Chicken Tinga Recipe (2024)

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A Great Taco Filling or Tostada Topping

Chicken Tinga, a classic shredded chicken taco or tostada filling prepared with sliced onions and a tomato chipotle sauce is a full-flavored crowd pleaser. It has a smoky flavor with just enough heat from the chipotle.

Tinga is served throughout Mexico. There is also a beef version. This recipe is so good that you may want to make a double batch to keep in the freezer.

How to Make

Gather your ingredients.

1 pound whole boneless chicken breast
4 plum tomatoes
1 ¼ large white onions
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons canned chipotle
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons cooking oil
Salt to taste

HOW TO MAKE CHICKEN TINGA | 1-MINUTE VIDEO

Start by making the shredded chicken.

In a large saucepan cover the chicken with an inch of water.
Bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove chicken from the cooking water. Save the broth.
Allow chicken to cool to the touch.
Finely shred the chicken. Cut the chicken into 1″ pieces then pull apart with your fingers.

Prepare the chipotle tomato sauce while the chicken is cooking.

Clean, seed, and chop the tomatoes.

Add tomatoes to your blender.
To your blender, add 2 tablespoons canned chipotle, 1 clove of garlic, 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano, ¼ teaspoon black pepper, and 1 cup of the reserved chicken broth.
Blend until smooth. About 1 minute.

Prepare the tinga.

Thinly slice 1 large white onion. Yields approximately 1 ½ cups.

Slice 2 cloves of garlic.

Preheat a large frying pan over medium-low heat and add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil.
Add the sliced onions to the pan. Cook until the onion starts to become translucent in about 4 minutes. Do not allow the onion to brown.
Add the sliced garlic to the pan cook for 1 more minute.

Turn the heat to medium and slowly pour the sauce into the pan with the onions and garlic. Cook for 5 minutes. The sauce will start to reduce.
Turn the heat to low.

Add the shredded chicken to the pan and mix well with the sauce.

Cover the pan and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. During this time the sauce will reduce even more and coat the chicken and onion.
Salt to taste.

How to Serve

Tinga makes a great filling for the following:

Tinga tacos – You can make chicken tinga tacos with either corn tortillas or flour tortillas. My favorites are tacos made with corn tortillas but tacos made with flour tortillas are still excellent.
Tinga tostadas
Tinga burritos

Print Pin

3.65 from 96 votes

Chicken Tinga Recipe

Chicken Tinga [teen – GA], a shredded chicken taco or tostada filling prepared with sliced onions and a tomato chipotle sauce is a full-flavored crowd pleaser. It has a smoky flavor with just enough heat from the chipotle.

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Mexican

Keyword chicken tinga recipe, tinga de pollo recipe, tinga recipe

Ingredients

1 pound whole boneless chicken breast
4 plum tomatoes
1 ¼ large white onions
3 cloves of garlic
2 tablespoons canned chipotle
1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
¼ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup chicken broth
3 tablespoons cooking oil
Salt to taste

Instructions

SHREDDED CHICKEN
In a large saucepan cover the chicken with an inch of water.
Bring water to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove chicken from the cooking water. Save the broth.
Allow chicken to cool to the touch.
Finely shred the chicken. Cut the chicken into 1″ pieces then pull apart wth your fingers.
CHIPOTLE TOMATO SAUCE
Clean, seed and chop the tomatoes.
Add tomatoes to you blender.
Add 2 tablespoons canned chipotle to blender. Use 3 tablespoons of chipotle if you prefer it spicier.
Add 1 clove of garlic, 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano to blender jar, ¼ teaspoon black pepper to blender.
Then add 1 cup of the reserved chicken broth.
Blend until smooth. About 1 minute.
PREPARATION
Thinly slice 1 large white onion. Yields approximately 1 ½ cups.
Slice 2 cloves of garlic.
Preheat a large frying pan over medium-low heat and add 3 tablespoons of cooking oil.
Add the sliced onions to the pan. Cook until the onion starts to become translucent about 4 minutes. Do not allow the onion to brown.
Add the sliced garlic to the pan cook for 1 more minute.
Turn the heat to medium and slowly pour the sauce into the pan with the onions and garlic.
Cook for 5 minutes. The sauce will start to reduce.
Turn the heat to low
Add the shredded chicken to the pan and mix well with the sauce.
Cover the pan and allow to simmer for 20 minutes. During this time the sauce will reduce even more and coat the chicken and onion.
See Also
Pork Afritada Recipe
Salt to taste.
Serve as a taco or tostada filling.

Notes

Preparation

This chicken tinga recipe calls for canned chipotle in adobo sauce. You should be able to find them in nearly any market in the chile and salsa section or the Hispanic section.

Reheating

Reheat in the microwave or in a saucepan with a splash of water so that it doesn’t dry out and stick.

Storage

It will keep well for 3 days in the refrigerator.
Chicken Tinga freezes very well. Make a double batch and keep it on hand for when you need a quick meal.

Nutrition

Difficulty – Easy

Don’t be intimidated by what appears to be a great number of steps in the recipe. Preparation is divided into 3 simple parts: preparing the shredded chicken, making the sauce, and assembling the dish.

Equipment Needed

Cutting board
Knife
Kitchen spoon
Large saucepan
Large frying pan
Blender

OtherTaco Fillings You Might Like

Our cactus saladand rajas con queso are great options for vegetarian taco fillings.
Shredded beef

More Chicken Recipes

Tomatillo Chicken
Chicken Fajitas
Chicken Tacos with Avocado Salsa

More Mexican Chicken Recipes

Mole Poblano
Mexican Sopes with Chicken
Chicken Fajitas [Easy in 30 Minutes]
Tomatillo Chicken

Reader Interactions

Comments

Mindy T. says

June 28, 2021 at 8:52 pm

Really good! We will make this again and again. I used boneless skinless thighs because they didn’t have any boneless breasts at the store when I shopped (crazy, right?). I also used canned organic diced tomatoes, and they worked perfectly, but we have lots of tomatoes ripening in our garden, so in the future we’ll use the real deal.

We served the tinga with tostada shells, refried beans, cotija cheese, guacamole, and sour cream (because the store also didn’t have Mexican crema – maybe I need to start going to a different store, eh?). It was delish and so satisfying! This is definitely going in our rotation. We ended up with a lot of extra sauce, but we have some ideas for how to use it up, yum.

Reply
Douglas Cullen says

June 29, 2021 at 12:30 pm

Glad you liked the recipe! How do you plan to use the extra sauce? It’s really versatile. Cheers!

Reply
- Mindy T. says
  
  June 29, 2021 at 2:11 pm
  
  I think we are going to make a version of huevos rancheros and top it with the tinga sauce (there are a few pieces of the yummy shredded chicken in there too). My husband also asked me to make some more! We have more tostada shells, so we kinda have to, LOL.
  
  Reply
  - Douglas Cullen says
    
    June 29, 2021 at 4:01 pm
    
    The sauce will go great with eggs. It will be delicious!
    
    Reply
Carla Smalley says

February 08, 2022 at 9:34 pm

Oh my goodness!!! Made this for dinner tonight and it was delicious. Will definitely make it again and again

Reply
- Douglas Cullen says
  
  February 14, 2022 at 10:00 am
  
  Glad the recipe worked for you!
  
  Reply
jeanie short says

March 27, 2022 at 1:44 pm

Hi Douglas Cullen,
chicken Tinga is one of my favourite dishes and i only eat it at my favourite Mexican restaurant called “Playa cabana ” in Toronto Ontario. Now in your recipe it calls for 2 tablespoons of chipotle but here in Canada in the tin it’s either whole chipotle in a sauce or chipotle sauce which choice do you use in this recipe, it calls for 2 tablespoons of the chipotle. I cook and eat a lot of authentic Mexican dishes i usually buy my corn tortillas at a Mexican store in Kensington Market down town Toronto its a great area. I’m excited to try your recipe. cheers jeanie short.

Reply
- Bill says
  
  April 10, 2022 at 7:13 am
  
  Same here in the US. Just pull a some of the whole peppers out of the tin and chop them up to get the tablespoon measurement right.
  
  Reply
Meghan says

January 31, 2023 at 8:38 pm

Pretty good recipe. We used whole can of chipotle and a few fresh peppers. Gave it some good spice. Only complaint is the nutrition facts. They are way off.

Reply
Alex says

May 08, 2023 at 9:29 pm

I thought this dish was very bland. The sauce is simple and watery. An extra 20 minutes is added just so you can use your chicken boiling water as broth.

Reply