Crock Pot Chicken Mole

Mole is really good stuff. My mom and I used to like getting it at a local Mexican restaurant near our house until they closed up shop.

Fast forward several years without mole. I have seen recipes for it in books, chefs make it on Food Network, but never got around to making it myself because the ingredient list looked daunting. Not to mention spicy.

My momma would be proud!

Now to the Williams-Sonoma cookbooks we recieved as wedding presents. Two of them have recipes for slow cooker mole. The thing is, the recipes couldn't be more different. One has dried chiles, and the other just spices. One chicken and the other turkey.

I decided to make the recipe without the dried chiles. I didn't want to spend the extra money on them, and the store didn't have the kind I needed anyways. Only one problem, the recipe called for a couple of turkey breasts. I guess it isn't really a problem since I don't have any problem with changing out ingredients for recipes on the first shot. I had 6 more chicken thighs that I didn't use after making the Chicken Tagine.

The spices look like a lot. Believe me, they look like a lot. I measured them all out in the measuring spoon I used to measure the almonds (you'll see) and it seems like a lot. Especially the chili powder. But it really isn't. The cinnamon and cumin balance out the chili powder really nicely. I wouldn't even say that the dish was "spicy". Although next time I would really like to try it with the dried chiles!

Chicken Mole

adapted from Williams-Sonoma

6 chicken thighs, bone-in/skinless

1/4 c. flour for dredging

olive oil

2 small/medium) yellow onions, chopped

1/2 c. slivered almonds (these are different from plain old almonds, they have been blanched)

1 tbl. chili powder (trust me on this one!)

1 tsp. ground cumin

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1 14.5oz can diced tomatoes, drained (I like the low sodium kind)

1 1/2 oz bittersweet chocolate (I had semi-sweet bakers chocolate and it worked just fine! You could also sub chocolate chips, I'm sure)

1 tsp. dried oregano

salt and pepper

1 14oz can chicken broth (again, I prefer the low sodium kind)

Cooked rice (optional)

First things first, I like to dredge the chicken in flour and brown it on both sides before adding it to the slow cooker. It's completely optional, but I would like to think it brings another depth of flavor and texture to the party. So, if you want, dredge the chicken in flour and then brown both sides in a skillet over medium/med-high heat and then stick them in the crock pot.

Now, onto making the oh-so-tasty sauce. In a frying pan or saucepan, or whatever you want, put about 3 tbl of olive oil and heat it up over med-high heat. Once the oil has warmed up, add the onion and the almonds. Stir it around and saute until the almonds have browned. Don't let it sit there untouched or the almonds will burn quickly! This step adds a nice toasty-ness to the almonds!

Once the almonds have browned and the onion started to turn translucent, add in your chili powder, cinnamon and cumin. Stir it around until it's nice and fragrant. Now add your diced tomatoes, chocolate, oregano, some salt & pepper and about half of the chicken broth. Stir everything around until the chocolate has melted completely.

In a food processor or blender add your mixture (a little bit at a time, as the mixture is very hot and we don't want to redecorate the walls!) and blend until it's all nice and smooth. This is the part that I really enjoyed having an immersion blender for. It's a beautiful thing, really. Once everything is blended and back in the pan, stir in the rest of the chicken broth and bring to a simmer. Stir it all around and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Remember, the sauce won't thicken up much in the slow cooker since the lid is on and no steam can escape.

Add the oh-so-tasty sauce to the slow cooker and move the chicken around a bit so that every bit of it is covered. Cover the slow cooker and turn it on low. This will take about 2 hours to cook. (Maybe longer if you didn't brown your chicken?)

Take the chicken out after the 2 hours and shred it all up. Stir it back into the sauce and serve over cooked rice.

Note: This recipe makes a bunch of mole. It can feed 4, with leftovers. What to do with those leftovers? Roll up some mole in flour tortillas and cover with monterey jack cheese and bake in the oven until the cheese has melted and everything has heated through. (375 degrees for 20 min or 350 for about 30)


I liked up this tasty dish at:

• Strut Your Stuff Thursday at Somewhat Simple
• Recipe Share Party at Harrigan Howdy
• It's Party Time Thursday at Pony Tails & Fish Scales 
• Foodie Friday at Designs By Gollum
• I'm Lovin It Fridays at TidyMom
• Friday Favorites at Simply Sweet Home
• Friday Food at momtrends
• Weekend Wrap Up Party at Tatertots and Jello
• Easy Recipe Saturday at Woman Who Do It All
• Potluck Sunday at Mommy's Kitchen