Smoky Chicken Mole Sliders Recipe

Chicken mole is a Mexican dish that often features bone-in chicken pieces sauced with a combination of chiles and chocolate (although some types of mole sauce, including the pale and creamy mole blanco, do not include this last ingredient). Here, however, recipe developer Tess Le Moing transforms the dish by shredding chicken and combining it with mole sauce to make sliders. As a fun little extra, she tucks a few shards of crispy baked chicken skin into each slider along with other toppings, including peppery radishes, salty queso fresco, and crunchy sesame seeds.

"These sliders are fun for picnics or holiday barbecue events," says Le Moing, but she also says that her chicken mole is great for meal prepping. You can use it for sliders or sandwiches one day and accompany it with a green salad, bean salad, elote, or guacamole with chips. The next day, you can eat the leftovers over rice or lettuce, use them to fill stuffed peppers, or wrap them in tortillas to make tacos, burritos, or enchiladas.

The slider filling is made from chicken thighs, yellow onion, garlic, salt, oregano, and mole paste. To construct the sandwiches, you'll also need slider buns, radishes, queso fresco, and sesame seeds.

Preheat the oven to 400 F and place the oven rack in the middle position.

Line a baking sheet with foil.

Remove the chicken skin from the thighs, making sure that the skins stay whole.

Place the chicken skins in a single layer, skin-side down, on a foil-lined baking sheet.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, flipping halfway through, until golden brown and crispy.

Drain the crispy chicken skins on a paper towel–lined plate and set aside.

Place the chicken thighs, onion, garlic, oregano, and salt in a medium pot and cover with 2 ½ cups water.

Bring to a boil, then lower to a simmer until the chicken is cooked through, about 10 minutes.

Strain the broth into a glass measuring cup or container. Compost or discard the onion and garlic.

Place the chicken in a bowl and cool for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the mole sauce by placing the mole paste in a small pot with 1 cup of the chicken broth.

Set to medium heat and break up the paste using a wooden spoon.

Simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently, until the paste absorbs the liquids and you have a thick sauce Add more broth, as needed.

Remove the chicken bones and shred the meat with your hands or two forks.

Pour the mole sauce over the chicken and toss well to coat the chicken.

Arrange the bottom slider buns on a platter.

Top each bottom bun with a piece of fried chicken skin, breaking it into pieces, and then add shredded chicken mole.

Top with the sliced radishes, queso fresco, and sesame seeds.

Add the top buns and serve with excess mole sauce, if desired.

Since this recipe calls for simmering the chicken in water flavored with spices and aromatics, you may wind up with a cup or so of extra broth. You won't have enough left to turn into soup unless you double the batch, but that wouldn't be a bad idea. The smaller amount, though, can be added to instant ramen or soup concentrate in place of water and can also add flavor to poached eggs.

If you slice an entire bunch of radishes as directed, you probably won't need all of this ingredient for your sliders, either. The remaining radish slices can always be added to a green salad, but they'd also make a nice addition to the aforementioned cup o'ramen and can add a little crunch to sandwiches and soft tacos. If you have a cucumber in the fridge, chop it up along with the leftover radishes, stir in a scoop of sour cream or plain yogurt, and add black pepper and a squeeze of lemon juice to make a creamy salad.

Making mole sauce can be a time-consuming process requiring a laundry list of ingredients, but mole paste makes for a quick and easy shortcut. Just add liquid, and presto — you've got mole! Sauce made with this paste tastes just as smoky-sweet as if you'd made your sauce from scratch, but it's shelf-stable so you can keep it in the pantry for any last-minute mole needs.

In addition to making chicken mole with the paste, you can stir some into beans and rice to give a boost to that potentially bland dish. The paste can also be used to marinate meats and fish, season vegetables, or make a sauce that tastes great over eggs — rry mole sauce as a topping for cheesy migas. Mole paste also adds a certain je ne sais quoi (or rather, no se que) to meatloaf and hamburgers, while you can spread a thin layer over tostadas before you pile on the toppings. If you're into sweet and savory flavor combos, you could even add a few tablespoons of mole paste to chocolate cookie dough or cake batter.