How To Make Pozole in the Instant Pot

Pozole (pronounced poh-SO-lay) is a Mexican soup made with hominy and most often pork — the two are traditionally simmered together until the hominy kernels burst open and the broth takes on that rich, cooked-all-day taste. Some cooks add chiles to the broth, turning the pozole red or green and spicy (like in this pozole rojo recipe), but the easiest (and mildest) pozole to make — especially if you’ve never made it before — is white pozole, which doesn’t have any chiles in the broth at all. 

The recipe I’m sharing here is for my family’s favorite white pozole, which is easy enough to make on a weeknight. Here’s how I do it.

For a weeknight-friendly pozole, I turn to my Instant Pot (or any electric pressure cooker), which makes the soup taste like it’s been on the stove all day but greatly reduces the cooking time. The leftovers last about a week in the fridge, and it freezes and reheats well. 

The key to any version of this dish is to cook the meat first, then use that broth to continue cooking the hominy. With the Instant Pot, you’ll sear the meat with the Sauté function, add the liquid and aromatics, bring it all up to pressure and cook until the meat is tender. Then you strain the broth, add the hominy, and return to pressure.

Any pozole’s most essential ingredient is the corn — more specifically hominy, or big, starchy corn kernels that have been nixtamalized. Mexican or Latin American supermarkets sell canned hominy (like the Goya brand, pictured above), which works for a weeknight version of pozole. You can probably also find this in the global ingredient aisle of a large supermarket. But remember: Regular ol’ canned corn won’t work. Look for hominy specifically.

Pozole is always served with toppings: Typical ones include crunchy shredded lettuce or cabbage, aromatic Mexican oregano, and ground árbol chile powder. In Mexico City, where I learned to make it, they also serve tostadas (made with good corn tortillas; see what to buy here in this corn tortilla explainer) on the side, slathered in tangy Mexican crema (a type of sour cream). For this recipe, I’m also serving the pozole with sliced radishes and lime wedges.

You can find everything else you need at the Mexican supermarket; the Mexican oregano and ground árbol chile are usually sold in little packets near the produce section.

Lesley Téllez is a journalist, entrepreneur, and Mexican cookbook author living in New York City. She’s the author of Eat Mexico: Recipes from Mexico City’s Streets, Markets and Fondas and the co-founder of Eat Mexico. This story is part of a multi-story, multi-recipe package by Lesley sharing her personal, family-friendly approach to Weeknight Mexican.

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