What’s the first dish that comes to mind when you think of Mexican food? If you said tacos, then I don’t blame you. You’re not alone.
We love tacos too but no Mexican dish stirs the imagination quite like mole poblano. This dark, thick, rich, and mysterious sauce made with twenty-something ingredients is a national dish of Mexico and a source of pride for every Poblano (person from Puebla).
We enjoyed our fair share of mole poblano at some of the best restaurants in Puebla but today, we’re sharing something a little more special with you. We’re sharing this easy but authentic mole poblano recipe from Chef Alonso Hernandez, a renowned local chef who runs a popular cooking class in Puebla.
Mole is a daunting dish that can take days to prepare. If you’ve been searching for an easy recipe to make mole poblano from the comfort of your own kitchen, then look no further. This is it.
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WHAT IS MOLE POBLANO?
Mole poblano is a Mexican national dish that hails from the state of Puebla in east-central Mexico. It typically consists of boiled chicken or pork covered in a dark mole sauce and served with a side of Mexican rice and/or corn tortillas.
Many non-Mexicans may be under the impression that mole refers to the entire dish (pictured below) but strictly speaking, mole refers just to the sauce. The word mole comes from the Nahuatl word mōlli, meaning “sauce”.
If you visit other parts of Mexico, like Oaxaca, you’ll find hundreds of different recipes for mole sauce. However, the most famous is mole poblano. It’s such a celebrated dish that when people say “mole”, most of the time, they’re referring to mole poblano.
It’s believed that this particular Mexican mole recipe was invented by nuns at the Santa Rosa Convent in Puebla. During the early colonial period, the Archbishop was said to have paid the convent a surprise visit. Unprepared, the nuns panicked and put together a dish with what little ingredients they had at the time – an old turkey, chili peppers, chocolate, stale bread, nuts, and spices. To their relief, the Archbishop enjoyed it and an iconic Mexican dish was born.
Today, a typical mole poblano recipe makes use of over twenty different ingredients. Recipes vary but some of the key ingredients in an authentic mole poblano include mulato chiles, Mexican chocolate, coriander seeds, and cloves.
Mole poblano has a reputation for being a difficult and time-consuming dish to make. I was chatting with a local at a restaurant in Oaxaca and according to him, some moles – when made in the traditional way – can take up to four days to properly prepare! Chef Alonso’s recipe helps speed up the process by using a blender.
Because of its dark brown color, many people believe that chocolate is the principal ingredient in mole poblano but that isn’t the case. Mole poblano actually gets much of its color and flavor from mulato chiles.
Traditionally, mole poblano is served over turkey but these days, it’s more common to find it made with boiled chicken or pork. It’s typically sprinkled with sesame seeds and served with a side of Mexican rice and/or soft corn tortillas.
Mole Poblano Recipe
An authentic recipe for mole poblano developed by Chef Alonso Hernandez of Casa Mexicana in Puebla, Mexico
Ingredients
- 3 mulato chiles
- 3 pasilla chiles
- 3 ancho chiles
- 3 Tbsps of vegetable oil
- 1 onion
- 1 clove of garlic
- 6 tomatoes
- 10 coriander seeds
- 3 cloves
- 6 Maria cookies (or animal crackers)
- 6 raisins
- 1 plantain
- 1 piece of bread
- 2 corn tortillas
- 1 pinch of oregano
- 1/2 stick of cinnamon
- 3 bay leaves
- 1.5 L of chicken broth
- 1 piece of Mexican chocolate (Abuelita or Ibarra)
- 1 tsp of salt
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 3/4 kg of chicken breast, turkey, or cheese
- 100 g of sesame seeds (for garnish)
Instructions
- Roast the onion, garlic, and tomatoes on a grill until they soften and turn medium brown. Set aside.
- Fry the chiles until they change color and then set aside. Take care not to over-fry them because doing so will add a bitter taste to the sauce.
- Using the same oil, lightly fry the following ingredients one after the other – coriander seeds, cloves, cookies, and raisins. Cut the plantain into segments and then fry them until they turn golden brown. Fry the piece of bread. Set aside.
- Burn the corn tortillas over a flame until they're completely charred on both sides.
- Simmer all the ingredients from steps 1-4 in a pot over medium-high heat with chicken broth and spices (cinnamon, bay leaves, oregano) for about 10 minutes to soften them.
- After softening, grind the ingredients in two or three batches using a blender in the same broth or water until they turn into a thick sauce. Set aside.
- Preheat some vegetable oil in a pot over medium heat and gently add the sauce.
- Chop the Mexican chocolate and add it to the sauce. Add salt and sugar.
- Mix evenly and cook for approximately 25-30 minutes over a low flame.
- Serve the mole sauce over the cooked chicken (boiled) or turkey, or on cheese enchiladas. Garnish with lightly toasted sesame seeds on top. You can serve the mole with white rice, smashed black beans, and warm corn tortillas on the side.
Notes
This recipe for mole poblano was developed by Chef Alonso Hernandez of Casa Mexicana in Puebla, Mexico.
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FINAL THOUGHTS
We haven’t had the privilege of taking Chef Alonson’s cooking class in Puebla but we will as soon as we find ourselves back in Mexico. Until then, here are pictures from a different cooking class we took a few years ago in Puebla City where we learned to make mole poblano, chiles en nogada, and chalupas.
Here’s a shot of Mrs Traveleater painstakingly deseeding a plate of dried chiles.
Chopping onions and garlic cloves
Frying the chiles in a deep fryer. This cooking class was held inside a restaurant so clearly, we were preparing way more ingredients than we needed for our own dishes. Tourist labor anyone? Ha!
This was by far the hardest step in the process – grinding up all the fried dried chiles by hand with a molinillo or wooden grinder. It wasn’t easy!
Though our cooking instructor did have a blender, I think she just wanted us to experience what it was like doing it the old-fashioned way. It certainly gave us a much better understanding and appreciation for the dish.
Frying up some bread to help thicken and give body to the mole sauce.
They certainly made us work for our mole!
These large clay pots are called cazuelas in Mexico. You see them everywhere and they range in size from tiny to jacuzzi size. Just kidding. Maybe not jacuzzi size, but they get pretty big.
Mrs Traveleaer putting the finishing touches on our thick and oh so delicious mole poblano sauce. We’re almost there!
And there you have it! Authentoc mole poblano ready to be poured over some cooked chicken or pork. Be sure to enjoy it with lots of corn tortillas. ¡Buen provecho!
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