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Have you ever eaten mole? No, I am not referring to the small burrowing rodent! I’m referring to the Mexican sauce, pronounced “mole-lay.” Mole is for Mexican cuisine kind of like curry is for Indian cuisine. There are tons of variations. The most well-known is a brown or red sauce that uses lots of hot spices and chocolate. This can sound like a pretty odd combo, but it is delicious! I’ve been trying to recreate those flavors for the AIP community for…well like forever. I think I’ve finally perfected it though, and all my recipe testers and tasters have agreed. If you are looking for something new and exotic to change up your AIP routine, look no further!

- 2-3 lbs short ribs (a fatty meat, like pork is best, chicken thighs also work)
- 2 tbsp carob powder
- 2 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp oregano
- 1 tsp powdered ginger
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp smoked sea salt
- ½ tsp ground cloves
- ¼ cup prunes, diced
- ¼ cup boiling water
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- Preheat oven to 225 degrees.
- Combine all herbs, spices, and carob in food processor or blender.
- Pour boiling water over prunes. Allow to soak for 5 minutes.
- Add prunes and apple cider vinegar to food processor or blender. Process on high until smooth. Mixture should be consistency of paste.
- Lay ribs out on piece of foil, shiny side up, approx. double the size of the ribs.
- Coat ribs, bottom and top, with mole mixture. Wrap tightly in foil.
- Place packet on baking sheet. Bake until internal temperature is 145 degrees, approximately 2-3 hours.
7 comments
Wondering how you all feel about the aluminum foil touching food while hot and cooking? I always cover in parchment first, then foil, if I need to keep a dish warm. With this dish I’m not sure that would work- going to try the recipe in Dutch Oven and hope it doesn’t dry out. Would love your opinion and insight on this aluminum issue, as high levels of aluminum can be toxic! Thank you both for your SUPREME work!!!
Hi Magali! Thanks for checking out our site! As to the aluminum . . . although I understand the concerns around toxicity of aluminum, I don’t let myself get too anxious about it, esp. since I only cook w/ foil on occasionally. That said, I understand if you’d like to avoid it. If you are going to use the Dutch Oven method, I might add just a bit of water to hopefully keep the ribs from getting too dry. Let me know how it works!
Hi Magali,
If you have tested high for heavy metals, I agree it might not be a good choice. Not all of us can live in a bubble, though, and we advise to do the best you can instead of going crazy!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I made it using country-style pork ribs. It was truly outstanding. The leftovers might even be better than the first round.
Thanks so much Cathy!! I like the leftover round too!
We made these with “short ribs” which are beef and it was awful. Beef apparently needs to cook like 6 hours in more of a liquid. Did you mean pork ribs? If so PLEASE specify PORK and don’t call these “short ribs” because this ain’t gonna work with beef and we now have an inedible dinner. We will recook tbem tomorrow but it was just irritating. Thanks!
Morgan, sorry to hear these didn’t work out for you. Other commenters here & recipe testers I used were all happy w/ the dish. You will also note in the recipe above I do specify that pork is best here, because of the fat helping keep it moist & tasty.