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Enmoladas (chicken mole enchiladas) are enchiladas stuffed with shredded chicken, onion, and queso fresco and topped with a rich and flavorful mole sauce. This quick and easy version uses store-bought mole paste and is ready in 35 minutes!
If you’re looking for a dinner full of flavor in under an hour, enmoladas are for you!
Enmoladas are basically enchiladas, but instead of being covered in a red chile sauce, they’re covered in a rich and incredibly flavorful mole sauce.
I grew up eating these made using a store-bought mole paste. My mom was a pro and doctoring up the sauce to make it her own, and it was just the best! Using the store-bought option makes it a really easy and convenient weeknight meal, but you can absolutely make your own mole sauce if you want to.
Here’s why I love this recipe:
- It’s easy and convenient: Using store-bought mole paste to make the sauce is the star of this recipe. Instead of having to make your own mole sauce from scratch, which takes a bit of time and requires a lot of ingredients, I use mole paste to get all of those amazing mole flavors and then stir in a few special ingredients to take it from good to great.
- It’s really good: The complexity and depth of flavor in mole sauce is truly the best. It’s made from a combination of dried chiles, nuts and seeds, spices, chocolate, and dried fruit. It’s one of those sauce that just can’t get enough of!
What Are Enmoladas?
Enmoladas are a type of enchilada that’s stuffed with juicy shredded chicken, onion, and queso fresco, and coated with a rich mole sauce. They are traditionally topped with queso fresco, sliced onion, and sesame seeds for extra flavor.
Mole is a traditional Mexican dish usually made for special occasions, and these enmoladas are a quick way to get your mole fix any day of the week!
You can definitely try to make your own mole sauce using my mole recipe if you’re looking for a fully from-scratch version, but this recipe uses a store-bought mole paste that’s just as flavorful with only a few tweaks.
Ingredients
- Shredded chicken: You can use my homemade shredded chicken or save some time by shredded a store-bought rotisserie chicken. If you make your own shredded chicken, be sure to save some of the broth to stir into the sauce!
- Mole paste: I used Doña Maria mole paste. This concentrated paste is great for when you want to make mole sauce in a fraction of the time. It’s full of traditional mole flavors and only needs a few more ingredients to make it even better.
- Chicken broth: I used chicken broth to dilute the paste while adding flavor. You can substitute vegetable or beef broth, but I would not suggest using water.
- Mexican chocolate: Adds a hint of sweetness and spices to the mole sauce. I only used ⅛ of a tablet of Abuelita Mexican chocolate, but feel free to add more or less depending on your taste.
- Salt and black pepper: Added to taste.
- White onion, queso fresco, sesame seeds: I added onion and queso fresco to the chicken filling for extra flavor. For garnishing, more thinly sliced white onion, queso fresco, and a sprinkle of sesame seeds are a must.
- Corn tortillas: Using sturdy and quality corn tortillas are important to make sure they don’t break apart when frying and rolling the enmoladas.
- Oil: Any vegetable suited for frying will work. Canola, corn, avocado, peanut, or your favorite neutral tasting oil.
How to Make Enmoladas
Make the mole sauce. In a medium skillet or saucepan over medium heat, dissolve the mole paste with the chicken broth. Add chicken broth 1 cup at a time until fully incorporated. Stir in the Mexican chocolate, salt, and black pepper continuously until the Mexican chocolate is fully dissolved and the mole sauce has thickened into a gravy-like consistency. Once the sauce has thickened, take off the heat and set aside.
Prepare the filling. Place shredded chicken, queso fresco, and diced onion in a large bowl and stir until fully combined. Set the filling aside while you make the mole sauce.
Fry the tortillas. In a separate skillet, heat the frying oil over medium-high heat. Lightly fry the tortillas one at a time for 5-10 seconds per side. Drain any excess oil over the skillet and set the tortillas on a plate lined with paper towels.
Assemble the enmoladas. Dip the fried tortillas into the pan with the mole sauce, coating both sides.
Fill and roll. Place the smothered tortilla on a plate, fill it with a generous spoonful of the chicken filling mixture, and roll it up. Continue this process with the remaining tortillas.
Serve. Pour the remaining mole sauce over the enmoladas and top with more queso fresco, onions, and sesame seeds. Serve immediately and dig in!
Tips
- Here are a few options for the shredded chicken. You can make my shredded chicken recipe, air fryer whole chicken recipe, or use a store-bought rotisserie chicken and shred at home.
- The mole sauce will thicken as it cools. If it becomes too thick while you are assembling the enmoladas, stir in more chicken broth as needed.
Storage
Enmoladas can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Keep in mind that the texture of the tortillas may change and become mushy as they soak in more and more sauce. I recommend storing the mole sauce separately if you can.
To reheat, heat in the microwave for 2-3 minutes until fully warmed through. You can reheat frozen enmoladas in the oven at 350℉ for 20-30 minutes until fully warmed through.
More Mexican Recipes
Enmoladas
Ingredients
- 1 (8.25-ounce) jar Doña Maria mole paste
- 3 cups chicken broth
- 12 grams Mexican chocolate (about ⅛ tablet of Abuelita brand Mexican chocolate)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 4 cups cooked shredded chicken (about 1 ½ pounds)
- 1 cup queso fresco, crumbled
- ½ medium white onion, finely diced
- 12 corn tortillas
- ¼ cup vegetable oil, plus more as needed
For serving
- Queso fresco
- Thinly sliced white onions
- Sesame seeds
Instructions
- Make the mole sauce. Add the mole paste and broth to a medium sauce pan over medium heat. Whisk until the paste has fully dissolved.
- Add the Mexican chocolate, salt, and black pepper. Whisk until all the ingredients are dissolved and the mole sauce has a thick, gravy-like consistency. Set aside.
- Prepare the filling. Add the shredded chicken, queso fresco, and onion in a large bowl. Toss lightly to combine and set aside.
- Heat the oil in a small skillet over medium-high heat. Working one tortilla at the time, lightly fry each tortilla for about 5 seconds per side. Drain off any excess oil by giving it a little shake while holding it with tongs, then transfer it onto a plate or baking sheet lined with paper towels. Repeat with the remaining tortillas.
- Assemble the enmoladas by dipping each fried tortilla into the mole sauce, making sure to cover both sides. Place the smothered tortilla on a plate and fill with a generous spoonful of the chicken filling mixture, then roll it up. Continue this process with the remaining tortillas.
- Pour the remaining mole sauce on top of the enmoladas and top with additional queso fresco, sesame seeds, and sliced white onion.
Notes
- Chicken: You can use homemade shredded chicken using my shredded chicken recipe, air fryer whole chicken recipe, or use a store-bought rotisserie chicken and shred at home.
- The mole sauce will thicken as it cools. If it becomes too thick while you are assembling the enmoladas, add more chicken broth as needed.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Photography by Ashley McLaughlin.
Made these tonite. Prepared them, and put them in a 1/4 size sheet pan. They aren’t warm. You don’t mention any time in the oven. I heated them in the oven to get them hot, and they were really good. Next time I’ll put some sauce or broth in the chicken, onion, cheese mixture to keep it from drying out. A keeper recipe, for sure !
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I made it last night and it will definitely be added into our regular monthly meal rotation.
These “Enmoladas” (new word for me) but now known as chicken mole enchiladas, were yummy-yummy. Loved the sesame seeds, cotija cheese, the flavor was rich , a bit sweet, a bit spicy, the cotija added right amount of salty. Only 2 things different: made extra saucy mole for dipping & pouring over enchiladas, of course made your rice. Yeah, those white onion are too much for me, I used Sweet Vadalia Onions, tasted good with the enmoladas. Keeper recipe
I’m so glad you liked it! Extra sauce is always the answer. And I totally understand about the white onion. Sometimes you get some that are extra pungent, haha.