How To Make Pozole Verde

Hominy, chicken and fresh chiles combine in this Mexican Pozole Verde recipe. The fresh green chiles give it it’s green or verde color. We use dried hominy which we feel has a better texture than the canned hominy. Canned hominy is in an alkaline solution and needs to be rinsed before using.

This recipe is naturally gluten free.

Watch a Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Pozole Verde:

The Ingredients For Pozole Verde

• 1 Cup dried Hominy
• 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
• 2.5 to 3 lbs Chicken thighs
• 1 Onion, chopped
• 4 Tomatillos, chopped
• 2 Serranos, chopped
• 1 Morita, cut into thirds
• 4 Poblanos, seeds and peels remove, divided.
• 1 Anaheim Pepper, seeds and peel removed
• 1 Tbs Epazote
• 2 Tbs Mexican Oregano
• 6 Cups Chicken Broth
• 1/2 cup Cilantro Leaves

Soak the Dried Hominy

We begin this process the night before by soaking the dried hominy. We put the hominy in a pan and cover it well with water. Cover the pan and leave it out overnight.

Strain Off the Water, Add New and Cook the Hominy

On the following day we strain off the water and add new water to the pan. You’ll want sufficient water so the pan doesn’t boil dry. We fill the pan at least a good 2 inches above the hominy. Bring this to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 90 minutes. Strain off any water that is left and the hominy is ready to use.

Roast the Chiles

While the hominy cooks we can prep some more of our ingredients. We need to roast, peel and seed our fresh chiles. We’ll put the 4 anchos and 1 anaheim on the grill and roast them, turning frequently, until the skins have blackened all over. Then we put them in a pot with a lid to steam while they cool.

Remove Chile Stems, Skins and Seeds

When the chiles have cooled we can remove the peels, stems and seeds. We don’t need to worry about keeping the chiles whole so this happens fairly easily.

Cut Ingredients

We will cut up 2 poblanos and 1 anaheim and reserve the other 2 poblanos for later. We’ll also cut our tomatillos, onion, serranos and morita into pieces.

Toast the Pumpkin Seeds

Next we toast the pumpkin seeds. Put them in the dry stock pot over medium heat and toast them, stirring regularly until they pop and turn brown. This should take about 4 minutes. Transfer the seeds to a bowl and return the pan to the heat.

Put Chicken In the Pot

Now we will put the chicken in the pan. We like to use chicken thighs for this as they will stay nice and moist through all the cooking. A combination of thighs and breasts is probably more traditional. We like to have the bones and skins still on the chicken for the flavor of the broth.

Add Chiles, Tomatillos, Onions, Epazote and Mexican Oregano

To the chicken we will add our chopped chiles, tomatillos and onions along with some epazote and Mexican Oregano.

Add Chicken Broth

Then we will pour in the chicken broth. We make our own chicken broth and store it in the freezer for these occasions.

Cook For 40 Minutes

We’ll bring this pot to a boil, reduce the heat and let it simmer for 40 minutes. When it is done, remove the chicken to a plate and let it cool.

Strain the Broth

Now we need to strain off the chicken broth, separating the liquids and solids. We put a large bowl in the sink and put a fine mesh strainer over it. We pour the contents of the pan through the strainer, capturing all the solids.

Blend the Solids

We’ll set the broth aside and put the solids right into the blender. It’s a good idea to let this cool a bit before blending it. Blending really hot food has an element of danger. While it’s cooling you can shred the chicken, discarding the bones and skin.

Add Pumpkin Seeds and Cilantro to the Blender

Now we want to add our toasted pumpkin seeds and some cilantro leaves. We’ll blend this to a fairly smooth paste. There should be enough liquid from the vegetables and chiles but if you need to you can add a little chicken broth to get it to blend.

Cook the Chicken Fat

Now we go back to our stock pot. Heat the pot over medium heat and, using a serving spoon, skim a couple spoonfuls of fat off the top of the chicken broth and add them to the pan. Cook this until the chicken fat turns brown and starts to stick to the bottom of the pan.

Add the Blender Contents

Now we are going to pour in the contents of the blender. This will start cooking right away with the hot chicken fat. Cook for about 30 seconds, stirring and scraping the stuff off the bottom of the pan.

Add the Chicken Broth

We don’t need to cook that too long before we add the chicken broth. We’ll just pour all of it right in the pan and stir to combine.

Add the Hominy

Now that we have the flavor base of our stew we can add in the hominy.

Shred the Chicken and Add It To the Pot

We will shred the chicken and add that to the pot.

Add 2 Poblanos

We’ll cut the two poblanos we reserved into 1 X 1/2 inch strips and add those to the pot.

Simmer For One Hour

Let this simmer all together over low heat for an hour and our pozole is ready to serve.

Serve your pozole verde with warm tortillas or we like it with gluten free cornbread.

Here are some other classic Mexican main dishes you can make:

• Pollo Pozole Rojo
• Enchiladas
• Tinga de Pollo
• Al Pastor Tacos
• Pork Chile Verde
• Chile Rellenos

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