Mexican beef in red sauce is one of my favorite things to order at restaurants, but it’s actually quite easy to make at home! Serve it with pinto beans and pico de gallo for the ultimate meal.
I love Mexican food. In fact, before we had kids, my husband and I used to eat at our neighborhood Mexican restaurant every week! These days, with three kids under 7, we don’t go out to eat that much. I decided it was time to learn how to make our favorite Mexican food at home. This recipe for chile colorado is my interpretation of the version at our local restaurant. It’s the perfect versatile and flavorful meat for including in any number of culinary creations. Our restaurant makes amazing chile colorado burritos, but at home I tend to serve the meat along with plenty of tortillas and fun toppings so that everyone can easily customize their own meal.
How do you make chile colorado?
This recipe consists of two components: the beef and the sauce. The sauce is made in the blender and primarily consists of ingredients that you likely already have in the house. I use a combination of fire roasted tomatoes and ROTEL Tomatoes in my colorado sauce, they add so much depth of flavor and I love the bit of heat that the tomatoes add. If your family doesn’t like a lot of spice, you can use a second can of the fire roasted tomatoes in lieu of the ROTEL.
The sauce does contain one ingredient that you probably don’t have in your pantry – dried ancho chiles. These chiles come in bags in either the spice or ethnic aisle of most stores and are not spicy at all. The chiles and tomatoes create a smooth and bold sauce that pairs perfectly with the beef.
The other components of the sauce are garlic, onions, spices and chicken broth. Cutting onions has always been my nemesis, the tears just flow like crazy! That’s all changed now that I’ve discovered an awesome kitchen hack. If you put an onion in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting it, the cold inhibits the release of the onion’s eye irritating chemicals which means no more tears! The beef needs to cook for a few hours to become meltingly tender. You can either make it in the oven or put your chile colorado in the slow cooker; I’ve provided directions for both methods. While the meat does take some time to cook, this recipe makes a double batch. This means you can eat half for dinner the night you make it and put the rest in the freezer for another night.
Once your chile colorado is done, it’s time to assemble a fixings bar for everyone to create their own meal. I serve a variety of tortillas, rice and beans, sliced radishes, crumbled cotija cheese, lime wedges, chopped cilantro and avocado.
Mexican night is made easier with the help of some ingredients like canned tomatoes and by making a double batch so that you can cook once and eat twice!
More Mexican recipes you’ll love
Carne Asada Tacos Pork Carnitas Chicken Taquitos Chicken Burrito Bowls Baked Beef Tacos
This post was sponsored by ConAgra foods. This post was originally published on May 3, 2016 and was updated on January 15, 2018 with new content.
