Chicken Tinga is one of the easiest and most representative Mexican tacos fillings that you can find. It has a sweet and mild spicy thick sauce that will soon become one of your go-to recipes for Taco Tuesday!
How to make the Chicken Tinga Sauce?
This sweet and mildly spicy red sauce is all made in the blender. It’s the easiest sauce to make and also the ingredients are probably already in your fridge. The only ingredient that may be “exotic” is the jalapeños, but if you are a Mexican food lover probably you will have a few — fresh or canned — in your house.
As I’ve mentioned a million times in this blog, I always use canned jalapeño because in the country I currently live in it’s hard to find fresh jalapeños.
So, if you use fresh jalapeños remember to clean them well and deseed them to avoid a super spicy result.
In case of using canned jalapeños — as I do —, 3-5 pieces would be more than enough. You can see in the picture the exact amount I like to use.
The rest of this sauce is the basic ingredients of Latin food: ripped tomatoes —the ripper, the juicier—, onions, garlic cloves, fresh coriander, and cumin. So much flavor in simple everyday ingredients.
Now, blend all the ingredients + some water (about ⅓ of a cup) and your sauce is ready to cook and add flavor to the already shredded chicken.
To cook the chicken just boil it with a pinch of salt and then shred it.
The last thing is to cook the chicken immersed in the sauce until it reduces to a thicker consistency that can be held by a tortilla.
Can you use the slow cooker for chicken tinga?
Of course.
In fact, using the slow cooker is one of my favorite ways of making this recipe. The only thing is that the sauce can become a little bit watery.
So, after the cooking process, you can transfer the sauce to a pan and reduce it over medium heat for 5 minutes to make it thicker. Also, in the stove version, I add a bit of water when I blend all the ingredients for the sauce, I would avoid this step if you use the slow cooker.
Another thing different from the stove method is that the chicken will cook in the sauce and there is no need to boil it first.
More Mexican Recipes:
Chicken Tinga
Ingredients
- 400 gr chicken breast
- 4 to matoes
- 1 big onion (divided)
- 2 garlic cloves
- 1 small jalapeño (note 1)
- ¼ cup fresh coriander
- 1 tsp cumin
- 1 tbsp oil (only for the stove version)
- Salt and pepper to taste
Instructions
In the stove:
- Boil the chicken breast in a pot with water and a pinch of salt. Boil for 20 minutes. Let it chill and then shred it.
- Blend the tomatoes, ½ onion, the garlic, the jalapeños, the coriander, and the cumin. Add a ⅓ cup of water to ease the process.
- In a big pan add the oil and the rest of the onion cut into slices. Cook for a couple of minutes until the onion is soft. Add the chicken and the blended sauce. Season with salt and pepper and cook for 15 minutes over medium heat until the sauce is reduced (like in the pictures).
In the slow cooker:
- Blend all the ingredients for the sauce: tomatoes, ½ onion, garlic, jalapeños, coriander, and cumin.
- Place the chicken in the slow cooker, cover with ½ onion cut into slices, the blended sauce and salt, and pepper to taste.
- Cook for 2.5 hours in high or 5 hours in slow.
- Take the chicken out and shred it. Take it back to the sauce and serve. (note 2)
Notes
- If you don’t have fresh jalapeño you can use 3- 5 pieces of sliced canned jalapeño.
- If the sauce is too watery — this will vary depending on your slow cooker—, you can take it to the stove and reduce for 5 minutes over medium heat to make it thicker.
I’m Maria and I love cooking—and mostly EATING—food from all around the world. I’ve been sharing my abuela’s secret Latin-American recipes for the last 7 years with the world on this blog. I’ve been a full-time food blogger for many years and I’m always trying new delicious meals that don’t require a culinary degree or a Michelin-star chef. I also love traveling, cats, and knitting.