Chicken Mole Enchiladas Recipe
These easy chicken mole enchiladas are filled with tender chicken, smothered in richly flavored mole sauce, then topped with lettuce, tomato, queso fresco, sour cream, cilantro, and onion. If you like really saucy enchiladas, or if you’re like me and like food that’s generally super saucy and smothered, then these chicken enchiladas with mole, or enmoladas de mole as they’re called in Spanish, will become a fast new favorite easy recipe. Mole sauce is one of my favorite salsas because it’s lightly sweetened and I am a sucker for anything sweet-and-savory. I have a homemade Mole Sauce with cocoa and peanut butter in the mole sauce, and although you can’t directly taste them, they give such fabulous richness, depth of flavor, and a touch of sweetness. However, never fear! You can doctor up store-bought mole to make these chicken enchiladas that everyone just loves in just 30 minutes!
Ingredients in Chicken Enchiladas de Mole (Enmoladas de Mole)
For these incredible chicken enchiladas with mole sauce, you’ll need the following fridge and pantry ingredients:
Vegetable oilCorn tortillasMole (OR use store bought Dona Maria Mole Sauce + chicken broth + Abuelita chocolate + creamy peanut butter + granulated sugar)Shredded rotisserie chickenIceberg lettuceTomatoSour cream or Mexican crema, optional for garnishingShredded cheese or queso fresco, optional for garnishingWhite onion, optional for garnishingCilantro, optional for garnishingAvocado, optional for garnishing
How to Make Chicken Enchiladas with Mole Sauce
To make chicken mole enchiladas, follow these straightforward steps and they’ll be ready in no time. Step 1: Heat the oil in a skillet, add a tortilla and cook for 10 seconds. Flip and cook for 10 seconds more. Step 2: Dip the hot tortilla in mole sauce, coating both sides. Step 3: Add chicken to the middle and roll up. Step 4: Repeat with all the remaining tortillas and then nestle them in a casserole dish. Step 5: Optionally drizzle extra mole over the top of the tortillas. Step 6: Evenly sprinkle with lettuce, tomato, and any optional garnishes such as crema, queso fresco, cilantro, or avocado and serve immediately!
Do I Need to Make Homemade Mole Sauce?
Homemade Mole Sauce is amazing! There is nothing that compares to this salsa that’s like a big warm hug, but in sauce form. Make it if you can and have some extra time. It freezes great too so you can make extra and stash it for a rainy day as long as you’re going to the work of making it. However, as I touched on already, you don’t have to make your scratch mole sauce for chicken mole enchiladas.
How to Make a Quick Mole Sauce for Enchiladas
You can make a quick semi-homemade mole sauce by using and doing the following: This becomes your salsa de mole for the chicken enchiladas with mole.
Can I Make Vegetarian Mole Enchiladas?
If you want to make vegetarian mole enchiladas, feel free to swap out the chicken for:
A black bean and corn mixtureRefried beansSweet potatoes, black beans, and corn
What to Serve with Mole Enchiladas
I like to serve my homemade chicken mole enchiladas with:
a side of Refried Beansricea Black Bean Corn Avocado Saladany type of grilled vegetables or salad
Storage Instructions
The enchiladas are best right after you make them. Hot and fresh wins! If you let them sit, the mole sauce will tend to make the tortillas a bit soggy so enjoy them right away. These enchiladas with chicken and mole aren’t a great make-ahead dish for that reason. Extra mole sauce when stored separately will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Tips for the Best Mole Sauce Chicken Enchiladas
When making the chicken mole enchiladas, you need to fry the tortillas. This is because after that step, you don’t bake this recipe so the frying is necessary (despite any outcries against frying). That’s right – you do not need to bake the chicken enchiladas with mole. Just make sure your mole sauce and chicken are both hot and obviously the tortillas will be hot so If you for some reason want to bake them, you can bake them at 375F for 15 minutes. However, I find that baking them can cause them to fall apart more easily so I don’t bake. You need to use corn tortillas. I recommend using 4 to 5-inch corn tortillas. I do not recommend flour tortillas. Store bought shredded rotisserie chicken is my favorite option although you can make your own chicken and then shred it if you like. You can also use leftover chicken if you have quite a bit on hand. When it comes to garnishes, more is more in my book, always. Mexican crema for me is preferred to sour cream because it’s lighter and less gloppy. You can thin out American-style sour cream with a drizzle of milk. I like queso fresco because it’s nice and salty, light and crumbly, and just gives extra oomph to Mexican recipes like this one. However, another shredded cheese is fine, although wouldn’t be very traditional. In Mexico it’s queso fresco or nada. For a flavor twist, you can use seasoned and cooked ground beef in the enchiladas instead of chicken. Follow the beef filling mixture recipe I use in Cheesy Beef Taquitos.
More Easy Favorite Mexican Recipes:
ALL OF MY MEXICAN RECIPES! Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Baked Cheesy Beef Taquitos – Craving Mexican food? Make these EASY taquitos made with seasoned ground beef, melted cheese, cream cheese, sour cream, salsa, and baked to crispy perfection! Family friendly, picky-eater approved, and PERFECT for busy weeknight dinners, game day events or parties! Loaded Smothered Beef Burritos – Mexican comfort food that’s loaded with seasoned ground beef, refried beans, rice, and smothered with sauce and CHEESE!! Tastes BETTER than from a restaurant, freezer-friendly, and so EASY!! Salsa Verde Chicken Enchiladas — EASY juicy enchiladas with so much flavor from the salsa verde and TONS of melted CHEESE!! Ready in 30 minutes, are made with just a handful of ingredients, and will be an instant family favorite!! Sweet Potato, Corn & Black Bean Enchiladas (vegetarian) – Healthier comfort food that everyone will love! Fast, easy, and tastes amazing! Loaded Vegetarian Burritos — HEALTHY Mexican comfort food that’s loaded with black beans, rice, and more before being topped with salsa and CHEESE!! You’ll never miss the meat in these EASY burritos that you can make-ahead and are freezer-friendly!! Easy 20-Minute Chicken Tinga Tacos – Fast, super easy, and the super juicy chicken has authentic smoky chipotle flavor! When you’re craving tacos, these are the tacos to make! Great for busy weeknights! Ground Beef Taco Salad Bowls — Making homemade taco salad bowls is so easy and they’re perfect for holding this family-favorite taco salad including seasoned ground beef, black beans, cheese and more! Everything is topped with a creamy lime-cilantro dressing that’ll have everyone finishing their salad! Loaded Chicken Taco Salad — Fast, easy, fresh and healthy!! All your favorite taco flavors in one big kickin’ salad that everyone will love!!
