Instant Pot Posole

Hearty, comforting, and loaded with flavors, this instant pot posole recipe makes the ultimate satisfying lunch or dinner. If you’ve never tried this classic Mexican soup recipe, you’re in for a treat.

It’s no secret that I love Mexican food. I will eat just about anything that showcases Latino food and say, “Yes, I’d like seconds, please.”

I’m also well known for loving soups and stews, especially if they are as hearty and delicious as this posole soup.

A long time ago when I worked at the Mexican restaurant, I asked one of the cooks, who happened to be Mexican, what his favorite soup was. I expected him to name one of the soups we served: tortilla or albondigas.

To my surprise, he told me that his favorite soup was posole. I had never heard of it and asked him to spell it. He spelled it with a ‘z’, so pozole. He proceeded to tell me that in some regions, people spell it with an ‘s’, so posole, but where he came from, it’s pozole.

I chose to go with the ‘s’ because that’s how I’ve seen it spelled most often since I first heard of posole. How do you spell it?

Another thing that my friend at the restaurant stressed when he talked about this soup is that if you don’t add hominy to it, it’s not really posole and I agree with him. Hominy lends such an earthy flavor and glorious mouthfeel to the soup.

Try it and see.

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Helpful tips

• You will see a few guajillo chile peppers in the ingredient photo but alas, I didn’t use any in the soup because hubby is very sensitive to spicy foods. If you’re interested, here’s a great website on how to toast them.
• If you decide to use the chile peppers, I recommend using only two. That makes the soup moderately spicy. Four would make the posole spicy. Or you can add 1 tablespoon of chili powder.
• After you toast them, you can add the chile peppers to the IP before you seal it. Once the soup is done, remove and discard the cooked peppers.
• Usually, posole is made with meat such as pork but I make mine meatless, with a lot of beans. I just prefer that combination of flavors.
• If you’ve never had hominy before, you are in for a treat. You can buy it from Latino stores and sometimes you can get it at the regular grocery store. I buy mine at nuts.com.
• If you can, buy the hominy uncooked. It’s easy to cook yourself and it tastes a lot better than canned hominy.
• But if you can only get hominy in cans, do that instead of going with canned corn.
• I make the hominy either the night before or earlier in the day that I’m going to make this posole. See recipe card notes for how to cook hominy.
• This posole can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 7 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

What to serve with posole

I love to garnish the soup with sliced avocado, lime wedges, dollops of sour cream, and either tortilla chips or soft flour tortillas.

You can also sprinkle the soup with chopped cilantro, shredded cabbage, shredded lettuce, sliced radish, or Mexican cheese if you like.

How to make instant pot posole

Pre-step

Make the hominy prior to making the soup. See the recipe card note section to see how.

Get out your pressure cooker or instant pot.

Step one

Gather the ingredients – a medium onion, cooked hominy kernels, canned pinto beans, tomato paste, chicken broth, cumin, basil, chipotle powder, salt, garlic and a bay leaf.

Step two

Chop the onion in smallish chunks and add it to the instant pot container. (A)

Step three

Add basil, cumin, salt and chipotle powder. (B)

Step four

Add tomato paste. (C)

Step five

Open the cans of pinto beans, place them in a sieve and rinse and drain them. Add to the instant pot container over the other ingredients. (D)

Step six

Add chicken broth (you can use beef broth if you prefer.) (E)

Step seven

Take a rubber spatula and stir the ingredients until the tomato paste has melted and everything is mixed together. Add a bay leaf. (F)

Step eight

Place the lid on the pressure cooker and seal it. Make sure the venting knob is in the sealed position.

Press the pressure cooker button and set the timer to 10 minutes. Make sure the mode is on normal and the pressure is set to high.

Step nine

After the IP beeps that it’s done cooking, do a quick release after 10 minutes. Make sure you protect yourself by wearing an oven mitt when you move the knob from sealed to venting.

Look at how rich and delicious the posole looks below.

Step ten

Add 2 cups of cooked hominy. (G)

Stir the hominy into the soup so it’s evenly distributed. (H)

Either serve the soup from the instant pot container or transfer to a serving bowl.

I cut some avocado slices and some lime wedges.

Time to serve some soup! I love to squeeze some lime juice into the soup right before I eat it.

It’s so good!

I hope you enjoyed this instant pot posole recipe!

Other instant pot soups

• Whole chicken
• Lentil
• Summer soup

If you’ve tried this recipe, I’d love to know your thoughts in the comments below. I love hearing from you! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM, and PINTEREST to see more of my delicious food and delightful cocktails!