This paleo and keto Mexican mole sauce is a truly wonderful (and abbreviated!) version of a traditional family recipe. Expect to be blown away!
Keto Mexican Mole Sauce With Chicken 🍗
The Easy Version
Traditional Mexican mole, with an ingredient count anywhere from 20 to 40 ingredients, usually takes a day (or even a few!) to prepare. And know that there’s also an incredible variety in mole recipes, changing drastically from region to region and even from family to family.
This recipe is an abbreviated version of a family recipe (grandmother be turning in her grave!). It’s akin to mole poblano, reddish in hue and with toasted seeds. Though the time is cut drastically from a two-day affair to two hours tops (with only about an hour of active time).
Having said that, the taste is honestly absolutely killer and it’s still so much better than anything you can buy in stores. Plus, this version is also keto, paleo and gluten free.
The Ingredients
As mentioned, traditional mole has an exorbitant amount of ingredients. We reduced the count in this recipe from 43 to 21, leaving behind the most important ones (and the ones you’re already likely to have in your pantry).
The one exception perhaps being the chili ancho (pictured below). This chili is the most important ingredient in the sauce, binding all the flavors together into a wonderful symphony. So procuring it is an absolute must. The good news? It’s very common in Mexican supermarkets and even online.
As you may already know, traditional mole is famous for being a chocolate sauce. Made with chocolate tablets from Oaxaca, distinct for their cinnamon hues. These, in all their sugary glory, are most definitely not keto. But we found that substituting them with a dark chocolate (think 70% chips from Lily’s) did a killer job.
Still, to make up for the lack of sugar (also from the missing raisins, plantain or pineapple), you must add a sweetener. We like xylitol best in savory cooking, but Swerve will work too. And if paleo, coconut sugar is ideal.
The Smokiness
A great mole is characterized by an incredible depth, and adding smokiness is key to achieve it. The great news is that doing so is very easy. All you have to do is roast the red pepper and tomatoes in your broiler. Or alternatively, hold them with skewers to an open flame in your stove until charred (old school!).
Other than this, you’ll want to lightly toast your chili anchos, nuts, and spices. You won’t believe the incredible depth you achieve by doing this.
And most important, don’t forget to enjoy the process. Making mole is an incredibly rewarding experience, as you work on building the flavors little by little until you’re left with one killer and very special sauce.
This recipe also yields roughly 10 servings of the sauce, so you’ll have plenty of leftovers (ideal!). You can freeze it in portions and use it anywhere from enchiladas to sprucing up a boring chicken.
Just don’t forget to whip up a batch of our grain free keto tortillas, soulmate material for sure!
Easy Keto Mexican Mole Sauce With Chicken
Oh, and if baking with cups rather than grams is your thing, just click on US Cups for an instant conversion.
Ingredients
For the keto mole sauce
- 60 g dried ancho chilis about 3 medium
- 1 large red pepper
- 2 medium plum tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1 1/2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
- 1 star anise *
- 2 whole cloves *
- 4 black peppercorns
- 35 g almonds
- 35 g raw unsalted peanuts
- 1-2 tablespoons chipotle powder to taste depending on spiciness desired
- 3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil for cooking
- 4 cloves garlic finely minced
- 1 medium onion finely chopped
- 2-3 cups chicken broth as needed
- 150 g dark chocolate
- 4-5 tablespoons xylitol or Swerve, to taste
- 1 bay leave
- kosher salt to taste
- 8 skinless bone-in chicken thighs **
Serving suggestions
- sesame seeds lightly toasted
- our grain free keto tortillas
- cauliflower rice
Instructions
- Toast ancho chilis in a skillet or pan over medium heat until softened, 2-3 minutes. Be careful not to overcook them as they'll turn bitter. Remove stems, slice them open and discard seeds. Transfer to a bowl, cover with boiling water and soak for 30 minutes.
- If you're doing the roasting under broiler, place an oven rack to the highest position and turn on your broiler to the highest setting. Leave the red pepper whole (you'll have to turn it around a couple times) and slice tomatoes in half. Place in a baking tray and broil until charred and blistered, 5-10 minutes.
- Alternatively, you can go old-school and skewer the tomatoes and red pepper. Charring them in an open flame on your stovetop (think bonfire marshmallows!).
- Transfer the charred tomatoes to blender (skins on) and the red pepper to a sealed plastic bag and set aside to 'sweat'.
- While you're roasting the tomatoes and pepper you can go ahead and start toasting the seeds. Heat up a Dutch oven or heavy pot over medium heat, add sesame seeds, oregano, cinnamon, cumin seeds, star anise, cloves and peppercorns. Toast, stirring often, until fragrant and lightly golden. Remove from pot and transfer to blender.
- Add almonds and peanuts to Dutch oven and toast until fragrant and deep golden (the skin on the almonds should be lightly blackened). Remove from pot and transfer to blender.
- Heat up 3 tablespoons olive oil in Dutch oven and add in minced garlic and onion. Cook, stirring often, until browned (10-14 minutes). Remove from pot and transfer to blender.
- Drain soaked ancho chilis and transfer to blender. Add chipotle powder and blend until smooth, adding chicken broth as needed to thin out the mix. Taste and season with a touch of salt, being mindful that a few ingredients are still missing and the sauce will reduce substantially. The sesame taste will also be prevalent, but worry not.
- Remove pepper from plastic bag and peel the skin off, discarding it. Remove stem, slice open and remove seeds and veins. Transfer to blender.
- Heat up remaining 2 tablespoons olive oil in Dutch oven and add in chicken pieces, seasoning with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Cook until meat is fully seared from all sides.
- Sieve the mole sauce into the Dutch oven and, once hot, stir in the chocolate, 4 tablespoons of sweetener and a bay leave. Turn heat down to low and simmer for 20 minutes. Taste for sweetness and salt and cook for 20 minutes more. Keep in mind that mole tends to splatter quite a bit while it cooks.
- Serve right away, garnished with toasted sesame seeds. We also love a side of cauliflower rice and a batch of our grain-free keto tortillas is an absolute must!
Notes
Nutrition
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Since going keto 3 years ago-I really missed mole. I had seen this recipe but was intimidated by all the ingredients. I’m so glad I tried it-it came out amazing & even my non-keto family loved it!!! Way better than the grocery pre-made stuff with nasty ingredients!!!!
Hi Paola, I am from the Netherlands and I love your recipies. I have a question. It’s very hard to get some dried ancho chilis in Holland. I can order some dried ancho chili powder and dried broken ancho chili flakes. I am not familiar with anchos and not familiar with substituting dried chilis for powder, so maybe you can tell me what to buy, the powder or flakes, and the amount to use for substituting the dried anchos in your recipe. Keep on posting great recipies and stay healthy please. Beso y un ambrazo cordial
Hi…..my question is couldn’t I just use the loose mole they sell in the Mexican market then add a few things for flavor? Or this way cuz of keto?
Hi Paolo, the recipe looks super yummy, but at what point do you cook the chicken? The recipe says to brown the chicken on all sides, does it cook in the Mole while it simmers?
This mole is absolutely delicious!!! Thank you thank you thank you! 🤤
You are a lifesaver! I will be attempting this recipe, I love mole so so much… my husband thinks I have a problem, but he just doesn’t understand my roots lol
Right?!! There’s just some things we need to have 😂 un beso!
I can’t wait to try this recipe. Would this work as an enchilada sauce with your tortillas? I don’t think I would have been able to stay on keto without your tortilla recipe.
Definitely! I make large batches, freeze and make enchiladas with it (I’m Mexican, couldn’t go through life without enchiladas de mole 😂!) And awesome to hear the tortilla recipe is serving its purpose lol! xo Mary!
Hello, I am wanting to experiment with making like a Mole Pulled Pork. I’m bored with the traditional pulled pork recipes. Do you think this sauce would hold up in a slow cooker for 8-10 hours with a pork butt?
Hi Amy! That would be IDEAL! My grandmother used to simmer it for three days! 😂
Hi! I don’t do much authentic Mexican but I have a couple of recipes that use chipotles in adobo so I always have little bags of 2 chilis with adobo sauce in the freezer. Could I sub this somehow for the chipotle powder? If so, how much?
My nearest grocery store is 2 hours away, so while I’ll search for the dried ancho chilis, I’ve never seen chipotle powder available and I’d rather not order online unless I know I’ll like the recipe! I already have a ton of keto ingredients taking up cupboard space! thank you!
Hi Lulu! Using chipotle in adobo for mole as it has a very different acidity levels etc, so you would probably have to change things as you go (I have never made mole with chipotle in adobo so I’m not sure how it would work out). It would potentially work, but you will likely have to adjust a bunch of other things as you go (so it depends how comfortable you are in the kitchen with building on flavors as you go). I hoped this helped :-S
Thank you for posting this! I have been missing mole for many years between Keto and developing a peanut allergy in my 20s. Is it possible to substitute something for the peanuts? I know peanuts are a crucial ingredient for the flavor, but do you think sunflower seeds would work? Thanks!
Hi Paola! What kind of red pepper do you use for this recipe? My local grocery store has so many peppers that are red. 😫 Is it something sweet like a bell pepper? Or spicy like a chili pepper?
I’m so excited to try this recipe out! My boyfriend and I are huge fans of your blog 😊
Hi Dakota! Just grab a nice and big red bell pepper 😉 so happy to hear you and your bf are enjoying the recipes so much! Hope you love this one too xo!
I want to thank you for this recipe! My husband is Mexican so I decided to give it a shot for our Valentines Day dinner this weekend. WOW!! My husband was SO IMPRESSED! Said it’s one of the best moles he’s EVER had! Could not believe he was eating keto 🙂
Oh that sounds wonderful Marie! Thank you for your lovely comments and so happy it was such a success! xo!
I LOVE MOLE SO MUCH!! When we were in Oaxaca I swear we ate it three times a day lol! Will definitely be trying this one