This Chicken Tinga taco recipe is so delicious and super easy to make. The flavor is rich and deep, you will keep going back for one more…..
Rich tomato taste with smoky chipotle, super juicy and tender chicken, it is just so good!
Chicken Tinga Tacos
Chicken Tinga tacos are typically made with chipotle peppers, tomatoes and onion. I love making this dish because these ingredients create a really tasty smoky flavored tomato sauce. Making these in the slow cooker is always so good because the sauce marinates the chicken into deliciousness! I get so excited. When I go eat at a restaurant or a taco truck the traditional way to eat these is as a tostada with refried beans under the meat, topped with avocado, lettuce, cheese, crema and salsa. However, for a weeknight or Sunday prep, we like turning them into tacos!
Ingredients:
The ingredients really come together in two components with two delicious flavors…the seasoning and sauce. First, I make a basic taco seasoning (if you don’t want to make it homemade, a packet from the store will work too). Ingredients in your taco seasoning will include salt, onion powder, paprika, cumin, pepper, oregano, garlic powder, red pepper flakes and chili powder.
Mix the seasoning together in a bowl and then spread generously over the chicken breasts to fully cover them.
Next, we can get the sauce ready in the crockpot, adding a can of fire roasted tomatoes with chilies, a can of tomato paste, 2 chipotles in adobo sauce finely chopped with added sauce from the can (about one tablespoon) and 1 cup of chicken broth.
Place the seasoned chicken into the crockpot and cook on high for 4 hours.
Once the chicken has fully cooked, they will shred easily before serving. Then construct your tacos with your favorite toppings. I enjoy these with a well-oiled corn tortilla and slightly pan fried, however my husband went full on flour tortilla with these and was obsessed! This is a never-ending debate in our home. Ha!
Chicken Tinga Tacos (slow cooker)
- Total Time: 4 hours and 15 minutes
- Yield: 18 tacos 1x
Description
This Chicken Tinga taco recipe is so delicious and super easy to make. The flavor is rich and deep, you will keep going back for one more. The rich tomato taste with smoky chipotle, super juicy and tender chicken is just so good.
Ingredients
2 pounds of chicken breasts
Taco Seasoning:
- 1 teaspoon of salt
- 1 teaspoon of onion powder
- 1 teaspoon of sweet smoked paprika
- 1.5 teaspoons of cumin
- 1/4 teaspoon of pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon of Oregano
- 1 teaspoon of garlic powder
- 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes
- 1.5 tablespoons of chili powder
Sauce:
- 1 cup of chicken broth
- 1 can of fire roasted tomatoes with chiles (15 oz.)
- 1 can of tomato paste (6 oz.)
- 2 chipotle chilies chopped and remaining sauce (est 1 tablespoon)
Instructions
- Turn slow cooker on high…
- Mix together the taco seasoning in a small bowl.
- Place chicken in a baking dish to season.
- Spread seasoning liberally to completely cover chicken front and back, then set aside.
- Add chopped chipotles and chipotle sauce, tomato paste, fire roasted tomatoes, and chicken broth to slow cooker.
- Mix sauce together in the slow cooker using a spoon or whisk.
- Place seasoned chicken in slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on high.
- Once fully cooked shred the chicken for easy serving.
Notes
The chipotles can be messy. I grab a small bowl and take out each chipotle with a fork. I take the last two chipotles and add them to my cutting board. The sauce that is left at the bottom of the jar is what I throw into the slow cooker and then add the chopped chilies later. I cover the small bowl of leftover chilies and place them in the fridge for later use.
Quick sauce tip: take two chipotles and a small jar of crema and blend together for an easy sauce!
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: Mexican
Keywords: Tacos
If you would like to try more recipes consider trying our shrimp tacos or carnitas tacos.
