Red Chicken Pozole

Add eight cups of chicken broth to a large soup pot. Add 3/4 of the white onion, the cilantro bunch, 20 garlic cloves, oregano, and 2 tsp salt. Bring to a slow boil and add in the chicken breasts and cook until just cooked through and the meat can be shredded.

Remove the chicken once it is cooked and set aside until it is cool enough to shred. Then using a slotted spoon (or you could strain the entire soup) pull out the garlic, onion, and cilantro and add it to a blender. Add 1.5 cups of the cooking broth and blend. Add back to the broth.

Meanwhile, while the chicken is cooking, toast the dried chiles in a saute pan on the stove for 30 second per side over medium heat. They should become fragrant but not burn. It will likely take 3-4 batches to toast all the chiles. Once they are toasted, place them in a large bowl and cover with 2 cups of boiling water. Cover and let sit for 30 minutes.

After the chiles have rehydrated in the boiling water for 30 minutes, add the chiles and their cooking liquid to a blender and blend with the additional 6 garlic cloves and 1/2 tsp salt.

Once the chiles are blended, warm up the vegetable oil in a large saute pan. Add the blended chiles and cook for 8-10 minutes until fragrant, stirring frequently. Then add into the broth and simmer for ten minutes to combine the flavors.

Add hominy to the soup and allow to cook for 7 minutes.

Add shredded chicken broth and simmer for an additional 4 minutes.

Serve in bowls and add your favorite garnishes I love mine with a crunchy baked tortilla, queso fresco, cabbage, and lots of lime juice.

Enjoy! This soup is even better the next day and keeps well! I always make a huge batch.