Pozole Rojo (Red Posole)

ceramic bowl filled with pork & hominy pozole topped with avocado, radish, lime, and more.

5 from 2 votes

Pozole has always been one of my favorite soups. It's a Mexican soup made with tender pork, hominy, and a rich red chili broth. When I can tear myself away from tacos long enough, it's my go-to order at an authentic Mexican restaurant. I've NEVER been able to replicate this soup at home; it's always missing some major umph. My sister Laura, who lives deep in the heart of Texas, did a ton of research, consulted Mexican friend's old family recipes, and has come up with a super authentic and truly extraordinary pozole, perfect for Christmas or a special occasion!

Prep Time10

Cook Time3 45

Total Time3 55

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: Mexican

Servings:

Calories: 478kcal

Author: The Food Charlatan

Ingredients

Searing the pork

3 pounds BONE-IN pork butt* Chopped into 2-inch pieces, save the bone**
1 and 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt for searing pork
2 tablespoons vegetable oil divided

For the soup

10 cups water
1 large onion yellow or white; roughly chopped
10 cloves garlic smashed and left whole
3 tablespoons roasted chicken bouillon base I like the Roasted Chicken flavor of the Better Than Bouillon Chicken base
3 large bay leaves
2 teaspoons cumin
2 teaspoons kosher salt or sea salt (use less if you have table salt!)

Chile sauce

6 dried ancho chiles
8 dried guajillo chiles
3 dried chile de arbol or more, if you like it spicy
1 tablespoon oil split
2 cloves garlic left whole
1 quarter white onion roughly chopped (save the rest to garnish the soup)
2 and 1/2 teaspoons oregano Mexican oregano if you have it
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt or sea salt

Soup

4 cups hominy drained; buy two 25-ounce cans
1 teaspoon white vinegar

Soup toppings

2 limes cut into wedges
1 (10-ounce) package angel hair shredded cabbage
10 radishes very thinly sliced
3/4 white onion finely diced
1 cup cilantro chopped
10 tostadas or tortilla chips
1 sliced avocado optional
Mexican crema or sour cream, optional

Instructions

Start at the store. Find a 3-4 pound bone-in pork butt.* If you can't find a 3-4 pounder, an 8-11 pound pork butt is great; you can just halve it and freeze the rest for later.** Don't get boneless unless you're desperate.
Take it over to the butcher at the grocery store you are at, and ask them to cut the bone out and save it for you. Ask them to chop the rest of the meat into 2 inch pieces.
If you can't find a butcher to do it, follow this tutorial for how to debone the pork. (I'm no meat expert; as I was cutting I kept saying to myself "I'm butchering this" 🤣 don't stress out too much, it's going in soup.) It's ok if there is a decent amount of meat left on the bone. Cut off and discard any large strips of fat. Cut the pork into 2 inch pieces. Measure out about 2 and 1/2 pounds cubed pork butt, PLUS the extra weight of the bone. If there is any meat leftover, freeze it for another meal.*
Sear the pork. Heat a large stock pot or 6-quart dutch oven (your soup pot with the widest bottom is best) over medium high heat. Sprinkle 1 and 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt generously over the cubed pork pieces, on all sides. When the pot is hot, add 1 tablespoon vegetable oil and swirl to coat.
Use tongs to place pieces of pork in the oil, with about 1 inch of space in between. Don't crowd the meat, or it won't brown. Sear the pork pieces for about 1-2 minutes, then flip each piece to sear the other side. The meat will still be raw in the middle. Remove pork to a plate and set aside. Continue searing the meat, adding more oil as necessary, until it is all done. If you have a lot of meat on your bone, sear the bone meat as well.
Make the soup. Add all the meat and the bone back into the pot along with 10 cups of water. Roughly chop 1 large onion. Smash 10 cloves of garlic with the side of a chef's knife, then remove the peels. Add onion and garlic to the soup.
Add 3 tablespoons Better Than Bouillon Chicken base, 3 large bay leaves, 2 teaspoon cumin, and 2 teaspoons kosher salt. Go easy on the salt if you don't have kosher salt.
Bring the soup to a boil over medium high heat, this can take 20-30 minutes. Once the soup is bubbling, turn the meat to low or medium low to maintain a low simmer. Simmer for 1 and 1/2 hours with the lid on. If you don't have bones in your soup, simmer for 2-3 hours total to bring in more flavor.
Remove foam. Every 30 minutes or so, remove the lid and use a large spoon to remove the congealed protein bits (scum) that will form on top of the soup. Any pools of fat should be removed also.***
Prepare the chiles. While your soup cooks, open your packages of chiles and pull out 6 ancho chiles, 8 guajillo chiles, and 3 chiles de arbol (or more if you like it really spicy). Use your fingers or a sharp knife to remove the stems, seeds, and any noticeable veins from all the chiles. We just want the colorful flesh. See photos. Sometimes the stems snap off easily. I used a serrated knife to slice each chile in half, then scraped the seeds out with my hands. The seeds are SUPER spicy, so don't leave them in. As you work, place the flesh of the chilies (no seeds; no stems) into a dry 12-inch skillet.
Prep the veggies you need to make the chili sauce: Smash and peel 2 cloves of garlic. Chop a quarter of a white onion and set it aside (save the rest of the onion for garnishing the soup later.)
Toast the chilies. Drizzle 2 teaspoons of oil over the chilies in the pan, and turn the heat up to medium high. Stir and flip the chilies until they become aromatic, this will only take a minute or two. Don't let them get too black and burned, keep turning them, and when you can smell them a lot, and there are signs of browning, remove the pan from the heat.
Add veggies to pan. Take the pan off the heat for a minute so it cools down a bit. Add the 2 whole cloves of garlic, a quarter of a white onion chopped. Stir the mixture around a bit and move the pan back onto the burner for a second, to toast the garlic slightly.
Add 4 cups water. Bring the water and chilies to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, lower the heat to medium to keep at a simmer, and cook for about 20 minutes. Keep an eye on the peppers, and stir or push with a spoon to keep the chiles under the water or move any that are slightly sticking out. They should be softening.
Make the chile sauce. After 20 minutes, the liquid in the chilies should have reduced quite a bit, to about 1 or 2 cups. Turn the burner off and let it cool down for a few minutes. Carefully transfer the whole mixture to a blender. I love my immersion blender, but there is not enough liquid here, so a regular blender is best.
Blend. Put the lid on the blender and process on the lowest speed, gradually turning the speed up to medium-high, and blend for about 60 seconds until the sauce looks smooth.
Strain the chili sauce. Pour the blended chilies through a small mesh strainer back into the pan you toasted them in, heat off. Use a spoon to really push the blended chili bits into the strainer to get all the sauce into the pan, put your back into it now. Trash the chile remains, and glory in your beautiful red chili sauce in the pan.
Add spices to chili sauce. Add 2 and 1/2 teaspoons oregano and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt to the chili sauce. Turn the burner on to medium high and bring it to a boil. Then turn the burner down to low and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring regularly. This brings out the toasty flavor, give it a sniff. Turn the burner off and set the pan aside til needed.
Back to the soup. Once the soup has cooked long enough that the pork is almost-tender, and the broth is flavorful (give it a taste!), make one final attempt to remove as much of the protein scum and grizzle from the top of the soup with a spoon.**** (See notes if your broth looks unappetizing at this point.)
Add 1 teaspoon white vinegar to the soup.
Add the chili sauce. Carefully pour the chili sauce from the pan right into the soup pot.
Add the hominy. Drain the hominy, don't add the liquid from the can. Add 4 cups hominy to the soup. This is slightly less than the hominy that comes in two (25 ounce) cans.
Bring the soup to a boil over medium high heat. Once boiling, turn down to medium low to keep it at a simmer. Cook at a simmer for 1 to 1 and 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally. If you like a thick pozole, more stew-like, leave the lid off so that some of the liquid evaporates. If you like a thinner broth, put the lid on, only removing it to stir occasionally.
Prepare your toppings. Just before you are ready to eat, prepare the toppings. Cut 2 limes into wedges. Place the 10-ounce package of thinly sliced cabbage into a serving bowl. Thinly (very thinly!) slice about 10 radishes. Finely dice the remainder of the white onion you used for the chili sauce. Chop up about 1 cup of cilantro. Slice 2 avocados, and squeeze on a bit of lime juice if there is a wait time.
Tostadas: Arrange the tostadas on a baking sheet. Right before serving put the tostadas under the broiler for about 2-3 minutes to warm them. (watch them carefully, they'll burn in the blink of an eye!)
Serve. Ladle pozole into large bowls, making sure to leave room for all the toppings. Let each person garnish their own bowl with tostada, lime, cabbage, radish, onion, cilantro, avocado, and Mexican crema. Devour!
Sides. This soup really is a whole meal in a bowl, but if you want some sides I think this cilantro lime cucumber salad or even a fruit salad would be great!

Notes

*2 and 1/2 pounds meat goes in this soup. You need 2 and 1/2 pounds pork butt for this recipe, plus the weight of the bone. Cut off and discard as much fat as you can. You need the bone, and you need a butt, and those are usually sold in about 4-11 pound packages, so you might have to buy more meat than you need. Save the remaining pork for the next time you make this, or use it to make Pork Ramen, another recipe that calls for about a half a pork butt.

**Use other bones if you can't find bone-in pork: If you can't find a bone-in pork butt (a bone-in pork shoulder is a good substitute), buy a boneless pork butt/shoulder, and then find a butcher who will sell you some pig neck bones, or some pig feet, and add that in to the broth when you start. This will help bring the flavor we need for our broth; the meat alone is not going to cut it for this soup. Hopefully it's not too hard to find a bone-in cut of meat. In the states it will be easier to find bone-in cut of pork than it will be to find pig feet. I'm just telling you what your options are! You can omit the bones entirely, but I would add another tablespoon of better than bouillon base, and reduce the salt called for in the soup to 1 and 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt.

***Discarding fat. Remove the fat and scum to a bowl lined with aluminum foil. Don't send it down the drain, it's bad for your pipes. Stick it in the fridge when you're done so that it solidifies, then throw it in the trash.

****Choose whether or not to strain your soup. After the pork has simmered a couple hours, and before adding the chili sauce, make an assessment of the broth based on your preferences. Are there a lot of protein bits at the top? Is there a lot of fat floating on the top? Do your best to skim this from the top with a spoon. But if you had a particularly fatty cut of pork, sometimes it's not enough. Follow these steps:

Use a slotted spoon to remove the pork to a plate. Using a liquid measuring cup, get 2-4 cups of broth at a time from the stockpot, and pour it through a mesh strainer into a fat separator. Pour the strained broth out of the fat separator into a large bowl. Discard the fat. Return all the strained broth to the soup pot, and return the pork to the pot. Continue with adding the chili sauce and follow the rest of the recipe.

CHEATER POZOLE: Preparing the chile sauce is one of the most labor intensive parts of this soup, and if you are short on time, it seems like a simple solution would be to add a large can of enchilada sauce to your soup instead. I haven't tried this! Let me know how it works out if you do it.

Nutrition