Instant pot posole for a weeknight meal. Cooking hominy in the pressure cooker works like a charm. The chiles and seasonings infuse great flavor into the pork when cooked under pressure. Pork posole can be complicated, but the pressure cooker turns this into a one-pot breeze.
Posole, a savory, hearty, rather soupy stew is made from dried large white corn kernels simmered for hours.
Hominy, or hulled corn kernels, is the backbone of this Mexican posole soup (pronounced puh-soh-lay).
This traditional soup is easy enough to prepare however, why not replace that step where the hominy is “simmered for hours” and make this a quicker meal to prepare… without losing any of that Southwestern flavor.
Did I tell you that I’m now the proud owner of two pressure cookers? My Instant Pot and more recently the Cosori Electric Pressure Cooker. They both work like a charm for turning out hands-free, no-fuss recipes that can be a life saver for hectic weeknight meals. I truly love owning these high-tech time saving machines.
Cooking Hominy In The Instant Pot
I find that pressure cookers work extremely well for starch-based recipes. Pasta comes out beautiful in flavor and texture. I was duly impressed when I made this Chicken Chipotle Mac and Cheese.
And pressure cookers turn out a jaw dropping risotto, as I learned when I made this Mushroom Risotto.
With that said, let’s talk hominy in the pressure cooker! I like buying dried or frozen hominy. The flavor and texture are superior to that in purchased hominy in a can. With a long cook time, the kernels turn out chewy and divine. We’re definitely hominy fans around this house.
And one of my favorite Southwestern meals that showcases hominy is Pork Posole. It’s a Fall tradition for us. When we take our annual trip to Rocky Mountain National Park to view the spectacular Fall colors, a pot of pork posole always makes the trip with us.
Browning Meat In the Instant Pot
This pork posole verde recipe doesn’t call for searing the pork before you cook it in the Instant Pot, but I highly recommend you do so. Even though it will add a little bit of time to the recipe.
The Instant Pot is a great tool for one-pot cooking including the function to sear meats before continuing the cooking process. And it works quite well. But I actually prefer to brown meat in a separate skillet stove top to control a higher heat level.
Searing creates Maillard Reaction. (pronounced my-ard)
What is Maillard Reaction?
Maillard reaction creates flavor and changes the color of food. Simply stated, it’s responsible for the complex flavors and aroma that makes bread taste toasty, and a grilled or seared burger taste charred. It’s a technique that brings science to your cooking skills.
The Maillard reaction will present itself differently in different foods. It all depends on the type of food and the ingredients you are cooking with. For example, both steak and cookies will undergo the Maillard reaction, but will look, smell, and taste quite different from each other. The Maillard reaction is food specific.
How To Achieve Maillard Reaction
There’s a bit more to it than simply throwing a chunk of meat in a hot skillet. You should pat meat dry before searing. And salting meat about 45 minutes in advance will also draw out moisture in the meat. Excess moisture will interfere with browning.
Culinary School taught me to heat a French steel pan over medium high heat, adding oil as soon as the pan was hot. Add meat when oil is shimmering, don’t over crowd.
Use tongs to turn the meat once it easily releases from the pan. Searing meats in this manner makes it taste roasted instead of boiled. Be careful with searing, you don’t want to burn the outside of the meat.
Please be aware, the majority of non-stick pans will not get hot enough to sear properly.
Searing the pork will add even more luxurious flavor to this Instant pot posole recipe.
Instant Pot Posole Verde with Pork
I couldn’t resist taking my Pork Posole Recipe and making it a pressure cooker posole recipe.
I was thrilled when it turned out beautifully on my first try.
The pressure cooker cooked the hominy to a beautiful tender state and the flavors that resulted from that pressure chamber effect seemed even more delicious than the normal stewing method on the stove.
My simple pork posole recipe turned into a very easy posole recipe. Which means, I’ll make it even more often than usual.
I hope you give this Instant Pot posole recipe a try and if you do, please come back and give the recipe a star rating and leave a comment about your experience with the recipe.
Especially if you’ve been looking for a recipe on how to make posole in a pressure cooker.
And if you have a favorite posole recipe, let me know, I’d love to give it a try.
More Posole Recipes
Looking for more Southwestern Recipes? Check out my inventory of Mexican Southwest Recipes You’ll find the most popular recipe on my site for Hatch Green Chili.
Pressure Cooker Pork Posole
Ingredients
- 2 cups dry hominy soaked overnight in 4 cups water
- 3 pounds boneless pork loin roast cut in large 2" chunks and seared
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 dried guajillo chilies stems removed and seeds are shaken out
- 2 tablespoons dried Mexican Oregano crumbled
- 2 teaspoons cumin powder
- 2 cloves garlic minced or crushed in a garlic press
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 8 roasted Hatch or Pueblo Chile peppers tops cut off, veins and seeds scraped out.
- To Garnish:
- thinly sliced radishes
- cubed avocado
- a wedge of cabbage
- lime wedges
- cilantro
- flour tortillas
Instructions
- Cut the pork roast into 2" chunks, removing any large pieces of fat. You want to keep a little bit of the fat for flavor.
- Sear the pork pieces in the Instant Pot or stove-top. If you want to sear the pork in the instant pot, do this before you cook the hominy and then remove the pork to a plate. Searing will add more flavor to the over-all dish. But to stream-line the recipe, this most certainly can be made without this step.
- Add soaked hominy and water it soaked in, to the pressure cooker.
- Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker.
- Cook for 15 minutes at high pressure.
- When time is up, release the pressure through the release valve, then open.
- Add the pork pieces, bay leaves, dry Guajillo chilies, oregano, cumin powder, garlic, and salt.
- Close and lock the lid of the pressure cooker and cook at high pressure for 10 minutes.
- When the 10 minutes is up, natural release for 25 minutes. Once the 25 minutes is up, press the release valve to finish the steam release. Open only if the pressure indicator has gone down.
- Find and discard the bay leaf. Find the Guajillo chilies and remove them.
- In a small chopper puree the dried chiles and two spoons of hominy into a paste. Add the paste to the pressure cooker. This step will thicken the soup.
- Add the Roasted Hatch or Pueblo Chiles. You can also use canned chiles if you don’t have access to roasted fresh chile.
- Simmer the contents of the pressure cooker uncovered for 5-10 minutes or until the desired thickness is reached.
- Serve ideas: flour tortillas, radish, avocado, cabbage, cilantro, chopped fresh sweet onion and lime.
Nutrition
Instant Pot Posole … Its Whats for a Weeknight Dinner
