Not-Quite-Homemade Chicken Mole
An easy and delicious way to make chicken mole. Using mole sauce from a jar and freshly cooked chicken, this dish comes together quickly and inexpensively.
Servings Prep Time
8 45minutes
Cook Time
90minutes
Servings Prep Time
8 45minutes
Cook Time
90minutes
Ingredients
Instructions
  1. Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil, add the chicken and onion. Once it comes back to a boil, skim off any foam that has developed and lower the heat slightly, keeping the water at a steady simmer for 30-45 minutes until the chicken is full cooked. If you are not sure whether the chicken is done, gently cut into the thick part on the top of the breast. It should be white all the way through to the bone (not pink) and should cut easily.
  2. Once the chicken is fully cooked, carefully move it to a bowl, and refrigerate the cooked chicken covered with foil, until it is cool enough to handle or put the bowl containing the chicken into a larger bowl filled with ice.  Do not leave the cooked chicken sitting on the counter until it is cool; that is an invitation for bacteria to grow and the object here is to enjoy the meal, not spend hours or days recovering from it.
  3. Strain the chicken broth and put it in the refrigerator.  While it doesn’t have to be chilled, the broth should not sit out at room temperature while the chicken cools down. (You can use the double bowl/ice method here too if you want to cook the broth quickly before refrigerating it.) For a lower fat broth, refrigerate it until the fat solidifies and you can skim it off the top. Reserve about 2 1/2-3 cups and freeze the rest for another dish that calls for chicken broth or use it as the base for a quick chicken soup with vegetables and condiments to pump up the flavor.
  4. Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, pull off the skin and discard it. Shred the meat into bite-size pieces.  A chicken close to 4 pounds yields a heaping pasta-size bowl of shredded meat.
  5. Pour 1½ cups of the broth into a clean pot.  Bring it to a simmer and add the contents of the jar of mole.  At first it will clump. Working with the back of a wooden spoon, smooth out the lumps while gently stirring the simmering sauce.  Add 2-3 tablespoons of sugar and an optional pinch or two of salt.  Taste the sauce – it should be spicy (but not overwhelmingly so) and definitely not sweet.
  6. Cook the sauce at a simmer for about 15 minutes, stirring frequently.  Slowly add more broth during that time.  The sauce should stir easily but not be too thin.  You can always add more sugar or broth, but you can’t easily recover from adding too much of either – start with the minimum and add more slowly.  I’ve never used more than 3 tablespoons of sugar, but sometimes use a bit less, and the amount of broth is generally close to, or just over, 2 cups, but the exact amount may vary.
  7. Add in the shredded chicken stir until the chicken is fully coated with sauce and let it cook for another 3-5 minutes to assure that the chicken is heated.
  8. Serve the mole on top of rice with beans and  orange/red onion salad on the side.
Recipe Notes

Chicken mole is a great “do ahead” dish. If serving it later, reserve another ½ cup or so of the chicken broth for reheating, as the mixture get thicker after being refrigerated. Warm the extra broth and stir it in just before serving.