Easy Chicken Tinga Tacos — 🍗🌶️🌮 FAST, super easy, and the super juicy chicken has AUTHENTIC smoky chipotle FLAVOR! When you’re craving tacos, these are the tacos to make!
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Flavorful Chicken Tinga Tacos
Craving authentic-tasting Mexican food but you’re nowhere near Mexico? This recipe for chicken tinga tacos is just the thing to satisfy your craving. The tacos are easy, ready in 20 minutes, and jam-packed with smoky and fresh flavors all in one. The ingredients are all readily available in almost any grocery store so you can literally be eating tacos in 20 minutes!
In order to keep this a very fast, easy, and weeknight-friendly meal, I recommend using rotisserie chicken. If you have leftover chicken on hand or want to cook the chicken yourself, go for it. I went the major convenience route and picked up a rotisserie chicken.
Other than the chicken, there are no other ingredients in these chicken tinga tacos that require much time to prep. It’s hard to believe such an easy recipe can be so flavorful!
Love Mexican-inspired recipes?
One Skillet Beef Taco Pasta is an easy recipe that’s ready in 20 minutes, made in one skillet, and is a family favorite that’s great for busy weeknights! Or, my easy Instant Pot or Slow Cooker Barbacoa Beef tastes BETTER than a restaurant, and is a dinnertime WINNER!
What Is Chicken Tinga?
If you’ve never had chicken tinga before, you may have no clue how amazing these tacos are going to taste! Essentially, chicken tinga is shredded chicken that’s been simmered in a tomato and chipotle-based sauce. It’s so easy but so incredibly flavorful.
It tastes like a shredded chicken taco where the chicken is smothered in a tomato-ey, chipotle-esque sauce. I don’t find there to be much heat, but rather lots of smokiness and earthiness from the chipotles.
Chicken tinga usually takes much longer to make, but I’ve cut out the lengthy simmering process by using rotisserie chicken and lots of spices to add bold flavor.
What’s in Chicken Tinga Tacos?
For these easy chicken tacos, you’ll need:
- Fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- Chipotle peppers in adobo sauce – You can freeze any leftover chipotle peppers or adobo sauce. I recommend freezing them in small containers, or blending them up and freezing them in ice cube trays. You only ever need a little of the adobo sauce, so this will prevent you from thawing out way too much
- White onion
- Garlic
- Cumin
- Mexican oregano
- Olive oil
- Shredded chicken – I use store-bought rotisserie chicken, but you can use cooked chicken thighs or leftover poached chicken shredded to pieces, too
- Corn tortillas
- Your favorite taco toppings (lime, cilantro, sour cream, crumbled cotija cheese, etc.)
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Chicken Tinga Tacos
With minimal prep time and a quick cooking time, this chicken tinga tacos recipe is a lifesaver on busy weeknights! Here’s how to make it:
- To a high-speed blender, add a can of fire-roasted tomatoes, chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, adobo sauce, onion, garlic, cumin, oregano, and blend. That’s all there is to the sauce!
- Transfer the sauce to a skillet to warm it.
- Add in the shredded chicken, stir, and get ready to load it into tortillas. Easy peasy.
- Tacos are such a personal thing but suffice it to say red onions, cilantro, and lime juice are almost mandatory when making these easy chicken tacos. From there, add avocado, cheese such as cotija, panela, or queso fresco. All are sold in mainstream grocery stores but feta could work in a pinch.
- You could also add pickled radishes or your favorite pickled vegetables, add a side of rice and beans, or whatever you love with your tacos. For me, it’s lots of cilantro, lime juice, and a margarita.
What to Serve with Homemade Chicken Tinga Tacos
Recipe FAQs
Yes. I used 3 chipotles and a generous tablespoon of adobo sauce, and neither I nor my daughter found the chicken tinga to be spicy. However, use one chipotle if you’re very sensitive to spices, two if you’re probably average, and 3+ if you don’t find anything to be spicy (other than eating a habanero like an apple), which is the camp we’re in.
If you find the earthiness or smokiness of the chipotles or the acidity of the tomatoes to be a bit much, add 1 or 2 teaspoons of sugar to mellow the sauce. As with any kind of tomato-based sauce, like when making easy spaghetti sauce, I find a tiny bit of sugar can be very helpful.
Yes! Avoid assembling your tacos until just before serving. Then, store leftover tinga chicken in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Chicken Tinga Tacos
Equipment
Ingredients
- one 15-ounce can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
- 1 to 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, or to taste
- 1 tablespoon adobo sauce, or to taste
- 1 small white onion, peeled and roughly chopped
- 3 to 5 cloves garlic
- 1 teaspoon cumin
- 1 teaspoon Mexican oregano
- 1 to 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 3 cups cooked shredded chicken*
- 15 small corn tortillas, lightly charred or warmed
- red onions, diced small for garnishing
- cilantro, minced for garnishing
- cotija cheese, crumbled for garnishing**
- lime wedges, for garnishing
Instructions
- To the canister of a high-speed blender, add the first 7 ingredients, through oregano, and blend on high speed until smooth, about 1 minute. Notes – I used 3 chipotles and a generous tablespoon of adobo sauce and neither I nor my daughter found this to be spicy but use 1 if you’re very sensitive to spices, 2 if you’re probably average, and 3+ if you don’t find anything to be spicy which is the camp we’re in.
- To a large skillet, add the olive oil, sauce from the blender, and simmer it over medium-high heat for about 5 to 7 minutes, or until the sauce is lightly bubbling and has slightly reduced and thickened.***
- Add the chicken, stir to coat, and cook for about 3 minutes, or until completely coated and warmed through.
- Place tortillas one by one over the flame of a gas stove for about 10 to 15 seconds per side, or as desired. For an electric stove, heat in a skillet until warmed though.
- Add chicken to each tortilla and evenly garnish with red onions, cilantro, cotija, lime juice, and serve immediately. Extra chicken will keep airtight in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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I totally recommend this chicken tinga on Tostadas! spread some smashed beans first, add the chicken and all the good stuff on top. (cheese, avocado. extra salsa. shredded lettuce, sour cream, diced tomatoes, diced red onions, etc. Grab a bunch of napkins!
Tinga tostadas are great!
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These came out great!! We are so impressed, another winner 👍🏻👍🏻
They are easy and so fresh, with a simple side salad these chicken Tinga tacos are as good as a restaurant meal!
These came out great!! We are so impressed, another winner 👍🏻👍🏻
They are easy and so fresh, with a simple side salad these chicken Tinga tacos are as good as a restaurant meal!
Thanks for the 5 star review and glad these were great and as good as from a restaurant for you!
Unfortunately, this tasted really bland.
I have been gone so this was the first thing I wanted to make yesterday. I had put my my leftover chipotles in the freezer (thinking they would work in a blended sauce ) and they were just fine. We loved this as much as the barbacoa!!
Thanks for the five star review and glad those leftover chipotles came in handy! Great to hear you enjoy this as much as the barbacoa, too!
I have been gone so my fridge was embarrassingly bare and this was the first thing I thought of to make today. I had my leftover Chipotles in Adobo in the freezer and they were just fine for the sauce. Loved this as much as the barbacoa! Jon is always up for anything resembling a taco!
This sounds delicious and I know we’ll love it as the sauce has some similarities to the barbacoa–I think have just enough leftover chipoltes in adobo to make it!
Sounds like a perfect way to finish up the second half of the adobes! If I had planned ahead and made this recipe and that one in close succession, I could have done the same haha! If you love the barbacoa I’m sure this will go over well too. Keep me posted!