Mole negro, black mole, is the darkest, most layered in flavor, and silkiest sauce in all of Mexico.
Originally from Oaxaca, widely considered to be that nation’s culinary heart, mole negro is many things, but it is not that chocolaty sauce you may be thinking of right now. That sauce is likely a poorly made version of mole poblano, which most Mexican restaurants in America sell.
This sauce does include Mexican chocolate, but very little. It’s not sweet. It’s not overly spicy. It is exotic. Complex, with flavors that linger and grab you and hold on. Make it well and you will want it on everything.
Mole negro, however, is not simple. You need to make it on a day off. And it has some unusual steps that you must do or it won’t be right. Steps that will surprise you. But it’s worth it in the end.
Still with me? Awesome.
The origins of all moles, pronounced “mole-ay,” are in pre-Hispanic Mexico. At their core, this sauce is a smooth mix of seeds and nuts, chiles, often tomatoes and/or tomatillos, some sort of allium (onion or garlic), herbs, spices like cinnamon and allspice, and broth or water. Even some of the old versions have a dozen ingredients. Mole is special occasion food.
Once the Spaniards arrived, you start to see their influence. Almonds, raisins or other dried fruit, onions and garlic as we know it (not the wild varieties), as well as Silk Road spices like cloves.
Each mole has its own character, and I have several on this site. I do a mole chichilo with venison, a reddish turkey mole, and even a variant to mole called a pipian, which hinges on seeds.
But mole negro remains as the One Ring of moles. It rules them all, and, when done perfectly, is as black as Sauron’s soul. It’s hard to get it that black, so yours on your first try is more likely to be a very dark brown. That’s OK.
One mole negro ingredient that is almost impossible to find is the chilhuacle negro chile. You can buy them online sometimes, but chances are you will need to substitute mulatto or pasilla negro chiles. Lots of people do that in Mexico.
Read this recipe in full before starting, then follow the steps closely. I have designed this recipe to make things as easy as I can.
And once you make your mole negro, serve it with wild turkey, as I did in the pictures, chicken, pork, quail, rabbit, squirrel or any other light meat.
Mole negro keeps a couple weeks in the fridge, and freezes well.
Mexican Mole Negro
Ingredients
HERBS AND SPICES
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 tablespoons dried oregano, Mexican if possible
- 10 cloves, or 1/2 tsp ground
- 10 allspice berries, or 1/2 tsp ground
- 20 black peppercorns, or 1 teaspoon ground
SEEDS AND NUTS
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 1 cup pecans
- 1/2 cup roasted peanuts
VEGETABLES AND FRUIT
- 1 large white onion, quartered
- 6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 10 tomatillos, husked and halved
- 4 plum tomatoes, halved
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 ripe plantain, peeled and sliced
- 2 tablespoons lard or vegetable oil
- 1 quart turkey, chicken or vegetable broth
CHILES
- 1/2 pound chilhuacle negro chiles, or a combination of mulato or pasilla negro chiles
- 1 cup lard or oil
MISCELLANEOUS
- 1/2 cup breadcrumbs
- 3 ounces Mexican chocolate, 1 tablet
- Salt
Instructions
TOAST HERBS
- In a small pan, toast the cloves, allspice and peppercorns until fragrant, about 3 minutes, stirring often. Add the thyme and oregano, toss for about 10 to 15 seconds, then pour the contents of the pan into a spice grinder and grind fine. Set aside.
TOAST NUTS
- Add the sesame seeds to the pan you toasted the spices in and toast them, stirring often, until they just begin to brown. You need to keep an eye on this because they can burn easily. Move them to a bowl.
- Add the pecans and peanuts to the pan and toast, again stirring often, until you see some browning on the pecans, about 3 minutes. Move them to the same bowl as the sesame seeds.
- Grind finely all the nuts in a food processor or spice grinder. Set aside.
VEGETABLES AND FRUIT
- Heat a cast iron frying pan or comal or other heavy pan over high heat. You'll want your oven fan on here. Start by setting the onions and garlic on the hot pan to char. You want the cut sides of the onion to be good and blackened. When they are -- the garlic will be ready, too -- peel the garlic and roughly chop the onion and put it in a blender.
- Set the tomatoes and tomatillos, cut side down, on the hot pan. Let them sit there for a solid 3 to 5 minutes. Use a thin metal spatula to remove them to the blender, scraping up all the blackened bits and adding that to the blender, too.
- If you are using a frying pan and not a comal, add 2 tablespoons of lard or oil to it. If you are using a comal you need to switch to a pan that has sides. Add the plantain and raisins and fry until the plantains are well browned and the raisins plump. Turn off the heat and stir in the breadcrumbs. Scrape out the contents of the pan into the blender.
- Add enough broth to the blender to allow it to spin correctly, and puree the fruits and vegetables well.
CHILES
- Remove the stems from all the chiles. Collect all the seeds from the chiles and set them in a bowl.
- Here's the gnarly step: Heat the comal or frying pan on high heat. Turn the oven fan on high. Open the windows. Maybe get a facemask. Incinerate all the chile seeds. You want them black, carbonized. If you can do this outside, all the better. Once this is done, move the blackened chile seeds into a bowl of cold water.
- Now pour the cup of lard or oil into a pan and heat it to about 350F. Break the dried chiles into large pieces and fry them in the oil until very dark and crispy, about 5 minutes. You will need to work in batches, and you might need more oil. Press the chiles into the oil as they fry, because they will want to float. Once dark and crisp, move to a colander to drain.
- Once all the chiles are ready, submerge them in hot water to soften about 30 minutes. While this is happening, change the water on the seeds. This is important -- if you don't change the water on the seeds your mole will be very bitter. Do this twice over 2 hours. You don't need to change the water on the chiles themselves.
- When the seeds and chiles are ready, puree them in the blender with a little of the chile soaking water (not the seed water) and some of the broth from the vegetable step. Set aside.
FINISHING THE MOLE
- Almost there! In a large pot with a lid, add any remaining chile frying oil. You need a total of between 3 and 6 tablespoons. Get this oil hot over medium-high heat.
- Add the chile puree first. It will sputter and pop. Stir well to incorporate the lard or oil. Turn the heat down to medium and add the herbs and spices, the ground nuts, and the vegetable and fruit puree. Stir very well. Chances are this will be brown, not black. That's OK.
- Now it's time to very slowly cook your mole. Add the remaining broth, the chocolate and salt to taste. Drop the heat to low and cook your mole very gently, stirring every so often to make sure nothing burns on the bottom of the pot, for at least 30 minutes, and really up to 4 hours. You want the end mole to be thicker than gravy; you thin it later as you need it.
- As for what you're eating with your mole negro, you generally simmer the turkey or chicken or pork in broth mixed with a ladle of the mole until it's tender. Then you will want to serve it with finished mole, thinned to the consistency of melted ice cream, topped with toasted sesame seeds.
Hi, coming to you from the southern most tip of Africa – 3 hrs from Cape Town
My chilhuacle negro chiles are fresh – and even as I ask, I think I know the answer, I need to dry?
I would probably smoke – before embarking on this magical event of yours.
I don’t have fancy equipment – I usually hang the chiles high in the flue over my braai (brick built barbecue) over peach charcoal, or what ever wood I can find, and then finish at the lowest temp in the oven.
Question is – must the chiles be dry?
Many thanks, Ren
Renee: Traditionally yes, they are, and they are smoke dried, too. So I’d go ahead with your plan of hanging them over the braai.
Would tinned tomatillos work?
Mahmoud: Yes, they will.
I’m in the process of making your mole now and have just finished frying the chilies. They are dark and crispy. I wonder if they are too dark. They don’t seem to have much of the chili flavor left. I taste more carbon than chili. Is this to be expected?
Mariposa: Yes, this is to be expected. This is one of the things what makes the mole black.
I live in a tiny NYC apartment and the gnarly step of incinerating the seeds could end very badly or me (and my neighbors), as I have no vent or fan over my stove and kitchen ventilation isn’t great generally. Are there any alternatives to this step at all?
Lez: Nope. Otherwise it won’t be mole negro. Sorry.
I love the purity of your work on this moly it is awesome and this is one of my favourite dishes ever ever ever I just can’t eat enough of it! 5 star…. And I am a highly ranked chef myself
You can get various authentic mole pastes in most Mexican grocery stores. I usually go for the thick paste that is usually kept refrigerated. I haven’t tried the jarred kind and I would stay away from the whole foods brand. The ones I’ve tried have made delicious sauce and you can add extra spices to enhance the flavour to your taste.
Hi there. I have chilhuacles negros growing in my garden. How can I incorporate fresh chiles instead of dried? Or should I dry them on my dehydrator? Thanks!
Carly: I bet you can simply seed them and remove the stems and puree as normal. Rare treat to have fresh ones!
Hi Carly,
You’re so lucky! I wish I could grow them, but I’m not a very good gardener! I’m in Albuquerque – the Chile capital of the world, and because the air is very hot and dry here, we always make ristras and dry Chile outside to dry naturally. I would imagine you could put them in your dehydrator to get the same results. My abuelita always told me that dried chiles taste differently than fresh, so maybe experiment with both to see if you can tell. When I use dried & rehydrated New Mexican Chile versus fresh in my own recipes, I do taste a difference. It’s like the difference between using dried onions vs fresh onions. One has a sort of smokey warm flavor, versus the fresh vegetable flavor. This is just my experience. I’m curious to know how your fresh chiles taste. Good luck! I’m excited for you!
I have been looking for great mole negro recipes & yours looks freaking amazing. I’m Italian, so any sauce that takes less than 4 hours to make isn’t worth the investment of ingredients or effort… yours is a fabulous representation-I am going to add some mexican cinnamon & that may make it a bit less authentic, but with all the charred ingredients, I think it will provide a bit of balance for palettes that may not find the acrid bite agreeable.
Annnnnd I’ll be using cast iron on my outdoor grill to scorch the chile seeds… living in Chicago, this has to be made in warmer months.
I’ve been making Bayless’ “Simple Red Mole” for years now (a poblano mole with a little chocolate in it), but wouldn’t mind trying my hand at this. I actually have a couple of chilhuacle chilis, but not half a pound and they’ve been in the pantry for a while (a farmer at the Seattle market was selling them fresh, I dried them myself).
My problem is the nuts. My wife is allergic to both pecans and peanuts (also hazelnut, walnut, etc). We’re good with almonds and pistachios, and with seeds like pepitas and pine nuts.
Any thoughts on a what a good substitute would be? I presume pistachios are not right for this. Maybe all almonds or a mix of almonds and something else?
Steve: Easy peasy. Use almonds and pine nuts. Problem solved. The nuts in this are important, but the exact nuts are less so.
This came out fantastic. I know it says serves 25, but I portioned it out into 45 servings of about 1/3 cup each. The only thing I did differently is since I had the chili pepper seeds on the grill, I toasted the peppers themselves on the grill. Should I ever run out (!) I will make this again, maybe with a couple hot peppers too….
Thanks for the great recipe!!
I’m very excited to try this recipe this weekend, but I had a quick question. Can I prepare the herbs/spices, nuts, and fruit/veggies the day before or is it best to do it day of? Thanks!
Kitty: Yes, you can do that a day ahead and keep it in the fridge.
The mole was delicious once it all came together with chicken thighs and rice. It is slightly bitter, but rich and complex. It took more salt than you might think to balance out the flavor. I have never had mole negro before, so I don’t have anything to compare it to. I made the recipe as stated substituting the mulattos and pasilla for the chilhuacles which I could only find online for about $80 a pound. I also couldn’t bring myself to add all of the burned chili seeds. I washed, soaked, and squeezed the seeds several times, but even just a couple of them in my mouth were very acrid. I was worried it would get too bitter and didn’t want to ruin this large pot of mole. It still came out very dark.
I have another question. What is a good substitute for Mexican chocolate? I can’t find it in any of the local stores. I appreciate your help.
Sondra: Mexican chocolate is in pretty much every Latin market in America. But if you don’t have one near you, use the darkest chocolate with the least sugar you can find. Dark baking chocolate will do.
I can’t wait to make this recipe for New Year’s Eve. Am I supposed to use dry chili’s or fresh?
Sondra: Dried chiles.
I can’t get tomatillos in my area. Is there a substitute? I would also have to use different chilies. I’m thinking that might be ok. I just want to make a tasty mole. ?
Mitchy: No real substitute for tomatillos, but maybe you can find a green enchilada sauce or something that has tomatillos in it.
Hi Hank,
I am going to try this one of these days! Thank you!
going to try this with moose perhaps elk I’ll let you know how I did
Chinese tangerine venison? now mole like my abuelita used to make? Dude you’re on a roll!
This sounds amazing!! I assume the bread crumbs/tortillas are for thickening. If I leave them out, what will be the consistency of the sauce?
Mary: It will still be pretty thick, but yes, definitely looser.
Hank,
Thanks – I love Mole Negro (and Mole Verde).
Never knew how to make it – and now I do!
Merry Christmas!
Tad
Thank you, my mom made mole negro from scratch, she died and i was always too busy to learn from, her. I will print the recipe and make.
I was lucky enough to have my mom teach me some of her recipes. ALWAYS take the time to learn from the older generation. I know it’s hard to think this way when you are young, but once they’re gone, they’re gone. I wish I had taken the time to learn from my grandma.
Wow! This is super! 35 years ago, I visited the Yucatan for a few weeks and bought some black mole that sounds like this in the market in Oaxaca. It had the consistency of a very thick paste – about like a homemade peanut butter. To get it back home I had to keep putting it in many layers of plastic bags because it somehow kept “coming through”! I kept it in a glass in the refrigerator and used in everything – only a small bit was needed thinned in broth. Then I moved to Israel of a few years and entrusted a friend to keep it for me. Needless to say, she cleaned out her fridge one day and through it away because she forgot what it was. I’ve rued this day for the last 35 years!! It does sound a bit complicated, but I’m making this for sure! Thank you very much!