Pozole Rojo with Beef Recipe

A year ago, I was asked to go on a work trip to Mexico. A colleague of mine was supposed to go but unfortunately couldn't make it at the last minute. I am so thankful I had the opportunity to visit Guadalajara, Mexico City, and Monterrey. Everyone there was so kind and there was so much rich and beautiful history to see. Plus, the food was some of the best I've ever had. Sadly, some of the very delicious-looking food included pork (which I don't eat), which means I didn't always get to try it. However, one night, I lucked out when I met a chef who told me his grandmother always made pozole rojo with beef instead of pork. I knew I had to try it. It was so delicious. My favorite part was having all sorts of delicious toppings and garnishes to add to my soup. 

Once I got back to my hotel, I immediately started looking up recipes. I found one that I used for my first batch. Since then, I've made my own version that my family loves.

Don't let the short recipe list (mostly dried peppers, beef, hominy, and a few spices) deceive you - this soup is packed with flavor.

How To Make Pozole Rojo with Beef

Step 1: Gather and prep all your ingredients

Step 2: Lightly roast dried peppers (without seeds)

You can do this either in a pan or in the oven. I roast mine in a cast iron skillet.

Step 3: Bring 3 cups of water to a boil, turn off heat. Add roasted peppers. Cover with lid for 15 minutes.

Step 4: Brown beef short rib in a large stock pot

There's two options here depending on what type of beef you're using. For both beef cuts, you'll first want to heeat up some oil in a large stock pot and season the meeat with salt and pepper. Make sure not to overcword the beef. Brown the meat in batches and place in a bowl or on a cutting board to rest.

• In our original recipe, we use flanken (or Korean-stylye) beef short rib, which we cut into 2 inch pieces.
• However, there are times where our market doesn't have flanken short ribs (or it's costs more) and we'll use a 3lb piece of beef chuck roast instead. In our recipe video, we actually use beef chuck. For this, all you'll need to do is cut the roast into 8 or so smaller pieces, brown each side, and then (after letting it rest for 5 minutes), cut into bite-sized pieces. Often, this is our go-to meat cut for pozole rojo.

Step 5: When the beef is all browned, add garlic, stir until fragrant. Then add browned beef back to the pot.

You only need to stir the garlic for 30 seconds or so before adding the beef

Step 6: Fill pot with hot water, add bay leaf, hominy, cumin, and oregano 

Make sure to drain and rinse the hominy before adding it to the pot

Step 7: Make red sauce (add soaked peppers, garlic, and water to a blender)

Use the water that the peppers have been soaking in.

If you have a smaller blender, you can do this in batches. Since the water is still hot, make sure you don't overfull the blender.

Step 8: Strain red sauce, then add to the pot. 

If you're worried the soup will be too spicy, only add half of the red sauce at first. Then add more to preferred taste.

Step 9: Bring soup to a simmer, cover with lid for 45+ minutes. Season with salt to taste.

Step 10: Remove bay leaves, serve with garnishes

My favorite garnishes include: lime wedges, avocado, red cabbage, radish, and white corn tortilla chips. Jake loves adding fresh cilantro and diced onions to his pozole rojo.

Step 11: Freeze leftovers in your Souper Cubes® tray!

Michelle's Pozole Rojo with Beef Short Rib Recipe

Ingredients

• 2 dried ancho chiles
• 5-6 dried guajillo chiles
• 3-5 chile de árbol (note: these are spicy)
• 8-10 garlic cloves, crushed
• 3 lbs beef flanken short-ribs (cut between rib bones) or beef chuck roast (cut into 8 pieces)
• 2-28oz can of white hominy, rinsed and drained
• 2 bay leaves
• 1-2 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 2 tablespoons of high heat oil (ex: grape seed oil)
• Optional Garnishes: radish, avocado, lime, red cabbage, onion, fresh cilantro

DIRECTIONS:

1. Remove stem and seeds from dried chile peppers. Roast in a pan for 3-5 minutes. Turn often. Make sure you don't burn the peppers. Transfer to a pot with 3 cups of hot water, cover with lid for 15 minutes.
2. Heat up a large stock pot and add 1-2 tablespoons of oil (use any high heat oil, such as grape seed oil). Season beef with salt and pepper, add to pot (in batches) once pot is hot. Once browned, set aside and add new batch of beef. Once the beef is all browned, add half of crushed garlic (4-5 cloves). Stir for 30 seconds. Add beef to pot, stir for 10 seconds. Fill pot with hot water.
3. Make red sauce. Transfer soaked chiles to a blender. Add remaining half of crushed garlic (4-5 cloves). Blend together. Slowly add remaining water. Strain red sauce, add to pot. If you don't like it very spicy, only add half of red sauce at first, then more to preference.
4. Add remaining ingredients to pot: hominy, oregano, cumin, bay leaves. 
5. Bring to a simmer, cover pot with lid for 45+ minutes (90 min is preferred).
6. Season with salt to preference. Serve with optional garnishes.

Looking for other Mexican-inspired freezer meal prep recipes? Be sure to check out our red enchilada sauce and pozole verde de pollo recipes

Don't forget to pick up your own Souper Cubes® trays tray!