Beef chile colorado is a flavorful Mexican stew featuring tender pieces of beef simmered in a spicy red chile sauce served with rice and tortillas. it’s one of my favorite childhood comfort foods!

It’s even better enjoyed as leftovers since the flavors really get a change to meld. It’s the perfect meal to cook on a weeknight that feeds a crowd. Don’t forget the Mexican rice and warm tortillas on the side!

What is Chile Colorado?

Beef chile colorado, or sometimes ‘chili’ colorado, isn’t actually a chili at all! Chile colorado literally means “colored red” and it gets its flavor and color from dried red chilies.

Authentic Chile Colorado is made with Mexican dried chile peppers, namely ancho peppers, guajillo peppers, and chiles de arbol. The dried chile peppers are the star and namesake of this dish and make a rich and flavorful sauce. Cubed beef (usually chuck roast) is simmered in the chile sauce until tender and often served with rice and warm tortillas on the side.

Helpful Cooking Tools

• High-Powered Blender
• Soup Pot
• Sharp Knife
• Cutting Board

Recipe Ingredients

full list of ingredients, quantities & method in the recipe card at the end of the page.

• Beef. Use beef shoulder or beef chuck. You want something with a bit of fat.
• Dried Chilies. The authentic combo of chilies is a mix of ancho, guajillo, and arbol chilies. Most well-stocked grocery stores carry a variety of Mexican chilies.
• Flour. Coating the cubed beef in flour helps thicken the stew.
• Spices. In addition to the chilies, spices like cumin, coriander, bay leaf, and oregano give this Mexican stew a ton of flavor.
• Aromatics. White onion and garlic add flavor to the chile sauce.
• Beef broth. You can also use chicken stock or water, but beef broth or stock has the most flavor.
• Toppings. I love topping chile colorado with chopped white onion, cilantro, radishes, and lime wedges.

An Overview of the Cooking Process

1. Toast and soak your chilies. It’s hard to know how long dried chilies have been sitting in a store, so toasting them in a dry pan really wakes up the flavor. Since they’re dried, soaking them in hot water is a must to make them blendable!
2. Blend the sauce. I highly recommend using a high-powered blender here. A weaker blender won’t be able to fully blend the pieces of chile and you’ll end up with a bit of a chunky sauce.
3. Sear the beef. This is such an important step! Getting a good, hard sear on the pieces of beef builds a base of flavor that we’ll continue to build upon throughout the recipe.
4. Simmer until tender. The beef should be able to be easily shredded with a fork. Typically this takes about 2 hours, but could be a little more or less. I recommend starting to check the beef around 90 minutes and go from there.
5. Serve warm. The best part is serving this chile colorado piled high with fresh toppings like onion, cilantro, and fresh radishes. A squeeze of lime at the end adds a bit of acidity to cut through the fattiness of the beef. Always enjoy with warm tortillas on the side!

Types of Chilies used in Beef Chile Colorado

The richness of the sauce in Chile Colorado comes from the types of dried chilies used. I use three different types for maximum flavor.

• Guajillo chilies. Guajillo chilies are the dried version of the mirasol pepper and they’re widely used throughout Mexican cooking. They’re long and have a reddish hue. The flavor is balanced with a hint of spice, but mostly sweet and tangy.
• Ancho chilies. Ancho chilies are dried poblano peppers and are very different from guajillo chilies. They look dark and wrinkly and have a rich and smokey flavor that balances the sweetness from the guajillos.
• Chile de Arbol. Chile de Arbol means “tree chili” in Spanish. They’re small red chilies that pack a bit of heat. Chile de arbol give the chile colorado some heat to balance out the sweet and smokey.

Dried chilies are readily available in most well-stocked grocery stores. You can also always find them at your local Hispanic market.

Slow Cooker Cooking Instructions

I love set-and-forget stews for dinner! You can do a little bit of prep in the morning, throw everything in the slow cooker, and have dinner ready to go.

1. Make the sauce. Follow the instructions to make the red chile sauce. You can make the sauce several days in advance and refrigerate or freeze it.
2. Sear the beef. Season the cubed beef with salt and pepper and coat in flour. Sear in a heavy-bottomed skillet until browned on all sides.
3. Set and forget! Combine the beef and sauce in the bowl of a slow cooker and add the bay leaves. Stir to make sure everything is combined and set on high for 4 hours, or low for 6-8 hours until the beef is very tender.

Storage Instructions

• Cool. Before freezing anything, always make sure that the food is at room temperature.
• Package. You can freeze the chile colorado in any freezer-safe airtight container or freezer-safe ziplock bag. I like to freeze things in smaller portions so that they defrost quicker.
• Label. Labeling things in your freezer keeps them from becoming a mystery! It makes it easier to adopt ‘FIFO’ or ‘First In, First Out’ principles. You can keep your chile colorado in the freezer for up to 6 months.
• Defrost. To serve, defrost your chile colorado in the fridge overnight and then reheat in a pot or skillet, adding a bit of broth as needed.

You can also store leftovers in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 5 days.

Serving Chile Colorado

It’s typical to serve rice on the side of chile colorado so that it can soak up any extra sauce. I recommend making my stovetop mexican rice or arroz verde as the perfect side dish. If you’re serving a crowd, it’s never a bad idea to add my borracho beans or refried beans, too!

I like to have some fresh toppings on the side like white onion, cilantro, radishes, and lime wedges.

More Mexican Stew Recipes to Try

Pork Chile Verde
Pozole Rojo
Braised Chipotle Beef
Pozole Verde

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Main Dishes

Authentic Beef Chile Colorado Recipe

4.96 from 45 votes

Chile colorado is a flavorful Mexican stew featuring tender pieces of beef simmered in a spicy red chile sauce served with rice and tortillas.

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Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 2 hours hrs

Total Time: 2 hours hrs 30 minutes mins

Makes: 6 servings

Ingredients

Chile Colorado

• 3 lbs. beef chuck
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 tablespoon neutral oil
• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 3 garlic cloves
• 6 guajillo chilies, stems and seeds removed
• 4 ancho chilies, stems and seeds removed
• 3 chile de arbol, stems and seeds removed
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
• 2 1/2 cups beef broth
• 2 fresh bay leaves

For Serving

• Corn tortillas, warmed
• White onion, diced
• Cilantro, chopped
• Radishes, sliced
• Lime wedges

Instructions

• In a dry skillet, toast the dried chilies for 2-3 minutes, stirring often. Once the chilies are fragrant, transfer them to a saucepan with the chopped onion and garlic cloves and cover with water. Bring to a simmer for 10 minutes, until the chilies are soft.
• Using a slotted spoon, transfer the softened chilies, onion, and garlic to a blender with 1 cup of the soaking liquid. Add the cumin, coriander, oregano, and beef stock and blend on high until very smooth. Season the sauce to taste with salt and pepper.
• Cut the beef into 2-inch cubes. Season the cubed beef with salt and pepper and then toss with the flour. Heat a dutch oven over medium-high heat and add the oil. Once the oil is hot, place beef in a single layer in the pot and brown on all sides. You may need to do this in several batches. After the beef is seared, remove the excess oil.
• Return all the beef to the pot and pour in just enough sauce to cover the beef. Any extra sauce can be frozen. Add the bay leaves to the pot and cover with a lid. Simmer on low for 2 hours, until the beef is very tender.
• Skim any oil from the top and serve with warm tortillas and any other desired toppings.

Nutrition

Calories: 600kcalCarbohydrates: 17gProtein: 60gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 11gCholesterol: 150mgSodium: 800mgFiber: 4g