During my “off” week just after Thanksgiving, I picked up a pork loin and gave it the Chili Rubbed Pork treatment in my slow cooker. It made a TON of pulled pork, so I ended up popping a few portions of it in the freezer, one of which was destined to become this super easy 30 Minute Posole.
What is Posole?
Posole, or pozole, is a rich stew, typically made with slow-cooked pork, hominy, green chiles, and lots of delicious toppings. The “posole” I made is definitely not authentic, it’s more of a quickie stand-in for the good stuff. Kind of like ramen you buy in a 15 cent pack versus real ramen. If you want to make real posole/pozole, here is an authentic Mexian Pozole recipe so you can see what it’s really all about.
Using the leftover pork helped my “quickie posole” come together really fast, so this is a great way to take advantage of those leftovers on busy nights. Pork is the typical meat for posole, but if you have leftover chicken or beef I say why not go ahead and use that. I think it would be equally as delicious!
What is Hominy?
Hominy, one of the key ingredients in posole, are large maize grains that have been treated with lye, which softens their outer husk and gives them a wonderfully chewy texture. You can find hominy both dried and canned, like beans, but this quick 30 minute posole recipe below uses the canned version for convenience.
What to Serve with Posole
I would absolutely love this soup with cornbread on the side, so I could crumble the cornbread into the soup and soak up all that wonderful broth! A scoop of cooked rice would also be a great topper for the soup to round out the meal.
Sauce it Up!
I used my homemade red enchilada sauce as a base for this soup, which helped thicken the broth and provide a TON of instant flavor. I kept the toppings for my posole simple to keep costs low, but if you want to splurge I think this soup would be awesome with a little shredded cheddar, pepper jack, sour cream, or avocado. The creaminess of any of those toppings would be an excellent contrast to the spicy broth. There’s a lot of room for customization with this one, so have fun with it!
Love southwest flavored soups? Try my Chicken and Lime Soup, Slow Cooker Tortilla Soup, or Red Lentil Mexican Stew.
Easy 30 minute Posole
Servings 6 (1.33 cups each)Ingredients
- 1 yellow onion ($0.14)
- 2 Tbsp cooking oil ($0.04)
- 2 Tbsp flour ($0.02)
- 2 Tbsp mild chili powder* ($0.30)
- 3 oz. tomato paste ($0.33)
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin ($0.05)
- 1/2 tsp garlic powder ($0.05)
- 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper (optional) ($0.03)
- 3/4 tsp salt ($0.03)
- 2 cups water ( $0.00)
- 3 cups chicken broth** ($0.38)
- 1 4oz. can chopped green chiles ($0.87)
- 1 15oz. can hominy ($1.09)
- 1.5 cups shredded pork, chicken, or beef (pre-cooked) ($2.04)
- 1 fresh lime ($0.33)
- 1/2 bunch fresh cilantro ($0.85)
Instructions
- Finely dice the onion, then add it to a large soup pot along with the cooking oil. Sauté the onion in the oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes, or until it is tender and transparent. Add the flour and chili powder and continue to sauté for two minutes more. The mixture will be fairly dry, so stir continuously to prevent burning.
- Add 2 cups water, tomato paste, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne pepper, and salt to the pot. Whisk the ingredients together until the tomato paste is dissolved. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer, at which point it will thicken.
- Finally, add the chicken broth, shredded meat, diced chiles, and hominy (drained). Stir to combine and then heat through (about 10 minutes).
- Cut the lime into wedges and roughly chop the cilantro. Top each bowl with chopped cilantro and a wedge of lime to squeeze over top.
See how we calculate recipe costs here.
Notes
**I use reconstituted Better Than Bouillon to make my broth.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?Mention @budgetbytes or tag #budgetbytes on Instagram!Scroll down for the step by step photos!
How to Make Posole – Step by Step Photos
Begin by dicing one small yellow onion and adding it to a large soup pot along with 2 Tbsp vegetable or canola oil. Sauté the onion in the oil over medium heat until it is soft and transparent. Although 2 Tbsp oil seems like more than needed sauté one small onion, that amount of oil is needed to make the roux in the next step, which provides the thickening power for the soup.
Once the onion is soft, add 2 Tbsp flour and 2 Tbsp mild chili powder. Continue to sauté this mixture for two minutes to toast the flour and chili powder. It may be slightly dry, so stir continuously to prevent burning.
Whisk in 2 cups water, 3oz. tomato paste (1/2 of a 6oz. can), 1/2 tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp garlic powder, 1/4 tsp cayenne pepper, and 3/4 tsp salt, until the tomato paste has completely dissolved. Allow the mixture to come to a simmer, at which point it will thicken. This is basically my Easy Red Enchilada Sauce (plus an onion).
Drain one 15oz. can of hominy (golden or white, your choice) and add it to the pot.
Also add a 4oz. can of diced green chiles.
And about 1.5 cups of pre-cooked, shredded meat (I used pork, but chicken or beef would also work).
Finally, stir in 3 cups chicken broth and heat through. And that’s about it! Really fast, really delicious 30 Minute Posole!
Toppings are one of the most fun parts of posole, so I chopped up about 1/2 bunch cilantro and cut one fresh lime into wedges. The lime juice adds a really nice tart/fresh flavor to the broth.
Top each bowl of the 30 Minute Posole with the chopped cilantro and a wedge of lime. Other fun toppings include: shredded cheese, avocado, sour cream, thinly sliced radishes, tortilla chips, or fresh salsa.
And I’ll openly admit, this is my first time eating hominy. It’s DELICIOUS! It has that really nice corn flavor, but the big kernels have a an awesomely chewy texture. They are, without a doubt, my favorite part of this stew.
We went on a city-wide hunt for Hominy (we live in Canada) and finally found some at a tinsy tiny Mexican grocery (super expensive up North lol). It was a good, comforting soup, and let me use up some of the pulled pork my bf had tucked away in the freezer :)
Ooops… I forgot the stars!
A-MAZE-ZA-ZING! With leftover roasted pork chops, it literally takes less than 30 minutes to make! and it is SOOOOOO good! I used dried, crushed cayenne (and increased the amount) in a double recipe for a potluck at my tiny church – there was NOTHING left but a few lime slices! I had taken some of the broth out so it wouldn’t spill on the way to church, and added a little more pork and rice to that for a crazy-good leftover lunch! The second time I made it, the brothy part was better – I don’t think I let it thicken enough the first time I made the roux – and my hubby invited one of his parishioners for lunch. It was heavenly! I am a new homemaker, Hispanic on my mother’s side, and a native New Mexican. So my skills are not well developed and my standards are extremely high! THIS FIT THE BILL PERFECTLY!
Thank you, Beth!!! You rock!!
This was dekicious. I’ve been craving my grandmother’s menudo. This hit the spot!
This is so taste i made it
This was one of the best soup recipes I’ve ever made! I had made a beef roast in the crockpot and had a lot left over. So I added a little enchilada sauce while slowly reheating. Then added it to the soup- simply amazing! It tasted as if I had it simmering all day on the stove. Thanks!
Love Pozole, I was looking for something to do with leftover carnitas when I found your recipe,It has become my husbands favorite. We love Mexican food and simple is better, thanks
Making toys for family tonight. So far have loved all your recipes, I’m sure this one will be amazing too. I’m using shredded chicken, diced tomatoes, fresh peppers from our gardenew and black beans.
This not toys, darn phone.
I tried it with roasted chicken, it was really good! Thank you for the recipe!
I really like the flavor, but it ended up too spicy for the family. I’ll add more hominy and less chili powder next time.
I made this for lunches this week as the weather is starting to cool down, and it is the perfect ‘lunch’ soup – great flavor (so that I actually look forward to eating my lunch!) and plenty of protein to keep me full til dinner. I used shredded chicken instead of pork since I already had it, but can’t wait to make this again with pork instead! I added a can of pinto beans as well. Topped with hot sauce, cilantro, limes, avocado, and diced onion.
Just made this tonight and all of my kids loved it. My 8th grader even wants to take leftovers for her school lunch tomorrow!!
I made this a few weeks ago and everyone loved it! The husband said it was what’s good about chili and good about vegetable soup in one bowl. I like that it gave me a different way to used up pulled pork!
So this was my first time cooking with hominy, and I freaked out a bit because when I opened up the can, it looked nothing like yours! My local grocery store (in MD) only had one brand (Manning’s), and it was like…completely solid? Definitely no rinsing/draining happening with that. I went ahead and added it to the pot and after heating for a bit, it did break apart into kernels. So I’m not sure what I ate (lol), but it ended up being quite tasty!
Hahaha, that is really weird. :) I bet it was a gel created by the starch in the hominy? Hopefully? Ha.
Do you think I could place all of the ingredients into the crock pot & let it cook all day, or how should I cook the pork☺️
I used up rotisserie chicken breast meat (from 3 chickens!) that I had in the freezer. Everything else I had in the pantry–even the hominy, although the can I had was 28 oz. I put it all in! Likewise, my can of green chiles was a 7 oz can, not 4. So my soup is more like stew, with lots of solids in it. I followed the instructions for sauteeing the onions and cooking the flour and chile powder in a frying pan, then put everything in my crock pot. It will cook all afternoon. L