Vegan Pozole Rojo

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This easy vegan pozole with pinto beans is a delicious Mexican stew that has so much flavor. Ready in just 30 minutes, with rich spices, crunchy veggies, and chewy hominy – this healthy soup is perfect for a quick one-pot meal.

My Instant Pot has been a lifesaver on busy weeknights, when I want something hearty, filling, and flavorful but do not have time to spend standing in front of a stove all day.

And while traditional pozole is not typically a vegetarian or vegan friendly dish, I love the deep spices that give pozole such a satisfying and warming feel. Since the base of posole (spices + hominy) are vegetarian friendly, I figured why not replace the traditional meat with healthier beans and create an Instant Pot vegan pozole! Don’t worry, I included stove top instructions too.

Top it with diced red onions, diced tomatoes, fresh cilantro, lime wedges, guacamole, crushed tortilla chips (or for a non-vegan option: plain Greek yogurt or shredded cheese) – and you have got yourself an easy weeknight meal that feels like it’s been cooking all day! While it’s easy enough to make any night, this delicious soup is also great for special occasions.

The great thing about this vegan pinto bean pozole: It makes for amazing leftovers and tastes even better the next day because the flavors have more time to blend together! The next time you make it (and you’ll want to make it again), you might want to make a double batch and freeze some for easy meals in the future.

👩🏽‍🍳 Why You’ll Love This Vegan Pozole

• The Ultimate Comfort Food: This is one big cozy bowl of soup here! Whether it’s soup season or not, this delicious vegetarian pozole (vegan friendly too!) will keep you satisfied (and warm in the cold weather!). You’re going to want to add this great recipe into your meal rotation!
• Healthier Ingredients: This vegan pozole in the Instant pot uses pinto beans instead of pork (traditional pozole often includes pork shoulder) for protein and satiety. If you’ve been wondering how to make a pozole recipe vegan, beans are a great alternative to meat and have great texture. This soup is high in fiber and plant protein: 8 grams of fiber and 8 grams of protein in every serving!
• Tons Of Flavor: This vegan soup still has plenty of big flavors, so if you’re worried let me tell you right now that this soup is super flavorful and yummy. Once you’ve loaded it up with your favorite toppings, you’ll have a truly delicious meal to enjoy.
• Easy To Customize: Not all recipes are easy to customize (like baking recipes) but it’s really easy to change up this vegan posole recipe and add what you have on hand! Check out the ingredient substitution section below for ideas.

🥘 Ingredients

This vegan version of pozole can easily be made with simple ingredients found at your local grocery store! See the recipe card at the bottom of the post for nutritional information.

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Red Or White Onion, And Garlic: You’ll saute onion and a few cloves of garlic in olive oil to start this recipe.
• Yellow Bell Peppers: I love using yellow bell peppers in this pinto pozole.
• Baby Spinach: For some added greens!
• Spices: Cumin, chile powder, ancho chili powder, coconut sugar, sea salt, and bay leaves.
• Pinto Beans: I used canned pinto beans to save time, but you can make your beans from scratch ahead of time if you like! You could also use black beans or red kidney beans if you don’t have pinto!
• Can Of Hominy: This might be the most important ingredient in this vegan posole recipe, because hominy is what makes posole, posole!
• Vegetable Broth And Tomato Paste: Combine these together to get the base of your vegan pozole rojo broth!

🍲 Ingredient Substitutions

• Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Red Or White Onion, And Garlic: You can use a different oil if that’s all you have. Avocado oil or grapeseed oil would work well here.
• Yellow Bell Peppers: You can use any peppers you like in this vegan recipe – orange peppers, red peppers, green bell peppers, or even poblano peppers (for an extra kick!) would all taste great. 
• Baby Spinach: Baby kale would also work well.
• Spices: Feel free to adjust the spices depending on how much heat you want in your pozole with beans. Or for a bolder (but not necessarily spicier) flavor, add an extra half tsp cumin and ancho chili powder. You can also use different spices if you have some other ones you like. Mexican oregano would be a lovely choice.
• Pinto Beans: You could also use black beans or red kidney beans if you don’t have pinto in this healthy pozole recipe!
• Can Of Hominy: Hominy is one of the main ingredients in this recipe, however if you are unable to find any cans of white hominy (check the Mexican section of your local grocery store), try a can of white corn kernels (or yellow corn) instead.
• Vegetable Broth And Tomato Paste: You can also use vegan beef broth or vegan chicken broth for a deeper flavor. Buy one of the popular bouillon pastes and add 4 cups of water with 4 teaspoons of bouillon paste to achieve a flavorful broth (you can also change the ratio of the bouillon to water mix to suit your palate). You can also use 4 cups of broth that you buy in a carton at the grocery store.
• Other Ingredients: If you’d like to add a meat replacement, jackfruit, oyster mushrooms, soy curls, or a store bought vegan meat alternative are all nice options. Some recipes use enchilada sauce, but this recipe does not. If you want a lot of spicy flavors, try adding some red chiles or you can use your favorite chile paste or chile sauce.

🔪 How To Make Vegan Pozole

Even if this is your first time making pozole vegan, there is no need to stress! Using the instructions below, you can make Instant Pot pozole or stovetop pozole.

With simple steps and minimal effort, this vegan red pozole (AKA pozole vegano rojo) might just become your new favorite soup. Here is how to make this healthy vegan posole recipe:

How To Make Instant Pot Vegan Pozole

Sauté Veggies: Turn the Instant Pot to saute on low. Add olive oil through garlic, sauté 5–10 minutes.

Add Spices: Add the cumin, chili powder, ancho chili powder, coconut sugar, and salt. Saute another 2-3 minutes.

Add Remaining Ingredients: Add tomato paste, bay leaf, pinto beans, hominy and vegetable broth. Stir to combine.

Cook The Pozole: Secure lid of the Instant Pot. Press “pressure cook” and set the timer to 15 minutes (you’ll be cooking at high pressure this whole time). Natural release. Turn off your instant pot and open the lid. Give your pozole a good stir and let it sit uncovered for about 5 minutes.

Serve: Ladle the soup into bowls and top with anything you like! (e.g. cilantro, lime, avocado, etc)

How To Make Stovetop Vegan Pozole

• Sauté The Veggies: Heat oil (about a tablespoon) in a large soup pot (or any large pot) over medium-high heat or medium heat. Add the onion, peppers, spinach, garlic, tomato paste and spices. Stir and cook for about 5 minutes until the onions have caramelized slightly. 
• Add Remaining Ingredients And Simmer: Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and then reduce heat to low, simmer for about 30 minutes until all of the flavors have combined.
• Serve: Serve this delicious meal with warm corn tortillas or any other toppings you like!

Vegan Pozole In The Slow Cooker

Sauté the veggies in a skillet as described in the stovetop method, then transfer that with the other ingredients to your slow cooked. Stir and cook covered on low for 6–8 hours until the beans are tender. 

💭 Expert Tips

• Slow Cooker Or Stovetop Pozole Works Just As Well: The Instant Pot helps you save a bit of time with this recipe. If you don’t have an instant pot or pressure cooker, you can make pozole on the stove top, it will just take a little longer.
• Where To Buy Hominy: Ready-to-eat Hominy is sold in the canned section of the supermarket. Sometimes it can be in the Mexican section. You can also cook it yourself but it takes much longer! If you choose to cook dried hominy on your own, follow the same process as you would for dried beans.
• If You Want To Use Dried Beans: Soak your dried pinto beans in plain water overnight and rinse well, discarding the soaking liquid. You can cook soaked pinto beans in the Instant Pot for 15 minutes (or 50 minutes for unsoaked beans). You can also cook them on the stovetop (don’t skip soaking them for this method): bring beans and water to a boil and then simmer covered on low for 2 to 2 ½ hours.
• Vegan Pozole For Kids: This posole is a great way to get your kids to eat some extra veggies (since they are pretty hidden amidst the beans, hominy and toppings!) I recommend putting out a “toppings bar” for kids – so they can pick whatever they want to go on top of this posole. If you have kids that are particularly sensitive to spice, you can always make a more mild soup without too much heat  and cut the quantity of spices in half before you make this dish. And for kids who don’t even like the look of veggies, you can puree all the veggies together and add them into the “broth” – so they are completely hidden!

📖 Variations 

• Vegan Pozole Verde (Vegan Green Pozole): Use ½ to 1 cup of salsa verde instead of tomato paste when making your pozole. Or use a homemade tomatillo mixture with fresh tomatillos and green chiles.
• Vegan Pozole Blanco (Vegan White Pozole): Skip the tomato paste. Add 10 ounces of cleaned and sliced white mushrooms while sautéing the veggies.
• 4 Bean Pozole: Use pinto beans, black beans, kidney beans, and navy beans for a hearty protein-packed vegan stew. This is similar to many chili recipes, however it will have more Mexican flavors. Or feel free to just use one type of beans – e.g. sub black beans for pinto beans to make black bean pozole.
• Use Different Veggies: Feel free to mix up the veggies used in this dish. I used bell peppers and spinach primarily, but you can use anything you have in your fridge.

🍽 Serving Suggestions

There are many different ways to dress up a bowl of delicious pozole! If you’re serving kids or even a crowd, it’s really fun to set up a toppings bar! You can keep the soup simple and let people dress it up themselves. Good times will be had at any party where pozole is served. Here are our favorite toppings:

• Fresh Herbs And Garnishes: Fresh cilantro, fresh lime juice, chopped radishes, chopped green onions, diced tomatoes
• Crunchy Toppings: Crushed tortilla chips, pumpkin seeds
• Creamy Toppings: Avocado or guacamole, vegan sour cream, or a vegan yogurt
• Your Favorite Salsa: salsa verde or even a pico de gallo makes a great addition
• Non-Vegan Toppings: If you don’t need to make this recipe vegan, you can use a shredded Mexican cheese blend, sour cream, or plain Greek yogurt!

🙌 Dietary Adaptations

This recipe is already vegan, vegetarian and nut free! Gluten-Free Note: This vegan pozole recipe is already gluten-free, but if you or someone you love has a gluten allergy, just make sure everything with a label is certified gluten-free.

🫙 Storage Directions

Here is how to store and keep this delicious vegan Mexican pozole:

• Refrigerating: Let leftovers cool completely. The leftovers will keep, refrigerated, in an airtight container for about 5 days.
• Freezing: Transfer the posole to freezer-safe, airtight containers or bags with as little air as possible to prevent freezer burn. It will keep in the freezer for up to 3 months. 
• Reheating: Thaw overnight in the fridge, and warm over low heat on the stovetop or microwave.

❓Recipe FAQs

🥣 More Vegan Soup Recipes!

• Vegan Black Bean Soup
• Vegan Tomato Soup
• Kale And Black Bean Soup
• Spicy, Creamy Mexican Corn Soup
• Tuscan Bean Stew With Whole Wheat Pasta
• Curried Sweet Potato Soup
• Vegan Mushroom And Wild Rice Soup
• Vegan Minestrone Soup
• Vegetarian Taco Soup (with a vegan option, very similar to vegan tortilla soup!)
• Even More Vegan Soup Recipes!

📋 Recipe Card