New Mexican Pork Pozole Verde

Pozole Broth

Pork – Use a boneless pork shoulder/butt for this recipe. You can use other cuts as well but avoid lean cuts. Tougher, fattier cuts work best for a slow cook like pozole since they’ll become fork-tender, and the fat flavors the dish and keeps the pork from drying out.

Vegetables – I like to use a bit of white onion and garlic in both the broth and the sauce. If you get a large white onion, you can dice half of it and sauté it here. Not a vegetable, but I also add a few bay leaves when you get to the simmering part.

Stock – I use chicken stock here for added flavor, but you could also use water, a mixture, or vegetable broth instead.

Hominy – If you use dry hominy, you’ll want to soak it for a few hours, or overnight. For ease, I suggest two 25oz cans of hominy that only need to be heated through late in the recipe. If you have trouble locating this in the store, it’s typically sold in the Hispanic section.

Salsa Verde (Green Sauce)

Vegetables – For the base of the salsa verde, use a combination of white onion, garlic, Hatch green chiles, tomatillos, jalapeno and/or serrano chiles, and cilantro. I recommend roasting all of these for the best flavor.

Seasoning – I typically keep things simple here with some salt, black pepper, cumin, and Mexican oregano. If you can’t find Mexican oregano (online option), you can use regular oregano instead, but I highly suggest it as it has a different flavor than the more common Mediterranean version. Mexican oregano tends to be stronger with a more citrusy flavor with just a hint of licorice.

Broth – Late into the cooking process, scoop out ½ - 1 cup of the broth that the pork is cooking in. Add just enough to the sauce to help it blend smoothly.

Toppings

You don’t need to use every single item listed here, but these are some of the most common toppings for pozole.

• Sliced radishes
• Diced white or red onion
• Shredded cabbage or lettuce
• Chopped cilantro
• Lime wedges
• Corn or flour tortillas or chips or tostados
• Chicharrónes (fried pork rinds)
• Pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds)
• Sliced or cubed avocado
• Crumbled Cotija cheese
• Mexican oregano
• Sliced jalapenos
• Hot sauce

Make the Broth

Start by chopping the pork shoulder into small chunks. You can trim some of the fat off if there’s a large fat cap on it. Heat a large pot or Dutch-oven over medium-high heat with a bit of oil in it. Place the pork inside and sear it on all sides in batches so you don’t overcrowd the pot. Once seared, set aside.

If the pot is getting dry, add a bit more oil. Dice half the large white onion and sauté it until softened and slightly translucent, about 6-8 minutes. Mince 2-3 garlic cloves and add them in when the onions are about done, cook until fragrant, about 1 minute longer.

Add the seared pork back into the pot and mix with the onions and garlic. Pour some of the stock into the pot and deglaze the bottom with a wooden spoon. Add the rest of the stock and two bay leaves. Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer and cook, uncovered for 1 ½ - 2 hours, until the pork is fork-tender.

Once the pork is tender and cooked through, you can either leave it as-is if you cut it into small chunks, or you can remove the pork and roughly shred it. This is down to personal preference.

Make the Salsa Verde

While the pork is simmering, you can start on the green sauce.

Preheat your oven to broil and move your top rack to the highest position or second highest if the top is too close to the broiler. Drizzle the Hatch chiles with a bit of oil and place them on a foil lined sheet tray. Broil the chiles on all sides until blackened and place them into a plastic storage bag to steam for 10 minutes. Alternatively, you can place them into a large mixing bowl without stacking them and cover the bowl with plastic wrap.

Remove the outer leaves from the tomatillos and rinse them until they are no longer sticky and slice in half. Cut the jalapenos (or serrano) in half and remove the stem and seeds. Place both onto a foil lined sheet tray along with the remaining half of white onion and garlic cloves. Broil 3-5 minutes, until the skin starts to blister and blacken a bit. Remove and set aside.

After the Hatch chiles have steamed for 10 minutes, remove from container and set aside until cool enough to handle. Pull the charred skin off the flesh of the chiles and remove the seeds from the inside of the chile.

Place all the charred vegetables into a blender along with the cilantro, salt, pepper, cumin, and Mexican oregano. Using a measuring cup, scoop out about 1 cup of the simmering broth. Add about ½ a cup to the blender and puree the vegetables. If it feels a little dry or thick, add the rest of the broth. Blend on high until completely smooth. If your blender can’t quite make the sauce smooth enough, you can filter it through a fine mesh strainer afterwards.

Finish the Pozole

Once the broth and pork have cooked long enough for the pork to be tender, you are ready for the final step. As mentioned before, at this point you can remove the pork and shred it if you wish and add it back into the pot.

Strain the hominy from the cans and give it a light rinse. Remove the bay leaves from the pot and add in the salsa verde and hominy. Stir everything until combined and continue simmering until the hominy is heated through, about 10 minutes. The hominy should still have a bit of a chewy texture, so don’t overcook it or it will become mushy. Taste the soup and adjust the seasoning if needed.

Serve hot with various toppings available for people to choose from.

No Fresh Hatch Chiles – While I love cooking with fresh Hatch chiles, their harvest window and availability is quite small, typically just a few weeks in August every year. If you can’t find them fresh, you can usually find them in the Hispanic section of most grocery stores either diced in small cans or already roasted and peeled in glass jars. Though it is a bit more expensive, I recommend the jarred Hatch chilis if you can find them.

Classic Pozole Verde – I love this New Mexican Hatch chile pozole verde recipe, but if you’re looking for a more traditional version, it’s an easy switch. Omit the Hatch chiles and use about 1 ½ pounds of tomatillos, up the jalapenos from 2 to 4, and swap the Hatch with 3-4 poblano chiles instead (or Anaheim if you can’t find poblanos).

Chicken Pozole Verde – If you’d prefer to make this with chicken instead of pork, it’s an easy swap, but requires much less cooking time. You can use almost any cut, but I recommend bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs. The added collagen helps thicken the soup, but you could also use boneless, skinless thighs if you prefer. Cook the thighs for about 30-45 minutes in the broth, then remove them and let them cool enough to handle. Remove the skin and pull the meat off the bones in chunks or shred it if you prefer and continue the recipe as normal.

Quick & Easy Pozole Verde – If you’d love to make pozole verde, but don’t have the time for a long simmer and making your own salsa verde, this variation is perfect for you. Keep in mind that this quick version will lack the depth of flavor from a long simmer, however. Buy a rotisserie chicken or some pulled pork that hasn’t been mixed with BBQ sauce along with a 16oz jar of salsa verde. In a large part, sauté some onion and garlic, then add the chicken stock and bring it to a boil. Lower to a simmer and add in the pulled chicken or pork and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Now add in the rinsed hominy and salsa verde and simmer for another 10 minutes or so, until the meat and hominy is warmed throughout. Serve as usual.

Dutch-Oven – While pozole can be made in a large pot or stock pot, I always recommend a Dutch-oven for this type of cooking. Dutch-ovens usually have a lighter inner ceramic coating making it easier to see how things are cooking, and they cook more evenly and hold their heat well.

Blender – I don’t advocate for a fancy $500 blender for most home cooks, but I do find a massive difference between a cheap $20-30 blender and a good quality blender in the $100 or so range. I recommend this stand blender because it will do a much better job at pureeing things like soup and the salsa verde used in this recipe.

❄️ Storing New Mexican Pozole Verde

First off, never add toppings to the main serving dish of pozole. Serve the toppings table-side so that each person can choose their own toppings. This also makes storing any leftovers easier since you won’t have toppings turning mushy in the fridge inside the pozole.

Once cooled completely, pour the pozole into a large, airtight container, or multiple small ones for individual portions if you prefer. Refrigerated, pozole of any style should last 4-5 days. Toppings will vary depending on what you serve. Chopped onions, shredded cabbage, and sliced radishes or jalapenos can be stored separately in the fridge for 2-3 days. Dry toppings like pepitas, tostadas, tortillas, or pork rinds can be stored at room temperature.

For longer storage, you can also freeze leftover pozole in an airtight container for 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and reheat in the microwave or (preferably) on the stove top.