Apple Green-Chile Pie With Cheddar Crust

Apple Green-Chile Pie With Cheddar Crust
Drew Kelly for The New York Times
Total Time
1½ hours
Rating
4(299)
Notes
Read community notes

In this savory-sweet treat, apples are layered with roasted green chilies, made savory with Cheddar cheese in the crust and sprinkled with a streusel topping of walnuts and brown sugar. (Don't let making your own pie crust intimidate you: our pie guide has everything you need to know.) —Julia Moskin

Featured in: Pie to Cupcake: Time’s Up

Learn: How to Make a Pie Crust

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Ingredients

Yield:About 8 servings

    For the Crust

    • cups all-purpose flour
    • ¼teaspoon salt
    • cup cold unsalted butter, cut into dice
    • ½cup grated sharp Cheddar cheese
    • 5tablespoons ice water, more as needed

    For the Filling

    • 5cups peeled and thickly sliced tart apples, such as Jonagold, Honeycrisp or Granny Smith
    • ½cup chopped roasted green Hatch chilies, mild or medium hot (see note)
    • 2tablespoons fresh lemon juice
    • ½cup granulated sugar
    • ¼cup light brown sugar
    • ½teaspoon cinnamon
    • ¼teaspoon allspice
    • ¼teaspoon nutmeg, preferably freshly grated
    • ¼teaspoon salt
    • ¼cup cornstarch

    For the Topping

    • ½cup all-purpose flour
    • ½cup finely chopped walnuts
    • ¼cup light brown sugar
    • 4tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
    • Vanilla ice cream, for serving
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)

459 calories; 22 grams fat; 11 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 6 grams monounsaturated fat; 4 grams polyunsaturated fat; 59 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 30 grams sugars; 7 grams protein; 213 milligrams sodium

Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.

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Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Make the crust: In a food processor or mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine flour and salt. Add butter one piece at a time, while pulsing or mixing at low speed, until mixture is fine and crumbly. Transfer to a large bowl and toss well with the cheese. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time, mixing lightly with fingers just until dough holds together. To test, pinch a small amount of dough. If it is crumbly, add more ice water. Form dough into a ball, wrap loosely in plastic, then roll into a disk. Refrigerate at least one hour, or up to 3 days, before rolling. (Dough can be frozen for up to a month.)

  2. Step 2

    On a lightly floured surface, roll dough into a circle at least 11 inches in diameter. Transfer to a 9-inch pie pan, preferably glass. Turn edges under to make a thick rim; flute rim by pinching into a zigzag pattern. Refrigerate until ready to bake, at least an hour.

  3. Step 3

    Make the filling: In a large bowl, toss apples, green chilies and lemon juice together. In another bowl, mix dry ingredients and add to apples and chilies, tossing until thoroughly coated.

  4. Step 4

    Make the topping: In a small bowl, mix flour, walnuts and brown sugar. Add melted butter and toss together until crumbly.

  5. Step 5

    Bake the pie: Heat oven to 400 degrees. Using a slotted spoon, scoop filling into chilled crust, then drizzle with 2 tablespoons of juice from bottom of bowl. Sprinkle topping evenly over filling. Bake 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 375 degrees. Bake 30 to 40 minutes, or until filling bubbles at edge and crust is brown. Serve warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on the side.

Tip
  • Roasted green Hatch chilies from New Mexico can be ordered from newmexicanconnection.com, and are sometimes found frozen in grocery stores. Drained canned green chilies are acceptable.

Ratings

4 out of 5
299 user ratings
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Cooking Notes

Living in New Mexico for 25+ years, I have had the pleasure over and over again to experiment with fresh green chili roasted at our local fruit stand. We put up nearly 175 pounds this year!

My point being, one can be very pleasantly surprised in the various ways green chili can be incorporated into your daily food preparations.

In addition to green chili, try adding some red Chimayo chili powder to the crust as this adds even more depth to Julia's recipe.

Any apple works!

Thank you!

This was absolutely fabulous! Made with authentic Hatch New Mexico chiles, the flavors are subtle and warm. My friends--native New Mexicans--raved about it.

". . . sliced tart apple such as . . . Honeycrisp . . . "

Honeycrisp is about as far as an apple gets from "tart". They are among the sweetest apples, thus the name: Honeycrisp. Granny Smiths are tart. The writer of the recipe needs to decide - tart or sweet?

This is by far the best pie I have ever made. I made it for a friend's birthday, and heard a lot of reactions about the description of flavors. After everyone had tried it though, they would not stop raving. It was very easy and less time consuming than others I have made. The best part of the pie was the fact that it wasn't overly sweet. I used canned diced Hatch chilies as Hatch season is over by now, and made only one change, using pecans instead of walnuts for the crumble.

I made this with Granny Smith apples as directed and it is delicious - be mindful that when the recipe says only add 2 tablespoons of the liquid into the pie - THAT IS ALL. Any more and it would have been too much liquid. I used canned mild hatch chili and the flavor was still great, warm and delicious. I would double or triple the streusel topping though...

I live in New Mexico and I made this for Thanksgiving. It was a hit! I used medium chiles but next time, I'll use more (1 cup). To make it more New Mexican, I used pinyons (pine nuts) instead of walnuts. Yum!

I served this pie in celebration of pi day, and everyone said it was the best pie they'd ever had! I used oats instead of nuts in the crumble, and I served it with fresh whipped cream. There was lots of liquid left over from the filling, so we had lots to drizzle.

Even though it reads fantastic, sometimes there's just too much going on in a recipe - cheezy crust, nutty crumble ... Used 1/2 c packed brown sugar for apples with the spices & chile and flour i/o cornstarch. I'd prefer the delicious filling (with all the juices) between a double regular crust. A slice of cheese melted on top for those who indulge.

Great pie! I made it and used more water in the crust, but it came out very well. Made sure that apples were cooked (toothpick test) before I took it out. Couldn't use nuts in the crumble but could use some almond flour with reg flour, butter and cinnamon and it came out well. I put it on my regular list. Wonderful flavor.

The smell and the crust were delicious!!! But it came out with too much liquid in the pan. And it was too sweet. Will def try again with only one tablespoon of juice and 1/2 the sugar.

I’m a New Mexico native and have been making this pie for years, and everyone has loved it! I will say that it ALWAYS takes me longer than 40 minutes at 375° to bake this pie. At 40 minutes, the center of the crust isn’t fully baked and the filling won’t solidify. Maybe it’s my oven, but just a tip for others — plan on baking for even 20 minutes longer; tent with foil at ~35 minutes at 375°.

I wish that the amount of cheddar had been put in grams - I think I put too much in and the crust was very hard to work with (and I’m no stranger to pie crusts). I also didn’t have allspice, so I used a combo of more cinnamon and some cardamom. This pie still got rave reviews from my guests though! I’ll definitely make again.

I have made this recipe more times than I can count. It is so good. The only thing I would correct is the baking time. The apples in the filling came out still crisp after 40 minutes of baking. I think it's better if you cook the apples, sugar, and spices for about 10 minutes on the stove before adding the green chiles and other ingredients and baking. Or bake the pie for 60 minutes or more so the apples become softer.

Living in Denver, I have access to Hatch green chiles - the most wonderful time of the year. I made this pie true to the recipe (used 4 granny smith & 1 honey crisp apple) and it was met with raves. I used about 6 Tbsp of water for the crust since it's so dry here and it turned out perfectly.

I have a bag or red roasted Hatch chilis - can I substitute those instead or will it overtly affect the intended flavor?

Oh wow, I worked at Chile Pies and Ice Cream in San Francisco for 2 years (now closed, but the Guerneville location is still open). I can't tell you how many of these I made! I was pleasantly surprised to find this recipe on NYT cooking as I was randomly scrolling. This pie is unique and delicious. Make it for your guests, they'll probably never have had a green chile apple pie! Definitely make sure your chiles are Hatch green chiles. xox, a baker from SF

Holy mole, this is good! I used a generous amount of the chiles, and left the seeds in, which gave a nice hint of heat. Also I used hazelnuts in the streusel, instead of walnuts. Will DEFINITELY be making this again, probably thanksgiving. Ordered a big box of hatch chiles when they were ripe, charred them on the grill, and put them in freezer bags. This was a great use for them!

This was okay but my bottom crust is not cooked all the way through. It’s super liquid-y despite following that exactly. My issue, I think, is that I was too literal with the instructions for the apple slicing so they were way too big of slices! We’ll still eat it, but I wouldn’t rush to make it again! Oh and we used poblano peppers from our garden.

Used 8 tbs h2o. We’ll see.

This pie is extraordinary! I took some shortcuts with frozen pie crust (cheddar cheese blanketed under the apples), and drained, canned Hatch chilis from Whole Foods. Used slightly unripe honeycrisp apples from my tree, which were fairly tart and crisp. The result was a spicy, sweet, sour, smoky taste that blew me away. I would eat this for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or dessert.

I followed this recipe exactly with Granny Smith apples. My pie looked golden brown when I took it out of the oven but when I removed a slice after cooling for several hours, the pie was flooded in its own juices! I did some research and the suggestions said to blind bake the crust and to cook the apples a bit before adding to the pie pan. Seems to have worked for others so I’m not sure what I did differently.

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Credits

Adapted from Chile Pies and Ice Cream, San Francisco

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