A nourishing soup made with hominy and meat, posole is prepared in a number of ways throughout Mexico. For a bright soup with bold heat, add arbol and ancho chile sauce!
| Level: | Easy |
| Total: | 5 hr 20 min |
| Prep: | 1 hr 10 min |
| Cook: | 4 hr 10 min |
| Yield: | 6 to 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 3/4 cup dried chiles de arbol
- 4 or 5 dried ancho chiles
- 6 cloves garlic (2 smashed, 4 finely chopped)
- Kosher salt
- 2 pounds boneless pork shoulder, trimmed and cut in half
- 2 teaspoons ground cumin
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 1 large white onion, chopped
- 8 cups low-sodium chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano (preferably Mexican)
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 15-ounce cans white hominy, drained and rinsed
- Diced avocado, shredded cabbage, diced onion, sliced radishes and/or fresh cilantro, for topping
Instructions
- Break the stems off the chiles de arbol and ancho chiles and shake out as many seeds as possible. Put the chiles in a bowl and cover with boiling water; weigh down the chiles with a plate to keep them submerged and soak until soft, about 30 minutes. Transfer the chiles and 1 1/2 cups of the soaking liquid to a blender. Add the smashed garlic and 1/2 teaspoon salt and blend until smooth. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl, pushing the sauce through with a rubber spatula; discard the solids.
- Rub the pork all over with the cumin and 1/2 teaspoon salt; set aside. Heat the vegetable oil in a Dutch oven or pot over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 5 minutes. Add the chopped garlic and cook 2 minutes. Increase the heat to medium high. Push the onion and garlic to one side of the pot; add the pork to the other side and sear, turning, until lightly browned on all sides, about 5 minutes.
- Stir in 2 cups water, the chicken broth, oregano, bay leaf, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 1/2 cup to 3/4 cup of the chile sauce (depending on your taste). Bring to a low boil, then reduce the heat to maintain a simmer. Partially cover and cook, turning the pork a few times, until tender, about 3 hours.
- Stir in the hominy and continue to simmer, uncovered, until the pork starts falling apart, about 1 more hour. Remove the bay leaf. Transfer the pork to a cutting board; roughly chop and return to the pot. Add some water or broth if the posole is too thick. Season with salt. Serve with assorted toppings and the remaining chile sauce.
Nutrition Facts
| Serving Size | 1 of 8 servings |
| Calories | 504 |
| Total Fat | 28 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Carbohydrates | 36 g |
| Dietary Fiber | 8 g |
| Sugar | 5 g |
| Protein | 29 g |
| Cholesterol | 81 mg |
| Sodium | 1282 mg |
Reviews
Been making this recipe for years. I sometimes substitute guajillo for chile de arbol for my mom to be able to enjoy it. Mothers Day 2020 we had it my mom’s back yard during the pandemic. This is the ultimate comfort food to share with loved ones. Boneless pork shoulder was on sale yesterday. I have a pot simmering on the stove now. Grateful.
Delicious recipe. Been using this recipe for years!
I have been using this recipe for 3 yrs now and it is a hit Everytime! I alter certain things to taste. If you need more garlic, add more, more salt, add more, more spice add more Adbol chilis. It’s as simple as that. I will always use this recipe!
I don’t know what 363116 is talking about, this tastes absolutely incredible! I didn’t take away or add anything PERFECT just like grandma’s
0 stars it was super dry and had no flavor what so ever. SO overall!! I don’t recommend because it tastes dog water like Drakes new album
How is 3/4 cup of dried Chile arbol an accurate measurement? Do you just scoop and not account for air between the chiles? Do you crush beforehand to get an accurate measurement? By weight would be a lot more helpful
I am from New Mexico (the US state, not Mexico). We use nixtamal corn. Hominy is similar, but is very mushy compared to NM nixtamal corn. We use pork neck bones, onion, garlic, and NM red chile to flavor the stew. The bones add gelatin to the broth and that helps the body of the stew. I add some sage to the stew sometimes. I love posole. I serve it with homemade flour tortillas, sopapillas, or oven bread. Some green onions on top make it yummy.
Absolutely delicious! My brother suggested we make this and it was a huge hit. I should have read the reviews about the heat but after blending the chiles, I knew to continue adjusting it as it cooked rather than add the recommended amount. I served a small dish on the side in case someone wanted a bit more heat. The recommended toppings absolutely took the dish to the best level we could have expected. I did make the pork and broth the night before and skimmed off most of the fat before adding the hominy which I only heated for 30 mins and that was plenty. I look forward to using the extra chili paste for other meals as suggested. Absolutely a dish that we will make again and it is already a family favorite!
This is my go to recipe for pozole! The spice is on point. I’ve made this for pot lucks and holidays and everyone comes back for seconds or thirds! Its amazing! One thing I do change it the recipe is use half beef broth and half chicken. Other than that I don’t change a thing.
I’ve made this with a few modifications BUT I believe the suggested quantity of chiles de arbol is SIGNIFICANTLY HIGH. I have found that (for the dried chiles de arbol I have on hand) using 3 to 4 or 5 is quite enough to get a “pleasurable heat” in the finished product. I also used dried chile ancho and chile guajillo.