# Mexican Pozole with Chicken and Hominy

> Pozole is a festive Mexican soup built on large **hominy corn kernels** in **a dried red chilli broth**. What sets it apart is that half the dish is **fresh toppings added on top** — cabbage, radishes, onion and lime — and that contrast is the whole idea of the dish.

**Mexican Cuisine · 120 min · 6 servings · 380 kcal per serving**

Pozole is a very old Mexican dish, made for holidays and big occasions. The corn in it isn’t ordinary corn — it is treated with an ancient method that makes each kernel burst open and turn chewy.

## Ingredients

- 800 g — bone-in chicken thighs
- 800 g — tinned hominy (or large white corn)
- 6 — dried guajillo chillies
- 3 — dried ancho chillies
- 1 — large onion
- 6 — garlic cloves
- 1 tsp — Mexican oregano
- 1 tsp — cumin
- 2 — bay leaves
- 2 l — water
- 200 g — white cabbage, thinly sliced, to serve
- 6 — radishes, sliced, to serve
- 1 — onion, chopped, to serve
- 2 — limes, to serve

## Method

1. **The chicken broth** — Put the chicken thighs in a pot with the water, half the onion, 3 garlic cloves, the bay leaves and salt. Bring to the boil and **skim off the foam**, then simmer over low heat for **45 minutes**. Lift out the chicken and shred it, and strain and keep the broth.
2. **Preparing the dried chillies** — Remove the stems and seeds from the dried chillies, and toast them in **a dry pan for 30 seconds on each side** until fragrant. Don’t toast them any longer — burnt chillies turn bitter, and that bitterness never goes away.
3. **Soaking the chillies** — Soak the toasted chillies in **hot water for 20 minutes** until soft. Blend them with the rest of the onion and garlic, the oregano, the cumin and **a cup of the soaking water** until completely smooth.
4. **Straining the sauce** — **Strain the sauce through a fine sieve**, pressing it with the back of a ladle, and discard what is left in the sieve. This step removes the skins, so the broth turns out silky — it is the difference between a homemade pozole and a restaurant one.
5. **Cooking the sauce** — Heat two tablespoons of oil in the pot and pour in the strained sauce — **it will bubble violently**. Cook it for **10 minutes**, stirring, until it darkens and thickens. This step removes the raw taste of the chillies.
6. **Combining** — Add the strained broth, the rinsed hominy and the shredded chicken. Bring to the boil, then simmer over low heat for **30 minutes** until all the flavours come together. Taste for salt and adjust — pozole needs more salt than you would expect.
7. **Serving** — Ladle the pozole into deep bowls, and put **the toppings on the table** in separate dishes: sliced cabbage, radishes, chopped onion, oregano and lime. Everyone adds their own — that ritual is part of the dish, not a detail.

## Tips

- Don’t burn the dried chillies — exactly 30 seconds on each side.
- Strain the sauce through a fine sieve so the broth is silky.
- Cook the sauce for 10 minutes before adding the broth to remove the raw taste.
- The fresh toppings aren’t garnish — they are half the dish.
- It is better the next day, like all rich soups.

## FAQ

### What can I use instead of hominy?
Large tinned white corn is the closest substitute. Hominy is corn treated with slaked lime (nixtamalisation), so its kernels burst open and turn chewy, with a distinctive flavour. If it isn’t available, large white corn gives an acceptable result.

### What can I use instead of Mexican dried chillies?
Ordinary dried red chillies with a spoonful of smoked paprika and a teaspoon of sweet paprika. Guajillo is sweet and mildly hot, and ancho is deeper, with a raisin-like sweetness — the mix brings the flavour close.

### Can I make it with meat?
Yes — bone-in meat gives a richer broth, but increase the simmering time to an hour and a half. A vegetarian version with mushrooms and beans works too, because the main flavour comes from the chillies, not the meat.

### Why did the broth turn out bitter?
The dried chillies were over-toasted. Just 30 seconds on each side in a dry pan over medium heat — take them off as soon as you can smell them. If they have turned black, throw them away and start that step again.

---

Source: https://hanakoleah.com/en/mexican-cuisine/mexican-chicken-pozole
Edited by: Marwa Mohamed
Last updated: 2026-10-23