Pinto Posole
This hearty vegan posole is made with pinto beans instead of pork! This easy Mexican posole recipe is healthy, spicy and delicious. Leftovers taste even better the next day.
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on July 9, 2024
322Comments
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It’s still cold outside! Let’s cozy up with some soup and trust that warm spring weather is on its way. If you enjoy bean-based chili recipes and tortilla soup, you are going to love this pinto posole.
I traded pinto beans for the pork you’ll find in traditional posole recipes, so this stew is vegan. It’s also hearty, spicy and delicious.
You’ll just need one pot for this stew, and I opted to use canned beans to cut the cooking time down to about 30 minutes. Leftovers taste even better the next day, and this dairy-free recipe freezes great for later, too.
What is posole?
Posole, pronounced poh-sOH-lay, is a Mexican stew that typically features shredded pork, dried chilis, hominy and cumin. In Mexico and New Mexico, it’s often served on celebratory occasions like Christmas or New Years, but it’s great on any chilly day.
My variation with pinto beans instead of pork is not quite authentic, but it’s full of redeeming fiber and protein. It straddles the line between a soup and a stew, so I’m using those words interchangeably here.
What is hominy?
Hominy is a variety of dried corn (maize) kernels that have been treated with an alkali, such as lye, to improve digestibility. You buy it dried or in cans, in a well-stocked grocery store (check the international aisle or look near the canned corn) or Mexican grocery store. I used canned corn for this recipe but you could substitute freshly cooked hominy, too.
What are guajillo chilis?
I’ll never forget the first time I tried guajillo chili-based enchilada sauce. Life changing! Guajillos offer a deep, intriguing mild-to-medium spice factor, unlike fiery-hot cayenne. You’ll find dried chilis in a well-stocked grocery store (again, check the international aisle) or Mexican grocery store.
Use two chilis for mild soup, or four for spicy soup (I like my posole spicy). Since the seeds contain the most heat, you’ll remove those before briefly toasting the chilis against the pan. If you want extra-spicy soup, you could even reserve those seeds to add after the soup is cooked, to taste.
I simply cooked the soup with the chilis and then discarded the chilis at the end. I just read a Bon Appetit recipe that suggested puréeing the simmered chilis with some broth and pouring the mixture back into the soup. You could try that if you want extra-rich chili flavor and don’t mind busting out the blender, but add the purée to taste instead of pouring it all in at once.
Watch How to Make Pinto Posole
Pinto Posole
This hearty vegan posole is made with pinto beans instead of pork! This easy Mexican posole recipe is healthy, spicy and delicious. Leftovers taste even better the next day. Recipe yields 4 bowls.
Ingredients
- 2 to 4 guajillo chili peppers*
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 large white onion, finely chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
- 1 tablespoon ground cumin
- ½ cup (4 ounces) tomato paste
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cans (15 ounces each) pinto beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 can (15 ounces) hominy, rinsed and drained
- 32 ounces (4 cups) vegetable broth
- 2 cups water
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt, to taste
- ¼ cup chopped cilantro, divided
- 1 lime, halved
- Recommended garnishes: sliced avocado, shredded green cabbage, chopped radish, onion and/or jalapeño
Instructions
- Cut off the stem ends of the chilis and shake/flick the chilis to remove as many seeds as possible (it’s ok if some remain). Rinse them and pat them dry.
- Heat an empty Dutch oven or soup pot over medium heat until a few drops of water evaporate quickly from the pan. Toast the chilis in the dry pan, pressing them flat with a spatula for a few seconds until fragrant, then flip them over and press them again for a few seconds. Remove the toasted chilis and set them aside for now.
- In the same pot (still over medium heat), warm the olive oil until shimmering. Add the onion and a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring often, until the onions are tender and translucent, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and cumin and cook until fragrant while stirring, about 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and cook, while stirring, for 1 minute. - Add the toasted chili peppers, bay leaf, hominy, beans, vegetable broth and water to the pot. Stir in ½ teaspoon salt and raise the heat to medium-high. Bring the mixture to a simmer, then reduce heat as necessary to maintain a gentle simmer, stirring occasionally, and cook for 25 minutes.
- Remove the chili peppers and bay leaf from the soup and discard them. Stir the cilantro and juice of ½ lime into the soup. Taste, and add more salt (I usually add at least ¼ teaspoon more) and/or lime juice if necessary. For extra richness, add a little splash of olive oil and stir it in.
- Cut the remaining lime into small wedges. Divide the soup into bowls and garnish with lime wedges and other garnishes of your choice.
Notes
*Pepper note: Use 2 peppers for mild soup and 4 for spicy soup (I like my soup spicy). If you want extra-spicy soup, you could even reserve the pepper seeds to add after the soup is cooked, to taste. If you can’t find guajillo chili peppers, dried ancho chili peppers are a good alternative. Or, use 1 tablespoon mild chili powder instead—start the recipe with step 3 and add the chili powder with the garlic and cumin.
Change it up: For more color and textural variation, substitute one can of black beans for one can of pinto beans. For extra pepper flavor and color, sauté a chopped red bell pepper and/or jalapeño with the onion.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hello Kathryn,
Overall, I appreciate where your heart was at when you set about drafting this recipe. Unfortunately, that is where my appreciation stops. This version of pozole feels whitewashed, lackluster, and would benefit immensely from a more confident hand at seasoning. Have you ever been to Mexico? I’m certain that they a) use more spices than cumin, and b) aren’t afraid of salt, heat, or hominy.
Best,
Blanque
Hi Blanque, I appreciate your review. I’m sorry to hear you are disappointed by this recipe. I try to be as authentic as I can, while still adding my interpretation of the recipe.
Made this for dinner last night and it was amazing!! My husband and I haven’t tried Pasole before, and I was looking for a healthy version. The broth was so good I could have eaten just that. I used 4 of the chile peppers and took another reviewers advice on blending a couple of them in with the broth at the end. It wasn’t too spicy, perfect!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Jess! Thank you for your review.
It’s raining in winter, 40 degrees of nasty. I made your posole and it brightened up my day immeasurably! I’m new to guajillo chiles, so I only used two. A lovely mild little catch in the back of your throat, but next time I’ll do three. I also only had 2 cans of pinto beans so that’s what I used. With all the add-ins, it didn’t seem too thin at all. Didn’t have green cabbage, so I shredded some carrots and crushed tortilla chips to add in with the radish and avocado. This soup has a nicely balanced blend of flavors. It’s definitely a keeper! Thanks Kate!
Thank you for sharing, Pat! I’m happy you enjoyed it.
Yummmm…this was so good! I highly recommend blending the peppers and adding them back in. It gave the stew such a beautiful colour. I topped mine off with green onions and cotija cheese. I also used dried pinto beans – it took about .5 lbs of dried beans to get three cans worth.
The Pinto Posole was delicious!! The only changes I made were cooking dried beans and hominy which I received in my bean club shipment this month. I cooked 1/2 lb beans with garlic, Maldon regular and smoked salt, and 2 Guajillo chiles. Cooked 1/2 lb posole with salt and garlic. Used 4 cups of bean broth and 2 cups of posole broth for the liquid. I added 4 more Guajillo chiles after everything was combined.
Just made this and love it. I could not find guajillo chili peppers or ancho chili peppers. I found Chile California. I read that they are more mild than guajilo so I used 5. The poodle was fantastic. So flavorful. The Chile California aren’t super spicy so next time I might use more. Aside from that I followed the recipe closely and loved it. I am adding this to my favorite recipes for sure.
I made this terrific posole more “from scratch,” soaking and cooking prepared hominy from Rancho Gordo (lots of hours involved, but almost no prep time), and ayocote morado beans grown in Mexico. I also made veggie stock from scratch, to use up things like onion trimmings, the tops of celery with leaves, etc., and added a diced red bell pepper to the onions. I used 6 guajillo chilis for a double batch. I chose to use equal quantities of hominy and beans. SUPER DELICIOUS! I added extra cilantro, finely sliced purple cabbage, thinly sliced radishes, and avocado to each bowl before serving, to get as many vegetables into the mix as possible. It makes sense to make a big batch to have extra for the freezer and refrigerator, because you’ll definitely want to eat this again and again!
We love this recipe! I used to eat meat, and one of our favorite meals was pork posole. So one day I was delighted to find this recipe. I made a double batch one weekend, and before the weekend was over my family asked for another batch. The very next weekend they wanted another batch. It does not make it to the freezer for lunches ever.
I usually use equal hominy to beans; otherwise, this recipe as is is fantastic! Thank you! The Rosiers
I adore this recipe. I use chili powder instead of the roasted chiles for simplicity, and it’s incredible. It comes together really easily as well with that substitution. I always stock up on hominy when I run across it in anticipation of the next time I’m craving this posole!
I love all of your recipes, but this one is in the hall of fame for me for sure :)
Hooray! Glad you loved it, Jan.
This was amazingly good! I started out with four peppers because of a comment here saying that it wasn’t spicy at all with two. However, just prepping the peppers gave me a coughing fit and irritated my sinuses. That’s just from removing the seeds, rinsing them and toasting them (I wore plastic gloves, too). I put all four into the soup initially, but chickened out and pulled two out. If your peppers are spicy ones, then you only need two. I had fairly large peppers I bought via Amazon. Two was the PERFECT amount. If you don’t like a lot of heat in your food, then stick with two peppers. It was nicely spicy. I used shredded cabbage, avocado, and some plant-based Mexican blend cheese for garnishes. It was a fabulous combination of textures and flavors. I used a pound of Rancho Gordo beans I wasn’t sure what to do with. I think many different types of beans would work in this recipe! I looked for a posole recipe in the first place because I had a bag of Rancho Gordo Bean Club posole I wasn’t sure what to do with. I may buy it intentionally in the future just to make this soup! It’s much tastier than hominy. Works great in this soup. I used 1 3/4 cups of cooked posole.
Thank you for sharing! I’m glad you enjoyed it, Jackie.
I’ve been making this soup for a few years now and it’s just so good. I can’t wait for the weather to cool down so I can make it! It’s so hearty and flavorful. It’s also an easy recipe to make! I love hominy so add a little extra and some hot sauce.
Thank you for your review! I’m happy you enjoyed it, Maddie.
This is such a tasty recipe! I have made it twice now using dry hominy and dry heirloom beans both from Rancho Gordo. I use the bean broth from cooking the bean in place of water and broth. I add 3 bouillon cubes. It adds quite a bit of time to prepare the dry hominy and beans. Doing it this way definitely makes it an all day cooking experience, but the result is awesome!
This was DELICIOUS. I was a bit hesitant about making posole without pork shoulder, but WOW. Great. I also added a bit of “vegeta” dried vegetable powder.
I find using dried hominy much better than canned, there is a world of difference in taste. I know using dried hominy will take more time. I also use dried chili’s as fresh are not usually available.
I made this recipe to accompany our New Years charcuterie all-day buffet thing we do. My daughter, who is vegetarian, absolutely lost her mind over it and it’s looking like very little will be left at dinner time! I used 4 guajillo peppers with full seeds, toasted and ground into flake\powder as my only deviation, and it was perfect. WILL make again, thank you for the post!
Wonderful! Thank you for sharing, Ezra.
Hi! We loved the recipe! Can you freeze this recipe?
You can try it! Let me know how it turns out for you.
This was so good I had to come back and leave a comment. As I was assembling the ingredients and noting their simplicity, I was like…. there’s no way this is gonna turn out that great. But dayamn. This pozole was LEGIT and that’s coming from someone who has partaken in much, much Oaxacan street pozole. The broth has wonderful depth and the beans and hominy have a super delicious creaminess and texture. So good!!!!! Thank you for another slam dunk recipe Kate.
Great to hear, Genevieve!
This was actually REALLY good. I was nervous about the peppers making it too spicy but I used 4 and the spice level was mild. I will definitely make this again. No changes needed!
I’m excited you enjoyed it, Kristin!
This is the best soup I’ve ever made! I couldn’t find the guajillo chili peppers but I had a can of chipotles in adobo so I added three of those and omitted the cumin. It’s delicious!
Great to hear, C!
I have made this posole (both spellings with s and z are correct) many times. It’s a fantastic vegetarian version. When I’m in a hurry I use chili powder. But it’s really next level when you follow Kate’s suggestion to stew 2-4 guajillo peppers or New Mexico red chili pods in the recipe. I used 4 dried red chili pods from Alamosa, Colorado, picking out the seeds & roasting them in the empty pot first, then adding them back in later. There’s nothing like the northern New Mexican fragrance of red chili simmering and frothing with bay leaf, beans, hominy, cumin, onion, garlic and tomato paste. The tomato paste is not overwhelming at all and adds a brightness. The cilantro & lime are perfect. The chili flavor was authentic and robust with a mild to medium spice level. The texture of the hominy soaks up the rich chili flavors. The posole just gets better over 1-2 days in the fridge. Thanks for a great recipe Kate!
Thank you for sharing your experience with this recipe, Carlotta! I’m delighted you enjoyed it.
Love this recipe! It is one of my “go – to’s”
I like to add a can of jackfruit and a bit more veggie broth to give more texture to the bite. It satisfies the “pork” aspect for me!
I made this posole a week ago for my son and his three children (2 teens and 1 pre-teen). It was a big hit. We all loved it and I think about it everyday and will make it again this evening. I substituted cans of diced tomatoes because Tomato paste is use ly too strong for me. Looked for the Gaillijos peppers but couldn’t find them and substituted some large wide mostly flattened green peppers with no name and added some jalapeño peppers and seeds instead. They were not spicy enough for our family, but we loved the soup anyway. Today I will add a second can of hominy and I soaked and cooked dried pinto beans yesterday; so we will have a bit of a new creation to revel over. I will also bake some jalapeño carn bread to serve with it. BTW, the shredded cabbage, sliced radishes, and avocado made great toppings for the posole! I can hardly wait to enjoy it again! I know this will be a favorite meal for us once or twice a month. Thank you for sharing your recipe!
You’re welcome, Kay! I’m happy to hear you enjoy it.