MolesHardFree

Guerrero Red Mole

Name: Guerrero Red Mole
Prep time: 45 min
Cook time: 90 min
Total time: 135 min
Cuisine: Mexican
Ingredients: 1 tsp Dried oregano; 6 cloves Garlic cloves; 2 tsp Salt; 4 Tomatoes; 60 g Lard; 1500 g Chicken pieces; 4 Pasilla chillies; 1 White onion; 60 g Sesame seeds; 8 Costeño / guajillo chillies; 1 tsp Ground cumin; 1000 ml Chicken stock

135 min (45 prep + 90 cook) Hard 8 servings Guerrero

Edmond Bojalil

Recetas Mexas

Published: 30 Mar 2026 · Updated: 12 May 2026

Costa Chica red mole with costeño chilli, sesame and spices — bold and fiery.

About this recipe

Guerrero-style red mole from the Costa Chica is a mother sauce quite different from mole poblano: drier, spicier, and with the costeño chilli as its star. The red costeño, a chilli endemic to Oaxaca and Guerrero, lends a bright vermilion-orange colour and a fruity, fiery flavour with no substitute. Combined with toasted sesame seeds, spices and tomato, it creates a wild-character mole served over chicken or pork ribs with white rice and black beans.

History & Origin

The Costa Chica of Guerrero — the coastal strip running from Acapulco to the Oaxacan border — is a land of Afro-Mexican culture, of Black communities descended from enslaved people brought during the colonial period who intermingled with the Amuzgo, Mixtec and Tlapanec peoples. This fusion gave rise to a cuisine unique in Mexico, where the region's endemic chillies — costeño, Oaxacan pasilla negro, chilhuacle — are the protagonists of sauces and moles with irreducible flavour. Guerrero red mole from the Costa Chica is the result of centuries of that frontier cooking: more rustic than the Puebla version, with no chocolate, an honest heat and a colour ranging from orange to bright red depending on the chilli blend. It is prepared especially for weddings, quinceañera parties, the Day of the Dead and Carnival Tuesday, when Afro-Mexican communities celebrate with chilena music and mole.

Estimated cost

£24.20

Total cost

£3.03

Per serving

* Approximate prices based on UK supermarkets

Nutritional information per serving

450

Calories

35g

Protein

25g

Carbohydrates

22g

Fat

Fibre

820mg

Sodium

* Approximate values. May vary depending on ingredients used.

Method

1
Deseed and devein the costeño and guajillo chillies. Toast on a dry griddle for 30 seconds per side. Soak in hot water for 20 minutes. Drain and reserve the soaking water.
2
Toast the sesame seeds on a dry griddle until golden. Set aside. Toast the garlic and onion on the same griddle until charred.
3
Char the tomatoes on the griddle until well blackened. Blend the soaked chillies with the tomatoes, garlic, onion, half the sesame seeds, cumin, clove, pepper, thyme, oregano and strained soaking water until smooth.
4
Heat the lard or oil in a large pot over high heat until smoking. Add the sauce through a strainer and fry, stirring constantly, for 15 minutes until it concentrates and the oil rises to the surface.
💡 This step is the most important: the mole must be well fried to lose its raw flavour.
5
Add the chicken stock gradually, stirring constantly. Reduce to medium heat and cook for 30 more minutes. The consistency should be that of a thick sauce.
6
Cook the chicken or pork in water with onion, garlic and salt until tender. Add the meat to the mole and allow it to absorb the flavours for 15 more minutes.
7
Serve in deep plates with white rice and beans. Sprinkle the remaining sesame seeds over the top as garnish.