How to Make Authentic Pozole Rojo a Rich and Smoky Mexican Soup

- If you love Mexican food as much as I do, you have to try this pozole rojo. It's a rich and smoky soup that is honestly one of the most comforting dishes. It's made with tender pork, hominy, onion, garlic, and layers of flavorful chilies. But do make sure to stay until the end of the video because I'm also gonna tell you a few ingredients that I personally think that you should also leave out of it. This traditional Mexican dish is also a holiday favorite, especially around Christmas because it's just one of those meals that seems to bring everyone together around a table.

Now, there are different versions of pozole including verde, blanco, and what we're making today, which is red or rojo. So if you love my birria recipe, you can think of pozole as its brothier cousin that is cozy, hearty, and perfect for this current soup season. All right, let me show you how to make it. To get started, you'll need three pounds of boneless pork shoulder that's been trimmed of excess fat. So I usually buy a four-pound pork shoulder to give me a little extra wiggle room to remove that fat and still have plenty of meat. You can see here that this pork shoulder has a bit of fat on this side, so I'll just trim that off and any other bits along the way as I slice it up.

Cut the pork into chunks about three inches or so in size. You don't need to measure as we'll eventually shred this meat, so just cut large chunks similar in size so that they cook evenly. Add the pork to a large stock pot along with one white onion. I slice the onion in half and then peel it before adding it to the pot. This, along with one whole head of garlic helps to flavor the meat while it simmers. And you can just cut the tip off the garlic to expose the individual cloves.

Add three bay leaves, two teaspoons of kosher salt, and about 10 cups of water. The water we're adding here will be the base of the soup and you can always add more water for a brothier soup in the future. Though as this recipe is written, it does serve quite a bit, about eight portions, so enough to feed several hungry bellies. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Skim off any foam and impurities that rise to the top with a large spoon. And I just dump that into a small bowl that I have off to the side.

Once that's done, simmer the pork uncovered for one and a half to two hours or until the meat is fall apart tender. And just a quick note that you will have some evaporation of the liquid in the pot, that's to be expected, but if you find that too much is evaporating, you can always loosely cover the pot as well. So while the pork is simmering, let's make the red chili sauce. If you've made my birria recipe, you may have extra chilies already on hand, but for this recipe, you'll need six dried guajillo chilies that look like this and four dried ancho chilies that look like this. Guajillo chilies add a rich and subtly sweet earthy flavor while the ancho chilies amp up the smoky flavor.

Many of you may also remember the small arbol chilies I added to my birria, but I don't add them into my pozole. These are what really kick up the heat, so if you do prefer a spicier pozole, you could always add one to two of them. Slice the ends off the dried guajillo and ancho chilies and shake out all of the seeds. If some of the seeds seem to get stuck around the membrane, you can just stick your finger in there to loosen up the insides, remove any membrane, and get the seeds out. And just remember that you do not want to rub your face or eyes while you're handling any type of chilies. Once the chilies have been deseeded, rinse them in a colander to remove any dust from the outside and then add them to a small pot over medium high heat.

Add enough water to completely cover the chilies, about four cups or so, and then bring them to a simmer. Simmer the chilies for 15 minutes or until they're nice and soft. And while the chilies are simmering, you can roast four garlic cloves and half of a white onion that we'll also be adding to the sauce. I like to broil these ingredients in the oven as it's super easy to get a little char, but you could always saute them in a pan as well. You just don't wanna add raw garlic to a high-powered blender as it can become quite pungent and alter the flavor of the sauce.

I have a special note about this in the recipe card on my website with more details as well. Broil the onion and garlic for four to six minutes until they're both slightly charred and then let them cool to the touch. All right, it is time to make the sauce. Use tongs to transfer the softened chilies from the pot to your high-powered blender. Once that's done, add one cup of the leftover water from soaking the chilies to the blender. Then remove the four roasted garlic cloves from their peel and add them along with the onion to the blender.

Add two teaspoons of Mexican oregano, or in a pinch, you could swap in Mediterranean oregano if that's what you have. Mexican oregano is just a bit stronger and brighter with more citrusy and floral notes. And then add one and a half teaspoons of kosher salt. Blend the sauce together for one to two minutes until it is completely smooth. And this is where a high-powered blender really shines as there's no need to strain the sauce after blending because it really does make it super smooth. And you could just set this sauce aside for the time being. Finally, the last ingredient and main ingredient in this pozole is hominy. And this is what I grab at my local market.

You'll need two 25-ounce cans of white hominy, and make sure to drain and rinse them in a colander in the sink. When your pork is cooked through and super tender, use tongs to remove the onion and garlic, and you can discard these items. Then remove the meat to a cutting board and use two forks to shred it up. If you find that it's not shredding easily, that just means that it needs to cook for a bit longer as it really should fall apart almost on its own. Add the shredded pork back to the large stock pot along with the hominy and red chili sauce. Give that a stir and let it simmer for another hour, partially covered, to let all of those delicious flavors combine. And that, my friends, is how you make pozole.

(upbeat music) But pozole served straight from the pot without any toppings would be a bit boring because this is one recipe that's all about the toppings and it still needs some acid added to it. So ladle the soup into a bowl and have fun zhuzhing it up. More traditional toppings include shredded cabbage, radish, white onion, and cilantro, though you could also add some diced avocado if you have it. But just don't forget to squeeze some fresh lime juice on top as it really adds that necessary finishing touch.

This pozole has big, bold flavor with the perfect amount of heat and smokiness, yet still maintains its light and fresh brothy soup feel. I cannot wait to dig in and take a bite. After smelling it simmer for the last couple of hours, I've gotten very hungry. Let's get a good bite.

So good. And it is richly layered with so much flavor from all of the different chilies, the garlic, the onion, the hominy, the pork is so juicy, so top-notch. And while it is sunny today, you can see the sun coming in, it was cold and rainy yesterday. It's still kind of chilly today. This is the perfect meal for just a cold, chilly day. So again, to reiterate the differences between the pozole and the birria, birria is more of a meat-first stew, and this is more of a hominy-first soup, even though there are a lot of similar ingredients between the two of them. And while some people do like to sear the pork for a little bit more added flavor, I personally like a cleaner, brothier, lighter, fresher soup for pozole.

So I will sear the meat for birria, barbacoa, and a bunch of other recipes though. Now, one ingredient that I do leave out that may be a little controversial depending on what part of Mexico you are from, because again, there is no one right way to make this, but all of the different versions that I have had throughout my travels in Mexico do not use cumin. Cumin is a little bit more Tex-Mex flavor, and you will see cumin used in my birria recipe along with cloves and cinnamon for richer, deeper flavor. But again, pozole is lighter, fresher, hominy-forward soup. So again, all of the times I've had it, I have not used cumin, but I would love to hear your guys' thoughts on if you do or don't use it. And then one other ingredient

that I do not add to my pozole is a vinegar, which again is more commonly used in adobo marinades. It helps to break down more fatty meat. So if you're using beef or goat or lamb, but this pork, as you saw, just it separates and falls apart. It's so tender. It doesn't need the acid to help it break apart. And the brightness and that acid flavor comes from the lime that you squeeze on top on this. Kind of the light, fresh toppings. So that's where you get the acid in pozole and why I don't add any vinegar. And as I mentioned at the beginning, I do not put chilies de arbol, which are the small, hotter chilies in this recipe.

I just don't think it needs it. Again, this is a little bit lighter and fresher and it's got so much flavor on its own. But if you do like a very hot, spicy pozole, you can of course add some into your version. All right, I hope you guys enjoy today's pozole recipe. Don't forget that I have a ton of Mexican recipes on my website. Of course, the birria to barbacoa, ceviche, the best guacamole in the whole wide world. It's been number one on Google for about 10 years. Everything from nachos and of course, all the margarita recipes you could want and have.

I'm actually going to Mexico two more times next year. So you'll have to follow along on my stories and social media for travels. Getting more recipe inspiration, chatting with more chefs in Mexico. So I can bring you some more authentic recipes. And with that, I'm gonna enjoy more of this. We'll see you guys in the next video. (upbeat music)