Quick Mexican Pozole Blanco
Pozole Blanco is a traditional Mexican pork and hominy stew that is bursting with flavor. This shortcut version transforms leftovers into a hearty meal.
Pozole is a traditional Mexican soup (or stew) made of hominy and pork that is simple to make and features a spread of toppings that lets each person customize their dinner.
What Is Hominy?
Hominy is corn that has been treated to give it a chewy texture, puffy shape, and flavor vaguely reminiscent of a corn tortilla.
Dried corn kernels are soaked in a lime or lye solution to soften the tough outer hulls, in a process that has been done since around 1500 BC.
Once soaked, the kernels are washed to remove the solution and the hulls. The calcium in the solution initiates a chemical change which makes it possible to make masa, the corn flour used in tamales and corn tortillas.
If you've ever made your own corn tortillas with masa harina (a special kind of corn flour), you may have wondered about the difference between masa and plain old corn meal. (I know we have!) The difference is in this process. The chemical change that takes place during soaking in the lime or lye solution makes it possible for masa to form a dough by just adding water. If you tried adding water to corn meal, you'd end up with something quite a bit messier than masa dough.
Aside from making the corn perfect for tortilla-making, the soaking adds additional calcium to the corn and makes some of its nutrients easier to digest.
Where To Find Hominy
Hominy is most commonly found in your grocery store's canned vegetable section. But stores with a large Mexican section will most likely also carry it dried.
To cook it up from dried you simply boil it, like you would a pot of beans.
(See all those white and yellow things in the stew? That's hominy! We decided to try yellow and white for ours, just to see the difference. They were pretty similar in flavor and texture.)
Our Pozole Blanco Recipe
Pozole (pronounced po-so-le) is a traditional Mexican stew.
Like many dishes with a deep-rooted cultural significance, pozole changes quite a bit depending on which region it comes from. But, hominy always remains one of the main ingredients.
This blanco (white) version is cooked in a clear broth, and it seems to be the base for the other variations.
You can also find a red version that uses red chilies and a green version, using green chilies, tomatillos, and other green add-ins.
How To Serve Pozole
Pozole is typically served with a number of toppings. Sliced radishes, shredded cabbage or lettuce, lime wedges, salsa, diced onion, avocado, and tortilla chips are all common additions.
Each person can mix up their own bowl to their taste, adding whatever toppings they like best!
I loved mine topped with radishes and cabbage.
Tim went for the salsa and lime.
No matter how you dress it up, pozole is a hearty comfort food that warms you right up.
Quick Pozole Blanco
Ingredients
- ½ teaspoon salted butter
- 1 onion, diced
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- 2 ½ c chicken stock (we prefer low sodium)
- 1 ½ c cooked pork roast or shoulder, shredded
- 2 (15 oz) cans hominy
- 1 teaspoon oregano
- Salt (to taste)
Optional Toppings
- Sliced radishes
- Shredded cabbage or lettuce
- Lime wedges
- Tortilla chips
- Salsa
Instructions
- Heat butter in a medium soup pot. Add onion and garlic. Saute over medium heat 3-5 minutes, until golden.
- Add chicken stock, pork, drained hominy, and oregano. Bring the mixture to a simmer and simmer, covered over medium-low heat for 20 minutes.
- Prepare your toppings while the soup is simmering.
- Taste the soup and add salt, if needed, before serving with toppings as desired.
Nutrition
Sarah founded Curious in 2010 as a way to save her recipe creations and share culinary experiences. Her love for cultural cuisines was instilled early by her French Canadian Grandmother. Her experience in the kitchen and in recipe development comes from over 10 years working in professional kitchens. She has traveled extensively and enjoys bringing the flavors of her travels back to create easy-to-make recipes.
Any way to convert this to instant pot?
Hi Norma. I am not familiar enough with instant pot cooking to work a conversion for you. Maybe one of our readers can.
And all along I thought hominy was a completely separate plant in the corn family!
I had no idea what hominy was before this dish!
This looks like a deliciously comforting bowl of soupy stew 🙂 We certainly can't get hominy in my part of the world, but I'm guessing you could use some corn kernels at a pinch.
You could use corn for a tasty stew. It would have a bit of a different flavor, but if you served it with corn tortilla strips, you'd get pretty close! Otherwise, we did find this post on making your own hominy from dried corn kernels. We haven't tried it, so if you do, let us know how it turns out. http://www.veggieobsession.com/2011/01/nixtamalization-making-posolehominy.html
I love hominy but I always forget about it!!! This soup looks so yummy, great pick!!
I have never had hominy before, but this stew looks so good that I think I might have to give it a try soon! Excellent choice this month 🙂
I so rarely use hominy, but I love the look of this soup1 Very well garnished.
We had never used it before. But, it has such a fun flavor and texture, I'm glad we discovered it!
Yum! This soup looks prefect for a cold winter day! Great SRC pick!
Yum, you did a fantastic job on the recipe, and described the taste perfectly I haven't made this in awhile, thanks for reminding me about it, I'll have to add it to my menu again soon.
Thanks April! We loved browsing your site!
This sounds great Sarah and I enjoyed the lesson on hominy. Must be the teacher in you coming out LOL.
Thanks Wendy!
Oh my gosh, I've been wanting to try posole forever! This looks so good!
I have never made or tasted pozole... I find hominy quite an intriguing ingredient, and must at some point buy it and experiment with it
your version of pozole is mouth-watering!
Thanks Sally! You should give it a try, it's a fun and unique ingredient to experiment with.