Mole Poblano
Chicken in a deep, complex chili-and-chocolate mole.
Ingredients
- 1200 g Chicken pieces (legs + thighs)
- 40 g Ancho chilies
- 30 g Guajillo chilies
- 60 g Mexican chocolate
- 50 g Almonds
- 3 Tomato
- 1 Onion
- 1 Cinnamon stick
- 5 tbsp Neutral oil
- 1 tsp Salt
Method
- Poach the chicken pieces in salted water in a large pot to make a broth, about 35 minutes, then lift out the chicken and reserve both chicken and broth.
- While the chicken poaches, toast the ancho and guajillo chilies in a dry pan until fragrant, then soak them in hot water until soft.
- In the same pan, toast the almonds, cinnamon stick, tomato, and onion until charred in spots and aromatic.
- Blend the soaked chilies, toasted aromatics, and chocolate with a little broth into a smooth mole paste.
- Fry the mole paste in the oil in a large pot over medium heat, stirring, until it darkens and smells deep, about 8 minutes.
- Loosen with broth and simmer the mole gently until silky and deep, about 40 minutes.
- Return the chicken to the mole and warm through, about 6 minutes.
- Serve with rice.
Tap “Start cooking” for live timers that flag what to get ahead on while something simmers.
About Mole Poblano
Mole poblano is among the most celebrated dishes of Mexican cuisine, a sauce from the city and state of Puebla that famously marries dried chilies with chocolate into something neither sweet nor spicy in the way you'd expect. The complexity is the whole point: ancho and guajillo chilies are toasted and soaked for smoky, fruity depth, almonds and charred tomato and onion add body and sweetness, warm cinnamon perfumes it, and Mexican chocolate rounds everything into a dark, layered sauce. This version poaches the chicken first to build its own broth, which then thins the blended mole paste — a self-contained approach that gives you both the meat and its cooking liquid to work with.
The defining technique here is frying the blended mole paste in hot oil until it darkens and deepens, a step that concentrates and marries the flavors so the sauce loses any raw edge and turns glossy and profound. Poured over tender poached chicken, the mole is rich, earthy, and gently bittersweet, with a slow warmth from the chilies rather than sharp heat. Traditionally it's a special-occasion dish — weddings, holidays, feast days — served with rice and warm tortillas to catch the sauce. At two hours it asks for patience, but that time is what turns a pile of chilies, nuts, and chocolate into something ceremonial.
Mole Poblano: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Mole Poblano?
A serving has about 692 calories — 37.2g protein, 20.4g carbs, 52g fat, 5.4g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 37.2g of protein, roughly 22% of its calories.
Is Mole Poblano gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Mole Poblano has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
How long does Mole Poblano take to make?
About 120 minutes start to finish, but only around 39 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does Mole Poblano make?
This recipe makes 6 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.