Chicken Tinga: As Addictive to Say as to Eat

Cooking a balanced and well-composed meal doesn’t require anything other than a few ingredients and a couple of simple techniques. The Chopping Block shows you this every week in our new series Supper In A Snap. These cooking classes are held at our Merchandise Mart location, so come hang out with us and watch as one of our chefs teaches you how to make a quick and easy meal each Monday evening. Watch, take notes and enjoy a meal to make next time you’re in a time crunch!

My recent blog posts have all been pretty decadent so far. From deep fried burgers to a rosé slushy, my how-to’s all scream “Treat yo' self!” I thought I would switch it up this time and show you how to make something healthy and incredibly easy to make, because if you’re like me, making a quick and flavorful dinner when you have absolutely no time or energy left isn’t an easy task. 

Let me introduce you to Tinga. The word is as addictive to say as it is to eat.

Tinga Poblana, or Tinga de Pollo, otherwise known as Chicken Tinga here in America, is a traditional Mexican dish made of shredded chicken that is cooked in a rich and spicy chipotle sauce. You can eat it straight from the one pan it’s cooked in, or you can be traditional and load the tinga on a tostada with some sour cream or avocado as your topping.

Here’s what you’ll need for the sauce:

1 Spanish onion

1 7-ounce can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce

14 ounces of water (use the can from the peppers to measure)

3 or 4 cloves of garlic

Salt and pepper to taste

1 pound chicken thighs

• Peel and rough chop your onion. Don’t worry about precise knife cuts here!
• Bring out your blender and throw the chopped onion, garlic cloves, the can of chipotle peppers with the adobo sauce, and the salt and pepper. Blend away until everything is smooth.
• Heat a tablespoon of corn oil in a large skillet, and cook the sauce for a minute or two.
• Add the pound of chicken thighs to the simmering sauce and cook for 10-15 minutes.
• With a pair of tongs, put the chicken thighs into a bowl and with two forks in each hand, shred the chicken. This should resemble pulled pork. Your instinct is going to tell you that it would be way easier if you just diced the chicken into little pieces, which would work, however, my traditional Mexican mother would disapprove. So get to shredding!
• Place the shredded chicken back in the skillet with the simmering chipotle sauce and cook for an additional 5 minutes.

Traditionally, tinga is eaten on a fried tortilla known as a tostada, but this is your dinner and you can do whatever you want. Eat it straight from the pan, I won’t tell anyone. If the chipotle sauce is a little too spicy for you, throw half an onion into the blender with a little water and blend until smooth. Mix this onion water mixture into your sauce. (This trick was brought to you by my mom who scolded me for saying her Tinga was too spicy.)

Wasn’t that easy? From start to finish this meal took me less than an hour to make. Keep your pizzas and Hot Pockets in the freezer, and treat yourself to a hearty and delicious meal.

¡Buen provecho!