Chicken tinga
Shredded chicken in a smoky tomato sauce, eaten in warm tortillas.
Cook modeAbout the dish
Chicken tinga is a classic from Puebla in Mexico. The chicken simmers in a smoky, spicy tomato sauce with chipotle, then gets shredded and stirred back into the sauce, so it soaks up all the flavour and stays juicy. Tucked into warm tortillas with pickled onion and a spoonful of crème fraîche, it makes a really good dinner without much work.
The smoky flavour comes from chipotles in adobo, which are smoked jalapeños in a tangy sauce. You can usually find the little tins in the international aisle. If you cannot get them, use smoked paprika and a dried chilli. It is not quite as deep, but it works.
Use thighs, as they stay much juicier than breast when you braise them. Do not skip the pickled onion either. Its sharpness and crunch go so well with the soft, rich filling. Small wheat tortillas from the chiller are the easiest. Corn tortillas work too, they just tear more easily.
Only add coriander if you like it, otherwise the onion and lime are plenty. In Mexico it comes with crema, a mild, slightly tangy cream. Crème fraîche is the closest thing you can buy in any supermarket.
Ingredients
Steps
What to drink
Cold lager, or a plain Tempranillo
A well-chilled pale lager goes really well with the smoky heat and the lime. If you would rather have wine, go for a light, young Tempranillo.
Variations
- With beans
- Stir in a drained tin of black beans for the last 5 minutes. The filling gets heartier and stretches to more tortillas.
- On rice
- Spoon the tinga over rice instead of into tortillas. The crème fraîche, onion and lime work just as well.
- More heat
- Add one more chipotle or a spoonful of the adobo sauce from the tin. Taste first, as the heat builds quickly.