This warm and hearty chicken Pozole Verde is a Mexican stew that’s easy to make and includes a mild green chile broth, shredded chicken, hominy. It’s super flavorful, filling and healthy.
I can hardly think of a more flavorful or healthier soup than this easy Pozole Verde recipe. It’s authentic, easy to customize and add toppings you like, and it’s just plain fun to make!
If you’re not familiar with Pozole, it’s a Mexican stew with a chile based broth and hominy. Traditional Pozole is usually made with shredded pork in a red chile sauce, and pozole verde typically includes shredded chicken (although others types of shredded meat would taste great!). No matter what the color, pozole always includes hominy (whole corn kernels), which you can find in the Mexican aisle at the grocery store.
How to Make Pozole Verde:
Simmer chicken in a large stock pot with broth, bay leaves, onion, garlic, salt and pepper for 30 minutes, until cooked through.
Shred chicken and discard skin, bones, onion, garlic, and bay leaves.
Slice peppers in half and remove steam, veins, and seeds.
Broil peppers for 7-10 minutes until skin is charred, then steam and peel.
Blend peppers, cilantro, and tomatillos. Add garlic, onion, and ½ cup broth.
Pour blended sauce in the broth. Add hominy, chicken, oregano, cumin, and salt and pepper.
Serve in bowls topped with cabbage, radishes, avocado, sour cream, tortilla strips, and a lime wedge.
Recipe Variations:
- Vegetarian Pozole Verde: Omit Chicken and substitute vegetable broth. You may want to add a spoonful of better than bullion vegetable base, for a boost of flavor. Add beans (pinto would taste great) and extra veggies, if desired, like sautéed zucchini, diced potatoes, carrots.
- Instant Pot Pozole: Add chicken, broth, onion, garlic, bay leaf, salt to the instant pot and pressure cook for 10 minutes (or 15 minutes for frozen thighs). Meanwhile, prepare the green chile sauce according to instructions. Once timer is up on instant pot, allow pressure to release for 10 minutes before removing the lid, and removing onion and bay leaves from the broth. Shred the chicken and discard bones. Add chile sauce, remaining seasonings and hominy. Pressure cook for 2 more minutes.
- Slow Cooker Pozole: Cook broth in slow cooker on low for 6-7 hours. Discarding onion and bay leaf and remove chicken to a plate to shred. Make and add green chile sauce, chicken, hominy and remaining ingredients and cook on low for 1-2 more hours.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions:
To Make Ahead: The soup tastes great made 2-3 days ahead of time. Add toppings just before serving.
To Freeze: Allow soup to cool and then freeze in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge and rewarm on the stove or in the slow cooker.
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Recipe
Pozole Verde
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 6-8 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs*
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 onion , quartered
- 5 cloves garlic , whole, peeled
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon pepper
- 2 poblano peppers
- 2 serrano peppers
- 1-2 jalapeño peppers , (optional, for extra heat)
- 1 pound tomatillos , husked and halved
- 3 cloves garlic
- ½ of an onion , chopped
- ½ cup fresh cilantro
- 30 oz can hominy , drained
- 1-2 teaspoons dried oregano
- ½ teaspoon ground cumin
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
For topping:
- Cabbage , thinly shredded
- Onion , diced
- Radishes , thinly sliced
- Avocado peeled, seed removed, thinly sliced
- sour cream
- Tortilla chips
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- Add chicken to a large stock pot. Cover with broth. Add bay leaves, quartered onion, garlic, salt and pepper. Bring to a boil, reduce heat to a simmer and cook partially covered until chicken is cooked through, about 30 minutes.
- Transfer the chicken to a plate. Use a slotted spoon to discard onion, garlic and bay leaves. Shred the chicken meat, removing and discarding the skin and bones.
- Lightly spray a jelly roll pan with cooking oil. Wash all of the peppers and cut them in half from stem to end. Remove steam, veins and seeds. (Leave some of the veins and seeds if you want the soup spicier). Place the peppers on a baking sheet cut side down. Broil for about 7-10 minutes or until the skin is charred.
- Immediately place peppers in a plastic bag and tie the bag. Allow them to steam for 5-10 minutes, and then peel off their outer layer of skin (It should come off easily).
- Add the peppers, cilantro and tomatillos to the blender. Add 3 fresh garlic cloves and ½ cup chopped onion. Ladle in about ½ cup of the broth from the chicken and blend until smooth.
- Add blended sauce to the pot with the broth. Add hominy, cooked chicken, oregano, cumin, and season with additional salt and pepper, to taste. Cook for 5-10 more minutes.
- To serve, ladle soup into bowls and top with a handful of thinly shredded cabbage, radishes, a lime wedge, avocado, sour cream, and tortilla strips or crushed tortilla chips.
Notes
Nutrition
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Delicious! I made this for dinner tonight, I used 2 poblano, 1 serrano, and 1 jalapeno because I do not like super spicy.
I’ve made this recipe, exactly as directed, twice now. It’s become my go-to pozole verde recipe. It is SO GOOD! Nothing more delicious and comforting than a beautiful bowl of pozole on a Sunday morning such as this. Thanks for sharing!
The pozole was fantastic! I think it tasted pretty authentic too. One note- when broiling the peppers, I noticed that they were blackened at different rates. I had to pull the smaller (serranos) first and leave the poblanos longer. I also used a paper bag instead of plastic to steam. I left about 60% of the seeds and it was SPICY, but we like that 🙂
My husband lived in Mexico for several years and always talks about “pozole verde.” I surprised him by making this for him when I found it on your blog. He was thrilled and convinced that I bought it from a restaurant. It was so easy, and I have to admit, was so so good. Will definitely be making it more, especially as we get into the fall/winter months.
This soup is amazing! We are three weeks into using Lauren to meal plan and are always amazed. This soup was so fresh and I’m sending it to everyone I know.
That soup it’s wonderful, love it!
o…this has been a go-to fall/winter recipe for me for many years for pot-lucks, book club and in-home company. I usually use Costco rotisserie chicken rather than cooking it from scratch. This time, when the mood struck, I tweaked the recipe a little: roasted the veggies lightly, toasted the hominy, made cilantro/broth sauce separately and added at the end to add color. Also added a bit of shredded fennel to the mix just to use it up. Well, the broth is beyond heavenly but I ruined it by using defrosted frozen chicken that tastes like freezer burn. Dammit~ all in all, this is a great recipe that doesn’t require roasting and skinning the peppers (what a waste of time)…Five stars from me…