The Mexican dish consisting of a spicy chocolate sauce served over poultry is mole poblano.
Mole poblano is a rich, dark red or brown sauce associated especially with Puebla, Mexico. Its flavor comes from a blend of dried chiles, spices, nuts or seeds, aromatics, thickening ingredients, and sometimes chocolate. The chocolate adds bitterness, depth, and balance rather than making the sauce taste like dessert.
Mole is a broad family of Mexican sauces, so mole poblano should not be confused with mole verde, mole amarillo, or mole negro. Those varieties differ in color, ingredients, regional traditions, and flavor. Mole poblano is traditionally served over turkey, although chicken, pork, and other meats are also common.
Its origin is debated. A popular colonial-era story credits nuns in Puebla with combining many available ingredients for an important visitor, while evidence suggests that mole developed from older Indigenous sauce traditions and later incorporated ingredients introduced from Europe. Preparing traditional mole can involve roasting, grinding, and simmering numerous ingredients for hours.