If you’ve ever had traditional pozole made with pork and red sauce, you’ll love this fresh and flavorful variation. Chicken Pozole Verde combines tender white meat chicken with a homemade Verde sauce. Blending tomatillos, poblano peppers, onions, jalapenos, lime, and cilantro together adds a spicy, bright flair that makes this soup absolutely addictive.
While soup can be a light appetizer or lunch option, we love our hearty soups that are filling enough for a meal. Like our Carnitas Tortilla Soup and Chicken Gnocchi Soup, this Pozole deserves a spot as the main course.
One of our favorite parts of this Pozole is having fun with the toppings. Cabbage, onions, cilantro, radishes, fresh oregano, and onions give this soup the most amazing combination of textures and flavors.
What is Pozole?
Pozole is a traditional, hearty Mexican soup often made with pork but can also feature other proteins like beef, chicken, or seafood, and a broth featuring chilis and hominy. Most pozole (ours included) is loaded high with garnishes like shredded cabbage, radishes, onions, oregano, and other fresh ingredients.
Pozole Verde vs Pozole Rojo
Both Pozole Verde and Pozole Rojo are made in Mexico, but the more traditional and common soup is Pozole Rojo. This hearty soup has a bold red color and even bolder flavor, using two fatty cuts of pork and red chilis like ancho and guajillo.
Pozole Verde often uses chicken, but it can also be made with beans instead for a vegetarian version. It is more acidic and spicy than its red-hued cousin. This version is naturally bright and green in color, featuring tomatillos and green peppers like serrano, jalapeno, and poblano, along with plenty of fresh cilantro.
Both Pozole Verde and Pzole Rojo are topped with generous amounts of fresh garnishes like cabbage, onions, herbs, and more.
How to Make Chicken Pozole Verde
Pozole Ingredients
Pozole Toppings
Process for Pozole Verde
- Pour stock into a large pot, season with salt and pepper and simmer. Season chicken with salt and pepper
- Simmer stock and add chicken breasts and continue to poach until chicken has cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Remove chicken from pot and shred once cool enough to handle. Reserve stock.
- Place tomatillos, garlic, poblano peppers, onion, jalapeno, lime juice, and cilantro into a blender.
- Puree until smooth.
- Pour mixture into a heavy bottom skillet and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir puree into reserved stock and simmer.
- Add shredded chicken and hominy and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings as needed.
- Serve with array of garnishes.
Make Ahead and Freezing Instructions
Make Ahead
This soup is perfect for making on a Sunday and enjoying all week long. Prepare the Pozole as directed and let it cool completely before storing it in the refrigerator for up to 4 days. You can also prepare any garnishes ahead of time and store them separately.
To reheat leftovers, spoon what you’d like into a small pot and warm over the stove for 10-15 minutes.
Freezing
Chicken Pozole Verde is an excellent freezer meal. Prepare as directed, let cool, then store in a freezer-safe container for up to 3 months. Take the soup out of the freezer the night before to thaw, then warm it in a pot on the stove over low-medium heat.
Vegetarian Options
Pozole Verde is often made without meat as a hearty vegetarian soup. To make this a vegetarian recipe, leave out the chicken and replace the chicken stock with vegetable stock. If you want to add protein and make the soup a little more hearty, replace the chicken with pinto beans.
More Delicious Mexican Recipes You Will Love
Chicken Pozole Verde
INGREDIENTS
- 1 1/2 quarts chicken stock
- 1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken breasts (about 2 to 3)
- 1 pound tomatillos, husked and quartered
- 3 garlic cloves
- 2 roasted poblano peppers, skinned seeded
- 1 medium white onion, quartered
- 1 jalapeño pepper, halved and seeded
- 2 limes, juiced
- 1 bunch cilantro
- 28 ounces canned hominy drained
- salt and pepper to taste
garnishes
- shredded green cabbage
- diced white onion
- minced cilantro
- matchstick cut radishes
- minced oregano
- lime wedges
INSTRUCTIONS
- Pour stock into a large pot, season with salt and pepper and simmer. Season chicken with salt and pepper
- Simmer stock and add chicken breasts and continue to poach until chicken has cooked through, 12 to 15 minutes.
- Remove chicken from pot and shred once cool enough to handle. Reserve stock.
- Place tomatillos, garlic, poblano peppers, onion, jalapeno, lime juice, and cilantro into a blender.
- Puree until smooth.
- Pour mixture into a heavy bottom skillet and simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season with salt and pepper.
- Stir puree into reserved stock and simmer.
- Add shredded chicken and hominy and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes. Adjust seasonings as needed.
- Serve with array of garnishes.
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Dear Jenny, you made a nostalgic mexican feel back at home. It’s such an easy and delicious recipe. I hadn’t tried it with chile poblano but it’s a nice addition! I prefer it with lettuce but the garnish is everyone’s choice. We also accompany it with tostadas and sour cream :) thank you so much for the recipe!
It makes my heart so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe!! I don’t know why I’ve never thought to add a bit of sour cream and serve it with tostadas, that sounds wonderful!
Do I roast the poblano peppers and peel them or do i just put them in the blend raw ?
We roast them!
Really great if you like the flavor of cilantro. NOTE: grocery-store chicken broth/stock is incredibly high is sodium (salt) so if you’re on restricted intake better be careful how much extra you add OR make your own unsalted.
Yes, re: grocery store chicken stock!…Although you can also find unsalted these days, which is really nice! :)
This looks delicious and sooo beautiful!! It’s like art in a bowl!! Posole Verde is one of my favorite soups of all time I am also going to make this on Cinco de Mayo. ????????????
I love this recipe, it seems pretty easy, although a little off from the original way to make it . Traditionally it is made with tomatillo, serrano peppers and pepitas. I am not so sure how it will turn out with poblano, but I will be sure to give it a try. The only thing that throws me off is that traditionally we top pozole with lettuce, not cabbage.
Hi! Yea, this definitely isn’t a ‘traditional’ recipe. I added the poblano bc a local restaurant i usually order this from uses poblano and i like the flavor it adds. They also use cabbage as the garnish instead of lettuce and i like the added crunch, but totally use lettuce if the cabbage creeps you out! :)