Roast Chicken Thighs with Chocolate Mole

Comforting, deeply savoury, and extremely delicious, this chicken smothered with a chocolate mole, aka mole negro, is made with layers of complex and bold flavours. The sauce is not only great for chicken, pork, also great to jazz up the root vegetables. And of course you can spoon the sauce over the beans too. Use different kinds of dried chillies if you have, otherwise, a single kind would work just fine.

Roast Chicken Thighs with Chocolate Mole

adapted from Olive Magazine

	Chocolate Mole
8-10 Chicken thighs, skin-on (about 1.2 kg) 1 tbsp Olive oil 3/4 tbsp Cumin seeds, toasted and ground 1/2 tbsp Coriander seeds, toasted and ground 1/3 tsp Cinnamon powder 1 tsp Freshly milled black peppercorns 1/2 tbsp Sea salt flakes Cilantro leaves, to serve Lime wedges, to serve	2 Dried ancho chillies 2 Dried chipotle chillies 2 Dried guajillo chillies 1 Onion, peeled and roughly chopped 6 Garlic cloves 1-2 Jalapeño chillies, deseeded and chopped 400 g / 1 tin Chopped tomatoes 1 tsp Dried oregano 1 tbsp Instant espresso powder 2 tbsp Peanut butter 200 ml Chicken stock Sea salt and black pepper 50 g Lindt 100% pure chocolate, finely chopped

Rub the chicken thighs with olive oil. Mix together the cumin, coriander, cinnamon, black pepper and salt. Sprinkle and rub all over the chicken thighs, then put into a bowl and chill for at least 1 hour or up to 4 hours.
To make the chocolate mole, put all of the dried chillies into a heatproof bowl and pour over just-boiled water from the kettle. Leave to soak for 15 minutes, then drain, remove the stalks and seeds, and discard these. Tip the chillies into a blender with the onion, garlic, jalapeños, tomatoes, oregano, espresso powder, peanut butter, stock and season, then whizz to a purée. Stir the chocolate into the sauce.
Heat the oven to 200C/400F. Pour the chocolate mole into a large baking pan and nestle the chicken thighs on top, scraping any marinade over the chicken. Roast for 40-45 minutes until the chicken is cooked through and crisp, then cover the whole tray with foil and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Bring the baking tray to the table, scatter with coriander leaves and serve with lime wedges on the side.

25 comments:

Tom 2/5/25 12:18: ...this one isn't for me.
David M. Gascoigne, 2/5/25 12:42: An interesting combination.
ellie 2/5/25 13:04: Oh, I haven't had this one since Del Rio! Wonderful meal indeed!
Caitlin'nMegan 2/5/25 13:05: So tasty! thanks so much ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸🌸💗💗💗💗
roentare 2/5/25 13:09: Tender roast chicken thighs are smothered in a bold, deeply savoury chocolate mole made with dried chillies, tomatoes, espresso, peanut butter, and dark chocolate—a rich, versatile sauce perfect for meats, vegetables, or beans.
DEZMOND 2/5/25 13:17: That is a grosse nein nein from me LOL
Hope you had a nice May Day yesterday, we spent ours in the streets at the protests. Had a few cars with dictators minions trying to mow us down, but we still stand strong. Our students are also running a marathon towards Brussels and EU and they will soon enter Germany as well.
Anonymous 2/5/25 13:32: Chicken in Mole Negro has been a favorite of mine for decades — the dark, rich sauce is so alluring! Yours is beautiful!
Anonymous 2/5/25 13:33: Oops - forgot to sign! David (C&L)
Lola Martínez 2/5/25 13:56: A veces he acompañado las carnes con chocolate negro, pero ese mole para mí es muy picante, aunque no dudo que para los consumidores del pique sea lo mejor.
eileeninmd 2/5/25 14:43: Sounds like an interesting recipe for chicken!
Have a great day and a happy weekend.
Ananka 2/5/25 14:46: Interesting idea with the chocolate!
Pantherka 2/5/25 16:53: This is an interesting recipe, an interesting combination, but it looks amazing.
Christine 2/5/25 18:21: Yummy
Ben | Havocinthekitchen 2/5/25 18:36: Such an intriguing combination of flavours! I've never had Chocolate Mole, but it sounds tasty.
Linda's Relaxing Lair 2/5/25 18:50: I have never had chicken and chocolate together, very interesting!
Bill 2/5/25 21:26: Sounds interesting.
Cooking Julia 2/5/25 23:48: This Mexican-style chicken looks great!
Lowcarb team member 3/5/25 00:32: A most interesting combination of ingredients and flavours which I haven't tried.
Will I? I'm not sure ... but many thanks for the recipe details.

All the best Jan
Brian's Home Blog 3/5/25 01:08: I don't think I've ever had chocolate mole, I'd give it a go!
J.P. Alexander 3/5/25 01:22: Gracias por la receta. Te mando un beso
My name is Erika. 3/5/25 02:58: Yum. Some day I need to try a chocolate mole. It's so tasty to eat. Happy weekend Angie.
Eha Carr 3/5/25 04:49: Have not had a mole dish for ages tho' very much like them. Yours is a very interesting recipe - have gone up to 90% on the Lindt chocolate - have to see whether we have the 100% easily available . . . thanks !
Tandy (Lavender and Lime) 3/5/25 07:17: I've never tried mole but this sounds full of flavour.
Tandy (Lavender and Lime)
Anne in the kitchen 3/5/25 07:57: I love mole sauce so this sounds really good.
David 3/5/25 17:54: Hi Angie, The chicken looks great to me but I've never been able to convince my better half that a chocolate based sauce is edible...much less over meat. As for our over-sized $15.50 pretzel, it was overpriced...no doubt about it. Given inflation, I think that a price between $10.00 and $12.00 would have been more acceptable. Take Care, Big Daddy Dave