How to Cook Hominy

Co-authored by wikiHow Staff

Last Updated: March 7, 2023 References Tested

Hominy is a delicious ingredient that you can use in all kinds of dishes or even enjoy all on its own. If you’ve ever had Mexican pozole, then you know how great the rich corn flavor and puffy texture of these special corn kernels are. You can buy ready-to-eat canned hominy, but many people agree that the best flavor comes from dried hominy that you soak and cook yourself.^{[1]
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Research source} Cooking dried hominy is very similar to preparing other dried foods like beans. So, if you’re familiar with that process, this should be a piece of cake!

Ingredients

Preparing Dried Hominy

2 1/2 cups (454 g) dried hominy
1/2 a medium yellow onion

Frying Canned Hominy

1 can of hominy
1 tbsp (14.2 g) of butter

Method 1

Method 1 of 3:

Preparing Dried Hominy

1
Cover 2 1/2 cups (454 g) of dried hominy with water in a soup pot. Pour the dried hominy into a large soup pot. Fill the pot with enough cold water to cover the hominy by about 2 in (5.1 cm). Put the lid on the pot.^{[2]
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- It’s OK if you cover the hominy with water by more than 2 in (5.1 cm), but make sure you don’t cover it by less. If you do, the hominy might absorb all the water before it’s done soaking.
- Dried hominy is the only hominy that you actually have to cook. Canned hominy does not require cooking.
2
Leave the hominy to soak at room temperature for 6-10 hours. Set the pot with the water and the hominy in it aside and leave it alone for a minimum of 6 hours and up to 10. The hominy will absorb the water and soften up, so it’s faster to cook and more tender after cooking.^{[3]
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- Letting the hominy soak overnight is ideal. You could just get it ready right before you go to bed and it will be done soaking in the morning.
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3
Put the pot on the stove and add water to cover the hominy by 2 in (5.1 cm). Transfer the pot to a burner on your stovetop where you will cook it. Pour in enough additional cold water that the hominy is covered by approximately 2 in (5.1 cm) of water again.^{[4]
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- The kernels will have rehydrated and absorbed a lot of the water they soaked in, so that’s why you have to add more for cooking.
4
Add 1/2 a medium yellow onion to the pot and bring the water to a boil. Cut a medium-sized yellow onion in half using a cutting board and a sharp knife and toss 1/2 of it into the pot of hominy for flavor. Turn the burner on to high heat and bring the water to a full boil.^{[5]
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- The onion is not required, so you can skip it if you don’t like onion or have other plans for your hominy.
5
Boil the hominy for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat and simmer it for 3 hours. Let the hominy cook at a full boil for about 10 minutes, then turn the heat down to medium-low or whatever temperature brings the water down to a simmer. Let the hominy simmer for about 3 hours or until it is tender.^{[6]
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- Check on the hominy every 30 minutes or so and add more water if the hominy ever looks like it is covered by less than 1 in (2.5 cm) of water.
- There’s no need to stir the hominy at any point.
- When the hominy is done cooking, it will typically crack and open up at one end, almost as if it’s blooming.
6
Strain the hominy through a colander when it is finished cooking.^{[7]
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Research source} Place a colander over a large bowl. Use oven gloves or pads to carefully lift the pot off your stove and slowly pour out its contents through the strainer.
- If you’re going to make something like a soup or stew with the hominy, consider saving 1–2 c (240–470 mL) of the cooking water to add to the broth for more corn flavor.
7
Use the cooked hominy in place of canned hominy in recipes. Substitute the hominy you soaked and cooked for canned hominy in any recipe that calls for hominy. Use cooked hominy in the same quantity as you would use canned hominy.^{[8]
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- You could eat the hominy on its own at this point if you want, but it will taste better along with other flavorful ingredients.

Method 2

Method 2 of 3:

Frying Canned Hominy

1
Drain a can of hominy well.^{[9]
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Research source} Open a can of hominy and pour it out through a strainer or colander. Make sure all the liquid is drained before you proceed to cook the hominy.
- Canned hominy is ready to eat and theoretically, you could eat it straight from the can, but it will taste much better if you heat it up first in a frying pan or cook it in another recipe.
2
Melt 1 tbsp (14.2 g) of butter in a frying pan.^{[10]
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Research source} Place a frying pan on a burner and turn the heat on to medium-high. Put in 1 tbsp (14.2 g) and wait for it to melt.
- You could use another type of fat, such as bacon grease, instead of butter for a different flavor. Use the same amount as you would butter.
3
Fry the hominy on all sides for about 2-3 minutes each.^{[11]
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Research source} Dump the drained hominy into the frying pan and stir it around with a spatula or other utensil to coat it with the butter. Let it fry for 2-3 minutes on 1 side, then stir it around again to turn over the kernels. Fry it for 2-3 minutes on this side as well.
- You can eat the fried hominy just as is or season it with salt and pepper to taste.
- You can sprinkle the fried hominy with spice mixes if you want as well.^{[12]
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  Research source} For example, try a savory spice mix like chili powder or a sweet cinnamon spice mix, depending on what mood you’re in.

Method 3

Method 3 of 3:

Using Hominy in Different Dishes

1
Make pozole with hominy for the most traditional dish. Pozole is a Mexican hominy and pork stew. Use either cooked hominy that you soaked and prepared yourself or canned hominy in the quantity your recipe calls for. Cook it along with cubed pork shoulder, chili puree, garlic, bay leaf, onion, cumin, oregano, salt, and pepper.^{[13]
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- There are different types of pozole, like red and green pozole, that vary in the types of chile peppers they use to give them their color and flavor.
- You can garnish bowls of pozole with things like cilantro, fresh diced onion, lime wedges, avocado slices, and sliced red radishes.
2
Substitute hominy for beans in recipes to add a distinct corn flavor. Use prepared hominy in the same quantity as you would use beans in any recipe. Hominy will preserve its tasty corn flavor in dishes like stews and chilis instead of just absorbing the flavor of everything else in the dish like beans do.^{[14]
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- You can also use hominy in addition to beans to add more variety to things like chili. For example, instead of using 2 cans of beans in a recipe, you could use 1 can of beans and 1 can of hominy or the equivalent amount of cooked hominy.
3
Bake a cheesy casserole with hominy as the base. Heat up about 20 oz (567 g) of pre-cooked or canned hominy with 1 clove of minced garlic and 1 tbsp (9.3 g) of chopped jalapeño pepper in a saucepan. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish and stir in 1/2 cup (123 g) of sour cream and 1 tbsp (14.2 g) of butter. Top the mixture with 1 cup (125 g) of shredded cheddar cheese and bake it at 350 °F (177 °C) for about 25 minutes.^{[15]
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- This could be a good side dish for holiday dinners, for example. It goes well with roast turkey, dressing, and other dishes that are popular at traditional holiday meals.
4
Try buttered hominy for a simple side dish or snack. Melt 1 tbsp (14.2 g) of butter with 1 tsp (2 g) of cumin seeds in a large frying pan over high heat. Stir in about 1.8 lb (0.82 kg) of canned or cooked hominy and keep stirring the mixture for about 5 minutes or until the hominy is evenly heated. Season the mixture with salt and pepper to taste and enjoy.
- This could be a good way to enjoy the corn flavor of hominy on its own with minimal seasoning and effort.
- For reference, 1.8 lb (0.82 kg) is about 2 medium-sized cans of hominy. You can cut the ingredients in half or double them if you want to make more or less buttered hominy.
5
Grind hominy using a hand grinder or food processor to make masa dough. Make sure your cooked or canned hominy is drained well and fully cooled. Put the hominy through a hand grinder on the fine setting or process it in a food processor until it’s smooth to make a smooth masa dough. Use the dough to make things like arepas, corn tortillas, and empanadas.^{[16]
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- When you buy certain types of masa flour at a store, it’s just dried, ground-up hominy. So, when you grind your hominy into a paste this way, you’re just skipping the step of adding water to masa flour to form a dough.
6
Make hominy grits for a hot, creamy breakfast dish. Pour 4 c (950 mL) of water and 1 tsp (5.9 g) of salt in a saucepan and bring it to a boil on your stove. Add in 1 cup (257 g) of hominy grits, then bring the mixture to a boil again. Lower the heat and simmer the grits for about 1 hour, stirring often. Mix in 1 tbsp (14.2 g) of butter before serving.^{[17]
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- Hominy grits are just hominy kernels ground less finely than for masa flour. In fact, many types of grits are made from hominy kernels, so a box of hominy grits in a store might just say “grits.” You can check the labels of different grits to make sure.

Warnings

Hominy has a bit of a sour mineral taste due to its special treatment process, so it doesn’t always work well in every dish. For instance, it might not be a good substitute for sweet yellow corn kernels because the flavor is so different.^{[18]
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