Chile Verde Rice and Beans

Keep some Chile Verde in the fridge and you can whip up these Rice and Bean bowls in a matter of minutes.

Sure, you can customize them to your liking, but for quick meals I recommend keeping it simple.  The Chile Verde sauce is exploding with flavor and it’s willing to do all the heavy lifting if you let it! 

How To Make Chile Verde Bowls

To give you a sense of the flavor base, just imagine adding some of these beauties to a traditional Salsa Verde:

The roasted Poblanos add real depth to the sauce, and I think they’re the key to authentic Chile Verde so no skipping them!  Are Poblanos spicy?

In addition to the Poblanos, hints of Mexican oregano and cumin give the sauce a distinct, comforting flavor. 

Two larger Poblanos will do the job for this recipe (or 3 smaller ones) along with a pound of tomatillos (usually around 10). 

First we’ll give these a roast to enhance their flavor.  I usually just put everything in a 400F oven for 25-30 minutes.

The tomatillos won’t need as long to roast as the Poblanos — if it seems like they’re disintegrating you can plop them in the blender early.

Once the roasted Poblanos have cooled down a bit you can pull off any dangling bits of skin, and then de-stem and de-seed them. 

It’s not crucial to remove all of the skin from the Poblanos as we’re blending all of this.  Note:  for dishes like Rajas where the Poblanos are served in strips you’ll usually want to remove most of the skin for texture purposes. 

Add the roasted tomatillos and Poblanos to a blender along with:

1 small onion
4 peeled garlic cloves
12-15 sprigs cilantro
1-3 Jalapenos

Start with just a single Jalapeno and give it a whirl. 

Take a taste for heat, adding more Jalapeno if you’d like to amp it up.   I used two Jalapenos for this batch and it had some real zip!

Normally Chile Verde is given an extended simmer with Pork (or even Chicken) and this gives the sauce time to deepen its flavor. 

When it’s a vegetarian Chile Verde like this one, I do give it some time on the stove but to be honest I usually don’t wait too long!  When you roast the ingredients beforehand then you’ve already extracted a good portion of their flavor. 

Add a glug of oil to a saucepan over medium-low heat.  Add the Chile Verde sauce.  

We’ll also add:

2 teaspoons Mexican oregano What is Mexican Oregano?
1/4 teaspoon cumin
some freshly cracked black pepper
a pinch of salt

If it seems thick you can add a cup of stock to thin it out, but I didn’t add any stock to this batch. 

Once everything is at a uniform temp you can take a final taste for seasoning.  I typically don’t add much salt but feel free to add another pinch. 

Taste good?!

If you’re gushing over the flavor of the sauce then try serving it up with plain ol’ Rice and Beans. 

Sure, you’ll get an upgrade if you use Arroz Rojo and home-cooked beans, but I’ll be the first to admit that I don’t always do that when time is tight and the hangry is coming on.  White rice and canned beans is still remarkably satisfying when the Chile Verde is freshly made.  

I also like serving this simple bowl with some crispy, cheesy tortillas. 

In a dry skillet over medium heat, add cheese to one side of the tortillas.   (I used Jack for this batch). 

Once the cheese is melting you can fold these in half and then cook each side until light brown spots are forming.  These crispy, cheesy delights are a frequent dance partner for Soups on the site, and for Chile Verde too!

I’ll sometimes open them up after the fact and add things like Pickled Jalapenos or slices of avocado.   You could also add some of the Chile Verde fixings for an on-the-fly taco:

But however you serve it up, just keep in mind that the Chile Verde is the key to everything!  It’s got so much flavor that everything else is just a bonus, so feel free to get creative 🙂

Store the Chile Verde sauce in the fridge where it will keep for at least a few days.  To reheat simply add it to a saucepan over medium heat and cook until warm.  If it seems thick when reheating you can always add a bit of stock to it. 

Buen Provecho. 

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Want more bean recipes?  See our latest post 15 Easy Mexican Recipes You Can Make With Beans.