Authentic Chicken Pozole Recipe

Chicken soup with Mexican soul.

Authentic chicken pozole recipe (posole) is a hearty, nourishing Mexican chicken and hominy stew that deserves a place on your dinner table, or for a celebration meal.

All About This Authentic Chicken Pozole Recipe

This chicken pozole recipe–or pozole rojo con pollo–is a Mexican chicken and hominy stew, made with homemade red chili sauce, spices, and lots of earthy flavor. Traditionally served for holiday celebrations, pozole (also spelled chicken posole) can also make a good dinner with leftovers.

Artist and food illustrator Marcella Kriebel shared this recipe in the course of our interview for her Unpeeled profile. Marcella is a world traveler, and has found particular connection to Central America, where her extensive travels, cultural immersion, and culinary curiosity resulted in the publication of a work-of-art cookbook, Mi Comida Latina. The cookbook is filled with recipes she learned cooking one-on-one beside women she lived abroad with.

What ingredients are in chicken pozole?

The short answer is: Lots of great stuff!

Chicken pozole is made from nourishing, flavorful ingredients, namely chicken, hominy, guajillo peppers, and fresh toppings like cabbage, cilantro, and lime. Pozole (pronounced poh-ZOLE-eh) makes a fantastic dinner.

The posole recipe page from Marcella’s beautiful cookbook, Mi Comida Latina. / Photo by Marcella Kriebel

Here’s what Marcella says about this pozole rojo recipe:

Pozole is such a classic Mexican dish and I’ve made it a few times while traveling around the country.  The first time was in San Miguel de Allende, a place where I would find fresh fresh maiz trillado in town, at the corn mill.

What Is Hominy?

The name “pozole” (also spelled posole) is both the stew’s name, and the name of one of the staple ingredients, hominy. Native to Central America, hominy, or pozole, refers to the large corn (or maize) kernels that have had their hull rand germ removed to make it soft.

Cooked hominy looks like large, pillowy corn kernels and tastes soft but not mushy. It adds texture and bulk to the soup.

What Are Guajillo Peppers? What can I substitute them in pozole?

The red guajillo chili is the dried version of the fresh mirasol pepper.  This type of pepper is only called guajillo in its dried form.

Guajillo peppers may not be available in all markets, but are easily available online. If necessary, dried ancho chilis are the closest substitute pepper that will probably be available in the supermarket.

Guajillo pepper sauce being strained for the pozole.

Strained guajillo pepper sauce about to go into the stew.

How to Make This Chicken Pozole Rojo Recipe

1. Make the chili pepper sauce: This recipe uses dried mirasol chili peppers, known as guajillo chilis. First, you cook the dried chilis in oil, then cook them with water to rehydrate them, then blend with garlic and onion. Strain. That’s the sauce.
2. Add the sauce to a soup pot with the chicken, chicken broth, and herbs, spices, and hominy. Cook for about an hour.
3. Serve with the toppings.

What Toppings to Serve With Your Chicken Pozole

The toppings are an important element to this lovely Mexican chicken stew, so be generous. Top your chicken pozole with scallions, limes, sliced radishes, avocados, and cabbage, in whatever combination you like.

The finished posole with some (but not all!) the toppings. Almost as pretty as Marcella’s illustration.

If you like this easy pozole recipe, you’ll also like these other Mexican-inspired recipes:

• Mexican Cilantro Lime Rice
• Restaurant-Style Mexican Brown Rice
• Mexican Hot Chocolate
• Eloté Street Corn Salad 

Print Recipe

Chicken Pozole Recipe

This authentic chicken pozole recipe (also spelled posole) makes a hearty traditional Mexican celebration stew. This recipe serves 5 to 7 people, but is easily doubled for a party, which is the traditional way. Adapted from Marcella Kriebel's cookbook, Mi Comida Latina.

Prep Time15 mins

Cook Time1 hr 20 mins

Course: dinner

Cuisine: Mexican

Keywords:: chicken, chicken pozole rojo recipe, chicken soup, dinner, guajillo pepper, holiday, mexican, posole recipe, pozole recipe, stew

Servings: 5 to 7 people (but double it for a holiday or celebration meal!)

Ingredients

For the Pozole Stew

• 3 to 4 guajillo peppers, sliced (alternate: dried ancho chilis)
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 cup water
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled and gently smashed
• ½ white onion, chopped
• 1 ½ pounds boneless chicken breast
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 pint (2 cups) chicken broth, or enough to cover the chicken in the pot
• 20 ounces canned hominy, drained (or two cans' worth)
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt, and more to taste

To Garnish

• 3 scallions, sliced thin
• 1 avocado, diced
• 1 bunch radishes, sliced thin
• ½ bunch cilantro, roughly chopped
• ¼ small head of cabbage, thinly sliced

Instructions

• In a medium-sized pot, heat the chilis with the oil over medium heat. Stir. When soft, add 1/2 cup water (careful; it may spatter a bit), the garlic, and onion. Cook, stirring frequently, until softened, about 10 minutes.
• Purée the chili, garlic and onion mixture, adding water as necessary to loosen it enough to blend. Strain well through a fine strainer, pressing with a spatula. Discard the residue.
• Slice the chicken into strips and add it to the pot with the bay leaves, oregano, chicken broth, strained chili sauce, and hominy. Simmer, partially covered, for one hour. Add the salt. Taste for seasoning and adjust.
• Ladle into bowls, and serve with the garnishes on a plate, family-style.