I’m posting this “recipe” or technique due to searches on the website. See here for a red chile recipe.

Green chiles are often used fresh. For some dishes, including green chile sauce, I recommend roasting and peeling the chiles first. I generally only roast mild chiles such as Anaheim, Poblano or similar varieties. It is especially convenient to roast thick-skinned chiles in order to discard the skins.

Roasting:

To roast green chiles, you really need an outdoor grill. The hotter the chile, the more cayenne will get in the air during roasting, so trying to roast them in an indoor oven or small toaster oven can be dangerous. If enough cayenne gets into the air, you will be unable to breathe. Cayenne in the air is equivalent to pepper spray. Only roast chiles indoors if you are positive they are mild enough.

In New Mexico, green chiles are often roasted in giant fifty-gallon drums over an open flame. The drum has a handle that turns the drum round and round until the chiles inside are blackened.

When roasting on an open grill, take care not to breathe in chile air! You may want to poke each chile with a fork before placing on the grill. This will prevent the chiles from “popping” as they heat.

Place the chiles in a fish basket or if they are large enough to not fall through the rack, on the open grill. Use low flame.

Blacken one side (takes about five minutes) and turn, using tongs. You may want to “roll” larger chiles so that they are evenly blackened.

Remove the chiles with the tongs when they have blackened and deflated.

Cool completely before peeling. The roasting causes the chile skin to “blister” so it should be easy to remove. For hotter varieties or if peeling a large batch, use gloves. Chile juices can and will seep into your skin and will not wash off. You hands will later “burn” similar to a bad sunburn. If you touch your eyes—look out! It’s like dripping chile juice right into them. If you do enough chiles, the burning sensation can last for a couple of days.

Freezing
Once roasted and peeled, chop and use the green chiles immediately or place in a freezer bag and freeze. You can store chiles with or without seeds and with or without the tops. I have found that keeping the seeds makes for a hotter chile.

Frozen seeds when thawed can be “rubbery” and are therefore not appetizing to chew on. I remove the seeds and tops (rinsing them with water), drain and store in freezer bags. The seeds can be removed after freezing by rinsing.

I have had zero luck “blanching” or peeling chiles using water. The entire chile becomes rubbery.