hot. A sopaipilla that is greasy or dense is a note worth leaving. Honey is not required, and many locals tear the corner off and pour it in to cool a spicy filling, so try it both ways before you decide.

Where can you get Albuquerque red chile to take home?

Some New Mexican kitchens sell red chile to go, plain or with meat, and others sell it by the half pint, pint or quart so you can take a batch home. The same counters often sell large tamales with pork and red chile or chicken and green chile, and breakfast burritos.

Taking chile home is a local habit. Ask how long it keeps and how to reheat it, and rate the heat and the flavor once you have tried it at home.

Where are New Mexican tamales in Albuquerque?

Large tamales wrapped in corn husks are a New Mexican classic, and they are popular at Christmas. A tamale is steamed masa around a filling, usually pork with red chile or chicken with green. It is a good way to taste chile without a full meal, and it travels well if you want one for later.

Order one pork and one chicken and compare them. Note the masa, the filling and the sauce.

What can you eat at an old-fashioned lunch counter?

Some lunch counters in the Old Town and Central Avenue area began life as soda fountains and now serve green and red chile dishes, including tamales and enchiladas, with tortillas rolled by hand to order.

Order a plate and say red, green or Christmas. Hand-rolled tortillas arrive warm, so eat them first.

What does Christmas chile mean?

Christmas means both chiles on one plate, red and green. It is the answer when you cannot choose, and it is a quick way to compare the two in one meal. Ask the server which chile is hotter that day, since heat varies by season and by batch.

If you are new to New Mexican chile, start with a mild order and ask for the chile on the side. Note which one you preferred and how hot it was, so the next person nervous about heat can read it before ordering.

How do you track chile with Mosey?

Rate the dish and the chile. Mosey needs only the place and stars; then you can name the dish, such as green chile stew or a tamale, add tags such as Great Value, Family Friendly or Group Dining, and add a photo. A rating that says "green chile stew, hot, sopaipilla with honey" tells a visitor what to expect.

Make a list called Albuquerque chile with one place per dish and a line on red or green, and share the invite link so a friend can add their own. Follow friends to see what they rated and saved, and tag the people you ate with so each can add their own rating of the same meal. The ratings page covers dish ratings.

What else should you read?

For more of New Mexico, the green chile cheeseburger guide goes deeper on one dish, the Route 66 diners guide covers the avenue and the breakfast burrito guide covers the morning. See the Albuquerque page, the New Mexico page and the US food guides.

On your next bowl of chile, open the Mosey app, rate each dish by name and keep the best in a list.