🔑 Quick Answer: Slow cooker chicken tinga is shredded chicken simmered in a smoky sauce of tomato, chipotles en adobo, and Mexican oregano until it pulls apart with a fork. The dish comes from Puebla; it takes three to four hours on low, and it makes enough for 10 tostadas or four to six main-course servings.
Slow cooker chicken tinga is the recipe that shows up whenever we host a crowd, and it has more than earned that spot. Things you can rely on around here: we are always game to talk travel, we love an interesting wine, and this recipe will show up if you hang with us in the winter. It is the Goldilocks of recipes: not too spicy, not too complicated, not too heavy, but just right for a crowd.
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This slow cooker chicken tinga earned two changes along the way. I sauté the onions before they go into the slow cooker rather than dumping everything in cold, because the browning is where most of the flavor comes from, and you lose it entirely if you skip it. I also swapped the tomatoes out of the pico de gallo for radishes, since a fresh salsa is only as good as the tomato in it, and radishes give you the same crunch and acid all year.
Best for: families and anyone feeding a crowd, especially if you want one pot on Sunday to cover taco night on Monday and burrito bowls on Tuesday.
What Is Chicken Tinga?
Chicken Tinga (aka Tinga de Pollo) is a recipe made with shredded chicken served in a tomato and chipotle sauce. Chicken tinga hails from Puebla — a Mexican state that lays claim to some of our favorite classic Mexican foods like Mole Poblano and Chiles En Nogada. When you travel to Puebla, you’ll come across these dishes a lot, and variations abound. We tend to turn to tinga most because it’s simple to make and works on the stovetop or in a slow cooker.
Chicken Tinga Recipe Ingredients
Here is what goes into slow cooker chicken tinga and what each ingredient is doing.
- Chipotles en adobo are the whole personality of the dish. They bring smoke and heat at the same time, and a tablespoon of adobo sauce from the can rounds out the sauce. Use three for a gentle heat and four if you want it to bite.
- Crushed or pureed tomatoes give the sauce its body. A 15-ounce can is enough, and canned beats fresh here because you want consistency rather than seasonality.
- Red onions do double duty, since most of them go into the sauce and the last half gets minced for the salsa. Sauté the sauce onions first, because that is where the depth comes from.
- Mexican oregano is worth seeking out rather than substituting. It is citrusy and grassy, whereas Mediterranean oregano is piney, and the difference shows.
- Boneless, skinless chicken works with either breast or thigh. Thighs stay juicier through a long cook, and breast shreds finer if you are going for tostadas.
- Low-sodium chicken broth keeps the sauce from reducing into something too salty over three or four hours. Water works if that is what you have.
- Radishes, serrano, and lime make the pico de gallo. The radish replaces tomato, and the serrano adds a clean heat that sits differently from the chipotle smoke.
How To Make This Chicken Tinga Recipe
Making slow cooker chicken tinga takes 15 minutes of hands-on work, then a long, unattended cook.
- Thinly slice one and a half red onions into half-moons, then sauté them in two tablespoons of oil over medium heat until golden and soft, about 10 minutes. Do not skip this.
- Add the crushed tomatoes, the chipotles with a tablespoon of adobo sauce, the Mexican oregano, and the bay leaf, and cook for two to three minutes until it smells toasty rather than raw.
- Transfer everything to the slow cooker with 1 cup broth and the chicken, then season with salt and pepper.
- Cook for three to four hours on low, or one and a half to two hours on high, until the chicken pulls apart with no resistance.
- Lift the chicken out and shred it with two forks. Discard the bay leaf.
- Blend the sauce if you want it smooth, or leave it rustic. Both are correct, and I go back and forth.
- Stir the chicken back into the sauce and let it sit for at least five minutes so it drinks some of it back up.
Tips For Success
A few things I have learned making this more times than I can count.
- Sauté the onions first, every time. The dump-and-go version works and it tastes noticeably flatter.
- Taste the sauce before the chicken goes in, because that is the last easy moment to adjust the heat.
- Do not shred the chicken in the sauce. Lift it out onto a board, shred it there, and stir it back, or you will end up with a paste.
- If the sauce is thin at the end, pull the lid off and give it 20 minutes on high.
- The chicken should fall apart when you press it. If it fights the fork, it needs another 30 minutes, and no amount of shredding will fix underdone.
Variations
This slow cooker chicken tinga recipe takes changes well, and here are the ones I actually make.
- Stovetop. Simmer it covered in a Dutch oven over low heat for about an hour instead of using the slow cooker.
- Milder. Drop to two chipotles and skip the adobo sauce. You keep the smoke and lose most of the heat.
- Beef or pork. Chuck or shoulder both work, and both want an extra hour.
- Mini tostada bites. Cut two-inch rounds from tortillas and toast them, and one batch gives you 24 to 30 bites for a party.
- Breakfast. Spoon it over chilaquiles or fold it into a morning hash, which is what happens to the leftovers at my house.
Make It Ahead
This slow cooker chicken tinga keeps in an airtight container in the fridge for four days, and it freezes for three months. Reheat it gently with a splash of broth, because it tightens up as it cools. Make the radish pico de gallo the day you serve it, since the radishes soften and the lime dulls overnight. If anything, the chicken is better on day two, so make it ahead on purpose.
Wine Pairing
Opt for a chilled Garnacha when serving this slow cooker chicken tinga. That wine handles the chipotle because its ripe red fruit reads as sweetness against the smoke. Its low tannin also keeps the chile heat from turning bitter, which can happen when you reach for something big and oaky. For more on this, check out our food and wine pairing tips.
More Recipes Like This
If this slow cooker chicken tinga lands for you, here are recipes I would cook next.
- Rajas de Chile Poblano con Crema is charred poblanos in cream, and it is the other thing I make for a crowd.
- Hangover Chipotle Chilaquiles uses the same chipotle backbone, and leftover tinga goes straight on top.
- Frijoles de la Olla is the pot of beans that turns this into dinner.
Frequently Asked Questions
Yes, and it is the way I make it most often. Sauté the onions and bloom the chipotle and tomato on the stove first, then move everything to the slow cooker with the broth and chicken. Cook it for three to four hours on low or one and a half to two hours on high, until the chicken shreds without resistance.
Both work, and they give you different results. Thighs stay juicier across a long cook and forgive you if you go over. Breast shreds into finer strands, which sit better on a tostada where you want an even layer.
It is smoky first and spicy second. Three chipotles with a tablespoon of adobo give you a warm background heat rather than anything sharp. Drop to two chipotles and leave out the adobo sauce for a version kids will eat, or go to four if you want it to really register.
Chicken Tinga Tostadas With Radish Pico De Gallo Salsa Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For The Chicken Tinga:
- 3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil or avocado oil, divided
- 2 medium red onions divided
- Kosher salt and Freshly ground black pepper
- 1 (15 ounce) can crushed or pureed tomatoes
- 3 to 4 canned chipotles en adobo plus 1 tablespoon sauce from can
- 1 teaspoon dried Mexican oregano
- 1 medium bay leaf
- 1 cup low-sodium chicken broth or water
- 2 to 3 pounds boneless, skinless chicken trimmed of any excess fat
For The Radish Pico De Gallo:
- 8 medium radishes small dice (about 1 1/2 cups)
- 1 medium serrano or Thai chile minced
- 1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1/3 cup fresh cilantro leaves thinly sliced
For Serving:
- 12 (5 inch) tostadas
- Crema or sour cream for serving
Instructions
- Start The Chicken Tinga: Heat 2 tablespoons of the oil in a large, heavy-bottomed Dutch oven over medium heat. Take 1 1/2 halved red onions (i.e., 3 red onion halves) and thinly slice them into half-moon shapes. Add the onion and salt, add black pepper to the pot, and cook until golden brown and soft, about 10 minutes. Add the canned tomatoes, the chipotles and adobo sauce, oregano, and bay leaf, and, using a spatula or wooden spoon, scrape up any browned bits on the bottom of the pot. Add the broth and the chicken, stir to coat, and cook, turning every 10 minutes or so until the chicken is easily shredded with a fork, at least 45 minutes.(Alternatively, make the onions and then place everything in a slow cooker over high heat. It will take 4 to 6 hours to get the chicken full cooked and shreddable but it can go longer over medium or low heat.)
- Shred the Chicken: Remove the chicken from the sauce, place it on a board, and shred it into bite-sized pieces with the help of two forks. Meanwhile, discard the bay leaf and place the remaining sauce ingredients -- tomatoes, broth, chipotles, adobo sauce, and herbs -- in a blender. Puree until smooth, then taste and add more salt or pepper as desired.Return the sauce to the pot along with the shredded chicken, season with salt and pepper, and simmer over low heat until slightly thickened, about 5 to 10 minutes. TIP: Tinga can be made entirely up to three days ahead of time. Store refrigertated in an airtight container and rewarm when ready to use.
- Make The Radish Pico De Gallo Salsa: Take the remaining 1/2 red onion and mince it. Combine the minced onions with all the minced radish, serrano chile, and lime juice. Stir in the last 1 tablespoon of oil and season well with salt and pepper. Snip or thinly slice the cilantro, stir it in, and serve immediately.
- Assemble And Serve The Tostadas: Top each tostada with a few spoonfuls of the chicken tinga, top with a spoonful of the salsa, add a drizzle of crema (or sour cream thinned with water until it's pourable), and serve immediately.
