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Warm up your winter nights with a bowl of hearty and flavorful Mole Chili! A delicious blend of spices and rich chocolate, it’s a comfort food must-have.

 

When the weather is cooler, I love making chili and soup recipes.  There’s something about a warming bowl of goodness in your cold hands that not only warms you from the outside but also from the inside.  The best thing about chili are all the different variations and ways you can serve up this hearty stew.  Whether it’s an easy tomato, kidney bean, and roast beef chili soup to a healthy turkey and quinoa chili there’s pretty much a chili recipe for all tastes.

 

The longer chili simmers the better it tastes.  This white bean chicken chili simmers low and slow in the slow cooker.  I let mine simmer at least 2 1/2 hours before I turned the stove off and let it sit for about 45 minutes.  It was perfectly warm!  It still melted the cheese but didn’t burn my tongue when I took a bite. 

 

 

What is chili?

 

Chili is a stew made of chili peppers (usually chili powder), meat, tomatoes, beans, and other seasonings.  There are some recipes that are so famous people try to recreate them at home like this Tommy’s chili copycat recipe.  Along with these recipes there’s a debate over the beans.  There are two schools of thought on chili with beans or chili without beans.  Some purists say that there are no beans in the true, authentic chili recipe.  I like the beans in chili, so I usually add some to mine.  Besides, the beans make chili cheese fries more fun to eat, too!

 

Chili is traced back to the indigenous peoples of the Americas.  They who mixed meat, peppers, and various spices to create a dish that was both satisfying and delicious.  A Franciscan friar wrote about the Aztecs eating this delicious chili pepper seasoned stew in the capital of Tenochtitlan which is now Mexico City. 

 

The Aztecs did not originally use beef in their chili.  However, when the Spanish introduced cattle to Mexico it became and integral part of the Aztec cuisine.  They would create tasajo or salted beef that cowboys or rancheros took with them on the trail.  They then cooked the salted beef in a chili-based sauce and served it with tortillas for a hearty lunch or dinner.

 

 

What is mole sauce?

 

Mole sauce is a rich and flavorful sauce that comes from Mexico.  It’s rooted in Aztec and Maya cuisine and has evolved over the years to become the complex and beloved sauce that it is today.  While the origin of this essential sauce is widly disputed, there’s no denying that it is deeply rooted in Mexican cuisine after the Mexican War of Independence in the early 1800s.

 

Mole is known for its complex blend of ingredients and bold flavors. This traditional sauce is a staple in Mexican cuisine and is often used as a base for various dishes, including mole enchiladas and mole chicken.  Made with a combination of ingredients such as chili peppers, chocolate, nuts, fruits, and spices this sauce offers a unique depth of flavor and richness to any dish.

 

 

There is probably a mole recipe for almost every state or even city in Mexico, but there are just a handful that the most popular.  The first being mole negro which contains several types of peppers, herbs like oregano and thyme, spices such as clove and cinnamon, and seeds like almonds and peanuts.  The dark color comes from charring the peppers and adding burned tortillas to the sauce.

 

Another type  of mole is mole poblano made mostly with poblano peppers.  Mole verde has green chiles and jalapenos on there.  There’s mole amarillo is made with yellow peppers and chayote.  This mole colorado or coloradito is a dark red sauce that contains chocolate, raisins, and toasted nuts like peanuts.  Lesser known mole manchamantel gets its heat from ancho chiles, but also has pineapple and plantains in there.  Finally, there’s a lesser-known mole chichilo which has a rare pepper not commonly found in stores and it’s made mainly for funerals.

 

 

Ingredients in this mole chili recipe

• Chiles – guajillo, cascabel, and hatch
• Vegetables – onions, diced tomatoes, tomato juice
• Herbs and spices – onion powder, oregano, ground cumin, bay leaves, cinnamon stick
• Beans – dark red kidney beans, pinto beans
• Remaining ingredients – beef, beef broth, picada sauce or almond butter, dark chocolate, garlic olive oil
• Toppings – cotji  or queso fresco, diced onions, diced jalapenos, diced tomatoes, cilantro

 

Instructions for making mole chili

 

Start by toasting the chilis and cinnamon in a large pot or Dutch oven until fragrant and lightly browned.  Cut the tops off the peppers and return them to the pot with the beef broth.  Steep the peppers for about 30 minutes or until the peppers are soft and pliable.  Remove the cinnamon stick and reserve for later.  Pour the remaining ingredients into a blender and process until smooth then strain through a mesh strainer to remove any skin and seeds.

 

 

Put the pot back on the burner over medium-high heat.  Swirl the garlic oil in the pan and sauté the onions until they begin to soften.  Crumble the ground beef into the onion mixture and cook until browned.  Stir in the tomatoes, beans, and picada sauce or almond butter.  Chop the chocolate and add it to the pot with the spices, tomato juice, and the pepper mixture.  Simmer for at least an hour or until thickened, stirring occasionally.  I simmered mine for 2 1/2 hours.

 

How do you serve mole chili?

 

Ladle your chili into bowls and top it with cheese.  I used crumbled cotija cheese.  A queso fresco would be great, too.  A sharp cheddar cheese would go well with this chili recipe.  I always garnish mine with finely diced onions.  You could use sliced green onions, too for a molder and more colorful garnish.  There are green herbs like parsley or cilantro.  Since I don’t like cilantro, I used parsley for a bright and colorful garnish.

 

 

A bright drizzle of some lime juice is perfect for this chili recipe.  It brightens the flavors and pairs well with the hearty richness of the mole base in this recipe.  Some top theirs with sour cream, but I like making a lime crema to drizzle on top.  The lime and cream combine to cut the richness of this mole chili.

 

What does mole chili taste like?

 

It’s rich with all these complex flavors.  I ate it slowly making sure to enjoy and taste all the flavors in this chili.  From the dark flavor of the mole with chocolate, cinnamon, and picada sauce or almond butter to the flavors of the simmered chiles then the brightness of the toppings.  This is one comforting bowl of chili combined with mole sauce.  It has a richness that your typical chili doesn’t have. 

 

 

The broth is thick and stick to your ribs delicious.  If you’re looking for a recipe that will warm you up on the coldest of winter days then this is your recipe!  Between the thick broth full of flavor and the heat from the mole base you will be warm for hours after eating a bowl of this mole chili.  Make a huge pot because it reheats perfectly to eat while watching some college football!