Chicken Posole Verde

Prep Time: 10 mins  | Cook Time:  1 ½ hours | Course: Dinner | Servings: 6-8

Chicken posole with tomatillos, cilantro, hominy and the mild spice of jalapeños will be your new favorite soup. Cooking the soup with bone in chicken lends extra flavor that can’t be beat. This amazing recipe comes from the cookbook The Best Mexican Recipes by America's Test Kitchen. Delicious with cornbread or quesadillas on the side.

4 lbs bone-in chicken thighs

Salt and pepper, to taste

2 Tbsp olive oil

1 onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 tsp oregano, dried | or 1 Tbsp fresh

4 ½ cups chicken broth, divided

12 oz tomatillos, husked and rinsed

1-2 jalapeños, stemmed and cut into ¼’s (remove seeds for less heat)

2 cups cilantro, stemmed and rough chopped

2 15 oz cans white or yellow hominy, rinsed

Garnishes:

Radish slices

Avocado, slices

Green onions, sliced

Sour cream

Lime wedges

Preheat oven to 300*. Rinse and dry chicken in between paper towels and season with salt and pepper. Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium high heat and add chicken skin side down. Brown both sides about 5 minutes each. Place chicken on a platter to cool a bit and remove skin. Remove most of the fat from the pot keeping about 1 Tbsp. Cook onion with a bit of salt and pepper in the fat scraping up any flavorful browned bits, add in garlic, oregano and 4 cups of the chicken broth. Nestle the chicken back in and place dutch oven in the oven until the chicken is tender, about an hour.

Remove the pot from the oven and pull chicken out to cool. Shred the meat off the bone and return the meat to the pot. Place the tomatillos, jalapeño and cilantro in a food processor with the ½ cup chicken broth and puree. Pour puree into soup with hominy and heat on stove top for 5-10 minutes, tasting for additional seasoning if needed. Serve hot with garnishes as desired.