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Mole Verde with Chicken and white rice, served on a blue pottery plate, with a fork and knife on the side

Mole Verde with Chicken

A perfect beginner mole recipe, mole verde is aromatic, filling and takes way less time to make from scratch than a traditional mole poblano!
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Cook Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Course Main Course
Cuisine Mexican
Servings 6

Ingredients
  

Homemade chicken broth

  • ~2 lbs Bone-in, skinless chicken thighs (about 6) ~900g, see notes
  • 3 cloves garlic with skins on
  • 1/2 medium white onion
  • 15 stalks cilantro

Mole Verde Sauce

  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1/2 medium white onion
  • ~1 bunch cilantro Use what is leftover from making the stock, if making from scratch
  • 1 cup pepitas, peeled ~135g or ~5 ounces
  • 2 serrano peppers stem, seeds, and veins removed
  • 4-6 medium tomatillos ~380g or ~13 ounces
  • 2-2.5 cups chicken broth can substitute for store-bought
  • 20 epazote leaves
  • 1/2 tsp dried ground cumin
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • Salt to taste

For Serving

  • Cooked chicken thighs from homemade broth, served whole or shredded See notes

Instructions
 

Homemade Broth

  • Place chicken in a large pot, cover with water, and add 1/2 a white onion, 3 cloves garlic (whole with skins), and 15 stalks of cilantro.
  • Heat pot over medium-high heat until simmering, reduce heat to low, cover, and continue simmering until chicken is fall off the bone tender, about 1-1.5 hours.
  • Remove the chicken and broth from the heat, discard the vegetables and set aside.

Mole Verde Sauce

  • Heat a skillet over medium heat, working in batches toast the pepitas until they are slightly toasted and start popping, stirring constantly to keep them from burning, about 2 minutes per batch.
  • Working in batches, blend the tomatillos, onion, garlic, chicken broth*, chiles, epazote, cilantro, pepitas, and cumin. The sauce will be thick and have a grainy appearance, but make sure that it doesn't feel grainy to the touch and that everything is well blended and almost smooth. This may take several minutes in the blender. I usually blend about half the ingredients for 1 full minute, then add the other half and blend until smooth. *I start with 2 cups of chicken broth and use more if needed to achieve a smooth consistency.
  • Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat until shimmering, about 2-3 minutes. Add the sauce and bring to a simmer, slowly stirring in one direction only for about 25-30 minutes. The sauce will start to thicken and take on an army green color. You can use additional broth here to adjust the consistency if desired.
  • The mole should be thick, but still have a liquid consistency (you don't want to cook this down to a paste, it should still be pourable). It will also be aromatic. Taste the sauce after about 25 minutes and adjust for salt and broth as necessary.

To Serve

  • Serve over a whole piece of chicken thigh or add shredded chicken (debone the cooked chicken thighs or use pre-cooked shredded chicken) to the sauce and stir to incorporate all of the ingredients.

Notes

  1. Eliminate the ingredients needed for making homemade broth if using store-bought
  2. 3 cups of cooked shredded chicken can be substituted for the chicken thighs
  3. The total cook time is considering the time needed to cook chicken thighs and make the broth from scratch. If you are starting with cooked, shredded chicken and store-bought broth, the total cook time will be about 40 minutes. 
Keyword Authentic, gluten-free, Traditional