Close your eyes for a minute and just imagine this peppy zoodle casserole lovingly wrapped in a hatch green chile cream sauce, shredded rotisserie chicken, and pepper jack cheese. It’s got just a hint of a spice, but the bold flavors do not mess around! Well, you don’t have to imagine anymore because today I’m posting a keto Mexican recipe for this very thing.
The cream sauce is made by mixing heavy whipping cream and pureed hatch green chiles with colorful cooked bell peppers. Then it’s thickened up with shredded pepper jack cheese and some cream cheese. I like to cook most of the bell peppers before putting them in the casserole for texture reasons, but if you love these peppers crunchy then by all means feel free to just stir them into the sauce at the end instead.
The Preparation
- 1 can hatch whole green chiles, (27 ounce) drained and diced
- 1 medium red bell pepper, diced
- 1 medium yellow bell pepper, diced
- ¼ medium white onion
- ¼ cup water
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 3 medium zucchini, spiralized or cut into thin strips
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 ¼ cups pepper jack cheese
- 4 ounces cream cheese, softened
- 29 ounces rotisserie chicken, shredded with skin removed
- ¼ cup sharp cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- optional garnish: Valentina hot sauce and cilantro
Yields 8 servings of Hatch Chile Casserole
The Execution
1. Set aside ¼ cup of the diced green chiles, ¼ cup of the red bell pepper, and ¼ cup of the yellow bell pepper. Preheat your oven to 350°F
2. Blend together the ¼ white onion, remaining diced green chiles, and ¼ cup of water. You could use ¼ of juice from the can of green chiles instead of water if you like.
3. Heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the spiralized zucchini and saute until the zoodles start to soften. Transfer to a 9×12 casserole dish.
4. Wipe the skillet clean and return to the heat. Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the pan and let it become hot. Then add the diced yellow and red bell pepper, but don’t forget to save ¼ cup of each color for later. Cook until the vegetables start to soften before adding the teaspoon of garlic powder. Then add the blended green chiles to the pan.
5. Once the sauce starts to bubble, stir in the cup of heavy whipping cream. The sauce may seem thinner and will look a lot lighter.
6. Stir in 2 cups of the pepper jack cheese.
7. Cube up the softened cream cheese and add to the sauce. Mix very well, you may even want to use a whisk. If your cream cheese is not soft enough then you can place it in a separate bowl. Mix it up with large spoons of sauce from the pan until it’s fully incorporated and ready to stir into the full batch.
8. Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
9. Layer the shredded chicken over the zoodles in your casserole dish.
10. Pour the green chile cream sauce over your casserole. I think it’s helpful to poke at the chicken and veggies here and there just to make sure that the sauce isn’t just sitting on the top.
11. Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup red bell pepper, ¼ cup yellow bell pepper, and ¼ cup green chiles over the top of the casserole.
12. Sprinkle on the remaining shredded pepper jack cheese, and the ¼ cup of sharp cheddar cheese.
13. Bake the casserole at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until the cheese melts and the casserole is bubbling.
14. Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. I love to add a sprinkling of chopped cilantro, and Valentina hot sauce.
This makes a total of 8 servings of Hatch Chile Casserole. Each serving comes out to be 554 Calories, 40.17g Fats, 6.37g Net Carbs, and 34.15g Protein.
| Hatch ChileCasserole | Calories | Fats(g) | Carbs(g) | Fiber(g) | Net Carbs(g) | Protein(g) |
| 27 ounce can hatch whole green chiles | 183 | 0 | 18.02 | 18.02 | 0 | 0 |
| 119 g red bell pepper, diced | 37 | 0.36 | 7.18 | 2.5 | 4.68 | 1.18 |
| 1 whole yellow bell pepper, diced | 32 | 0.25 | 7.52 | 1.1 | 6.42 | 1.19 |
| 27.5 g white onion | 11 | 0.03 | 2.57 | 0.5 | 2.07 | 0.3 |
| ¼ cup water | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2 teaspoons olive oil | 80 | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 588 g zucchini | 100 | 1.88 | 18.29 | 5.9 | 12.39 | 7.11 |
| 1 teaspoon garlic powder | 10 | 0.02 | 2.25 | 0.3 | 1.95 | 0.51 |
| 1 cup heavy whipping cream | 809 | 85.87 | 6.52 | 0 | 6.52 | 6.76 |
| 2 ¼ cups pepper jack cheese | 997 | 77.6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 66.53 |
| 4 ounces softened cream cheese | 397 | 39.05 | 6.26 | 0 | 6.26 | 6.97 |
| 1 pound 13 ounce rotisserie chicken | 1562 | 97.82 | 9.78 | 0 | 9.78 | 176.15 |
| ¼ cup sharp cheddar cheese | 114 | 9.44 | 0.88 | 0 | 0.88 | 6.46 |
| Salt and pepper to taste | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Totals | 4332 | 321.32 | 79.27 | 28.32 | 50.95 | 273.16 |
| Per Serving(/8) | 554 | 40.17 | 9.91 | 3.54 | 6.37 | 34.15 |
Hatch Chile Casserole
Ingredients
- 27 ounce can hatch whole green chiles drained and diced
- 1 red bell pepper diced
- 1 yellow bell pepper diced
- ¼ white onion
- ¼ cup water
- 2 teaspoons olive oil
- 3 medium zucchini spiralized
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 2 ¼ cups pepper jack cheese
- 4 ounces softened cream cheese
- 1 pound 13 ounce rotisserie chicken shredded with skin removed
- ¼ cup sharp cheddar cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
- optional garnish: Valentina hot sauce and cilantro
Instructions
- Set aside ¼ cup of the diced green chiles, 1/4 cup of the red bell pepper, and 1/4 cup of the yellow bell pepper. Preheat your oven to 350°F
- Blend together the ¼ white onion, remaining diced green chiles, and ¼ cup of water. You could use ¼ of juice from the can of green chiles instead of water if you like.
- Heat 1 teaspoon of the olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the spiralized zucchini and saute until the zoodles start to soften. Transfer to a 9x12 casserole dish.
- Wipe the skillet clean and return to the heat. Add the remaining teaspoon of olive oil to the pan and let it become hot. Then add the diced yellow and red bell pepper, but don't forget to save ¼ cup of each color for later. Cook until the vegetables start to soften before adding the teaspoon of garlic powder. Then add the blended green chiles to the pan.
- Once the sauce starts to bubble, stir in the cup of heavy whipping cream. The sauce may seem thinner and will look a lot lighter.
- Stir in 2 cups of the pepper jack cheese.
- Cube up the softened cream cheese and add to the sauce. Mix very well, you may even want to use a whisk. If your cream cheese is not soft enough then you can place it in a separate bowl. Mix it up with large spoons of sauce from the pan until it's fully incorporated and ready to stir into the full batch.
- Season the sauce with salt and pepper.
- Layer the shredded chicken over the zoodles in your casserole dish.
- Pour the green chile cream sauce over your casserole. I think it's helpful to poke at the chicken and veggies here and there just to make sure that the sauce isn't just sitting on the top.
- Sprinkle the remaining ¼ cup red bell pepper, ¼ cup yellow bell pepper, and ¼ cup green chiles over the top of the casserole.
- Sprinkle on the remaining shredded pepper jack cheese, and the ¼ cup of sharp cheddar cheese.
- Bake the casserole at 350°F for 30 minutes, or until the cheese melts and the casserole is bubbling.
- Allow to cool for 10 minutes before serving. I love to add a sprinkling of chopped cilantro, and Valentina hot sauce.
