Molé Poblano is a thick molé that can be thinned with broth for some uses. Poblano, in addition to being a chile, is slang for things that come from the Mexican state of Puebla. Oaxaca and Puebla disagree about where molé originated but everyone agrees it was in one of those two states. This was the first molé recipe we learned to make. It is not strained and not made with a lot of liquid so it has a delicious chewiness that is missing in some of the smoother sauces.

This molé is naturally gluten free and you can make it vegetarian with the use of vegetable broth and oil.

The chiles we use here are Pasilla, New Mexico, Dried Serrano and Morita.

Watch a Video

Here is a video of 2 Cooks in the Kitchen making Molé Poblano.

The Ingredients

• 8 Dried Pasilla Chiles
• 8 Dried New Mexico Chiles
• 1 Dried Serrano
• 1 Dried Chipotle
• 2 Onions, chopped
• 4 Tomatoes, chopped
• 4 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cloves
• 1/2 tsp Ground Coriander
• 1/2 tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1 Cup Almonds
• 1 Cup Raisins
• 2 Cups Chicken Broth
• 3 oz Baking Chocolate (100% Cacao)
• Oil for the pan

Prepare the Dried Chiles

As is often the case with molés we begin by removing the stems and seeds from the Pasilla and New Mexico chiles. We’ll leave the seeds in the Serrano and Morita. We want to sweat the chiles in a dry pan and then put them in a large mixing bowl. The way we learned this recipe, the chiles were not soaked but we think this would come together easier if they were soaked.

Tomatoes and Onions

We are just going to put everything except the chocolate into a large bowl and then mix it together, so remove the stems from the tomatoes then chop them and add them to the chiles. Next we’ll peel and chop the onions and then add them to the bowl.

Sesame Seeds, Spices, Raisins and Almonds

Now we add the sesame seeds, cloves, coriander, cinnamon, raisins and almonds to the bowl.

Add A Tortilla

We’ll tear up the tortilla and then add it to the bowl. Using a tortilla or bread as a thickener is fairly common among the molé recipes we have found. Using the corn tortilla keeps it gluten free. A variation is to use masa and then make a tortilla dough to add or making chochoyotes to add.

Mix Well

We need to mix everything well. This is going to be dry but you want to get a little bit of everything when you add part of this mixture to the blender.

Blend In Batches

Next we’ll put this through the blender working in small batches. Add just enough water to get it blend. We don’t want to add too much water as we want this to be thick. If you soaked the chiles you can use the soaking water here. We’ll put the result into a bowl and then repeat with the rest of the ingredients.

Chunky Molé Paste

When you are done with the blending you should have a big bowl of thick, chunky paste having used less than a cup of water to accomplish it.

Fry the Molé Paste

Put 2 Tbls of oil in a large soup pan and heat it over medium heat. This can be lard, olive oil or vegetable oil. Add the molé paste and then fry it in the oil for 15 minutes. You’ll need to stir this frequently.

Add the Broth

After 15 minutes add the broth and then stir it in. This is typically chicken broth but you can use vegetable broth if you want a vegetarian sauce.

Add the Chocolate

Last thing to add is the chocolate.We’ll break it into pieces and then stir until it melts and is incorporated. We are using Ghirardelli baking chocolate since we are close to San Francisco. Mexican Chocolate would probably be preferable but we don’t know how much different. We hope to learn more about that on our coming trip to Oaxaca.

Simmer For One Hour

Once we have the chocolate incorporated, we’ll let the molé simmer on low heat for an hour. You will need to stir from time to time to keep it from sticking on the bottom. The finished product will be a very thick sauce that you can use as is for pizza sauce, use to cook chicken, etc. You can thin it with more broth if you want.

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Here are some more molé recipes:

• Molé Colorado
• Molé Verde
• Molé Amarillo
• Classic Molé Rojo
• Easy Molé Rojo
• Molé Coloradito
• Molé Chuchilo Negro
• Molé Manchamanteles
• Oaxacan Molé Negro

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