Mexican Chicken Tinga In The Slow Cooker - Healthy

This easy Mexican chicken tinga recipe is a weeknight winner! Shredded chicken is slow cooked in a smoky tomato and chipotle sauce, then piled into tacos or crispy tostadas. Healthy, high in protein and perfect for meal prep.

About This Mexican Chicken Tinga

Chicken Tinga is a simple Mexican dish using chicken cooked in tomatoes, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, onions and spices that you can make on the stovetop, slow cooker crockpot or instant pot. The chicken is shredded and served heated in the sauce that it cooks in. It's great served on tostadas and tacos. The word Tinga comes from the colloquial Spanish Mexican word for "mess", "disorder" or "stew".

I'm going to show you a version that requires 5 minutes pre-prep and can cook in the slow cooker so you'll come home to a delicious dinner where you only need 10 minutes to pull it all together. My recipe for chicken tinga doesn't have any added oil or fats in it so that it is great for anyone looking for a delicious, high protein, healthy dinner. I'll also go through how to make this in the slow cooker or on the stovetop.

Why You'll Love Chicken Tinga

⭐ This is the simplest chicken tinga recipe ever as it doesn't require any sauteing of onion or garlic first. Everything goes into the slow cooker raw from chopped onion, passata and whole boneless skinless chicken breasts or thighs.

⭐ Chicken Tinga is healthy - it's made with chicken, tomatoes, onion, garlic, chipotle peppers and spices. We are not adding any oil or butter in this. It's also great in lunchboxes or for meal prepping.

⭐ This recipe for Chicken Tinga uses easy to find ingredients at the supermarket (some tinga recipes call for tomatillos but these aren't traditional and honestly not really needed). Chipotle chillies in adobo sauce are found in the Mexican aisle of the supermarket. I use the ones that are diced already with the sauce. If you love easy Mexican chicken dinners, try my Mexican Chicken Bake Recipe too.

⭐ You can use chicken breast or thigh, whatever your preference is really. While I usually prefer chicken thigh, I also tried it with chicken breast and it wasn't dry at all, especially when it is slow cooked and served in sauce.

⭐ You can make it as spicy as you want. The flavour base in chicken tinga is from the chipotle chillies in Adobo sauce but these are relatively mild. You can build spice up by adding jalapenos and chilli powder.

⭐ Chicken Tinga only gets better with time as the flavours develop in the sauce! I recommend making a double batch so that you have enough for a couple of nights.

⭐ Have you tried Mexican crema? It's SO good and easy to make in less than 2 minutes. I use it in Mexican corn which you can serve on the side too.

⭐ This chicken tinga filling is great in sandwiches or wraps too!

Video How To Make Mexican Chicken Tinga

Video: Mexican Chicken Tinga Recipe

Ingredients For Mexican Chicken Tinga

Onions - Brown, yellow, white or red onion work well.

Garlic - Fresh garlic cloves.

Tomato passata - I prefer using passata to tinned tomatoes for chicken tinga. I prefer the intense result from using passata and don't need to add tomato paste for this.

Cumin - Ground cumin.

Oregano - If you can find Mexican oregano, use that as it is different from Greek oregano (but if you can't, Greek oregano will do). The difference is that Mexican oregano is bright and citrusy while Greek oregano is minty. Oregano is used in Mexican dishes like Oaxacan chicken soup.

Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce - Find this in the Mexican aisle at the supermarket. It is sold either with whole chipotle peppers or diced ones (which I used). I prefer the jar as it means I always have some in the fridge.

Chilli powder - Use mild, medium or hot depending on your taste.

Jalapeno - I love spice so I add a sliced jalapeno.

Bay leaf - To add aroma to the sauce.

Chicken - Use either skinless and boneless chicken breasts or thighs.

Sour cream - Full fat sour cream.

Mayonnaise - Your favourite mayonnaise (we all have a favourite ;)! )

Lime juice - fresh or bottled lime juice works.

Tips For Making Mexican Chicken Tinga

1 - Add everything into the slow cooker except for the chicken so that you can taste for seasoning before adding raw chicken.

2 - I love to make this at the beginning of the day and then it is pretty much ready when you get home. Just shred the chicken and place the pot on high for 10 minutes with the lid off to reduce the sauce and then add the chicken back in. In that time you can get the tostadas or tacos ready, heat the refried beans and slice the avocado. I also love this with Mexican crema which takes about 2 minutes to make.

3 - Use gloved hands to shred chicken as the chillies can irritate your skin.

4 - Other topping ideas: shredded cheese, tomato, shredded lettuce, pickled or fresh onions or fresh or pickled jalapenos.

Mexican Chicken Tinga Recipe

An Original Recipe by Lorraine Elliott

Recipe Overview

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Cooking time: 1-6 hours (depending on method of cooking)

Makes: 10-12 tacos or tostadas

Ingredients Needed

For Chicken Tinga

• 2 large onions, peeled and finely diced
• 5 cloves garlic, peeled and diced
• 700g/24fl oz tomato passata
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 5 teaspoons diced Chipotle peppers in Adobo sauce (or 3 chipotle peppers and 2 teaspoons of sauce)
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1 jalapeno (optional), sliced
• 3.5 teaspoons of salt (or to taste)
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 1kg/2.2lbs chicken breasts or thighs (skinless, boneless)

Mexican Crema

• 4 tablespoons sour cream
• 4 tablespoons mayonnaise
• 2 tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed or grated

To Serve

• 10-12 tacos or tostadas
• Fresh avocado
• Refried beans
• Coriander

Step-By-Step Instructions

Step 1a SLOW COOKER/INSTANT POT- Add the onions, garlic, tomato passata, cumin, oregano, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, chilli powder, sliced jalapeno, salt, black pepper and bay leaf to a slow cooker. Stir and taste for seasoning adding more salt if needed. Submerge chicken in the sauce and set to 3 hours high or 6 hours low.

Step 1b STOVETOP - You can also cook this on the stovetop in a pot with the lid on where it will take about an hour to cook on medium heat (with stovetop method, ensure that it doesn't dry out).

Step 2 SHRED - Remove chicken from the sauce and set to high for 20 minutes or 10 minutes on stovetop to reduce the sauce slightly. Shred with gloved hands or two forks. You can leave the sauce as is although if I have time I prefer to blend it up using an immersion blender (just remove bay leaf first!). Return chicken to the sauce and stir well. It is ready.

Step 3 CREMA - Whisk sour cream, mayonnaise, lime juice and garlic together in a small bowl.

Step 4 SERVE - Serve with crispy tostadas (deep fried corn tortillas, see recipe here) or soft tacos with warm refried beans, slices of avocado, coriander and the crema sauce.

Personal Note

I was so excited to try this chicken tinga the other night. Mr NQN was at a conference all day and at 2pm I set the slow cooker to start and the alarm set for three hours. By 5pm, it would be ready and I could let it cool, shred the meat and then eat at 6pm.

I continued to do work all afternoon and walked the dogs. One thing that I have to mention is the smell of this cooking might drive you a bit wild. It smelt so delicious and the aroma wafted through the whole house. Even when I got back with the dogs and opened the front door, somebody walking past commented, "Smells good!".

Then at 5pm, I practically skipped to the slow cooker and lifted the lid. I picked up a piece of chicken with the tongs and was aghast as it was still pink! I looked at the slow cooker and realised that I had set it on low which takes 6 hours, not high that takes 3 hours. I was crushed and I was envisaging this meal exactly. I could have placed it on the stovetop but I have to test the time that it takes to cook things for the recipe so I kept going in the slow cooker. I didn't get to eat this until 8pm which was way too late for me but at least I got to eat it that night!

So tell me Dear Reader, has that ever happened to you?