Pozole Verde Recipe: Guerrero’s Green Gold That Rocks Your Molcajete
Pozole Verde is Guerrero’s iconic Thursday-night tradition — a vibrant green pozole made with pork, hominy, and a thick, herbaceous sauce of toasted pepitas, tomatillos, green chiles, cilantro, and epazote. Loaded with crunchy toppings like radish, lettuce, onion, lime, avocado, and chicharrón, this bowl delivers deep regional flavor and comfort in every spoonful.
Equipment
- Large stock pot, blender,skillet
Ingredients
- For the broth
- 2 lbs pork shoulder or mix of shoulder + ribs
- 1 lb precooked white hominy drained
- 1 medium white onion halved
- 4 cloves garlic
- Salt to taste
- For the green sauce
- 1 cup pepitas hulled pumpkin seeds
- 1 lb tomatillos husked and rinsed
- 2 –3 serrano or jalapeño chiles stemmed
- ½ cup cilantro leaves
- ½ cup epazote leaves or fresh oregano
- ¼ cup chopped white onion
- 2 cloves garlic
- ½ tsp cumin
- For toppings
- Shredded lettuce or cabbage
- Thinly sliced radishes
- White onion finely diced
- Dried oregano
- Avocado slices
- Lime wedges
- Tostadas or tortilla chips
- Chicharrón optional but outstanding
Instructions
- Cook the Pork and Hominy
- Place pork, halved onion, garlic, and salt in a large pot.
- Cover with water (about 10 cups).
- Bring to a boil, skim off foam, then simmer for 1.5–2 hours until tender.
- Remove onion and garlic.
- Add hominy and simmer 30 minutes more.
- Make the Green Sauce
- Toast pepitas in a dry skillet until lightly golden.
- Boil tomatillos and chiles for 10 minutes.
- Blend tomatillos, chiles, pepitas, onion, garlic, cilantro, epazote, cumin, and 1–2 cups broth until smooth.
- Combine and Simmer
- Pour the green sauce into the pot.
- Simmer everything together for 20–25 minutes.
- Taste and adjust salt.
- Serve and Build Your Bowl
- Ladle pozole into deep bowls.
- Top with lettuce, radish, onion, oregano, lime, avocado, chicharrón, or any combination you love.
- Pozole isn’t a recipe. It’s an experience. Build it like Guerrero does: loud, layered, and generous.
Notes
– Toasting the pepitas is KEY to authentic flavor.
– Adjust chile heat to your liking — serrano brings the fire.
– Pozole tastes even better the next day as the flavors deepen.
– Use pork shoulder for tenderness; ribs add extra richness.
– Always serve with plenty of toppings — it’s cultural, not optional.
– Adjust chile heat to your liking — serrano brings the fire.
– Pozole tastes even better the next day as the flavors deepen.
– Use pork shoulder for tenderness; ribs add extra richness.
– Always serve with plenty of toppings — it’s cultural, not optional.