In all honesty, with the looks of these older pictures, I’d say it’s time to prepare green chile pozole (pozole verde) right now! I love it so much and I don’t know why I wait so long. I may just have to add it to my menu this week. As many of you know, I have worked at the Hispanic Kitchen site developing recipes for the past few years. It has been such a wonderful experience for me. The site grew so much in the past 4 years that it is currently moving once again to a larger platform as we speak(or type). What this means is that, until the dust settles, many of my older recipes are not available on the site. So I am recovering some of my more traditional Mexican favorites and adding them to my site. In doing so, I am also giving them a little make-over to say with new pictures, in some cases. This recipe can easily be prepared with strictly chicken instead of pork. Or often times, the chicken and pork are both used.




New Pictures! Yay! That what a great excuse to prepare this recipe again!


I had no radishes for my pozole today. So to add color and a little more heat, I added some sliced Fresno chiles.






Green Chile Pork Pozole (Pozole Verde)
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 3 1/2 pounds boneless pork butt, cut into 2-inch pieces
- 1 head of garlic whole bulb of garlic
- 1 medium white onion slice in half
- 6 Poblano peppers or large Anaheim peppers
- 6-8 tomatillos husk removed and washed
- 2-3 jalapenos
- 1 1/2 teaspoons whole cumin seeds toasted and freshly ground
- 1/3 c toasted pepitas(pumpkin seeds)
- Handful of fresh cilantro
- salt to taste
- 1/4 cup fresh epazote if not available use cilantro
- 3 14oz. cans of Mexican-style hominy, drained (maiz pozolero)
- 2 tsps Mexican oregano
Garnish
- Shredded green cabbage or lettuce
- Radishes sliced
- Chile Serrano minced
- Toasted pepitas
- Lemon or lime wedges
- Red or white onion diced
- Mexican oregano
- Cilantro chopped fine
Instructions
Directions:
- In a large pot, combine the pork, garlic, onion and salt. Cover with 12 cups of water. Bring to a boil, skimming the top, reduce heat and cook for a good 2½ to 3 hours. Remove the garlic and onion once pork is tender.
- While the pork cooks, preheat broiler on high. Line a baking sheet with foil paper. Remove the stems and seeds from the poblano peppers. Remove stems from jalapeños.
- Add the poblanos, tomatillos and jalapeños. Broil for 10 to 12 minutes, turning halfway through cooking time. Remove from oven. Transfer the poblanos to a plastic bag and let cool for 15 minutes.
- Peel blistered skins from the poblanos. In the blender, combine the poblano, jalapeno, toasted pepitas, tomatillos, cumin, handful of fresh cilantro, 1 cup of water and salt to taste. Blend until smooth. I use a power blender, so no need to strain the sauce. With a regular blender, you may have to blend it longer or strain it before adding it to soup base. Carefully add it to the pozole and stir well to combine.
- Add 2 teaspoons of Mexican oregano, epazote and the hominy. Stir well to combine. Once it comes to a boil, taste for salt, season as needed. You may want to add a little more water (about 1½ cups) to the pozole. I add the water that comes in the cans of hominy to add more maiz flavor. Cook, partially covered for another 30 minutes. Garnish as desired.
Your food always makes me hungry. You have the gift.
Hi – Could this be made with a whole chicken?
Absolutely it can!
Is this doable in an instant pot or pressure cooker?
I am sure that it is, but you still have to prepare the base ahead of time. Chicken cooks in no time in the pressure cooker. You don’t want to overcook the hominy though because it can get mushy. I would add the hominy afterwards and just let it continue cooking uncovered for 15 minutes.
nice recipe gracias!, you are 2nd generation as I am……according to the census bureau
Terrific recipe, thanks for the inspiration! I make mine entirely different and far less authentic, next time I’m going to do the unheard of and actually follow your recipe, which I hope you will accept as a very high compliment.
It’s rare that a stubborn but experienced kitchen hacker like myself gets to learn, I’m looking forward to it.
Hi Luke! I totally get where you are coming from! Lol! I get anxiety trying to follow recipes from cookbooks, lol! I would be honored if you tried my recipe. That’s the beauty of cooking at home. Giving it our twist! That’s the fun part of cooking! And enjoying tasty homemade food! Thank you for taking the time to write!
Would you use chicken stock along with water in cooking the pork butt first?
No, I typically just add water, not chicken broth. I want just pork flavor, not chicken.
Thanks 🙂
Making this tonight.
Wonderful!
When do you add the PE pitas? Did you mean pepitas instead of hominy in step 4?
Hi Elizabeth, thank you for pointing that out to me. I made the corrections on the instructions.
Hola! I am going to make this pozole this weekend. Quick question… what is pork butt in Spanish, my local butchers only speak Spanish & I have trouble figuring out the cuts. Would it be called Espaldilla? or trocitos?
Well couldn’t you just tell them you need cerdo for preparing pozole. Pork shoulder, paleta de cerdo or pierna de cerdo. Some people like to mix with cuts of pork ribs too.