One-Pot Red Pozole

Nothing hits the spot during cold weather better than soup. That said, who wants to spend the entire day watching a pot on the stove or cleaning up several pots used to get everything prepared? So, I adopted a recipe for Red Pozole to use my Instant Pot, using it first to saute everything, then as a slow cooker to get the meal ready for later and keep it hot for those that arrived home later in the evening. Once it was cooled down, the entire pot, lid and all, went into the frig overnight, before reheating for lunch the next day (and freezing anything left over at that point, to have some other day).

First, go ahead and prep all the meat. If you bought boneless, skinless chicken thighs and a piece of boneless pork, that should not take long – we used a bone-in loin and bone-in chicken thighs, so a bit more prep work was involved, but we ended up with a pork bone that we used for split pea soup later in the week and a bunch of chicken bones and skin that we cooked the next day to make chicken stock (skim off the fat to feed the birds, if you don’t have another use for it).

First, set the Instant Pot on Saute and let a TBS or so of oil heat until you see small bubbles. Add the meat in batches and sauté until browned; removing each batch with a slotted spoon and setting aside until all is done. Don’t worry about any browning bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, they’ll come up later. You may need to add a bit of oil between batches, as it gets absorbed.

Next, chop and saute the onions in another TBS of heated oil. These don’t have to get brown, just translucent. Once at that point, pour in the chicken broth and let it come to a boil, stirring the pan with a wooden spoon in order to loosen up those nice browned bits.

Next, add the meat back to the pot, followed by the dried chiles. The original recipe called for guajillo chiles, which are just down the heat scale from jalapenos. If you don’t have these where you live, just use dried jalapenos with the seeds and membranes removed. Change the cooking setting on the Instant Pot to Slow Cook, put on the lid (either the original lid, set to Venting, so no pressure builds up, or a lid such as this one, that I like due to the small vent hole and the ability to see inside without lifting the lid.

After an hour, you can remove the chiles, add the hominy and oregano, give it a good stir and continue to simmer for another hour longer. If you aren’t going to remove the chiles, you can probably just add these ingredients in the step above and let it simmer for two hours total. If you need to be away longer than that, I’d add a bit more liquid (no more than to the MAX setting on the inner pot).

For hominy, most of the canned varieties contain quite a bit of salt; I used mostly a Mexican brand I can get locally, as the sodium is about half what is in the US brand at the store. If you home-can your hominy, you may have to add salt taste (do it at the end). If you are starting with dried hominy, you’ll want to rehydrate it first, soaking overnight and pre-cooking in water; you can use the same pot, just drain and dry the pot before starting with the rest of the directions.

Serve with your choice of garnishes and let everyone assemble their own bowls. One tip – putting the garnishes on top makes a prettier picture, but it’s a lot easier to eat if you put the cabbage in the bottom (and slice it up a bit smaller than I did for the photos).

Recipe
Red Pozole
Serves 6–8

3 tablespoons canola oil, divided
8 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into bite-size pieces
3 pounds boneless pork, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 onion, diced
3 garlic cloves, smashed
4 cups chicken broth
10 whole dried guajillo chiles (or 3 to 4 jalapenos)
5 (15-ounce) cans hominy, drained
1 tablespoon fresh oregano, chopped, or 1 teaspoon dried

Garnishes:
Shredded cabbage • Thinly sliced radishes • Tortilla chips • Sliced jalapeños • Lime wedges

1. Heat the oil in a the Instant Pot, set on Sauté. Add the chicken and sauté until browned; remove with a slotted spoon and set aside. Replenish the oil, as needed.
2. In the same pot, brown the cubed pork in batches. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside with the chicken.
3. Add a TBS of oil and the onion to the Instant Pot and sauté until translucent and softened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in the smashed garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 1 minute.
4. Pour in the chicken broth, bring to a boil and deglaze the pan.
5. Return the chicken and pork to the pan and set the Instant Pot to Slow Cook.
6. Add the chiles to the pot and simmer, covered, for about 1 hour. Leave the chiles whole; you may remove the seeds and membranes to reduce heat, if desired.
7. Remove the chiles and discard (or not). Add the hominy and oregano and continue to simmer for 1 hour longer.
8. Serve hot with your choice of garnishes.