Shrimp Pozole Verde

5 from 7 votes

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This pozole verde puts a seafood twist on a traditional spicy Mexican stew with hominy. Make this recipe for delicious Mexican shrimp soup!

overhead: bowl of mexican shrimp soup


The traditional hearty Mexican stew known as red pozole (or pozole rojo) gets a little switch up here. Typically, the dish is made with chicken or pork. When it’s made with shrimp, it’s known in Spanish as pozole de Camaron. 

Another difference is that this recipe makes a green pozole rather than red one. With fresh shrimp that’s quickly poached in the pozole broth, it’s a quick soup to make on a busy night. 

Incidentally, this soup is hearty and filling; it eats more like a stew, and it has a wonderful kick of heat. If you aren’t a fan of spicy shrimp, no worries; the ingredients can easily be adjusted to suit your tastes.

Or, if you’d prefer a milder seafood dish that still has plenty of Mexican flavor, you could make shrimp ceviche or grilled shrimp fajitas.

bowl of green pozole with shrimp

Shrimp Pozole Verde

One reason this recipe is so fantastic is that it has tons of flavor but only takes 30 minutes to make. Actually, if you use frozen cooked shrimp, you could probably have dinner ready in 20 minutes! 

Want some other easy Mexican dinner ideas?

Nothing says “speedy easy Mexican dinner” like Baja style battered fish tacos cooked up in 20 minutes, or a quick beef enchilada casserole.

overhead: green soup with shrimp in large pot

Ingredient Notes and Substitutions

  • Stock or broth– I used chicken stock because I had it on hand. If you’d rather use something else, both vegetable and seafood/shrimp stock are great options.
  • Tomatillos– Using fresh tomatillos will give you the best flavor for the pozole verde but if you can’t find them fresh, canned tomatillos will work. Just be sure to drain the liquid first.

    NOTE: If you use fresh tomatillos, keep in mind that the papery husk (called a lantern), leaves, and stem of the plant are poisonous. So, be sure to toss them in the trash and keep pets/children away from them. Also, be sure to wash the tomatillos well with a produce wash.
  • Hominy– Keep things simple by using a can of cooked hominy, or feel free to cook fresh hominy from scratch.
  • Shrimp– Fresh shrimp are usually sold in either medium or large size and either will work. If you’d like to cut the cooking time by a few minutes, buy frozen cooked shrimp. If you’ve never cleaned fresh shrimp, there are instructions further down in this post.
  • Green chiles and hot sauce– Because this is a green pozole, it only makes sense to use green chiles and green hot sauce. Any variety will work; I use fresh Serrano chili peppers and green Tabasco sauce.

Video: Making the Mexican Shrimp Soup

Because the recipe calls for premade stock and fresh shrimp cook up so quickly, this may be one of the easiest Mexican soup recipes you can make.
To see the process from start to finish, watch the video located in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.

shrimp pozole verde in white soup bowl

It’s the herby fresh flavors and shrimp that make this meal so special. The soft, chewy hominy is offset by the crunchy sliced radishes and sliced chiles. A good squeeze of lime on top and you’re good to jump in and eat.

How to Clean and Devein Fresh Shrimp

If you aren’t able to remove the veins completely, there’s no reason for concern. They’re unpleasant to look at, but eating them won’t hurt you.

  1. Gently pull the legs apart to loosen, then peel the shells from all of the shrimp.
  2. Run the tip of a paring knife along the curved back to create a slit in the shrimp, then use the tip of the knife to lift up the thin, grey vein.
  3. Use your fingers or a pair of tweezers to pull the entire vein up and out.
  4. Repeat with remaining shrimp, then rinse them under cool water and pat dry.
two bowls of Mexican shrimp pozole garnished with radish slices

What to Serve with Pozole Verde

As mentioned earlier, the soup has a thicker consistency, almost like a stew. You can garnish the soup with thin slices of radish and chile peppers if you’d like. Definitely add a squeeze of fresh lime juice over the top!

I also like to serve a loaf of warm French bread or Mexican cornbread with each bowl of green pozole. It’s such a delicious and hearty meal!

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This post, originally published on Kevin Is Cooking Sept 14, 2016, was last updated with new content on Sept 16, 2021.

overhead: bowl of mexican shrimp soup

Shrimp Pozole Verde + Video

5 from 7 votes
This pozole verde puts a seafood twist on a traditional spicy Mexican stew with hominy. Make this recipe for delicious Mexican shrimp soup!
Servings: 6 servings
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 25 minutes
Total: 30 minutes

Ingredients 

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 medium onion diced
  • 2 shallots diced
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 2 Serrano chiles thinly sliced, divided
  • 1 lb medium tomatillos husks removed, rinsed
  • salt freshly ground pepper
  • 1 cup cilantro leaves
  • 1 pound shrimp cleaned deveined and tails removed (See NOTE 1)
  • 12.5 oz canned white hominy rinsed
  • 2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 tbsp Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce
  • 3 small radishes trimmed, thinly sliced
  • 1 lime wedges

Instructions 

  • Heat oil in a large stock pot over medium heat. Saute onion, shallots, garlic and 1 thinly sliced Serrano chile until soft, 8 minutes.
  • Purée tomatillos in a blender until smooth.
  • Add half of tomatillo purée to stock pot and cook, stirring often, until thickened, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Add 1 cup cilantro to remaining tomatillo purée in blender and blend until smooth; set aside.
  • Add hominy, chicken stock and Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce to pot. Bring to a simmer and gently cook over medium-low for 5 minutes. Add shrimp and simmer for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat. Stir in reserved raw tomatillo-cilantro purée, season with salt and pepper.
  • Divide stew among bowls and top with radishes and remaining chile. Serve with lime wedges.

Video

Notes

  1. Frozen cooked shrimp may be substituted for fresh. Add thawed shrimp to the soup 3 minutes before cooking is complete, or if still frozen, cook for 5-6 minutes.
  2. Recipe adapted from Chris Morocco’s recipe for Green Posole With Cod And Cilantro in Bon Appetit.

Nutrition

Calories: 252kcal | Carbohydrates: 30g | Protein: 15.7g | Fat: 7.9g | Saturated Fat: 1.3g | Cholesterol: 97.7mg | Sodium: 943.7mg | Fiber: 5.5g | Sugar: 8.5g

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.

Course: Soups
Cuisine: Mexican
Have You Made This Recipe? Let Me Know on InstagramTag @keviniscooking or tag me #keviniscooking!
close up of pozole de camaron soup

Kevin

Whether in the kitchen or on the grill, you’ll find me cooking American favorites with a love for BBQ, Mexican and Tex Mex. I’m passionate about making tasty food because life’s too short to be bland!

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35 Comments

    1. Robert! My friend, thanks so much for seeing that one. I recently switched a recipe plugin that transferred from one format to another and I’ve slowly been able to double check each conversion. This is a fantastic recipe, hope you give it a try. It is definitely 1 pound, which is about 8-10 medium sized tomatillos. Thanks again and have a great day.

  1. This looks just wonderful! I love the traditional version of this soup and this one sounds so delicious! I’m obsessed with topping soups and stews with radishes!

  2. 5 stars
    I would really love this, am a big fan of Mexican food. I can’t get serrano’s here and have had no luck trying to grow them. Also, only once in over 8 years have they had tomatillo’s here. The check out lady was so confused, lol. I’m headed back to the U.S. next month, so may make at my daughter’s house or my mom’s since I will be cooking for them quite a bit.

    1. Hi Cathy! I do hope you’re able to give this one a try when you get back to the States. Safe travels and happy cooking for the family!

  3. You always seem to make what I’m craving! I was just thinking that a nice bowl of posole would be really nice 😉 Although I must say, I’ve never had posole verde – it’s always been the red version. I love that bright, vibrant green color and those pops of orange shrimp and red radishes are just gorgeous!

    1. Thanks Kathleen, this verde version will knocks your socks off. Hope things are going well for you with your new news! 😉

  4. 5 stars
    This looks so delicious, Kevin! I love the bit of kick along with the tang – really a wonderful dish to welcome fall.

  5. 5 stars
    Ohhhh Kevin, you are SO speaking my language with this posole!!! I’m a Mexican food fan as well, and I just LOOOOOVE anything spicy, so I am seriously swooning over this one! I love that you used shrimp in here! Plus the hominy, serrano peppers and radishes! And I’ll take about a thousand dashes of Tabasco! This is just PERFECT, buddy! Pinned! Cheers!

    1. Thanks so much Chey, all this spicy freshness is too good to handle, but I’ll have one more bowl just to be sure. 😉

  6. Hey Kevin! I have made posole a couple of times, but never with shrimp…I will now! Even though there is no sign of fall here yet my internal calendar is craving heartier fare! I made a seafood chowder night before last…yeah, I’m still on a seafood kick! So this combines both my current “needs”!

  7. I’m digging all of the layers of flavor in this one, Kevin! And the shrimp twist is pretty darned awesome! Now that it is finally starting to get a little chilly out here…it’s soup time. And I think this one needs to make it onto the menu list soon. Looks delicious, my friend!

    1. It’s actually raining Day 3 off and on here in San Diego… can you believe it? I’m loving it and dinners like this one to set the mood. Thanks Dave!

  8. Wow, I’ve never had anything like this before Kevin, but I love the flavours you have going on! Lots of cilantro and heat from the peppers and Tabasco makes for one heck of a meal. I love the type of food during this time of year and this one is no exception. Can’t wait to give this one a try. Pinned 🙂 Hope your week is going well! Cheers!

    1. The Tabasco Green Pepper Sauce and tomatillos added at the end again not only adds color, but really enhances the flavors in this. Comfort food mania coming… ’tis the season! Thanks Dawn. 🙂