Mole Sauce

4.76 from 25 votes

A smokey mole sauce that is a mix of dried chilies, dried herbs and spices a little dried fruit, and chocolate. Also known as mole poblano or mole rojo, this Mexican mole sauce is easy to adjust to your own taste. See the notes if you want to add additional fruits and spices.

This recipe makes about 10 cups of thick sauce that you can thin down as needed. When I thin it down to a gravy-like consistency, I get about 12 to 14 cups of sauce. Since you have to gather a lot of ingredients, it's worth making a large batch and freezing what you don't use.

Prep Time30

Cook Time45

Total Time1 15

Course: Sauces

Cuisine: Mexican

Keyword: chocolate mole sauce, Mexican mole sauce, mole sauce with fruit

Servings: cups

Author: Pat Nyswonger

Ingredients

Chiles and Broth

6 to 7 cups chicken broth
5 to 6 tablespoons butter or bacon grease, divided
7 to 8 dried ancho or mulato chiles
6 dried guajillo chilies
3 to 4 dried chipotle chiles

Bread

1 slice white bread
2 corn tortillas or use 1 cup of tortilla chips

Fruit and Vegetables

2 large tomatoes cut in thick slices
5 fresh tomatillos cut in half
1 large onion sliced
6 to 8 garlic cloves peeled
¾ cup dried cranberries

Nuts and Seeds

¾ cup salted dry-roasted peanuts
½ cup almonds
¼ cup pumpkin seeds
3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Spices and Chocolate

1 tablespoon ground cumin see the notes if you are using whole spices
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice
¾ teaspoon ground cloves
1½ teaspoons salt
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate coarsely chopped

Instructions

Add 3 to 4 cups of the chicken broth to a large pot (save the rest for later when you blend the ingredients). Bring it to a boil over medium-high heat, then reduce the heat to low and simmer.
Make sure you use a pot that is large enough to hold all the ingredients since you will add each of the ingredients to the pot after you char them in a skillet.
While the broth is simmering, cut the stems from the chiles and scrape out the seeds. Heat 2 tablespoons of the bacon grease in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Add the dried chiles, stirring constantly until they get slightly charred and release their fragrance.
Transfer the chiles to the pot of hot broth. Remove the pot from the heat and let the chiles soak in the broth while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Melt some more bacon grease in the same skillet. Add the bread and the tortillas and toast them on both sides over medium-high heat. Tear them into pieces and add them to the pot with the broth and chiles. Push them down into the liquid.
Add the tomatoes and tomatillos to the skillet and cook, turning after 4 or 6 minutes until they get soft and have blackened char marks on them. Add them to the pot with the chiles and bread.
Melt some more bacon grease in the skillet over medium heat. Stir in the onion, garlic, and dried cranberries. Cook, stirring frequently until the onions and garlic are golden and the cranberries are soft, about 8 to 10 minutes. Transfer the mixture to the pot with the chiles.
Add some more bacon grease to the skillet. Add the peanuts, almonds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds. Toast the nuts and seeds over medium heat, stirring frequently until they get golden brown and fragrant. The sesame seeds will start to “pop” when they get toasted. Add them to the pot.
Reduce the heat under the skillet to medium-low. Add the spices to the skillet and stir until they are fragrant, about 2 minutes. Transfer the spices to the pot and give the mixture a stir.
Working in batches, transfer the mixture to a blender. Blend until smooth. Add enough additional broth or water to get the blender to puree everything well.
Transfer the puree into a large saucepan over medium heat and add the salt. Bring the mixture to a simmer and add the chopped chocolate, stirring until the chocolate is completely melted.
Simmer the sauce for at least 15 minutes or as long as 1 hour. The longer you simmer the sauce, the deeper the flavors will develop. Make sure you stir the sauce frequently from the bottom so it doesn’t burn on the bottom.
Add additional broth if you want the sauce thinner. For an extra-smooth sauce, strain it through a fine mesh sieve after blending.
Taste the mixture and season to your liking.

Video

Notes

To sweeten the mole: Stir in a little honey or brown sugar at the end, then adjust to taste. For a fruitier sweetness, replace some of the broth with orange juice, or blend in fresh or canned pineapple.

To make it spicier: Add chili powder in ½-teaspoon increments, or add a pinch of cayenne, tasting as you go.

To thin the sauce: Add hot chicken broth a little at a time until it reaches your preferred consistency.

To thicken the sauce: Simmer longer to reduce. Mole is usually gravy-like, but you can thicken it more for a dip or thin it down for a more brothy sauce.

Spices: This recipe uses pre-ground spices to avoid any larger pieces that may not fully break down during blending.

Whole spice option: Use 2½ teaspoons whole cumin seeds, 1 cinnamon stick, 12 to 20 whole cloves, and 10 whole allspice berries. Toast until fragrant, then grind with a mortar and pestle or spice grinder before adding.

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