Jalisco-style red broth built on guajillo and ancho chiles, tender pork shoulder and hominy — this is Pozole Rojo the way it should taste, deep and brick-red with a slow, savoury backbone.
It’s one of the 20 recipes inside our Mexican Cookbook, and we’re sharing it in full so you can taste the standard before you buy the book. The hands-on work is minimal — most of the flavour comes from toasting the chiles and letting the pork simmer to fork-tender.
Why this recipe works
Dry-toasting the guajillos and anchos on a comal before soaking wakes up their fruit and smoke, and straining the blended chile base through a fine sieve is what gives the broth its glossy, clean brick-red colour instead of a gritty, dull one.
Ingredients
Pork & hominy
- 400g pork shoulder, cubed
- 400g canned hominy, drained
- 4 dried guajillo chiles, stemmed
- 2 dried ancho chiles, stemmed
Aromatics & broth
- 1 white onion, halved
- 4 garlic cloves
- 2 tsp Mexican oregano
- 900ml pork stock
Optional garnish
- Shredded cabbage, radish slices, lime wedges
Serves 2 · Prep 20 min · Cook 45 min · 610 kcal per serving
Instructions
- Simmer pork. Cover pork, half the onion, 2 garlic cloves, and a pinch of salt with stock. Simmer 35 minutes until fork-tender, skimming foam.
- Toast and hydrate chiles. Dry-toast guajillos and anchos on a comal 20 seconds per side until pliable. Soak in hot broth 15 minutes until soft.
- Blend red base. Blend soaked chiles with remaining onion, garlic, oregano, and a ladle of stock. Strain through a fine sieve into the pot.
- Finish pozole. Add drained hominy to the pot, simmer 10 minutes so flavors marry. Season with salt; broth should be glossy and deep brick-red.
Chef’s tip
Always strain the chile puree — even tiny skin fragments dull the broth’s color and leave a gritty texture on the tongue.
Get the full Mexican Cookbook
Loved this one? It’s a single recipe from a 20-strong collection of Mexican classics built the same way — clear ingredients, exact timings, no guesswork. Grab the full Mexican Cookbook below.
