Chicken Pozole Verde is a comforting Mexican stew filled with shredded chicken and hominy in a warm green chile broth. (gluten free, freezer friendly)
Making pozole verde has been on my to-do list since I started the blog back in 2015. That’s quite a long time for me to put something off, but no more – the day has finally come. Today I’m sharing a tasty and delicious and easy and all the good things Chicken Pozole Verde recipe!
*happy dance*
If you don’t know what pozole is, you’re probably wondering what the heck I’m talking about. Pozole (also spelled posole) is a Mexican stew traditionally made with pork and hominy covered in a flavorful chile broth. While there are countless variations, there is one essential ingredient in every recipe.
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- Hominy – it’s a type of maize that’s been soaked and treated with lime. They look like big puffy corn kernels and can usually be found in the Hispanic foods section of your local grocery store. Simply put, without hominy, pozole isn’t pozole.
Other than hominy, you can pretty much add or substitute whatever you’d like! In this recipe, I used chicken instead of pork and made a green chile broth with tomatillos, jalapenos, onions and cilantro.
Growing up, my parents only ever made red pozole so I didn’t really ask them for tips on making pozole verde. I was completely on my own with this one. Luckily I’m very familiar with all of the flavors, so I just worked with what I knew and went from there.
I treated the green chile broth almost like a tomatillo salsa verde, but not as concentrated. To make, I placed boneless skinless chicken thighs, tomatillos, an onion, jalapenos, chicken broth, oregano and salt in a large dutch oven. I covered it partially and brought it to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 40 minutes.
At this point, the chicken will be cooked through and tender. Remove it with a slotted spoon, place it on a plate or cutting board and shred with a fork. Then, remove the cooked tomatillos, onions and jalapenos with a slotted spoon and transfer to a blender. Then add a large handful of fresh cilantro, a cup of the broth and blend until completely smooth.
Add the shredded chicken, blended broth and canned hominy. Cook for another 15 minutes on medium-high heat and that’s it!
A big bowl of warm pozole verde is seriously the best this time of year. That, a bag of tortilla chips and I’m one happy camper. 🙂
I served my pozole verde with some fresh jalapenos (because I like it spicy), lime wedges, sliced radishes, cilantro and more oregano. I also like to mix in a handful of thinly sliced cabbage for a little crunch sometimes, but I completely forgot to do that when I took the photos. #oops If you’ve got cabbage in the house, I highly recommend it!
Looking for more soup and stew recipes? Try these!
- White Bean Chicken Chili Verde Soup
- Mexican Slow Cooker Chicken Posole
- Mexican Chicken Tortilla Soup
Chicken Pozole Verde is a comforting Mexican soup filled with shredded chicken and hominy in a comforting green chile broth. (gluten free, freezer friendly)
- 2 pounds boneless chicken thighs, skin removed
- 1 pound tomatillos, husked and washed
- 1 large onion, chopped
- 3 jalapeño peppers, seeded and chopped (or keep the seeds if you like it spicy)
- 6 cups chicken broth
- 1 tablespoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1 large handful fresh cilantro, stems and leaves
- 1 28-ounce can white hominy, drained and rinsed
- to serve: limes, radishes, jalapeños, cilantro, oregano
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In a large pot or dutch oven, add chicken thighs, tomatillos, onion, jalapeños, chicken broth, oregano and sea salt. Place over high heat and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to simmer and cover partially. Cook for 40 minutes, until chicken is fall-apart tender.
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Transfer chicken to cutting board and shred with a fork. Set aside.
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Using a large slotted spoon, place the cooked tomatillos, onions and jalapenos in a large blender. Add a large handful of fresh cilantro, a cup or so of the cooking liquid and puree until completely smooth.
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Add the shredded chicken, pureed veggies and hominy into the large pot. Stir and cook over medium-high heat for 15 minutes uncovered. Taste and season with salt as necessary.
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Serve with fresh lime juice, radishes, jalapenos, cilantro and oregano.
To make in the slow cooker: Place all ingredients except cilantro and hominy in the slow cooker. Cover and cook for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. 30 minutes before it's ready, transfer the chicken to a plate and shred with a fork. Remove the cooked veggies from the broth with a slotted spoon and transfer to a large blender. Add cilantro to blender and blend contents until completely smooth. Add the shredded chicken, blended veggies and hominy to the slow cooker. Stir, cover and cook for 30 more minutes.
To freeze: Cool the pozole in the fridge. Once chilled, scoop into freezer-safe zip-top bags or containers and freeze. When ready to eat, let frozen container thaw completely in the fridge or defrost in the microwave. Reheat on the stove or in the microwave until completely warm.
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I have made this for our family about 3 times now, and the family can’t get enough. I used to order the red posole with pork at our favorite local Mexican restaurant on the Central Coast of California, but now we live very far away on an island. This was such a fun, fresh tasting recipe, that although hot, seems refreshing on a hot day and brings back a feeling of “home” for this family. My wife is my pickiest eater and even she was going back for seconds! Thanks for this wonderful recipe. Sending you our best.
I’m so happy you liked it! 🙂
After you take the chicken and vegetables out of the broth do you discard the excess or do you add it with the purée????
Hi Brian. Once you take them out of the broth, you blend the veggies in a blender until completely smooth (step 3). Then you add everything back into the same large pot along with the shredded chicken and hominy (step 4) so you have the blended veggies along with all the broth. Does that make sense?
Just made this today for the first time and it was delicious!! My local stores did not carry tomatillos so I used a tomatillo salsa verde. What a great recipe!! Thanks!!
Thanks, Pam!
I have made this soup twice, and my husband and I love it! I personally don’t go as heavy with the Jalapeno peppers, but it’s still great, even on a hot day. can’t wait to try other Isabel Eats recipes!
Hi, I’m in the UK, and I can only get tinned tomatillos – is that what you use? If not, are tinned tomatillos okay to use, do I do anything different?
P.S I’m a fan of your blog, I’ve cooked the chicken tortilla soup and it was the best thing I’ve ever cooked 🙂
Hi Lucy, I’ve actually never seen canned tomatillos here in the US so I’m not sure! If that’s all you have, I would just give it a try and see how it goes.
Hi,
We are making this tonight but we only have bone in chicken thighs, will this still work?
Yes! Chicken thighs will work.
Just made it tonight! Love love love it! I almost want to add more hominy! I’m not an exact recipe follower, I added a bit more chicken and broth to the recipe hence why I think it needs more hominy now. 🤷♀️ Love how simple it was! Thank you 😊
Aw you’re so welcome, Susan. So happy you liked it!
One quick question: do you discard the cooking broth and only use the puréed vegetables, hominy and chicken for the final step, or do you add it all back to the broth? Thank you!
Hi Jay! No, I don’t discard the cooking broth. After blending the tomatillos and veggies, just add it back into the broth along with the hominy and chicken and mix it up with a spoon to combine.
I was wondering the same thing! So couldn’t you just blend it all in the pot with an immersion blender instead of separating to blend?
Yes! You can use an immersion blender if you have one and just do that instead, not a problem at all 🙂
For someone who has never seen a tomatillo, this recipe was very easy to follow. It was good, but a little to sour for my liking though…is there something i can do to remedy that? I assume the tomatillos is what made it sour. Can i use less tomatillos next time, maybe?
Yes, the tomatillos definitely add some sour flavor. I would try using half of the amount next time and see if that helps!
I just made this yesterday for my son’s birthday. I decided to go in blindly and not do my usual test run ahead of time. It was so delicious and everyone loved it!
I’m so happy everyone loved it! And happy late birthday to your son! 🙂
Of using pre made verde sauce how much should I use for this recipe?
Great question. I’ve never made it with a premade sauce, but I would say about 6 cups or so?
I hope I can find hominy here in Norwegian stores, because this looks awesome. I love Mexican food, but it’s not always easy to find the ingredients here (such as tomatillos). Great recipe and beautiful photos.
Thanks you so much 🙂 It’s so unfortunate that some of the ingredients are hard to find, but I hope you’re able to get them at some point. I know you’d love the recipe!
I ran into that issue as well and just substituted potatoes and it was delicious as well. I say even if you can’t find hominy, give it a try, the main flavors are still there!
This looks really good and like an interesting recipe. Like you, I love Mexican food. Also like you, I would never ask my parents how to make a green pozole. Unlike you, my parents don’t know how to cook, so it is not a matter of knowing the difference between red or green. It is more a matter of basic cooking; thank goodness I have your blog.
Hahaha! We definitely share some similarities! 🙂 And differences. Let me know if you make it. I’d love to know what you think! Thank you for all the kind words!
This looks absolutely amazing, so many great flavors you added to this dish, I have never had this, but now it´s on my to-do list!!!
Thank you so much, Albert! I hope you like it! 🙂