A Guide to Southwestern Cuisine

While Tex-Mex favorites like fajitas and queso are well-known across the country, Southwestern food—spanning New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and Nevada—hasn't achieved the same level of mainstream recognition. This is unfortunate, as Southwestern cuisine boasts a rich mestizo heritage, blending Native, Hispano, and a touch of Anglo influences, and features some of the most robustly spiced dishes in the Americas.

Despite its richness, many Americans remain unfamiliar with the distinctive traits of Southwestern cuisine, which often gets confused with Tex-Mex. While both share staples like corn, beans, and chiles, Southwestern food is marked by its use of whole chiles, blue corn, and a diverse array of vegetables. Here’s how to distinguish the nuanced and flavorful dishes of the American Southwest.

Emphasizing the Chiles

If you were to ask Southwestern locals what defines their cuisine, they’d likely say, “chile.” But they’re referring not to the chili powder blend common in Tex-Mex, but to long green chiles and their matured, milder counterparts, red chiles.

When Spanish explorers ventured north from Mexico into what is now Santa Fe in the early 1600s, they discovered that the chile seeds they brought thrived in the local climate. Over the centuries, this isolation led to a unique cuisine centered almost entirely around the chile as the primary seasoning. Today, New Mexico and the surrounding Southwest (excluding Nevada) predominantly use the New Mexican chile, often featured in distinctive cooked sauces made from either fresh green pods or their dried red counterparts. It’s worth noting that green and red chiles are the same fruit, with red chiles being the mature version of green chiles.

Chile sauce, whether red, green, or a combination of both, envelops nearly every traditional dish, from enchiladas and burritos to scrambled eggs. The basic recipe remains consistent across colors: a foundation of oil or fat, sometimes mixed with onions, garlic, and a bit of flour or cornstarch, followed by a generous addition of chiles. Green sauce, blended with chopped green chiles, has a fresh, grassy heat, while red sauce, which may include tomatoes in Arizona for a milder flavor, is earthier and sweeter.

Across the Southwest, red and green chiles make their way onto everything from bagels to pizzas, or are even enjoyed whole, fried in tempura batter. However, none have gained as much fame as the long, meaty green chile known as “the Hatch.” This iconic chile is actually a New Mexican chile, rebranded through a clever marketing campaign launched in the early 2000s. The New Mexico Department of Agriculture shipped green chiles to grocery stores nationwide, complete with roasters and staff to demonstrate proper roasting techniques. The name “Hatch” refers to the village in southern New Mexico, though, much like Champagne, it denotes a regional marker rather than a specific variety. Hatch and the surrounding Doña Ana County do grow a significant portion of New Mexico’s chile crop, but the name “Hatch” is more about its regional heritage than a unique chile variety.

Predominantly Plant-Based Cuisine

Southwestern cuisine is deeply rooted in three fundamental ingredients: corn, beans, and squash, known as the “three sisters.” These staples were integral to North American agriculture as far back as 7000 B.C.E. Dried pintos, a staple bean in the Southwest, are traditionally slow-cooked and enjoyed by the bowlful, much like the hearty version found at El Parasol in northern New Mexico. Beans can be served as a simple side dish, or mashed and fried with lard or bacon drippings to create the “refried” style more common in Tex-Mex cuisine. Both whole and refried beans—with or without meat—are key components in burros, burritos, tacos, tostadas, and beyond. While other dried beans like Anasazi, tepary, and black beans are used, pintos are the quintessential bean of the Southwest.

Though not as prevalent today, squash remains an essential historical food source. Calabacitas, a quintessential New Mexican summer dish, features zucchini or other tender squash sautéed with corn and chopped green chile. This dish is a popular choice for vegetarian and vegan burritos, tacos, or as a standalone side, making a satisfying appearance at Tortilla Flats in Santa Fe.

While the historic staples of the region are largely plant-based, the Southwestern diet is not exclusively vegetarian. Arizona, much like Texas, has a rich beef tradition, linked to its own ranching history. Some even argue that Prescott, Arizona, might be the true birthplace of chili rather than Texas. Historical records suggest that Prescott’s first restaurant, the Juniper House, served chili as early as 1864. In addition, machaca and carne seca—dried beef varieties developed before refrigeration—remain popular in Arizona today.

In the Four Corners region, where New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and Colorado meet, mutton and lamb are more commonly used than other meats. Traditionally, these meats, along with goat, were the foundation of carne adovada, a beloved red chile-bathed meat dish from northern New Mexico. Over time, pork has become more prevalent in this dish.

Blue Corn Is the True Signature

Among the three sisters, corn is the most well-known, but in New Mexico and Arizona, the traditional corn of the Hopi and Pueblo peoples is blue, not yellow. This blue corn, celebrated for its nutty flavor and higher protein content, remained a regional specialty until the 1980s, when it gained national popularity as blue corn tortilla chips.

Despite its widespread use in tortilla chips, the purplish tortillas from which these chips are made are still a distinctive feature of northern New Mexico. Here, blue corn tortillas are commonly used for enchiladas—layered flat rather than rolled, due to their less pliable nature compared to yellow or white corn tortillas. The Shed in Santa Fe is renowned for its blue corn-cheese enchiladas, especially when smothered in red chile. Blue corn masa also makes blue corn tamales, wrapped in corn husks and steamed, and blue corn pancakes are increasingly appearing on menus across the country (the version at Tecolote Cafe in Santa Fe highlights the corn’s unique texture and earthy flavor). Blue cornmeal is also used for crusting trout and other fish from the San Juan Mountains and Gila Wilderness, with La Plazuela in Santa Fe serving these dishes from morning until mid-day.

Although corn was historically central to Southwestern cuisine, wheat also plays a significant role due to Spanish cultivation. The region boasts a variety of flour-based delights, from the sweet and savory fried dough puffs known as sopaipillas, to traditional fry bread, and the exceptionally thin tortillas of southern Arizona. These tortillas, rolled out to the size of an extra-large pizza, are ideal for Arizona’s generously stuffed burros and their deep-fried version, the chimichanga. The crunchy chimichanga, now a staple in restaurants and frozen food aisles across the nation, was first crafted at the historic El Charro Café in Tucson.

A New Wave Emerges

Southwestern cuisine has not always been in the shadow of Tex-Mex on the national stage. During the 1980s, a group of predominantly white male chefs—including Mark Miller, Bobby Flay, Brendan Walsh, and Reed Hearon—made a name for themselves by innovating with Southwestern ingredients and techniques. They introduced dishes like duck confit tamales and lobster tacos on the East and West coasts. However, this trend often overlooked the cultural origins of these foods, and thus, the fascination with “Southwestern food” faded like other culinary fads of that era, such as Cajun or Franco-Japanese cuisine.

Recently, there has been a revival of interest in traditional Southwestern and Mexican foods. Family-run establishments such as La Posta de Mesilla near Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Mary & Tito’s Café (a James Beard Foundation America’s Classic award winner) in Albuquerque, have long been cherished for their authentic chile-infused dishes. Though they did not receive the same national attention as the celebrity chefs of the 1980s, they are now celebrated as bastions of genuine Southwestern cuisine.

A new wave of Southwestern restaurants is emerging, featuring chefs of Native and Hispanic backgrounds who bring fresh perspectives to the table. Cecelia Miller, a Tohono O’odham tribe member and owner of Phoenix’s Fry Bread House, has garnered a James Beard America’s Classic award for her vibrant menu of fry bread, burros, and robust red chile. John Rivera Sedlar, known for his work in 1980s California, channels his grandmother’s culinary heritage at his Santa Fe restaurant, Eloisa, where inventive tacos might include jicama “shells” or house-cured pastrami with mustard salsa. At Campo at Los Poblanos in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, chef Jonathan Perno highlights his family legacy and the rich local farmland with his thoughtfully crafted menu.

Modern Southwestern Mytouries are increasingly focusing on traditional crops and sustainable livestock, often cultivated and raised by the chefs themselves. Blake Spalding and Jen Castle, the duo behind Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm in southern Utah, were pioneers in starting their own farm, offering fresh produce alongside local trout and grass-fed beef in dishes like deep red-chile posole. George Gundrey, of Tomasita’s and Atrisco Cafe & Bar in Santa Fe, grows heritage corn for a dish called chicos, a nearly forgotten recipe of oven-roasted and sun-dried kernels stewed in stock with pinto beans.

Such dishes have cemented Southwestern cuisine's place in the culinary world. As America grows to embrace its diverse regional flavors—southern, Tex-Mex, California—the often-overlooked Southwestern food is ripe for recognition. And of course, it should be enjoyed drenched in a bold chile sauce. Whether you choose red or green, the choice is yours.

Where to Indulge in Southwestern Cuisine

Timeless Classics:

Sparkys 115 Franklin St., Hatch, NM; 575-267-4222
El Parasol 603 Santa Cruz Rd., Española, NM and other locations; 505-753-8852 (multiple locations)
Tortilla Flats 3139 Cerrillos Rd., Santa Fe, NM; 505-471-8685
The Shed 113½ East Palace Ave., Santa Fe, NM; 505-982-9030
Tecolote Café 1616 St. Michael’s Dr., Santa Fe, NM; 505-988-1362
La Plazuela La Fonda on the Plaza, 100 E. San Francisco St., Santa Fe, NM; 505-982-5511
El Charro Café 311 N. Court St., Tucson, AZ; 520-622-1922 (multiple locations)
Chope’s Bar & Cafe 16145 S. Hwy 28, La Mesa, NM; 575-233-3420; no website
Zuly’s Cafe 234 Hwy 75, Dixon, NM; 505-579-4001; no website
Orlando’s New Mexican Cafe 1114 Don Juan Valdez Ln., Taos, NM; 575-751-1450; no website
La Posta de Mesilla 2410 Calle de San Albino, Mesilla, NM; 575-524-3524
Mary & Tito’s Café 2711 4th St. NW, Albuquerque, NM; 505-344-6266; no website
The Fry Bread House 4545 N. 7th Ave., Phoenix, AZ; 602-351-2345; no website
Carolina’s Mexican Food 1202 E. Mohave St., Phoenix; 602-252-1503 (multiple locations)
La Choza Restaurant 905 Alarid St., Santa Fe, NM; 505-982-0909
Rancho de Chimayó 300 Juan Medina Road, Chimayó, NM; 505-351-4444
Café Gozhóó N. Chief Ave. and N. 4th St., Whiteriver, AZ; no phone
Tomasita’s 500 S. Guadalupe St., Santa Fe, NM; 505-983-5721 (multiple locations)
Atrisco Cafe & Bar 193 Paseo de Peralta, Santa Fe, NM; 505-983-7401

Contemporary:

Eloisa 228 E. Palace Ave., Santa Fe, NM; 505-982-0883
Campo at Los Poblanos 4803 Rio Grande Ave., Los Ranchos de Albuquerque, NM; 505-344-9297
Hell’s Backbone Grill & Farm 20 Hwy 12, Boulder, UT; 435-335-7464
Cotton & Copper 1006 E. Warner Rd. #113, Tempe, AZ; 480-629-4270
Turquoise Room Restaurant La Posada Hotel, 303 E. 2nd St., Winslow, AZ; 928-289-2888
Corn Maiden Hyatt Regency Tamaya, 1300 Tuyuna Trail, Santa Ana Pueblo/Bernalillo, NM; 505-771-6060
Pueblo Harvest Indian Pueblo Cultural Center, 2401 12th St. NW, Albuquerque, NM; 505-724-3510
Roland’s Cafe Market Bar 1505 E. Van Buren St., Phoenix; 602-441-4749
Sugar Nymphs Bistro 15046 State Rd. 75, Peñasco, NM; 575-587-0311

Cheryl Alters Jamison is a four-time James Beard Award-winning food writer based in Santa Fe.Fact checked by Pearly HuangCopy edited by Rachel P. Kreiter