Chicken Tinga

TINGA DE POLLO

I made chicken tinga the day before yesterday; so it was chicken tinga tacos (following same procedure as beef tacos) first, next day was chicken tinga nachos (following same procedure as pork nachos) now today was tacos again but with flour tortillas (it’s what I had) 😉🌮🌶 I know! I usually put it all except chicken in blender “first” but this was a happy accident 😜👏💗 I had chicken & was thinking fajitas BUT those New Mexico Dried Hatch Chile Pods, chili pods were calling out my name! 😁 So I cooked the chicken in all that flavor, until it was fall apart tender, then shredded it.

Hatch chilies, new mexico hatch chile, DRIED HATCH CHILE PODS, chili, chile, chilli 🤣 chillies ⁉️ Anyway…it was all delicioso‼ with guacamole salsa

I am posting a basic chicken tinga recipe from Mexican Food Journal, although I sometimes use what chili pods I have in my pantry; which this time was guajillo and Hatch New Mexico chile pods, along with chipotle chilies with adobo sauce. Also I use fire ROASTED tomatoes.

1 pound whole boneless chicken breast

4 plum tomatoes

1 1/4 large white onions

3 cloves of garlic

2 tablespoons canned chipotle

1 teaspoon Mexican oregano

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 cup chicken broth

3 tablespoons cooking oil

Salt to taste

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, 1/4 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 1/2 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.

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