Dinner BY: PUBLISHED: 10/30/2020  UPDATED: 01/25/2024

Chicken Tinga Recipe

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This chicken tinga recipe is an amazing shredded taco or tostada filling. It is super easy to make with the most amazing taste!

This chicken tinga recipe is the best. It's easy to make with shredded chicken and chipotle creamy sauce. Serve with rice, a taco or tostada!

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Tinga is the perfect combination of chicken, sliced onions, and a tomato chipotle sauce. Just enough heat from the chipotle to tickle your taste butts. So, are you ready to learn how to make chicken tinga recipe? Let’s get started!

What You Need For This Recipe

To make this chicken tinga recipe you need several ingredients. Make sure you have the following items on your shopping list:

  • Tortillas – use small flour tortillas
  • Shredded chicken – you can make it with chicken breast or from a rotisserie chicken
  • Hot peppers – Chipotle with adobo sauce
  • Onion – finely diced
  • Garlic – mince fresh garlic
  • Tomatoes – buy fire-roasted tomatoes
  • Seasoning – I use taco seasoning to season the dish
  • Red onion – finely diced
  • Parsley – to garnish use dried or fresh
  • Olive oil – to cook all the vegetables in
  • Chicken stock – to cook and simmer the tinga chicken

Note that the full ingredients list, including measurements, can be found in the recipe card below.

Chicken tinga ingredients

How To Make Chicken Tinga

  1. To make chicken tinga you have to start with shredded chicken. You can either make it from scratch with a chicken breast fillet or you can buy a rotisserie chicken.
  2. When you make it from scratch take a pan with water and add the chicken stock cube. Bring to the boil and add the no-skin chicken breast filet to the pan.
  3. Let the chicken simmer on medium for 15 minutes. Then shred the chicken with two forks and set it aside. If you haven’t shredded a chicken filet before just watch the video in the recipe card showing you how it is done.
  4. Now heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat and add olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic until soft and tender.
  5. Stir in the Chipotles, and taco seasoning before adding the tomatoes and chicken stock.
  6. Let it simmer for about 10 minutes. Take the sauce off the stove and put it in a blender. Blend the sauce for less than a minute in your blender.
  7. Put the sauce back into the skillet and add the shredded chicken to the sauce. Stir properly to cover the chicken with the sauce. Cook for 10 more minutes.
  8. Char your small flour tortillas in a hot pan for half a minute per side and let them steam under a clean kitchen towel before preparing your tinga tacos.
  9. Take a taco, put chicken tinga on it, and sprinkle with some diced red onion and parsley.

The best chicken tinga recipe. Classic Mexican taco or tostada filling recipe made with chicken, onion, and a spicy tomato sauce. A perfect Mexican dinner that is easy to make. You can use rotisserie chicken or shredded chicken.

Chicken Tinga Recipe

Mexican chicken tinga is a classic recipe that is served throughout Mexico and is also known as Tinga de Pollo. Chicken tinga is made with shredded chicken and a spicy red sauce.

The main ingredient for the tinga sauce is chipotle with adobo sauce. Chipotle is a smokey-dried jalapeño that has a very strong and spicy flavor.

The adobo sauce initially was used as a way to preserve raw food like meats and vegetables. They used it when refrigerators were not readily available.

Over time this was not necessary anymore but as a bonus, the adobo sauce now gives ingredients a nice flavor. Adobo sauce’s primary use became to flavor recipes like this chicken tinga recipe.

The adobo sauce is made with ingredients like:

  • Paprika
  • Oregano
  • Salt
  • Garlic
  • Soy sauce
  • Vinegar

I used Chipotle in adobo from La Costeña. I love spicy food and can handle quite some heat but Chipotle is something different. The heat comes as an afterthought.

So, if you are not the one for spicy food then just take one small Chipotle. If you can handle some heat, take two chipotles like in this recipe. Still, my advice is to be careful and start with one.

You can always add more if you want.

The best chicken tinga recipe. Classic Mexican taco or tostada filling recipe made with chicken, onion, and a spicy tomato sauce. A perfect Mexican dinner that is easy to make. You can use rotisserie chicken or shredded chicken.

Can You Make Chicken Tinga Ahead?

Yes, this is a very good recipe to make ahead and also to make in a large batch so you can use it to meal prep your burritos, fajitas, tacos, or tostadas.

How To Store Chicken Tinga

As you can make this recipe ahead you have several ways to store it:

  • Refrigerator – when you plan on serving the tinga within a day or two you can store it in the fridge. Put the chicken in an airtight container
  • Freezer – tinga also stores very well in the freezer. Just store it in a resealable bag or airtight container. Label it and you can store it for up to 3 months

The best chicken tinga recipe. Classic Mexican taco or tostada filling recipe made with chicken, onion, and a spicy tomato sauce. A perfect Mexican dinner that is easy to make. You can use rotisserie chicken or shredded chicken.

How To Reheat Chicken Tinga

There are various ways to reheat tinga. If you have it frozen, let it thaw in the fridge before reheating.

  • Cast-iron skillet – Preheat a cast-iron skillet and add the chicken. Add about ¼ cup of water if the sauce is very thick. Let it warm slowly and stir it through
  • Instant Pot – put the chicken in the pot, and add ¼ cup of water. Close the lid and secure it. Select Manual and pressure cook for 4 minutes. Natural release for 4 minutes and quick release

The best chicken tinga recipe. Classic Mexican taco or tostada filling recipe made with chicken, onion, and a spicy tomato sauce. A perfect Mexican dinner that is easy to make. You can use rotisserie chicken or shredded chicken.

Side Dishes To Serve With Chicken Tinga

This chicken tinga recipe can be eaten solo but if you add some of these dishes it will become even better. Try it with:

  • Tortilla – wrap the chicken tinga in soft flour tortillas and you are in for a treat
  • Avocado or guacamole – when you eat a chicken tinga taco put some avocado or guacamole on the crunchy taco shell or soft tortilla. Then put the chicken tinga on top
  • Beans – Serve some refried beans as a side dish
  • Cheese – sprinkle some soft grated cheese on the chicken tinga before serving
  • Spicy roasted tomato salsa – everything tastes even better with this spicy roasted tomato salsa
  • Sour cream – is another great addition to your chicken tinga tacos
  • Mexican rice – this Tex Mex rice tastes perfectly with chicken tinga

The best chicken tinga recipe. Classic Mexican taco or tostada filling recipe made with chicken, onion and a spicy tomato sauce. A perfect Mexican dinner that is easy to make. You can use a rotisserie chicken or shredded chicken.

How To Eat Chicken Tinga

You can eat your chicken tinga in various ways. Here are some examples:

  • Taco – Eat it as a chicken tinga taco either crunchy taco shell but also as a soft taco
  • Tostada – Pan-fry a small tortilla in the pan or oven and top it with some chicken and you have a chicken tinga tostada
  • Enchiladas – roll-up a soft flour tortilla with this recipe smother it with homemade enchilada sauce and you have chicken tinga enchiladas
  • Quesadilla – cover a big tortilla with tinga and fold, then bake it softly in a skillet and cut into triangles so you can serve tasty chicken tinga quesadilla
  • Arepas – shredded chicken tinga and arepas are a great combination

The best chicken tinga recipe. Classic Mexican taco or tostada filling recipe made with chicken, onion, and a spicy tomato sauce. A perfect Mexican dinner that is easy to make. You can use rotisserie chicken or shredded chicken.

More Chicken Recipes

If you love chicken then enjoy making some of the other chicken recipes on our website:

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Chicken tinga recipe

Chicken Tinga Recipe

Serves: 3 Prep Time: 20 minutes Cooking Time: 25 minutes

This chicken tinga recipe is the best. It's easy to make with shredded chicken and chipotle creamy sauce. Serve with rice, a taco or tostada!

Ingredients

  • 4-6 small tortillas
  • 1 shredded chicken filet 250 gram
  • 2 chipotle with adobo sauce
  • 1 onion
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Fire roasted tomatoes
  • Taco seasoning
  • 1/2 red onion
  • Parsley
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 cup chicken stock

Instructions

  1. Shred your chicken either cooking it in a pan with chicken stock for 15 minutes and then shred the chicken
  2. Heat a skillet over medium heat and add the olive oil. Sauté the onion and garlic until soft and tender.
  3. Stir in the chipotles, taco seasoning before adding the tomatoes and chicken stock. Let is simmer for about 10 minutes
  4. Blend the sauce for less than a minute in your blender
  5. Put the sauce back into the skillet and add the chicken to sauce. Stir properly to cover the chicken with the sauce. Cook for 10 more minutes
  6. Char your tortilla is a warm pan for half a minute and let them steam before preparing your tinga tacos
  7. Start then chicken tinga and decorate with some diced red onion, parsley

Notes

You can use rotisserie chicken and shredd it. It will reduce the cooking time by 15 minutes.

Click To Play Recipe Video

Nutrition facts

Calories: 579; Fat: 26.4g; Carbs: 36.4g; Protein: 49.9g

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