Name: Vegan Instant Pot Tomatillo Stew
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: 6
Cuisine: French
Ingredients: 2 (15-ounce) cans pinto beans, drained and rinsed (see notes for using dried beans); 1 (15-ounce) can white or yellow hominy, drained and rinsed; 2 (4-ounce) cans mild or hot diced green chiles; 1 pound tomatillos, dehusked, rinsed well, and roughly diced; 2 poblano peppers, deseeded and chopped; 1 small red onion, finely chopped; 4 garlic cloves, minced; 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano; 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 teaspoon chili powder; 1/2 cup water; 2 tablespoons cornmeal or masa harina; minced fresh cilantro; radishes; avocado; tortilla chips

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Tangy, hearty, rich, and filling—it’s hard to believe this bean, hominy, and tomatillo stew is vegan, but it totally is. And it’s totally something you’ll want to make again and again.

This recipe came to me via my friend Lauren’s mother—not a family recipe passed down through generations but something that Lauren remembered enjoying often as a kid.

Originally a slow cooker recipe featuring a few pounds of pork shoulder that simmered for hours in a tomatillo broth, I’ve adapted it to be a quicker vegan version.

bowls of vegan tomatillo stew with beans, hominy, radishes, and avocado — Photo: Casey Barber

Now made in the Instant Pot, this tomatillo stew cooks in less than an hour (possibly even under 45 minutes, depending on how long it takes your pot to reach full pressure).

And with pinto beans in place of the pork, it’s a plant-based bowl of protein that will still keep you completely satisfied. Top with diced avocado to add creaminess without dairy, and maybe a handful of tortilla chips for crunch.

What’s the difference between tomatillo stew and pozole?

Pozole (or posole, as it’s sometimes spelled) is a traditional stew originating in Mesoamerica, with its popularity spreading throughout Mexico and into the American Southwest over millennia.

Pozole has a ton of variations, some of which feature tomatillos in the broth. But they’re not an essential component to every pot of pozole.

bowl of vegan tomatillo stew with beans, hominy, radishes, and avocado — Photo: Casey Barber

As Steve Sando writes in The Rancho Gordo Pozole Book,

At its most basic, pozole is a chile-infused soupy stew filled with hominy, and usually some tine of protein, which also helps make the broth.

So, yes, you can consider this a vegan-style pozole, though it’s not necessarily as spicy as many pozole varieties. I use both roasted Hatch chiles and fresh poblanos to balance out the heat and the sweet in this recipe.

Can I use green tomatoes instead of tomatillos?

Not if you want that distinctly tangy flavor in your stew! Green tomatoes and tomatillos are two different plants from the nightshade family.

The papery husk similar to that of the ground cherry or gooseberry is the first tip-off that you have a tomatillo and not an unripe tomato. Tomatillos stay green in color, firm in texture, and acidic in flavor even when they’ve reached full ripeness.

It’s that tart acidity that makes them such a key ingredient in this stew, along with salsa verde and other classic Mexican sauces and dishes.

How to prep tomatillos for the stew

If you’ve never worked with tomatillos before, don’t worry—it’s easy.

Peel the husk off each tomatillo and compost. You’ll notice that the tomatillo skin will feel a little sticky and that there might be bits of husk still stuck to the skin.

You can remove these—and the stickiness—by rinsing each tomatillo well, or submerging them in a bowl of water.

One at a time, wipe the tomatillos with a clean washcloth or scrub gently with a vegetable brush.

Now you can quarter or dice the tomatillos as needed for any recipe.

Can I use dried beans?

Of course! But you can’t just throw uncooked dried beans into the stew and expect them to cook through. This is because the acids in tomatoes or tomatillos prevent the bean skins from becoming tender when they’re cooked together.

(It’s not a rule I made up! It’s science.)

So if you’d like to use dried beans in place of canned in this recipe, cook the beans first—you can leave them a little firmer than usual if you’d like, since they will finish cooking in the stew. Then add the cooked beans along with the other ingredients.

You’ll need about 8 ounces (227 grams) dried beans to replace the two cans of beans here, or about 1 pound pre-cooked beans.

You can use pinto beans, which are easy to find, but you can also try heirloom varieties like cranberry beans or Rancho Gordo’s buckeye beans (seen in the photos in this post).