🍗 Mole poblano

Name: Mole poblano
Total time: 150 min
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Mexico · Puebla
Ingredients: 800 g chicken pieces; 3 ancho, 3 mulato and 2 pasilla dried chilies; 50 g peanuts, 30 g sesame seeds; 2 tomatoes, 1 onion, 3 garlic cloves; 40 g dark chocolate; 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2 cloves, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp anise seed; 2 tbsp oil, salt

Origin: Mexico · Puebla

770kcal

per serving · 350 g

220kcal

per 100 g

52 gProtein15 g / 100 g

42 gFat12 g / 100 g

42 gCarbs12 g / 100 g

Mole poblano is a rich, dark reddish-brown sauce from Puebla made from several dried chilies, spices, peanuts, sesame seeds and a touch of chocolate, served over braised chicken. It is complex rather than sweet: smoky, nutty and mildly hot. It is traditionally sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds and served with rice and warm tortillas at weddings, baptisms and holidays.

Diets

✓

No porkfor halal, the meat must be halal-slaughtered

✓

High protein15 g protein per 100 g — 27% of the calories

Not vegetarianbecause of: chicken

Not veganbecause of: chicken, chocolate

Contains glutenno wheat, barley or rye in a typical recipe

Contains dairybecause of: chocolate

Not keto12 g carbs per 100 g

Allergens

Contains (in a typical recipe):

⚠ Gluten ⚠ Peanuts ⚠ Milk ⚠ Tree nuts ⚠ Sesame

What it is made of

chickenchocolatechili pepperpeanutssesame seedsspices

Recipe

4 servings150 min

Ingredients

800 g chicken pieces
3 ancho, 3 mulato and 2 pasilla dried chilies
50 g peanuts, 30 g sesame seeds
2 tomatoes, 1 onion, 3 garlic cloves
40 g dark chocolate
1/2 tsp cinnamon, 2 cloves, 1/2 tsp black pepper, 1/2 tsp anise seed
2 tbsp oil, salt

Method

Simmer the chicken in salted water for 35 minutes; keep the broth.
Toast the chilies and soak them in hot water; toast the peanuts and most of the sesame seeds.
Char the tomatoes, onion and garlic and blend everything with the spices and some broth until smooth.
Fry the paste in oil for 10 minutes, add the chocolate and broth and simmer 30 minutes until thick.
Add the chicken, heat through and sprinkle with the remaining sesame seeds.

How to make it lighter

Use skinless chicken and keep the sauce to about 4 tbsp per plate.
Peanuts and sesame make the sauce calorie-dense; 1 tbsp oil ≈ 120 kcal, so fry the paste with less oil.
Serve with vegetables or a small portion of rice rather than both rice and tortillas.

History

Mole poblano comes from the city of Puebla and is often called Mexico's national dish. The popular story credits nuns of the Santa Rosa convent with inventing it for a visiting official, but this is a legend; the sauce grew from older Mesoamerican chili sauces combined with spices introduced in colonial times.

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Values are estimates per 100 g for a typical recipe; home and restaurant versions vary. Diets and allergens are worked out from the ingredients of a typical recipe — always check with whoever cooked the dish. Not medical advice. Nutrition data: Me Nutrition dish database v13. How we count →