Chicken Tinga is an easy to fix Mexican dish of shredded chicken in a tomato chipotle adobo sauce. It has loads of spicy, smoky flavor and works great served with tortillas for dinner or on a hoagie for lunch.
It’s time for the Secret Recipe Club again, where a group of food bloggers get assigned to a fellow blogger’s site, secretly of course, where we can choose any of their recipes to make. I’ve found some fantastic new food bloggers/friends this way and got to try delicious recipes that I might not have made otherwise.
This month I was so excited to be assigned to The Hobo Kitchen, where Ellie, a native Bahamian, is baking up some delicious recipes that reflect her heritage. Now you are probably wondering where a name like the Hobo Kitchen came from. Well, this catchy and appropriate name is a short version of where she is residing now, Hoboken, New Jersey. Don’t you just love her originality there!
Her blog is divided into different sections, kind of a cross section of her life, with reviews on restaurants, a section called Livin The Life which is a recap of what she has been doing (love the picture at Talde in NJ – and I have to agree those lamps are very cool), still another has stories and pics of her recent travels (I am kind of prejudiced towards the South Florida photos) and, of course, her DIY or food section.
While perusing all her recipes to decide what to make, I couldn’t help drooling over most of them. I decided to make her recipe for Chicken Tinga, which people kept telling me was delicious, but I hadn’t tried before. In fact, I didn’t even know what it was! It turns out that it is a recipe that originated in Puebla, Mexico, and is basically a dish of shredded chicken in a tomato and chipotle pepper adobo sauce. Yum! Don’t you just love spicy, smoky Mexican food!
However, I have to be honest and tell you that I wanted to make most of them and have made a list of her recipes that I am going to be back to try. I mean, doesn’t Butternut Squash Gnocchi with Sage Walnut Butter Sauce, Bahamian Rum Cake (which I would have made except I just got done making desserts like Chocolate Cherry Tart after participating in #Choctoberfest) and that delicious looking Crab Ravioli with Pumpkin Alfredo Sauce (perfect for the fall season), sound scrumptious?!
In making her recipe, we discovered that it was much too hot for us (and we like spicy food!) so I cut back on the chipotle peppers and adobo sauce in the recipe (the second time I made it) and it was perfect! We like to serve it on tortillas with a little salsa, lettuce, tomato and avocado. It really did have a fantastic flavor, and if you follow the recipe that I adapted below, it should be fine for anyone’s palate.
- 2-3 lbs boneless skinless chicken breast
- 5 Roma tomatoes, quartered
- 3-4 tomatillos, quartered
- 1 large sweet onion, chopped
- 1 Tablespoon garlic, chopped (about 3-4 cloves)
- 1 - 2 teaspoons dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 Tablespoons adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
- 2 cups chicken broth + enough water to cover
- Garnish: salsa, shredded cheese, lettuce & tomato, guacamole, avocado, sour cream
- Accompaniments: tortillas, rice, refried or black beans, sandwich rolls
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Place all ingredients in a large pot. Add chicken broth and enough water to cover all ingredients. Do not cover!
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Bring to a boil. After 30 minutes, remove chicken and shred.
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Continue to cook remainder of ingredients for another 20-30 minutes. Now you want to puree the mixture by either using an immersion blender or placing the mixture in batches in a blender.
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Place mixture back in pot and cook for another hour. This will help thicken the sauce.
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When you have about 10 minutes left, return the shredded chicken to the pot and let it finish cooking.
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Garnish with your favorite toppings.
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Serve with tortillas, over rice or on a sandwich roll. I also found it delicious in quesadillas.
WARNING: You do not want to fill the blender too full of hot liquid as it could explode. Process in batches.
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14 Comments
Corina
10/12/2015 at 6:42 amThese chicken tingas look gorgeous – exactly the type of food I love!
Kelly@WildfloursKitchen.com
10/12/2015 at 7:34 amA whole can would be way too much heat for my spicy palette, too! But I will definitely try this as you’ve suggested! Sounds DELICIOUS!! 😀 Nice choice for the SRC! 😀
Linda Warren
10/15/2015 at 5:30 pmThanks Kelly! I would make it again without so much heat because the smoky flavor of the adobo was really different and delicious.
Kate
10/12/2015 at 9:37 amOh my goodness….a whole can of chipotles?! A tablespoon or two would be all we could handle… I made pork tinga last month and loved it. I really like the addition of the tomatillos in your recipe. Going to have to give it a try. Excellent SRC choice.
Linda Warren
10/15/2015 at 5:32 pmI’d never tried a tinga before Kate but would definitely make it again (and as you said a tablespoon would be just right). Was your pork made the same way?
reneeskitchenadventures
10/12/2015 at 9:43 amI’ve never had chicken tingas either, but now I don’t have an excuse not to try them. They look delicious!
Jean
10/12/2015 at 11:02 pmThat does sound really HOT. But amazing.
Linda Warren
10/15/2015 at 5:29 pmIt was delicious once I toned it down. We ate it on tortillas and on rice. Great both ways!
colleen @ Secrets from the Cookie Princess
10/16/2015 at 12:58 pmOh I have got to try this. Sounds amazing!
Linda Warren
10/19/2015 at 9:59 amThanks, it really had a lovely flavor and you can’t go wrong with Mexican/Spanish type dishes, right? They are definitely on my favorites list. Hope you get to try it.
CJ Huang
10/16/2015 at 3:32 pmLooks yummy! We’re fans of that smoky chipotle flavor around here too. 🙂
Linda Warren
10/19/2015 at 10:01 amIf you like chipotle flavor you will love this one! Let me know if you give it a try.
goodiegodmother
10/18/2015 at 2:47 pmWe thought we liked spicy when we lived in South Florida too, but traveling definitely showed us that South Floridians don’t do spicy the way other parts of the country do! hahaha I’m glad you were able to tone it down a bit, because the flavors sound wonderful!
Linda Warren
10/19/2015 at 10:04 amI’ve always loved spicy (even though it makes us a little hotter down here) and with a little toning down it was absolutely delicious. I know what you mean about other places being spicier though – ever go to Thailand – OMG their food is hot! lol