Twelve corn tortillas, one 8.25 oz (235 g) jar of mole paste and 3½ cups of stock make enmoladas (en-moh-LAH-dahs) for four: enchiladas with the chile sauce swapped for mole, Mexico’s dark, glossy sauce of dried chiles, seeds, spices and a little chocolate. Corn tortillas are flash-fried, dipped in warm mole, rolled around shredded chicken and finished with crema, crumbled queso fresco, raw onion and toasted sesame. You don’t have to spend a day making mole for them: a jar of paste from the Hispanic aisle, thinned with the water you poached the chicken in, does the job. The one number that matters is how much liquid goes into that jar.
What are enmoladas, and are they worth making?
How do you make enmoladas? Poach 1⅓ lb (600 g) of chicken breast for 20 to 25 minutes and shred it. Fry an 8.25 oz (235 g) jar of mole paste in its own oil for 2 minutes, whisk in 3½ cups (840 ml) of the poaching liquid and simmer for 10 minutes until it coats a spoon. Flash-fry 12 corn tortillas 10 seconds a side, dip them in the mole, fill with chicken, roll, and top with crema, cheese, onion and sesame. Serves 4 in 55 minutes.
They’re a member of a family of Mexican dishes assembled exactly the same way: tortilla through hot oil, through sauce, filled and rolled or folded. Red enchiladas use a guajillo and ancho sauce, green chicken enchiladas a tomatillo salsa verde, enfrijoladas blended beans and entomatadas cooked tomatoes. Enmoladas are the ones sauced with mole, so you’ll also see them called mole enchiladas.
Worth it? Yes, especially if you have mole. A jar of paste puts a mole dinner on the table on a weeknight, and if you made mole poblano from scratch for a party, enmoladas are the best use I know for what’s left.
Who might skip it. Anyone after a light dinner: with the mole, the oil, the cheese and the crema, a plate of three is about 1,037 kcal. Anyone with a peanut, sesame or wheat allergy if you’re using jarred paste. And anyone who can’t stand a sweet note in a savory dish, because mole has one.
Time. 55 minutes, about 33 hands-on, including poaching the chicken. With a rotisserie chicken, about 25.
Jarred mole paste, homemade mole or leftovers
For a dozen enmoladas you need about 1 quart (1 liter) of finished mole. There are three ways to get it, and all three make good enmoladas.
Jarred mole paste. It’s a concentrate of dried chiles, seeds, crackers, sugar and oil, sold in 8.25 oz (235 g) glass jars. In the US it’s in the Hispanic aisle of most supermarkets, and a jar cost $2.86 at Walmart in October 2026. In the UK, look for it at online Mexican food shops. It tastes sweeter and flatter than homemade, but in enmoladas, with chicken, crema and cheese, the gap shrinks. Two cheap fixes: thin it with the chicken’s own poaching liquid rather than water, and melt in 20 g (¾ oz) of Mexican chocolate.
Homemade mole. Gives the best enmoladas, and they’re a good reason to make a big batch. Use 1 quart (1 liter) of thinned mole in place of the jar plus the 3½ cups of stock.
Leftover mole. See below: it’s the dish’s real calling.
How to thin jarred mole paste for enmoladas
For enmoladas I use 3½ cups (840 ml) of stock per 8.25 oz (235 g) jar. That’s less liquid than I’d use for a mole served over chicken pieces, because here the sauce has to cling to a tortilla. It makes a little over 1 quart (1 liter), enough to dip 12 tortillas, moisten the filling and sauce four plates.
Order matters. Pour the oil floating in the jar into the pan, add the paste and fry it for 2 minutes, mashing it down, until it smells toasty: this is what takes away the raw, dusty taste. Then add 1 cup (240 ml) of hot stock and whisk until smooth; once the paste has dissolved, the rest of the stock goes in easily. Add all the stock at once to cold paste and you get stubborn lumps. Simmer 10 minutes on low, stirring, because it sticks.
How to tell it’s right. It coats the back of a spoon in an opaque layer and a finger-line through it stays open. Sticky like a paste? Add stock 2 tablespoons at a time. Runs like water? A few more minutes on the heat. And it thickens as it cools, so on the plate it’ll always be thicker than in the pan.
Ingredients, and the best supermarket swaps
Everything is in the recipe card: 1⅓ lb (600 g) of chicken breast, one jar of mole paste, 3½ cups (840 ml) of stock and 12 corn tortillas for 4 plates of three.
| Ingredient | Best choice | US swap | UK swap | What changes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mole | Homemade or leftover mole poblano | 8.25 oz (235 g) jar of mole paste | Same jar, from online Mexican food shops | Jarred is sweeter and flatter |
| Chicken | Poached breast, shredded | Rotisserie chicken, skin off, 1 lb (465 g) meat | Supermarket roast chicken | Saves 25 minutes, but no poaching liquid: use low-sodium stock |
| Queso fresco | Mexican queso fresco | Most supermarkets carry it | Mild feta, rinsed | Feta is saltier and firmer |
| Crema | Mexican crema | Sour cream thinned with milk | Crème fraîche or soured cream | Sour cream is tangier |
| Mexican chocolate | Abuelita or Ibarra | Same, in most supermarkets | 15 g (½ oz) dark chocolate plus 1 tsp sugar and a pinch of cinnamon | Less cinnamon note |
| Corn tortillas | 6 in (15 cm), about 24 g each | Any supermarket | Online Mexican food shops or larger supermarkets | Flour tortillas go soggy |
Fillings. Shredded chicken is the classic, about 1½ oz (40 g) per tortilla; 1⅓ lb (600 g) of raw breast leaves about 1 lb (465 g) of shredded meat. For cheese enmoladas, roll 4¼ oz (120 g) of queso fresco or panela inside and skip the chicken. For egg enmoladas, fill with 8 scrambled eggs, two per person: the morning-after version.
Equipment. A pot for the chicken, a 10 in (24-26 cm) saucepan for the mole wide enough for a tortilla to lie flat, an 8-9 in (20-24 cm) skillet for the oil, a whisk, tongs and paper towels. No whisk? Mash the paste into the first cup of stock with a fork before adding the rest.
How to plan the 55 minutes
The chicken poaches on its own for 25 minutes, which is when you prep everything for serving. The tortillas get fried while the mole finishes on low.
Make-ahead. Poach and shred the chicken and keep it with a splash of its liquid. Thin the mole and refrigerate it: the next day it will be much thicker, so loosen it with ½ cup of stock for every 2 cups of mole over low heat. Fry and fill the tortillas only at the last minute.
Why the tortillas tear, and how to stop it
Hot oil seals the tortilla’s surface so the sauce can’t soak straight in, and makes it bendable enough to roll. 10 seconds per side; browned, it cracks. In the mole, 2 to 3 seconds. Mole is thicker than a tomato sauce and soaks in more slowly, but leave the tortilla in and it’ll still go soft.
- Tears coming out of the mole → the mole is too thick or has cooled. Add stock and keep it on the lowest heat.
- Cracks when rolled → browned in the oil, or cooled before filling. Fill it right away.
- Greasy → the oil was too cool. The tortilla edge should bubble on contact.
How many enmoladas per person, and scaling up
Plan on 3 per person as a main, or 2 with rice and beans on the side. That’s about 5¼ oz (150 g) of raw chicken and a quarter of a jar of paste each.
| People | Tortillas | Chicken breast | 8.25 oz (235 g) jars | Stock | Queso fresco | Crema |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4 | 12 | 1⅓ lb (600 g) | 1 | 3½ cups (840 ml) | 3 oz (80 g) | ½ cup (120 ml) |
| 6 | 18 | 2 lb (900 g) | 1½ | 5¼ cups (1.26 l) | 4¼ oz (120 g) | ¾ cup (180 ml) |
| 12 | 36 | 4 lb (1.8 kg) | 3 | 10½ cups (2.52 l) | 8½ oz (240 g) | 1½ cups (360 ml) |
| 20 | 60 | 6½ lb (3 kg) | 5 | 17½ cups (4.2 l) | 14 oz (400 g) | 2½ cups (600 ml) |
For 12 or more, fill and roll the tortillas into 9×13 in (23×33 cm) baking dishes, 12 per dish, cover with mole and foil, and bake at 375°F (190°C) for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the crema, cheese and sesame as they come out. Make the mole a little looser for the oven, with an extra ½ cup of stock per jar, because it thickens as it bakes.
What to do with leftover mole
If you made mole for a holiday and there’s a container of it in the fridge, enmoladas are where it belongs. Count on 1 quart (1 liter) of mole for 12 enmoladas, about ⅓ cup (80 ml) per tortilla: a single cup of leftover mole is enough for 3, one plate. Pull any chicken or turkey out of the mole, take it off the bone and shred it for the filling. Cold mole sets thick, so add ½ cup of stock for every 2 cups of mole and heat gently, stirring, until it simmers and coats a spoon again.
Leftover assembled enmoladas, on the other hand, don’t keep well: the tortillas go soft overnight. Store the mole and the chicken separately instead.
Heat, kids and allergens
Heat level, 2 out of 5 in my kitchen with jarred paste. It’s a low, late warmth that the crema softens.
Kids? Many like it, because mole is sweet. For them, cheese or chicken enmoladas with extra crema and no onion.
Allergens. Jarred mole paste contains peanuts, sesame, wheat and soy, and some also list sulfites, so read the label. Cheese and crema are milk. Jarred paste is not gluten-free; a homemade mole thickened with tortilla instead of bread is, and corn tortillas are too, though some brands blend in wheat flour.
What enmoladas cost
In the US, using national average prices and Walmart and H-E-B for the jar, tortillas and crema, the batch comes to $11.73 for 4, about $2.93 a plate, before oil, garlic, chocolate and sesame:
What pushes the price up. The chicken, nearly half the bill. Cheese or egg enmoladas cost less, and so does chicken left over from a pot of soup.
Yield. A dozen enmoladas: 4 plates of three, or 6 people with Mexican red rice and refried beans on the side and two each.
Taste, serving and storage
Taste and texture. Soft, intact tortillas under a thick, glossy, reddish-brown sauce that tastes of toasted chile with a chocolate sweetness and a little heat at the end. Tangy crema, salty cheese, raw onion and toasted sesame do the contrast work.
Serving. Three per plate, rolled or folded, with mole spooned over, crema, queso fresco, onion rings and sesame seeds.
Fridge. For leftovers: no more than 2 hours at room temperature and 3 to 4 days at 40°F (4°C) or below. Keep the mole and the chicken separate.
Freezer. Thinned mole freezes well for 3 to 4 months for best quality, and so does shredded chicken with a little liquid. Assembled enmoladas don’t: the tortillas fall apart when thawed. I freeze the mole in 2-cup (500 ml) bags, half a batch each.
Reheating. Warm the mole over low heat with ½ cup of stock for every 2 cups, stirring until it simmers and the chicken reaches 165°F (74°C). Fry and fill fresh tortillas. Already assembled? Cover with foil and bake at 350°F (180°C) for 10 minutes; the microwave turns them soggy.
Enmoladas FAQ
What’s the difference between enmoladas and enchiladas? The sauce. Enchiladas are sauced with a red or green chile salsa; enmoladas with mole. Same tortillas, same assembly.
How much broth do you add to Doña María mole paste? For enmoladas, 3½ cups (840 ml) per 8.25 oz (235 g) jar. For chicken pieces you can go thinner, but on a tortilla a thin mole slides off.
Can I use leftover mole? Yes, it’s the best use for it. About 1 quart (1 liter) for 12 enmoladas, loosened with ½ cup of stock per 2 cups of mole.
Are enmoladas spicy? Mildly. Jarred mole is about a 2 out of 5 in my kitchen, and the crema takes the edge off.
Can I bake enmoladas? Yes, for a crowd: in a 9×13 in dish, covered with mole and foil, at 375°F (190°C) for 10 to 15 minutes. They’re softer than enmoladas plated to order.
Are enmoladas gluten-free? Not with jarred mole paste, which contains wheat. With a homemade mole thickened with tortilla instead of bread, yes.
What do you serve with enmoladas? Mexican red rice and refried beans, or just a green salad if you serve three per person.
Nutrition per serving
Per serving (3 chicken enmoladas with crema, cheese and sesame), calculated ingredient by ingredient from this recipe’s quantities, using the mole paste’s label, home-made chicken stock, about 60 g (2 oz) of oil absorbed by the 12 tortillas (my own estimate) and sour cream as a stand-in for crema:
- Calories: 1,037 kcal
- Protein: 54 g
- Carbohydrates: 67 g
- Fat: 61 g, of which 14 g saturated
- Fiber: 9 g
- Sugars: 21 g
- Sodium: 1,350 mg
The mole paste is the biggest single line, about 333 kcal a plate, because it’s a concentrate of oil, seeds and sugar; chicken adds 176, tortillas 157 and the oil they absorb 135. Over half the sodium, about 780 mg a plate, comes from the paste, which is why the chicken is poached without salt. Warm the tortillas in a dry skillet and skip the crema and you’re at about 842 kcal.
In Venezuela chocolate was something you drank, so I came to mole late and a little suspicious. What won me over wasn’t a plate of chicken in mole but a plate of enmoladas: the tortilla carries the sauce, the crema cuts the sweetness, and the sesame adds the crunch. These days, whenever I make a pot of mole for a party, I set a quart aside before serving, because two days later someone always asks for enmoladas. Josnaisis.