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.
This recipe is perfection. I was initially leery of the hominy I bought, as it was all clumped together, but it tasted just fine after I brought it apart. The base for this was so simple yet incredibly flavorful. The heat was just right! I wasn’t able to try any toppings this time, but I look forward to doing so next time I make this.
I was looking for a recipe to salvage an awful chicken breast crockpot dish i made last night, and came across yours. It turned out amazing! Thank you for saving our dinner! 😊
My husband loves hominy, so i decicided to use this recipe to give him his hominy fix! He love love loved it! I followed the recipe and used some left over pork I had in the freezer. I used all the toppings suggested and boy was it yummy! It’s a be back at our home!
Agree with comments by C. Estrada. You can write Pozole or Posole, it doesn’t change the intent. If you don’t like the posting create your own food blog, for heaven’s sake, CINTHYA — (interesting spelling).
So delicious!!! My kids loved it also.
Thank you!!
Awesome recipe! My man was feeling sick and he has told me posole soup helps him feel better. I tried this recipe only altering it slightly by adding about 3.5 to 4oz of smoky chipotle peppers to it and he LOVED it. It was my first time making it and I couldnt taste test as I went as I am super sensitive and a wimp with anything spicy.
He claims that it is better than any posole he could buy from any restaurants in our town. So thank you for posting such an awesome recipe that I could make for my wonderful love. :)
Well now that is a compliment! Thank you so much for sharing. I hope he feels better soon!
I made this for the first time it came out really good.
Thank you for the recipe.
Happy to hear it San!
Do you have a pinto posole recipe??? I love this one, but gave vegetarian guests coming asap
No, unfortunately I don’t! :(
we made this tonight! We ate the whole pot! Thank you!
Love it Sam!
I turned this into a crock pot recipe since I didn’t start with leftover pulled pork. I got a pork shoulder on the bone and cooked it in the prepared onion/tomatoe paste mixture, chicken broth, and green chili’s. I added the Hominy for the last 30 minutes to warm. I doubled most ingredients based on the size of pork shoulder I got. It was amazing!
That’s awesome Katie!
what kind of green chiles would you use if you substituted fresh for canned? and how many?
You could use Anaheim Chiles or Big Jim Green Chiles.
Hi my name is Sylvia from Houston, Tx. I had some left over pulled pork I happen to make over the weekend and I came across your recipe for pozole it was perfect, Fast n easy and it turned out great 👍 Thanks for sharing!😋
Where’s the recipe??? Uugghhh
Sorry for the trouble! I’m having trouble recreating the problem. I see the recipe okay. What browser are you using?
Tried getting the recipe, but it will not post. Refreshed several times and the recipe won’t stay put, and getting frustrated.
Can you tell me what browser you are using so I can troubleshoot further?
Is there a reason this recipe is not posted on this page?
Try refreshing your page and seeing now?
I made this last week and would love to make again but the recipe wont come back up for me.
I’m so sorry for the troubles! I’m trying to see what’s going on but I’m having trouble recreating the problem. Can you tell me what browser you are using?
Will make again. I used chicken instead of pork. Added some fresh garlic and then radish, guacamole and tomatillo jalapeño hot sauce as a garnish. We each ate two bowls full!
Se escribe “Pozole” con Z y eso que preparas no es pozole. Investiga antes de subir tus recetas mal hechas.
I have not made this recipe but have heard of this dish and have always wanted to try it. What tips do you have for making a traditional Pozole recipe?
Traditional Pozole will have a very different technique, so it would probably be best to just find a recipe specific for that instead of me trying to summarize the process. :)
I love the pozole from the PBS show, Pati’s Mexican Table. She starts with a white pozole to which you add either red chile puree or salsa verde as desired. It’s a pretty straight forward recipe with very good flavor! That said, I thought I would also try this 30-minute version understanding that it’s a shortcut. Authentic pozole has a number of steps (none of which are difficult, just time-consuming), so it’s nice to have options for weeknight meals that are a little quicker to get on the table. And, though I do like making pozole the ‘long way,’ I readily admit that I used canned hominy every time instead of reconstituting dried hominy. {grin}
Puedes deletrear Posole / Pozole de cualquier manera
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