This is a cozy and warming beef pozole rojo recipe, and it’s as hearty and satisfying as it is flavorful! It comes together in a large pot with chuck roast, hominy, red chile sauce, and a very generous handful of toppings.
Do you love, love, love pozole as much as I do? It’s my top choice for a cozy, satisfying dinner and I’ve made many varieties like chicken pozole and pozole verde (which has green chile broth instead of the red). These are not “quick” or “easy” recipes but food that warms our bodies and souls.
As Regina Schrambling, a food writer and editor at the New York Times so wisely wrote, “Long before there were antidepressants, there was stew.” And this traditional Mexican soup is so good it could get you through anything.
Aside from being solid comfort food, pozole is almost a requirement for many during the holidays. Starting in October with Day of the Dead to Christmas Eve and all the way to the new year and beyond, an enormous pot of the delicious soup can be found in almost every Mexican home.
Beef Pozole Rojo Recipe Overview:
- Flavor: A warm bowl of pozole is quintessential comfort food! The rich, well-seasoned broth and red chile base is balanced with the earthy sweetness of the hominy. This isn’t a spicy soup but you can adjust that to your tastes (more on that below).
- Texture: Every spoonful is packed with tons of texture: tender hunks of meat, chewy hominy, and fresh garnishes like cabbage and pops of minced onion.
- Ease: This takes some time to simmer the meat, toast the chiles, and blend the sauce but it isn’t hard. I would put this at an intermediate level of difficulty.
Ingredients + Possible Substitutions
With so many flavorful ingredients mingling in this dish, this pozole is a whole meal in one. It is also very adaptable, so you can change it up to suit your taste and preferences. For example, you could swap out beef for tender pork shoulder (this recipe is very similar to my pork pozole recipe), or add in your favorite vegetables like corn.
Full ingredients list + instructions are in the recipe card.
- Beef: I like to use a mixture of boneless chuck roast and a bone-in beef shank. The bone adds a lot of flavor to the broth. If you don’t want to cut up the chuck roast you can also use beef stew meat.
- White onion, garlic cloves, bay leaves, kosher salt & Mexican oregano: These aromatic staples make up the foundation of the broth. If you can’t find dried Mexican oregano use dried Mediterranean oregano.
- Hominy: Hominy is the backbone of this soup. You can use dried pozole (which is a different type of dried corn than hominy corn) but you’ll need to soak and cook it first. Some Latin grocery stores also sell prepared pozole but the easiest-to-find option is canned hominy.
- Dried chiles: I always use dried ancho chiles and dried guajillo chiles as red chiles for the red chile sauce. If you’d like it spicier, you can add a few arbol chiles to the mix.
- Seasoning: Aside from the chiles in the red chile sauce, we also use ground cumin and a couple whole cloves.
When using canned hominy, I always blanch it first to get rid of the funky flavor from the can. This is an extra step, but one I think makes a big difference. Cover the drained hominy with 6-8 cups of water then bring to a boil over medium heat. Drain and rinse.
This recipe is essentially a three-step process:
First, boil the beef with the bay leaf and other aromatics to not only cook the beef but make the homemade beef broth. Simply bring everything to a boil over medium-high heat, add a tablespoon or so of kosher salt then lower to a simmer.
Next, make the red sauce.
Lastly, combine the two, along with the hominy to make the pozole. Simmer over low heat to let the flavors meld and enhance each other.
You will need a large 13 quart or bigger Dutch oven or soup pot to make this recipe. My favorites are this one or this one.
You will also need a blender to blend the sauce. I use a high-powered blender like this one.
How Spicy Is This Red Beef Pozole?
The heat level here is up to you! Add spicier dried chiles like chile de arbol or dried chipotle chiles if you like your pozole to have some kick. As written, this pozole isn’t spicy at all. Have you heard of capsaicin? It’s the thing that makes spicy chiles spicy. I like to offer the capsaicin-laden chiles as a garnish so people can make their bowls as spicy as they’d like. Thin slices of jalapeño or serrano pepper are great options.
Favorite Toppings & Sides
Garnishes play a huge role in a bowl of pozole. Toppings such as thinly sliced radishes and green cabbage, sliced avocado, and/or minced white onion, lime wedges, and more dried Mexican oregano cut through and complement the richness and spice. I love garnishing it with fresh cilantro or green onion, too.
And no matter how you customize it, make sure you serve this pozole with lots of warm tortillas. If you have the time and/or energy homemade corn tortillas or flour tortillas make any meal extra special. Tortilla chips are good too.
What To Do With Leftovers?
This recipe makes a big batch which reheats beautifully for lunch or dinner throughout the week. Cool the soup and transfer to an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
More Mexican Soup Recipes
- Caldo de Res
- Sopa de Requesón (Creamy Requeson Cheese Soup)
- Chile-Braised Pork Shoulder Stew
- Vegan Slow Cooker Mexican Vegetable Soup
- Birria Ramen
- Instant Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup
Beef Pozole Rojo Recipe
This is a cozy and warming beef pozole rojo recipe, and it’s as hearty and satisfying as it is flavorful! It comes together in a large pot with chuck roast, hominy, red chile sauce, and a very generous handful of toppings.
Ingredients
For the Beef + Broth
- 2 pounds boneless beef chuck roast or beef stew meat, cubed
- 2 pounds bone-in beef shank
- 1 large white onion, sliced
- 6 garlic cloves, peeled
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon dried Mexican oregano
For the Chile Sauce + Soup
- 2 (25-ounce) cans hominy, drained and rinsed
- 2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 4 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed and seeded
- 1 large white onion, chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled
- 1 teaspoon ground cumin
- 2 whole cloves
- 2 tablespoons kosher salt
- 2 tablespoons [vegetable oil]
Garnishes
- dried Mexican oregano
- minced white onion
- lime wedges
- thinly sliced [radishes]
- thinly sliced green cabbage
- chopped cilantro
- diced avocado
- warm tortillas and/or tortilla chips
- thinly sliced jalapeños
Instructions
- Cook the beef. Combine the 2 pounds of cubed chuck roast, 2 pounds beef shank, the sliced onion, 6 garlic cloves, the 2 tablespoons of salt, the 3 bay leaves and the 1 tablespoon oregano in a large soup pot. Cover with water by 2-inches and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
- Reduce heat to medium-low and skim off any foam. Cover and simmer until beef is very tender, about 3-4 hours.
- Blanch the hominy. Fill a 6-quart pot halfway with water and bring to a boil over high heat. Drain and rinse the 2 cans of hominy. Once the water is boiling add the hominy and let the water return to a boil. Drain and rinse once more with cold water. Set aside.
- Toast and soak chiles. Meanwhile, place the 2 ancho chiles and 4 guajillo chiles in a dry cast iron frying pan or comal and toast on all sides until darker in color and fragrant. Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil and submerge the toasted chiles in the boiling water. Remove from the heat and let soak until the chiles are soft, about 30 minutes.
- Make sauce. Using kitchen tongs, remove the chiles from the water and place in a blender (save the chile water). Add the 1 chopped onion, the 3 cloves garlic, the teaspoon of cumin, the 2 whole cloves, and the 2 tablespoons of salt, and about 1/2 cup of the chile soaking liquid. (This will be very salty but it will end up flavoring the whole soup so don't be alarmed). Blend on high until smooth (you may need to add more soaking liquid to get the blender moving). Set aside while you shred the beef.
- Shred the beef. Once beef is tender and the meat on the shank easily pulls away from the bone with a fork, remove the beef shank from the broth to a large plate or baking sheet and set aside to cool. Once beef is cool enough to handle, shred into bite-sized pieces, removing any gristle or fat or bone.
- Strain broth. Set a strainer over a large bowl or pot big enough to hold the broth. Strain broth into the bowl. Place all the pieces of beef with the meat you just shredded. Discard the remaining solids and wash out the pot you cooked the beef in.
- Fry the sauce. Heat the 2 tablespoons of oil in the pot you used to cook the beef in over medium-high heat. Carefully pour the chile sauce into the hot oil (it will splatter) and stir until sauce is fragrant and fried, about 5-15 minutes.
- Finish soup. Return beef to the pot with the sauce. Add the strained broth and hominy and bring to a simmer. Taste and add more salt if needed.
- Serve. Ladle into big bowls and serve with as many of the garnishes as you'd like. I think it is best to arrange all the garnishes on a big platter and set it in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves.
Notes
- Hominy: Canned hominy is convenient, but you can also use dried pozole, which requires soaking and cooking before adding to the soup.
- Serving Suggestions: Get creative with your toppings! In addition to the suggested garnishes, consider adding shredded lettuce, thinly sliced jalapeños or hot sauce.
- Vegetarian Option: To make a vegetarian pozole, omit the beef and use vegetable broth. You can add dried beans or vegetables like butternut squash, zucchini, or mushrooms for extra flavor and texture.
- Chile Types: This recipe uses ancho and guajillo chiles for a rich, complex flavor. Feel free to experiment with other dried chiles like pasilla or chipotle for a different taste.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 429Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 122mgSodium: 598mgCarbohydrates: 12gFiber: 3gSugar: 3gProtein: 46g
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