Decided to stock up this year so I'm starting with 6 lbs. Might do more if the process isn't too much of a pain. TIA!

Grill or broil till skins are charred, put them in a paper bag to help steam off the skins, skin em, seed em, put them in a bag and freeze em

I do them on the grill because it goes faster, but as superunknown said you can broil them. You can also do them over the open flame if you have a gas range.

Broil in oven for about 5 minutes, turn and broil 5 min longer (go longer if not charred). Place in bowl covered with a towel or a paper bag to steam for about 20 minutes. Peel skins under running water in sink and place in ziplock bag to freeze. I place 4 peppers per bag because they're kind of a pain to separate once frozen.

Have done exactly this for several years.

Just a couple of thoughts from my own experiences - YMMV.

First - it's not a terribly quick process when you are doing it in bulk (20-30 minutes+ to roast that amount of peppers, depending on oven space / grill space / torch strength, if not a bit longer).

Then as others have stated, you will want to do something to aid in softening the skin for removal. I personally just put them into a ziploc as I finish roasting a batch and let them sit until they are room temp.

When available I will buy the pre-roasted peppers. HEB carries and them I have seen them two places - being roasted in a big open basket in front of the store and this year I found whole roasted peppers in plastic deli containers in an endcap near the fresh peppers in produce section.

Either way, letting them do this eliminates the first two steps, as they will be sufficiently cooled / steamed when you get home either way.

In terms of cleaning off the charred skin, I have read in a few places (Serious Eats, etc.) that running them under cold water can negatively impact the flavor. So if I am in a patient mood, I will just set up two big bowls and peel skin and set aside clean peppers.

If not, I will just use the cold water method. If the peppers aren't really the star of the dish (i.e., a queso, mixed in a burrito, etc.), then I do not think any potential impact will be too noticeable.

When I've got all the peppers cleaned, I will then stem and seed as much as possible and then I typically dice it all up, portion up and vacuum seal. I do not use whole green chiles in any of my dishes, so I just thaw a bag when I want to use them.

It can definitely be a bit of a time commitment, but I do like having them around for the rest of the year.

I have always vacuum packed them with charred skin/seeds still in place. They are then placed in the freezer, pulled and prepared in the manner I want them on a case by case basis.

I use to roast my own also but once H-E-B got in that game i stopped... much easier to buy roasted, vacuum pack, freeze and be done with it.

Smoke and turn into hatch spice

As others have said, do all the work up front. I buy pre-roasted from Market Street or Central Market (usually MS because it is much closer).

Run water in the sink and rinse/peel the skins, remove the stem, remove seeds, dice, measure, zip lock, freeze.

I put them in 4 and 8oz bags. 4 is great for a batch of quest or tacos, 8 is good when I need more like in a soup.

I just did a big batch this weekend.

Roasted them on Saturday, bagged them up and put them straight into the refrigerator.

Pulled them out Sunday and the skins peeled right off.

I have run them under cold water in the past to get the skins off, but found this was much easier.

I never run mine under cold water. If you're having trouble peeling them, you might need to roast them longer.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Roasting and peeling the skin was easy (if you steam them) but taking out the seeds and stems was very time consuming without rinsing them. I found that splitting them raw and taking out the stems and seeds before roasting worked better.

I roasted a couple pounds of them tonight and then put them in a paper bag and then wasn't able to peel them until a couple hours later. Most of the skins came off fairly easy (the sections that were charred) but there were several that didn't want to come off. Do you have to get all the skins off? Secondly should I try heating them up again and letting them steam and then peeling again? Thanks!

Ttt

Anyone ever pickle hatch chili peppers? Worth it?