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I love mole. Ever since I was a little kid, when mole (at least the way my mom made it) was much too spicy for me and I had to scrape off most of the sauce so as not to overwhelm my little kid palate, I knew it was something really special and suffered through the heat to enjoy a symphony of flavors that I was as yet unable to separate and understand. (Let me also put a disclaimer here that not all moles are super spicy—in fact, the ones below are largely in the mild- to medium-heat category.)
There are probably as many varieties of mole as there are surnames in Mexico. The most famous, popular, and ubiquitous—mole poblano—comes from Puebla, and of course, there’s no one correct way to make it. Mole poblano usually has about 20 or so ingredients, a blend of various chile peppers (chile mulato is typical, along with a few others), nuts, spices, sugar, and chocolate. After mole poblano, or perhaps tied in terms of popularity, are mole negro and mole rojo from Oaxaca (though there are five other moles that hail from Oaxaca, which is why the state has earned the nickname “Land of Seven Moles”).
I could go on and on about the history and varieties of mole, but I’ll cut to the chase—no matter the variety, these sauces take a lot of ingredients, time, and effort to make from scratch. So it’s not unheard of for folks to use commercially produced premade pastes that can be mixed with water or stock (and sometimes a few other ingredients) to make mole in a matter of minutes instead of hours. Heck, more often than not, that’s what we used to make mole as I was growing up. Even today, I rarely make it from scratch except for special occasions.
In order to find the best tasting premade mole pastes, I gathered several brands based on previous experiences, enthusiastic recommendations, and best-selling options. It turned out that the easiest ones to find were mole poblano, mole negro, and mole rojo, so I focused there. With all the mole on hand, it was time for some blind tasting.
How I tested
Growing up, we always had mole with poached pieces of skin-on, bone-in chicken served over Mexican rice. I prepared each mole paste according to the manufacturer’s instructions, then served a panel of tasters a small bowl of each one on its own, with just a warm tortilla to dip it in, then another portion of each sauce with poached chicken and rice.
Each mole was tasted totally blind, then feedback was collected and analyzed. The winning brands produced moles that were deeply flavorful and complex; had the most rich, velvety texture; and simply tasted the best. Others that didn’t make the cut were all over the place—some were fine but just weren’t quite as flavorful as the other brands. Most were one-note in terms of flavor or not properly balanced. And one had some pretty major texture issues in addition to bad flavor. Our top two were almost unanimously the favorites, with the best winning by just a hair. Either brand comes with our highest recommendations.
The best mole: Guelaguetza
We tried Guelaguetza’s Mole Negro and Mole Rojo, and both were excellent. This brand required adding the most ingredients of all the brands we tested—tomato sauce, water or broth, and Oaxacan chocolate (or brown sugar). I happen to have Oaxacan chocolate in my pantry, so that’s what I used. Between the two varieties, the rojo was the most popular among tasters. It had a moderate amount of heat, and was initially the most fruity-tasting. One taster indicated that “this one takes you on a little journey—the heat builds as you eat it.” They noted the complexity of flavor: “It starts out fruity, then gives way to spices, the nuts and chocolate, and just a little bit of acidity at the end.” Another taster was able to pick out the flavor of cloves but noted that while the clove is apparent “It’s not cloying or perfumey.” We largely agreed that Guelaguetza's rojo was the most balanced and complex of any we tried. Where the mole rojo was bright, fruity, and spicy, the mole negro was earthier and richer. Tasters also noted that the mole negro was less spicy than the rojo, but still had some heat. Both sauces contain plantains, and one taster mentioned being able to taste them particularly in the mole negro, which gave it a “slightly vegetal taste” that they liked. Another taster remarked that it was amazing that the both sauces were so homogenous, smooth, and uniform, but had so many different flavors that were easy to pick out.
The runner-up: MiMole
Like the winning brand, MiMole has both a Mole Negro Oaxaqueño and Mole Rojo Oaxaqueño. Unlike the Guelaguetza, however, our tasters were split on which was the favorite of the two. The instructions only asked for water or broth to be mixed with the mole paste—we opted for broth, which is more traditional (and flavorful!). The mole rojo was notably spicier than Guelaguetza’s mole rojo, but still not overwhelming. We also noted that it was a bit more acidic, and that some of the warming spices, like cinnamon and clove, were more present. The mole negro was slightly smoky, which we didn’t taste in the Guelaguetza brand. Some tasters preferred this to the winning brand, but the majority still preferred Guelaguetza.
Other brands we tried
In order of our scores, from most favorite to least favorite:
Bunches & Bunches Smoked Mole Sauce
Bunches & Bunches Red Dried Chilaca Mole Sauce
The takeaway
Time permitting, we would have loved to test all of the dozens of brands and varieties of premade mole paste out there in the world, but we were very happy with what we found so far. Although there were a couple of brands that left us disappointed, the majority of what we tasted was wonderful. Of course, nothing beats a batch of mole painstakingly made from scratch—it is, truly, a dish all on its own, with no need for anything more than a few warm tortillas (also made from scratch, because come on, we’ve come this far) for dipping. But, if you want that mole experience with a fraction of the work, whether you prefer mole rojo or negro, you could do a lot worse than Guelaguetza and MiMole.
