Hatch Green Chile

Grown by the family that planted the Hatch Valley's first commercial chile crop in 1917. Five generations later, we ship Hatch green chile direct from our New Mexico farm: flame-roasted and flash-frozen year-round, fresh in season (late July to early October), plus jarred chile, ground powder, and hand-tied ristras. Nothing imported, nothing relabeled.

Rated 4.7 out of 5 from 10646 reviews
🌶️ 5th-gen Hatch Valley farm🧊 Roasted, frozen, jarred year-round✓ 100% Certified Hatch chile📦 Buy more, save up to 30%★ 4.7 · 31,800+ verified reviews
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Fresh Hatch green chile pods, picked in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico
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Flame-roasted Hatch green chile, peeled and ready to eat
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Roasted Hatch green chile, medium — 16 oz jar of jarred New Mexico Hatch green chile
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What "Hatch Green Chile" Actually Means

Hatch chile isn't a single variety — it's a geographic designation. The Hatch Valley is a 40-mile stretch of mineral-rich Rio Grande bottomland in Sierra and Doña Ana counties, southern New Mexico, where high-alkaline desert soil, elevation, intense summer sun, and wide day-to-night temperature swings produce a flavor profile distinctly different from peppers grown anywhere else. The variety determines the heat level — Big Jim, Sandia, Lumbre, and others, all developed at NMSU. The valley determines the flavor.

Our family has farmed this valley since 1917, when great-great-grandfather Joseph Franzoy planted the valley's first commercial chile crop. After harvest, pods go to our packing shed in Garfield, NM for cleaning and grading; frozen products are processed at Amigo's Mexican Foods in New Mexico, a family-run facility in operation since 1978. Every product is Certified Hatch — nothing imported, nothing relabeled, nothing blended with off-valley peppers.

Heat levels range from Mild (1904, Joe Parker, NuMex 6-4) through Medium (Big Jim, ~6,500 SHU) and Hot (Sandia Select, ~9,500 SHU) to X-Hot (Lumbre, 12,000+ SHU). The three varieties below — Sandia, Big Jim, and the fresh harvest — are the backbone of what we ship nationwide.

Sandia: New Mexico's Original Hot Chile

Sandia is the variety Hatch Valley growers have planted since 1956, when NMSU breeder Dr. Roy Harper crossed New Mexico No. 9 with an Anaheim-type cultivar to create a pepper built for drying into the dark-red ristras and powders that define red chile cooking. The name was simplified from "Sandia A" to just Sandia in 1967 — a nod to the Sandia Mountains east of Albuquerque, whose peaks glow watermelon-pink at sunset (the Spanish word sandía means "watermelon").

At approximately 6,500 Scoville Heat Units per NMSU CR706, Sandia delivers the kind of direct, confident heat that locals expect when they answer "Red or Green?" and mean it. Our family has grown Sandia on Franzoy land in the Hatch Valley for generations — connected by both soil and blood to the Biad family, whose seed program helped NMSU's Chile Pepper Institute develop NuMex Sandia Select, a thicker-walled successor with 40% higher yields and the same reliable heat.

The Sandia Select restoration took eight years (2001–2014) at the Leyendecker Plant Science Research Center under Dr. Paul Bosland — "the Chileman" — and researcher Danise Coon, who planted 450 plants of commercially drifted Sandia seed and selected for thicker fruit walls, longer pods, and consistent heat. The result, released in 2014 and published in HortScience, came in at 9,500 SHU — hotter than the original — and roasted and peeled as cleanly as any green chile variety on the market.

For the full Sandia deep dive — eight thousand words on Dr. Harper, the Franzoy and Biad families, the Formulo sisters, and why Sandia Select rebuilt New Mexico's hot chile — visit our dedicated Sandia collection.

Big Jim: The Chile That Put Hatch on the Map

Big Jim was developed in 1975 at New Mexico State University by Dr. Roy Nakayama and Hatch Valley grower Jim Lytle — a son-in-law of Joseph Franzoy, the valley's first commercial chile farmer. Big Jim once held the Guinness World Record for the largest chile pepper on Earth, with pods stretching past thirteen inches.

Its thick, meaty walls and approachable Medium-tier heat (approximately 6,500 SHU per NMSU CR706; our pods often run a touch milder than the cultivar mean) made it the definitive relleno chile and a staple in kitchens across New Mexico. Where the original Sandia's thin walls were built for drying, Big Jim was built to stuff — pods large enough to hold cheese, smooth enough to peel clean, and warm enough to taste like New Mexico without overwhelming the palate.

Every Big Jim product in this collection is Certified Hatch — grown in the same Hatch Valley soil where Lytle and Nakayama first tested the variety nearly fifty years ago — and flame-roasted, frozen, or jarred within days of harvest.

Fresh Hatch Chile: The Brief Window That Defines the Year

Fresh Hatch chile is what every other version of Hatch chile aspires to be. Picked at peak ripeness, packed within hours of harvest, and shipped directly from our family farm in Hatch, New Mexico — fresh chile is only available during the brief late-July to early-October harvest window. If you're roasting yourself, fresh is the only way; if you'd rather we roast it, flame-roasted frozen carries that same flavor year-round.

How Much to Order for Home Roasting

  • 5 lbs — Tasting quantity. Roughly two enchilada pans.
  • 10 lbs — A few months of cooking for a household.
  • 25 lbs — Standard "freezer stocking" amount for one family. Roast and freeze for the year.
  • 50 lbs — Big family or two-household freezer share.

Pick Your Heat

  • Mild (1904, Joe Parker, NuMex 6-4) — gentle, kid-friendly (around 900–1,500 SHU).
  • Medium (Big Jim, Charger) — the New Mexico default; warming, not spicy (Big Jim ~6,500 SHU per NMSU CR706; our pods often milder).
  • Hot (NuMex Sandia Select, ~9,500 SHU) — real heat for chile-heads.
  • X-Hot (Lumbre, 12,000+ SHU, varies year to year) — for serious capsaicin fans only.

Roast Now or Roast Later?

Most fresh-chile customers buy in bulk during harvest, roast at home or have us roast for them, then freeze in 1-lb portions. Roasted chile keeps full flavor 12+ months in a 0°F freezer — which is how generations of New Mexicans have stockpiled a year's supply on a single September weekend.

Every Form of Hatch Green Chile We Sell

Hatch green chile (also spelled green chili) is a seasonal crop, but the flavor doesn’t have to be. We harvest once a year in the Hatch Valley and put the crop up in every form New Mexican kitchens actually use — so whether you cook with it weekly or stock a freezer each fall, there’s a format that fits.

Fresh (July–October)

The classic. Fresh Hatch green chile ships by the 5, 10, or 25-pound box during harvest, picked in the morning and on your porch within about a day. Roast it yourself — our roasting guide walks you through oven, grill, and broiler methods — and freeze what you don’t eat.

Flame-Roasted & Frozen (year-round)

Our best seller. Roasted Hatch green chile is fire-roasted within hours of picking, hand-peeled, vacuum-sealed, and flash-frozen at peak flavor. It’s the skip-the-mess version of Hatch season, available every month of the year, and it qualifies for our frozen bundle discounts when you mix and match.

Jarred, Powdered & Shelf-Stable

No freezer space? Jarred roasted green chile keeps in the pantry, Hatch green chile powder turns any pot into a New Mexican one by the teaspoon, and freeze-dried chopped green chile rehydrates in minutes for camping, RVs, and emergency stashes. For ready-made heat, browse our Hatch chile sauces and salsas.

Choosing Your Heat Level

Every box we ship is a single variety with a known heat range — not a mystery mix. If you know how you like your chile, pick by name; if you’re new, start medium and adjust next order. Our full heat level guide has side-by-side comparisons.

HeatVarietiesScoville rangeBest for
Mild1904, Joe Parker, Machete1,000–2,500 SHUFlavor-first cooking, kids, big batches
MediumBig Jim, Charger2,500–6,500 SHUThe crowd-pleaser — our most popular tier
HotSandia Select5,000–9,000 SHUChile that pushes back
Extra HotLumbre11,000+ SHUSerious heat seekers

Where to Buy Real Hatch Green Chile

If you’ve searched for Hatch green chile—or green chili—near you and come up empty, you’re not alone — true Hatch chile is grown in one river valley in southern New Mexico, and most of the country never sees it fresh. That’s the reason this store exists. We’re a fifth-generation farming family (the Franzoys, in the valley since 1917), and we sell what we grow, direct from the farm, shipped to all 50 states.

“Hatch” on a grocery-store label doesn’t always mean what it should. Hatch-style and “Hatch type” peppers are often grown far from the valley — different soil, different water, different chile. Ours is the real thing: grown in Hatch, roasted in Hatch, and traceable to the field it came from. Read what makes Hatch chile different if you want the full story.

Express Shipping, Built for Chile

Fresh chile can’t sit in a warehouse, so it doesn’t. During harvest, fresh boxes ship express the same day they’re picked. Frozen orders travel in insulated coolers that hold temperature door-to-door, and everything in a frozen order ships together in one box. If anything arrives less than right, tell us within 4 hours of delivery and we’ll make it right — that’s the guarantee behind more than 31,000 five-star-average customer reviews.

When to Order

Fresh: July through October — see the Hatch chile season page for this year’s dates and pre-order windows. Everything else — frozen roasted, jarred, powder, salsas — ships year-round. If you’re stocking up, frozen bundle pricing rewards bigger boxes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What's the difference between Hatch chile and regular green chile?
"Green chile" is a category — it covers any unripe chile pepper used as a vegetable. "Hatch chile" means green chile (or dried red chile) grown specifically in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico. The geographic growing conditions — alkaline soil, elevation, day/night temperature differential — produce a flavor that's noticeably more complex and roasted than generic green chile from California or Mexico. The name is not legally protected, so some brands use "Hatch-style" or even "Hatch" loosely — ours is grown on actual Hatch Valley farms. Learn more at What Are Hatch Chiles?
How do I choose between the different heat levels?
Our Hatch green chile spans four heat tiers: Mild (1904, Joe Parker, NuMex 6-4 — ~900–2,000 SHU), Medium (Big Jim, Charger — Big Jim measures ~6,500 SHU per NMSU CR706; ours often runs a touch milder than the cultivar mean), Hot (Sandia Select — ~9,500 SHU), and X-Hot (Lumbre — 12,000+ SHU, varies year to year). If you're new to Hatch chile or cooking for mixed heat tolerances, start with Big Jim — it's our most popular and the everyday workhorse. If you enjoy real heat, Sandia Select is the classic chile-head choice. Lumbre is for serious chile-heads only — significantly hotter than a jalapeño. Our Heat Level Guide has a full comparison.
Should I buy frozen roasted chile or fresh?
Fresh Hatch green chile is only available during the August-September harvest season. Frozen roasted chile is available year-round and is already roasted and peeled — it's the practical choice for most home cooks. The roasting is done at peak season, so the flavor holds well frozen. If you want to roast your own from fresh pods, we have a guide at How to Roast Hatch Chiles.
Are your green chile products gluten-free?
Plain frozen chile, powders, most sauces, and salsas are naturally gluten-free. Prepared products — chimichangas, tamales — contain wheat. Products made with green chile tortillas also contain wheat. Check individual product labels for full allergen information if you have celiac disease or gluten intolerance.
How long does frozen Hatch green chile last?
At 0°F or below, frozen Hatch chile maintains quality for 12 months. Once thawed, use within 3 days and do not refreeze. Ship and store frozen — our frozen products arrive cold with dry ice or gel packs.
Can I substitute Hatch green chile for Anaheim, poblano, or canned green chiles in recipes?
Yes for Anaheim and most canned green chiles — same pod shape, similar applications, better flavor. Hatch green chile is generally hotter than Anaheim and has a richer roasted profile. For poblano substitutions, note that Hatch chile is typically thinner-walled, so stuffed preparations work best with whole frozen strips or fresh pods. Canned green chile can almost always be replaced with frozen Hatch chile, thawed and drained.
What's the difference between green chile and red chile from the same plant?
Green chile and red chile are the same plant at different stages of ripeness. Green chile is harvested before the pod ripens, roasted fresh, and eaten as a vegetable with its characteristic grassy-roasted flavor. Red chile is the same pod left on the plant until it fully ripens and turns red, then typically dried — producing a darker, smokier, more concentrated flavor used in red chile sauce and dried preparations. Some varieties, particularly Sandia, are commonly grown for both applications.

Why 500,000+ Customers Keep Coming Back

Delicious flavor! Wholesome ingredients and tastes very fresh.
Colin S · Verified
Best green chile!! I’ve been ordering from this company for many years. The quality is excellent and the freezer packaging holds really well. Medium is perfect for us.
Ginger B · Verified
Packing was done right the chiles are very good and uniform. My only concern was hoping medium would have a little heat but these don’t so do I have to order HOT to get some heat. Other than that very good thank you
David M · Verified
These were delicious! My husband is from NM and he loved them. Perfect amount of cheese the chili was perfect and the heat was great. I will definitely be buying them again! The customer service is amazing!!!
Debbie F · Verified
Chili is always roasted very well and package well also
Mary L · Verified
Being in East Tennessee, finding good chilies can be a challenge. We were so excited and pound box at Chili's and hubby grilled them up and bag them for the freezer right away. We've already used one bag to make green chili pork burritos. Yum. Can't wait for our next recipe!
Ysidro S · Verified
Love these roasted hatch green chilis! Taste is wonderful and I add them to all of my recipes. I will be ordering more soon!
LESLIE E
I love how it’s already chopped up and ready to go!
Sonya T · Verified
Got them Thursday. Roasted them Friday they are great.
charles r · Verified
I will only buy delicious Hatch green chile!
Mary M · Verified
The flavor was great! I was worried that the Hot might be too hot, but I actually wished it had a bit more kick. I’ll still buy more.
Gary K · Verified
These are the best pre-made tortillas that I have discovered. Both the flavor and texture are remarkable.
Barbara E · Verified
I have not had a chance to sample them yet but the shipping was fast and the product arrived forzen, as advertised
Ron G · Verified
Very tasty, very well made, extremely delicious..!!🦩🦩🦩🦩five. Flamingos worthy
Judith J · Verified
I have used Hatch Green Chile for I believe 40 years. Nothing equals the awesome taste. I stay with basic enchiladas and burritos. I've never been disappointed. Even when first trying different recipes. Lave their flavor!
Jeffrey G · Verified
The chili taste is out of this world as long as it’s HOT! Mild is good but HOT is magnificent!
Richard A · Verified
Absolutely delicious. My brother in law is the one who sent me my first jar. I was hooked.
Nancy S · Verified
I lived in the southwest U.S. for 20 years and during my time in the region I immediately fell in love with pork green chile stew. I moved back to the midwest a couple of years ago and well these fine folks don't know jack about Hatch chiles. Being able to order them from your farm and make my own green chile stew at home has been fantastic! You all bring the flavor!!
Marcus C · Verified
This batch was sent to my son in NH and it arrived in good shape. He's enjoying it immensely!
Pat F · Verified
Wow! Just right amount of heat . Tgank you.
Barbara P · Verified
Goog packaging and shipping! Excellant chili!
Robert T · Verified
Great chiles,great taste just right
Kevin S · Verified
My family and I liked the Hatch Green Chile chicken tamales a lot. Excellent quality and taste.
Josefina M · Verified
These are so good! Made them in the air fryer. My husband loved them! Will buy again!!!
Tracy F · Verified
Astounding! I absolutely can't believe the night and day difference between this product and the lackluster flavor of what I have been buying in cans from my grocery. I wasn't prepared for the smoky intensity of these freshly roasted jarred chilies. Honestly, a spoonful tossed with some cheese and ranchero sauce in a tortilla could turn me vegetarian. And wait until you top a burger with it!
Brian C · Verified
This is the best green chili sauce I have ever had!!!
Shelley B · Verified
Love these! We always have them on hand in the freezer for all sorts of dishes!
Lynn P · Verified
Great chopped peppers with mild heat-very tasty
Jack G · Verified
Had it with my taco's last night, great flavor. I can't wait to try it on other things. I live in Kansas now after growing up in New Mexico. It's hard to find good green chili here. Will keep ordering from you.
Mel W · Verified
Fresh. Look good. Taste amazing.
Thomas T · Verified

Hatch Green Chile Quick Reference

QuestionAnswer
Where it’s grownHatch Valley, New Mexico — and only there
Fresh seasonJuly–October (pre-orders open earlier)
Year-round formsFlame-roasted frozen, jarred, powder, freeze-dried, salsas
Heat range1,000 SHU (1904) to 11,000+ SHU (Lumbre)
ShippingAll 50 states; fresh ships harvest-day express
GuaranteeReport any arrival issue within 4 hours of delivery — we’ll make it right

Keep Exploring

What are Hatch chiles? · Hatch vs. Anaheim pepper · How to roast · 50+ Hatch chile recipes · Shop Hatch red chile

Hatch Green Chile — Frequently Asked

Fresh Hatch chile is only available during harvest — late July through early October — and ships same-day on harvest mornings, arriving within 24 hours of being picked. Outside the harvest window, we offer flame-roasted frozen Hatch chile year-round, which preserves the same smoky-sweet flavor for 12+ months in a 0°F freezer.

Joe Parker (~900 SHU per NMSU's CR706) and 1904 (~1,000–1,500 SHU) are our Mild varieties — gentle enough for kids. Big Jim (~6,500 SHU per NMSU CR706; our pods often run a touch milder than the cultivar mean) is the Medium workhorse: thick-walled, large-podded, the definitive relleno chile, developed at NMSU in 1975 by Dr. Roy Nakayama and Jim Lytle. The original Sandia (~6,500 SHU, Harper 1956) and the improved NuMex Sandia Select (~9,500 SHU, Bosland & Coon 2014) sit in our Hot tier — direct, confident heat with earthy depth; Sandia Select is the cultivar we ship today, with the original heirloom reserved for sun-dried ristras. Lumbre (12,000+ SHU, varies year to year) is our X-Hot extreme variety for serious capsaicin fans — significantly hotter than a jalapeño but well short of habanero. All are grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico — not Anaheim, not California, not relabeled imports.

Both work. If you want the smell of green chile filling your kitchen on a September afternoon — and the satisfaction of doing it yourself — order fresh during harvest and roast on a propane tabletop roaster, an outdoor grill, or under a broiler. If you want the same flavor year-round with zero prep, our flame-roasted frozen chile is roasted within hours of harvest by people who do this for a living, then flash-frozen to lock in flavor. Both options ship from our farm in Hatch.

Roasted frozen Hatch chile lasts 12+ months at 0°F without significant quality loss — this is how most New Mexicans stockpile their annual supply and enjoy Hatch chile year-round. We recommend portioning into meal-sized bags and pressing out as much air as possible before freezing.

All frozen products ship Tuesdays and Wednesdays in insulated, recyclable containers packed with dry ice. We ship from distribution centers in both New Jersey and California so ground shipping reaches most U.S. addresses in 1–5 business days. Fresh chile (July–October only) ships same-day on Wednesdays, arriving within 24 hours of harvest.

Every product we sell is Hatch Chile Association certified — your guarantee that the chile was grown in the Hatch Valley of New Mexico, not Anaheim or imported chile relabeled under the Hatch name. Our family has farmed the Hatch Valley since 1917 when our great-great-grandfather Joseph Franzoy became the first commercial chile farmer in the region. Five generations later, we still farm 300+ acres and grow 10+ cultivar varieties including Big Jim, Sandia Select, and Lumbre.

Right here — direct from our family farm in the Hatch Valley. We grow, roast, and ship everything ourselves, so there’s no middleman and no “Hatch-style” substitution. Fresh chile ships during harvest (July–October); flame-roasted frozen, jarred, and powdered chile ship year-round to all 50 states. (You may see it written as “green chili”—same pepper, different spelling.)

Yes. Fresh boxes ship express the same morning they’re picked and typically arrive within a day. Frozen orders travel in insulated coolers that hold temperature door-to-door. Alaska and Hawaii included — chile is for everyone.

A 5 lb box of fresh chile yields roughly 3–4 quarts of roasted, peeled chile — enough for a couple months of regular cooking. Families that cook New Mexican food weekly usually put up 25 lb or more each season. Frozen roasted chile takes the guesswork out: order what fits your freezer, and bundle pricing rewards bigger boxes.

Usually not. “Hatch-style” or “Hatch type” peppers are often grown outside the Hatch Valley — same seed family, different terroir, noticeably different flavor. True Hatch chile comes only from the valley around Hatch, New Mexico. Ours is grown there by our own family and traceable to the field.