Green chile pizza is pizza topped with roasted New Mexico green chile. In Albuquerque it's on most pizza menus, including ours, where it's called the Zia.
Pizza in Albuquerque comes in most of the styles you'd find anywhere else. There's New York-style, which is what we make. There's wood-fired pizza and Chicago-style too. The city has had pizza places of its own since at least the 1970s, and some of them are still open.
What makes it Albuquerque pizza is that one topping. Ask for green chile on a pizza in most of the country and you'll get a blank look.
What green chile is
Green chile is the New Mexico chile pepper picked before it ripens to red. It gets roasted over a flame until the skin blisters, then peeled and chopped. If you've been in Albuquerque in late summer or early fall, you know the smell, because it's being roasted in parking lots all over town.
It isn't a hot sauce, and it isn't the same as a jalapeño. Roasted green chile tastes a little smoky and a little sweet, with heat that changes from one batch to the next. Some of it is mild. Some of it will get your attention.
It goes on almost everything in New Mexico. The state even has an official question, "Red or green?", which is what a server asks when you order anything that comes with chile.
Why it works on pizza
Pizza is rich. There's cheese, and usually a cured meat with plenty of fat in it. Green chile cuts through that. The heat and the roasted flavor give the slice something sharp to go with all the salt and fat.
That's why pepperoni and green chile turn up together so often around here. The chile does for pepperoni roughly what a pickle does for a burger.
Nobody seems to have written down who first put green chile on a pizza in Albuquerque, so we won't guess.
The Zia
Our green chile pizza is called the Zia. It's a New York-style pie with pepperoni and green chile, and it's on the menu with our other specialty pies.
The name comes from the Zia sun symbol, the red sun with four groups of rays in the middle of the New Mexico flag. The symbol belongs to Zia Pueblo, northwest of Albuquerque.
How to order green chile pizza at Slice Parlor
- Get the Zia. Pepperoni and green chile, whole or by the slice.
- Add green chile to something else. It's one of our toppings, so it can go on any pie. It's good with sausage, and good on a plain cheese pie if you want to taste the chile.
- Try the Zia calzone. Ricotta, mozzarella, pepperoni and green chile, folded up and baked.
Every pie we make is sold by the slice all day, so you can try a slice before you commit to a whole pie.
Making green chile pizza at home
Roasted green chile is sold frozen and in jars in most grocery stores in town, and fresh from the roaster in season.
The one thing to know is that it's wet. Chile straight from the tub will leave a puddle on your pizza. Drain it in a strainer, then press it between paper towels before it goes on. Scatter it over the cheese so some of the water cooks off in the oven.
For the rest, see our posts on pizza dough, pizza sauce and baking pizza in a home oven.
Where to find us
Slice Parlor is at 9904 Montgomery Blvd NE, a block east of Eubank in the Northeast Heights. We're open from 11 AM to 10 PM every day for dine in and takeout. We deliver to all of Albuquerque east of the Rio Grande until 9:30 PM.