Y’all I love me some chicken pozole verde. I have ordered it out so much and when I started making it at home, I was able to make it just like I like it. I love mine loaded with chicken, hominy, some good spice and a bomb broth that I can’t help but slurp. This one is just too good to pass up.
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How To Make Chicken Pozole Recipe
Cooking green pozole is quite easy and requires very little active time. Here are the highlights of what goes into making it.
- Make the base. Add the key flavor ingredients: tomatillos, onions, chilis, garlic, and cilantro to a food processor and blend until completely smooth.
PRO TIP: The most important tool you will need for this recipe is a heavy-duty blender or food processor. This mixture will serve as a key component that will perfectly marry with the chicken stock to make the base of your soup.
- Heat the green pozole base and cook for fifteen minutes. Heating the tomatillo mixture over the stove enhances the flavors of the aromatics a bit more. You will see the color change to a deeper green as it cooks.
- Add the remaining heated chicken broth and water to the mixture and whisk together.
- Add the shredded chicken breasts and drained hominy to the pot and stir together. Give it a taste and season with salt and pepper.
- Cook the soup over medium heat until heated throughout then serve.
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- Garnish each bowl of chicken verde pozole with traditional toppings like avocado, lime wedges, radishes, and cilantro.
Chicken Pozole Verde Recipe
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Ingredients
- 2 tomatillos husked and halved
- 1 half medium onion quartered
- 1 poblano chile cored, seeded and quartered
- 1 jalapeno seeded and quartered
- 2 large garlic cloves smashed
- 3 tablespoons cilantro chopped
- 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
- 3 ½ cups chicken stock separated
- Salt & pepper to taste
- 1 cup water
- 2 cooked boneless chicken breasts shredded
- 30 ounces white hominy, drained 2 cans
- Garnish: avocado, lime wedges, radishes and cilantro
Instructions
- In a food processor or high duty blender, add tomatillos, onion, both chiles, garlic, and cilantro and pulse/blend until everything is completely smooth with no chunks.
- Add oil to a medium sized pot over medium heat. Pour green puree in pot along with 1 cup of chicken stock. Whisk together and season with salt and pepper.
- Allow puree to cook, occasionally stirring, until it turns a darker green color. This can take up to 15 minutes.
- While puree cooks, add remaining chicken stock and water to a larger pot over medium heat.
- Once puree is dark green, whisk it into the liquid in the larger pot.
- Next add shredded chicken breasts and drained hominy and stir together until well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
- Cook soup over medium heat until heated throughout then serve.
- Garnish pozole with traditional toppings like avocado, lime wedges, radishes and cilantro if desired.
Notes
How to Store
The beauty of this soup, and really soups in general, is that it’s great to make ahead. It often tastes better when served up the second time around.- Refrigerator: Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to five days.
- Freezer: Freeze it in a freezer-safe container for up to three months.
- Reheat: Return the soup to a pot and heat over medium heat until it’s heated through. If it’s frozen, thaw it out overnight in the fridge. If it needs more liquid, add some water or broth to thin it out.
Nutrition
Recipe Tips
- Make a double batch. Save time later on by prepping an extra batch to save for a quick meal in the future.
- Adjust the spiciness to your own tastes by adjusting the amount of jalapenos used in the soup.
- Chicken time saver tip: Pick up a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store and shred it!
Recipe Help
Yep just swap the chicken for shredded pork instead.
Yep, you can even cook a double batch to save one for a meal later on. Just be sure to let the soup cool completely and store as noted above for the best results.
More Mexican Inspired Recipes to try
If you love comforting soups like Creamy Chicken Noodle Soup, , Chicken Chili, Carrot Ginger Soup, or even Tomato Basil Soup, you will adore this perfectly spiced soup that makes you feel right at home.
*Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating and leave comments below!* Post a photo of how your version of the recipe came out on Instagram (using #grandbabycakes)!!
This post was originally published in April 2018. It has been updated with new images and content.
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I never usually leave comments but, I made this recently and oh my gosh. It is SO GOOD!!! I am going to make it again this week because I’ve been craving it. Thanks so much for this recipe!!
Hooray!!!!!!!! I really adore this recipe so much.
Very good! I let the soup simmer an additional ten minutes to let the flavors marry. I love how easy it is, and yet has such complex flavor.
YES isn’t it so delicious!
Thank you for the wonderful read. I’m currently writing an article on pozole verde myself and love your rendition of the classic recipe. Everything sounds marvelous together and I will be working with your ingredient list and linking to your post. Feel free to share the support! 🙂 again, thank you for making this fun and simple to read!
Wonderful! I hope you enjoy!
I am definitely going to make this..thanks! ?
Enjoy!
Made a double batch of this for dinner tonight. Was delicious! Only change I made was that I charred the poblano pepper over the flame of my stove to get some of that smokiness into the soup. I’ll definitely make again.
Wow that sounds absolutely fantastic! I will have to try that. I’m so glad you enjoyed the soup!
I made this tonight and it was really fantastic! My only changes were no cilantro (I wish I liked it) and adding a little shredded green cabbage to the garnish list. Thanks for sharing.
I’m so so glad you enjoyed it!!!!
Hi. On the first step of instructions you said to add the tomatillos to the blender. Shouldn’t they be boiled first, and chilies too? And for the last step you said to cook soup over medium heat until heated throughout . Usually how long is that? Thanks .
Hi Teresa, no they don’t need to be boiled. The instructions are correct. Also for the heating, it takes between 15-20 minutes depending on how hot you want your soup to be. Let me know how it turns out for you.
This pozole looks great and I really would like to give it a try for the first time. My daughter and husband are very sensitive to spicy foods and peppers and I was wondering just how spicy this is and if there is a substitute to the jalapeño and poblano? Thank you so much.
This soup isn’t too spicy but it definitely has a few notes of spice which you can control by cutting down on some of the jalapeno in the soup. The rest I would keep the same. There really aren’t many substitutions that can be made for this type of soup however.