Veracruz-Style Hominy Recipe

A delicious and simple side dish or plant-based main course of plump hominy made a la Veracruzana or Veracruz-style with tomatoes, green chilies, green olives, capers, and parsley. Meet your new favorite healthy hominy recipe. Vegan and gluten-free!

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I’ve come to that point in winter when even though I still crave comfort foods I am starting to think about the spring that is right around the corner. The slow cooker is still my kitchen workhorse and casserole recipes still play centerstage but my cravings for everything cheese and cream is starting to wane.

This hominy recipe fills this in-between late winter season so nicely. It is warm and hearty with chewy, toothsome hominy and a luscious tomato sauce but hints at a vibrancy lacking in creamier winter foods thanks to the briny pop of pickled green chile, olives, and capers.

Have fun with this recipe and make it your own! Keep reading for the basic steps and a little more about hominy.

What is hominy?

If you aren’t familiar with hominy, it is dried field corn (not sweet corn) that has been soaked in an alkaline solution through a process called nixtamalization. This process softens the tough exterior so it can be removed making the corn nutritious and edible.

Hominy is at the heart of Mexican cuisine but also a Southern staple as well. Hominy casserole and hominy au gratin are popular dishes in the South, not to mention grits.

In Spanish, hominy is called pozole so you will sometimes see it labeled as such. It is the ingredient that gives Pozole, the iconic Mexican chicken and hominy soup its name. In Mexico they grow a specific variety of corn which is called pozole specifically for the soup, Pozole, but it is impossible to find in the US, so we use hominy. What’s not impossible? Me using the word pozole five times in the same paragraph.

Why you should make this hominy recipe

It’s easy! A few vegetables to chop, yes, but after that it comes together really fast, definitely under an hour. Serve with Coconut-Cilantro Rice for a plant-based main course or as a side dish.

More Recipes With Hominy

Red Pozole {Pork and Hominy Stew}

Chicken Chili with White Beans and Hominy

Vegan Pozole Verde

Ingredients

• Hominy
• White onion
• Garlic
• Red bell pepper
• Tomatoes
• Italian parsley
• Green olives
• Capers
• Pickled jalapeños
• Bay leaves
• Lemon
• Salt and pepper
• Olive oil
• Chipotle chili powder
• Tomato paste

How To Make It

1. The first step is to blanch the hominy. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and add the hominy. If you are using canned hominy, cover and remove from the heat immediately. If you are using fresh hominy, let cook until just tender, about 3 minutes then remove from the heat and cover. Let the hominy bloom in the hot water while you prepare the sauce.
2. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the chopped onion and bell pepper and season with salt and pepper. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until starting to brown. Add garlic and cook a minute more. Add tomatoes and continue cooking until tomatoes have broken down into a sauce, about 10 minutes.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add remaining ingredients. Drain hominy and add that as well. Cover and cook until hominy is tender, about 10 minutes.
4. Stir in a handful of fresh parsley and serve as a side dish or with Coconut-Cilantro Rice as a plant-based main.

Different Types of Hominy and How To Cook Them

If, like me, you are lucky enough to live close to a well-stocked Latin grocery store, you will be able to find a few different options when it comes to buying hominy. They all cook a bit differently so let’s go through them one by one.

Canned Hominy

This is the most common type and can be found in any grocery store next to the canned vegetables. It comes in white or yellow, either one is good. Canned hominy is fully cooked however, it has a bit of a funky aftertaste so I like to blanch it in salted water briefly before using it in recipes.

Dried Hominy

You can buy prepared dried hominy online or in some grocery stores and cook it yourself. Make sure when you are buying dried hominy that it is labeled “prepared”. This means it has gone through the nixtamalization process and then dried. It takes a long time to soften dried hominy but you can do it in about an hour in the Instant Pot.

Fresh Hominy

What I like to use is freshly nixtamalized hominy which they sell at my local Vallarta Market. It is plump with incredible chewiness and amazing corn flavor. It is tender but still needs to be briefly cooked before eating. I blanch it like I do the canned hominy, but for 3-4 minutes or until it is tender on the outside with a bit of a bite on the inside. It will continue cooking in the tomato sauce so you don’t want it too soft.

More Plant-Based Recipes To Try!

• Creamy Lentil Soup with Salsa Macha
• Authentic Chile Relleno Recipe
• How To Make Huevos Rancheros At Home
• Vegan Ceviche with Avocado and Lime
• Spicy Vegan Enchiladas
• How To Make Sofrito Black Beans
• Black Bean and Cheese Vegetarian Tamales

Operation delicious dinner

Looking for something satisfying, healthy, and delicious? This hominy recipe checks all the boxes. Give it a try! When you do, snap me a pic and tag me @holajalapeno and #holajalapeno on Instagram so I can see or leave me a comment below (don’t forget to leave a ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating)! Also, make sure to sign up for my weekly newsletter, lots of good stuff there too!

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Resources

Tu Casa Mi Casa by Enrique Olvera