Pozole Rojo

Maybe you’ve tried pozole rojo at your favorite Mexican restaurant, but I have good news. This super simple, traditional Mexican soup is easy to make right at home on the stovetop, especially if you plan ahead.

Pozole rojo (that’s red, for all you non-español speakers) is one variation of this flavorful soup.The soup gets its red color from the rich enchilada sauce and tomatoes used in the recipe. You can also make pozole verde, which is a light green (verde = green) color and calls for tomatillos.

In a Dutch oven over medium-high heat, melt butter then add onion and garlic. Cook until the onion is tender, then add chicken broth, enchilada sauce, tomatoes, green chilies, salt, cumin, chili powder, oregano, black and red pepper and bring the mixture to a boil.

Once the mixture boils, stir in pre-made pork and hominy. Plan ahead and make slow cooker pulled pork over the weekend so your protein is ready and waiting to soak up the flavorful broth. If you aren’t familiar, hominy is whole corn kernels that have been soaked in a lime solution. We used plenty of the ingredient in our pozole, which fittingly means hominy in Spanish. You can buy dried hominy, ground hominy, or ready-to-use hominy in a can (what we used for this easy pozole). Find it with the other canned vegetables at the grocery store.

After the soup simmers for about 30 minutes, it’s ready to be ladled into bowls and topped with plenty of colorful toppings. Traditional pozole is topped with radishes. We love the added crunch and color they add to the soup. Add a squeeze of lime juice, avocado, a sprinkling of cilantro and mix in hot sauce or chili peppers for a spicier soup.

Each member of the tasting panel was impressed by this easy soup’s depth of flavor. Whether you serve it as a liquid addition to your taco Tuesday spread or warm up with a big bowl on a cool fall night, your family and friends will never know this soup comes together in only 30 minutes.

Pozole Rojo

Yield: Serve 8-10
Author: Hamilton Beach Test Kitchen

Ingredients

½ cup butter
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced (about 1 ½ teaspoons)
4 cups chicken broth
1 can (15 ounces) mild red enchilada sauce
1 can (10 ounces) original flavor diced tomatoes and green chilies
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cumin
½ teaspoon chili powder
½ teaspoon dried oregano
¼ teaspoon coarse black pepper
¼ teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
1 can (15 ounces) hominy, drained and broken apart
2 cups shredded cooked pork (link to slow cooker pork recipe)
1 large lime, cut in wedges
4 large radishes, thinly sliced
1 medium avocado, sliced
1 bunch cilantro, leaves only

Instructions

In a Dutch oven over medium-high, melt butter. Add onion and garlic. Cook until onion is tender.
Add chicken broth, enchilada sauce, tomatoes and green chilies, salt, cumin, chili powder, oregano, black and red pepper. Bring to a boil.
Stir in hominy and pork. Reduce heat to medium and simmer 30 minutes. Pour into bowls and top with lime, radishes, avocado and cilantro.

Notes

For easy meal planning, prepare the pork in a slow cooker. Reserve remaining pork for other meals. To use a slow cooker instead of bringing mixture to a boil and simmering, place cooked onion and all other ingredients except toppings in slow cooker crock. Cook 3 to 4 hours on HIGH or 6 to 8 hours on low. Add toppings as listed above.