A thick stew of hominy and pork, simmered for hours with red or green chile, onion, garlic and oregano. In New Mexico it is typically served on New Year's Eve.

Posole is the New Mexican form of pozole, a hominy stew known in Mesoamerica since the pre-Columbian era and common among the Pueblo peoples along the Rio Grande. The New Mexican stew is made with hominy and pork, or chicken, simmered for hours and combined with red or green chile, onion, garlic and oregano, and it is typically served on New Year's Eve. In Albuquerque, Indian Pueblo Kitchen lists a red chile beef bone posole and was voted Best Posole in the Best of the City Awards of Albuquerque the Magazine, Sadie's of New Mexico serves pork posole, and El Pinto serves it with Hatch red chile.

Where to eat Posole in Albuquerque

3 editor picks for Posole in Albuquerque, ranked by editorial score. All Albuquerque signature dishes · Posole across every city.

Make it at home

Serves 63 hrIntermediate

Ingredients

  • 1kg pork shoulder, cut into 4 cm cubes
  • 2 cans (800g) hominy, drained
  • 8 dried New Mexico red chile pods, stemmed and seeded
  • 5 cloves garlic
  • 1 yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • Salt to taste
  • Lime wedges, chopped onion, oregano, radishes, for garnish

Method

  1. Toast dried chiles in a dry skillet 30 seconds per side. Soak in hot water 20 minutes.
  2. Blend the chiles with garlic and 2 cups of the soaking water until smooth. Strain.
  3. In a large pot, brown the pork in batches in oil. Set aside.
  4. Soften the onion in the same pot 5 minutes. Add the chile sauce, oregano and salt.
  5. Return the pork to the pot with 8 cups water. Simmer covered 2 hours.
  6. Add the drained hominy and simmer 30 more minutes until the pork shreds easily.
  7. Serve with lime, raw chopped onion, oregano and radish slices in bowls alongside.

Editor tip. The garnish bowls are essential, not optional. Squeezing lime and adding raw onion at the table sharpens the long simmered stew.