30-60 min4-6 servingbeef or chicken broth or water

Red Posole With Pork

By Deborah Schneider

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4-6 serving

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30-60 min

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Medium

Red Posole With Pork
Red background with darker red circles

Recipe Details

Course: Main Dishes

Difficulty: Medium

Prep Time: 15 min

Cook Time: 38 min

Total Time: 30-60 min

Cooking Technique: Pressure Cook, Sauté

Cuisine: Mexican

Yield: 4-6 serving

Ingredients

  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • 2 guajillo chiles
  • 2 California or ancho chiles
  • 1 chile de árbol
  • 3/4 cup boiling water
  • 1/2 small white or yellow onion
  • 4 large garlic cloves
  • 2 tsp ground cumin
  • 2 tsp oregano
  • 1 tbsp kosher salt
  • 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
  • 5 1/2 cups beef or chicken broth or water
  • 1 lb meaty pork bones
  • 1 lb beef shank bones or meaty oxtails
  • 1 smoked pork hock
  • 1 1/2 lbs boneless pork shoulder
  • 28 ounces white hominy with liquid
  • Finely shredded green cabbage
  • Hot sauce or red pepper flakes
  • Lime wedges
  • Diced white onion
  • chopped fresh cilantro leaves
  • Warmed tortillas
  • Dried Mexican oregano
  • Sliced radishes
Posole is not just a soup, it’s an event: a big hearty bowl of goodness, sumptuous and filling, and totally worth the effort of a couple of extra steps. The bones are essential; use bigger ones so they are easier to handle at the end. I like to cook a bone-in pork shoulder for this and use the big blade bone. The pork hock adds subtle smoky notes, while the beef bones or oxtails add to the soup’s complexity. Frying the chile puree improves the flavor of the soup, so don’t skip this step.

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Press Sauté—normal/medium on the Instant Pot and heat the 1 teaspoon oil. Add the guajillo, California, and árbol chiles and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 3 minutes, until fragrant. Press Cancel.
  2. Transfer the chiles to a blender and pour in the boiling water. Let soak for 10 minutes, until the chiles have softened, then pour off and discard the water.
  3. Add onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, salt, peppercorns, and 1/2 cup of the broth to the blender. Puree until very smooth, scraping down the blender as needed.
  4. Press Sauté—normal/medium on the Instant Pot and heat the remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Add the chile puree and cook, stirring occasionally, for about 5 minutes, until thickened and slightly darkened; be careful not to burn the puree. Press Cancel.
  5. Place the pork and beef bones and the pork hock in the pot. Arrange the pork shoulder pieces evenly on top. Pour the hominy and its liquid over the meat, then pour in the remaining 5 cups broth.
  6. Secure the lid and set the Pressure Release to Sealing. Press Meat/Stew, then set the cooking time for 30 minutes.
  7. When the cooking program is complete, perform a quick pressure release by moving the Pressure Release handle to Venting. Press the Keep Warm setting.
  8. Open the pot. Using tongs, transfer the bones and the pork hock to a plate; leave the pork shoulder in the pot. When cool enough to handle, remove any meat from the bones and hock, shredding it into bite-size pieces. Add the meat back to the pot; discard the skin and bones.
  9. Using a spoon, skim off and discard as much fat as possible from the surface of the posole. Using the tongs, transfer the pieces of pork shoulder to a cutting board, chop them into 1-inch pieces, and return to the pot. Taste and adjust the seasoning with salt and pepper if needed. Ladle the posole into warmed bowls and serve right away with the cabbage, hot sauce, lime wedges, onion, cilantro, warmed tortillas, oregano (if using), and radishes (if using) on the side.

Notes

VARIATION
For Red Posole with Chicken, substitute 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs for the pork shoulder and reduce the cooking time to 20 minutes. After the pressure has released, using tongs, transfer the chicken to a cutting board, shred with two forks, and return the shredded chicken to the soup., Note To make the posole as fat-free as possible, prepare it in advance, transfer to an airtight container, and refrigerate it for up to 2 days. Before reheating, use a spoon to remove the congealed layer of fat from the surface.

About the chef

Deborah Schneider

Deborah Schneider

The vibrant flavors of Mexican food are celebrated in this enticing collection of 75 fresh and authentic recipes for soups, tacos, burritos, tamales, beans, salsas, desserts, all ready in minutes, thanks to the Instant Pot's revolutionary cooking power.

The best-selling Instant Pot—an electric, programmable pressure cooker—has quickly become one of the most popular kitchen appliances on the market for its hands-off and speedy-fast cooking abilities. The Essential Mexican Instant Pot Cookbook harnesses this revolutionary techonology to create straightforward, streamlined, and delicious recipes for Mexican favorites such as hearty posole soup, sizzling steak fajitas, tender carnitas tacos, cheesy enchiladas, stuffed tamales, classic refried beans, salsas galore, flan, churro bread pudding, and much more.

This complete guide to Mexican cooking with your Instant Pot is authored by Chef Deborah Schneider, a James Beard Award-nominated author and chef/owner of six Mexican restaurants, and includes all of her best tips and tricks, as well as the authentic dishes you'll want to make over and over again. DEBORAH SCHNEIDER was dubbed "the reigning queen of San Diego chefs" by Bon Appétit. She is the author of eight cookbooks, including the James Beard-nominated Cooking with the Seasons at Rancho La Puerta; The Mexican Slow Cooker; Salsas and Moles; and ¡Baja! Cooking on the Edge, which was one of Food & Wine's Best of the Best of 2006.

View All Deborah's Recipes

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