As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Pozole exists in a galaxy of varieties throughout Central and Northern Mexico, and, like many dishes there, mimics the flag’s colors of red, white and green. This is my rendition of pozole verde, green pozole.
If you are not familiar with pozole at all, it is, arguably, the national dish of Mexico. Stripped down, this stew is protein, hominy, water, some sort of onion or garlic, and Mexican oregano. Those ingredients are (or should) be in every pozole worthy of the name.
My pozole verde recipe is essentially my pozole blanco recipe, which is rather spare, with added green things — what green things I’ll get to in a minute. (I also have a recipe for pozole rojo, too, as well as a Sonoran variant called gallina pinta, which has beef and beans.)
Variations on pozole verde exist in a number of places throughout Mexico, from Mexico City to Guanajuato, Michoacan to Guerrero, where it is a huge deal on Thursdays, for whatever reason. There’s even a sort of green pozole in Oaxaca, where they will sometimes make a white pozole, then add a big dollop of mole — and this can be mole verde — that you can stir into your soup.
Flavorwise, if you have never eaten pozole verde, it’s a cascade of Mexican flavors. You get acidic tomatillos, but you get alkaline hominy corn kernels to balance that out, and a bit of brightness from herbs, lime juice and chiles.
It’s not supposed to be über hot, but it does have a nice gentle heat. The stew broth gets a lot of body from toasted, ground-up pumpkin seeds (pepitas), and little shreds of meat round everything out.
I have mixed and matched the additions I’ve seen from these places, but I rely most heavily on pozole verde from Guerrero. I’ve eaten it in many variations, and tip my hat to Chef Rick Bayless in his book Authentic Mexican, as well as the wonderful, yet hard-to-find series of books by the Mexican government that detail the cuisines of each of that nation’s states.
In this case, the book I leaned on most is La Cocina Familiar en el Estado de Guerrero.
Meat in Pozole Verde
The meat in most pozole verde is pork, and that is what I use here. I happen to have access to pig’s heads, which is traditional, but if you don’t have a cabeza lying around, hocks, jowls, shoulder, “country ribs” and even some belly will all do nicely. Vary it up so you have some different colors and textures.
Don’t like pork? Chicken, or something like it, is the way to go. In a perfect world you would use wild pheasants, grouse or a young wild turkey, but a stewing hen or older chicken would be awesome, too. You can find stewing hens in Latin or Asian markets.
If you want to make a meatless pozole verde, I suggest using meaty mushrooms like common button mushrooms, porcini, or chanterelles, whose bright yellow color will look pretty with the green broth.
To make this recipe taste right, you do need tomatillos, pepitas and hominy, which are gigantic kernels of corn. All of these ingredients are common in every Latin market in America, and I’ve seen hominy in regular markets, too. Pepitas are often in regular markets’ “Hispanic Aisle” and can be found in the bulk bins and even in convenience stores as a snack.
I prefer to make my own nixtamal — what Mexicans call hominy — and start with that. Masienda sells a spectacular corn for pozole online, if you are interested. But canned hominy is fine. Just know that if you use canned corn, it goes in towards the end of cooking.
Like chili or Vietnamese pho, pozole verde is one of those stews where half the fun is adding all sorts of toppings at the table. Some pozole recipes add chicharrones and even sardines (!) to their toppings, but I stuck to the more familiar cilantro, avocado, onion and lime. Chopped green chiles would be another good idea. Just keep it green.
Three optional items will make the dish better, but you can skip them if you can’t find them: Epazote, hoja santa, and sorrel. Epazote is a green herb that is pretty easy to find in Latin markets (it’s also a common urban weed), and sorrel can sometimes be found in farmer’s markets. Hoja santa can also sometimes be found dried in Latin markets, but it’s rare fresh unless you grow it.
¡Buen provecho!
Pozole Verde
Ingredients
- 1 pig's head, or 3 pounds pork shoulder, hocks, jowls, or ribs
- 2 pounds nixtamal, or two 28-ounce cans of hominy
- 1 tablespoon of dried oregano, Mexican if possible
- Salt
- 20 tomatillos (not the little ones)
- 2 or 3 serranos or jalapenos, chopped
- 3 tablespoons lard, or other cooking oil
- 1/2 cup pepitas, toasted in a frying pan until aromatic and then ground
- 10 large sorrel leaves (optional)
- 1 small bunch of epazote (optional)
- 3 hoja santa leaves (optional)
- 1 small red onion, minced
- 1/4 cup lime juice
- 1 avocado, diced
- 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- If you happen to be using a pig's head, submerge it in water in a very large pot and bring to a boil. Add the nixtamal, if using. Drop the heat to a gentle simmer and cook for 1 hour. Add the oregano, then keep cooking it until the meat wants to fall off the bone, about 2 1/2 hours. You will want to pull the head before it collapses, however, or things will get messy when you pick off all the meat.
- If you are using nixtamal but not a pig's head, cover the corn with about 1 1/2 gallons of water and cook for 1 hour. Then add all the pork bits you have decided to put in your pozole. Simmer until tender as above. Once tender, break up the meat into bits you'd like to eat in a soup.
- While this is happening, marinate the red onion in the 1/4 cup of lime juice. This removes any sulfur sting from the onion.
- Once the corn is tender, add salt, but not before. Adding salt too early makes the kernels tough. After the meat and corn is all ready, or close to it, make it a green pozole by doing the following:
Making it Green
- If you are using canned hominy, now is the time to stir it into the pot.
- Cover the tomatillos with just enough water to cover and boil. Drop the heat to a bare simmer and let this cook for 15 minutes. Move the tomatillos to a blender and add to the blender the ground pumpkin seeds, epazote, hoja santa and sorrel (or any of these you happen to be using) and the chopped chiles. Buzz into a smooth puree; you might need to add some of the broth from the pozole.
- Heat the lard in a Dutch oven or other large, heavy pot and add the blender mixture. Stirring constantly, cook this on medium-high for about 5 minutes, then scrape it all into the soup pot. Stir well, bring to a simmer and cook at least 10 more minutes, and up to 1 hour, but no more.
- To serve, ladle out some pozole and let everyone top it with the marinated onion, avocado, cilantro and lime.
Notes
Keys to Success
- At least once in your life you need to try the nixtamal version. The corn is so much better. You can actually buy nixtamalized corn from Rancho Gordo, so you don’t need to do the overnight soak.
- An iron rule when dealing with the heads of things: What looks like meat, keep large. What is sketchy, chop small.
- Time is your friend here. You can’t rush good pozole. Do this when you have more time than you need, because you can turn off the pozole and eat it later if it’s done before dinnertime.
- Yes, this works with wild hogs.
- Other topping options besides avocado, red onion and cilantro would be radishes, cabbage, more Mexican oregano, or other herbs like pipicha or pitiona.
- This is not a picante stew. If you want it hotter, use hotter green chiles, or add hot sauce at the end.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Just finished off my Pozole Verde, with pheasant from our recent hunt weekend. Super delicious, even my wife asked for more!
Substituted canned chickpeas for the hominy, just can’t get it anywhere off the shelf. Worked fine. A bag if last season’s tomatillos from the freezer and half a dried Ancho chili just because. Got even better with time.
MEXICAN OREGANO? What is the difference??
Gracias
Bo: Totally different plant, like even a different genus! But regular oregano will work in a pinch. They have similar, if different, flavors. Glad you like the recipe!
Love your food-attitude and great recipies! Inspitational! Thanks!!
Hank,
Looks like a great recipe – on the menu two weekends from now. This weekend is grilling for the Fourth.
Have a great Holiday!
They sell pre-cooked field corn that is frozen now and you can get it at the carnicería. It takes about 2 bags. My husband’s family is in Puebla MX and this recipe is very close to how they do it but they put all the spices in a muñeca, like a spice bag and remove it at the end. Making it for Christmas this year?
How large of a pot do you have for the whole hog’s head to fit? curious, as I have other pig head recipes I am eyeing but I don’t think even our largest pot would contain that and some water.
What size do you recommend? And is this a specialty item pot,( i.e. rstaunrant supply?) or standard but large?
Thanks bunches!
Simone: Often they are sold split, which helps. But I’ve had a bunch of batches where the nose of the pig sticks out. It’s OK. I use a 4 gallon pot.
If split, do you have a preference, left or right? ?
Needed to use up some CSA tomatillo’s, this came out absolutely delicious.
Looks delicious! Would this work with pheasant breasts cooked and shredded?
Sarah: Yep, it would.
I have 2 ruffed grouse and 2 sharp tail grouse. Can I brine and smoke these (likely with alder, or would mesquite be better) and then chop the meat and use it in pozole?
Don: I wouldn’t. I’d just put them in the pot. No need to brine or smoke.
Great
This is my new favorite recipe for wild turkey legs! One leg seemed to be about the perfect amount, and I prepped it in a crock pot until it fell from the bone.
When do you add the hominy? With the meats?
Hank- Love your site and your writing, never a dull read! Forgive my long winded question but here goes. I have two whole rooster pheasants.- I followed your recommendation from your article about hanging pheasants and I just skinned them out today after a nice 5 day stint in my 55 degree Fridge. (I know, I know, I should’ve plucked em but I need the capes.) I LOVE pozole and really want to try your recipe but am wondering if this would be the best way to experience the flavor of hanging birds? If Not, which recipe would you recommend? Thanks,
2BirdTony.
Tony: You suspect right: Pozole isn’t the best way to experience the aged flavor. Try any of the lightly spiced recipes in this section. Maybe the roasted legs with root vegetables?
Hank – I have a really nice rabbit I want to try this with and I see you say it’s ok to use a rabbit but I can’t help but call out the stark difference between rabbit and pork shoulder when it comes to fat content. Do I need to add some fat if using rabbit?
Thanks for all you do!!!!
Flanman: Yep, rabbit is lean. I wouldn’t change a thing, although I might serve more avocado on top to balance it.
any chance you could substitute wild duck?
I assume you add the corn before the final simmer. Can you use cracked dry hominy?
Russ: Yes, directions are pretty clear. For cracked dry hominy, you would need to cook it first. It can take a while to soften.