Chile Colorado combines tender stew meat, Mexican Chiles and Spices that cooks in a rich sauce to create a Mexican Stew that everyone will love! Serve with your favorite Mexican Side Dishes for a complete meal idea.
Place the chiles and onions in a saucepan and cover with beef broth, adding more if needed. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes, until softened.
Use a slotted spoon to transfer the chiles and onions to a blender. Add 1 cup of the cooking liquid.
Add the garlic, oregano, cumin, and 1 teaspoon of the salt. Blend until smooth.
Cut the stew meat into approximately ½-inch cubes and place in a large bowl. Add the flour, remaining salt, and pepper, and toss to coat.
Heat the olive oil in a large pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.
Add the beef and brown on all sides for approximately 5 minutes. Cook in 2 batches if needed.
Return all of the beef to the pot. Stir in the red chile sauce, beef broth, and bay leaves.
Bring to a low boil. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and simmer for approximately 2 hours, until the beef is fork-tender.
Remove the lid, increase the heat to medium, and cook for 15–20 minutes, until the sauce thickens.
Remove the bay leaves before serving.
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Notes
If you have trouble finding the chiles, you can use Pasilla or mulato dried chilies instead of Ancho chilies and New Mexican chiles instead of Guajillo chiles in this recipe. The red chili sauce can easily be made ahead of time and frozen until you are ready to use (for up to 6 months). You can use a beef roast diced into bite size pieces instead of stew meat. If you do not have a high power blend, you may want to run the red chili sauce through a fine mesh strainer before adding to the pan with the meat. If the beef is not fork tender after cooking on low for 2 hours continue to cook until it’s tender. If the beef is tough, that means it just needs to cook longer. This recipe can easily be made in the crock pot if you prefer. Make the red chili sauce as directed. Brown the beef and add the beef, red chili sauce, beef broth and bay leaves to a crock pot. Cook on low for 6-8 hours until the beef is tender. Refrigerate any leftovers in an airtight container for up to 5 days.