A New Mexican plate, usually stacked or rolled enchiladas, served with both red chile and green chile sauce side by side, the two ladled over separate halves so the plate reads red and green. Ordering it is as simple as answering the state's signature question with the word "Christmas." The red is deep, earthy, and faintly sweet; the green is brighter and more vegetal, often hotter. The point is the contrast of two distinct chile sauces in one meal rather than any holiday timing.
In New Mexico the standard restaurant question is "Red or green?" — so central to local identity that the legislature made it the official state question in 1996. Answering "Christmas" means you want both sauces, a usage that turns on the happy coincidence that New Mexico chile comes in red and green, the colors of the holiday. The term applies year-round and is not tied to December. It rides on the older New Mexican enchilada tradition, in which corn tortillas are layered or rolled with chile, cheese, and onion and often crowned with a fried egg.
Two sauces in one mouthful: the red is smooth, warm, and a little sweet, the green looser, grassier, and usually with a sharper kick. Soft corn tortillas have soaked up the chile, melted cheese binds the layers, and raw onion cuts through. A runny fried egg on top spills yolk that rounds off both sauces. The pleasure is moving a fork back and forth across the line between red and green.
Red and green are the same New Mexico chile at different stages: green is the unripe pod, usually roasted and peeled so the tough skin blisters off and the flesh turns smoky and soft; red is the same chile left to ripen and dry, then rehydrated and pureed into a deeper, sweeter sauce. Red sauce is often built on a light fat-and-flour base for body, while green is looser and more vegetal. Keeping them on separate halves of the plate is deliberate so each sauce stays distinct rather than muddying into one.
Variations
The base can be stacked flat enchiladas (the northern New Mexico style) or rolled ones, and the proteins range from cheese-and-onion to chicken, beef, or pork. "Christmas" can be called for on huevos rancheros, burritos, chiles rellenos, and breakfast plates too. Heat varies widely by the year's harvest and the chile's origin, with Hatch and Chimayó among the most prized.
On the Palate
Where Christmas Chile Plate sits in the American flavor cloud
Ingredients
Serves 4How it's made
6 steps · 50 min active + 25 min waiting
- 125 min
For red chile, rehydrate dried red pods, then blend with garlic and simmer with a little fat and flour into a smooth sauce.
Watch outRehydrate the dried red pods and blend smooth; if the sauce tastes raw or gritty, simmer it longer so the chile flavor rounds out.
- 220 min
For green chile, simmer chopped roasted green chile with onion, garlic, and stock until thickened.
- 35 min
Warm corn tortillas in oil briefly so they soften and won't crack.
Watch outWarm the tortillas in oil just until pliable so they roll without cracking; over-fried they stiffen and split when you fold them.
- 410 min
Layer or roll the tortillas with cheese and onion (and any meat) in an oven dish, keeping two portions for plating.
- 512 min
Bake until the cheese melts, then plate so one half can take red and the other green.
- 63 min
Ladle red over one side and green over the other, top with onion and a fried egg, and serve hot.
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