Name: Chicken Tinga Tacos
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 12
Cuisine: Latin American
Ingredients: 1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil; 1 1/2 cups thinly sliced sweet onion; 1 tablespoon minced garlic; 1 chopped jalapeno; 3 chopped, chipotle chile peppers in adobo; 1 tablespoon adobo sauce; 1 teaspoon cumin; 1 teaspoon oregano; 1 teapsoon smoked paprika; 1 teapsoon chili powder; 1/2 teaspoon coriander; 1 bay leaf; 28 ounces crushed tomatoes; 2 pounds chicken breasts; Taco shells – soft or hard; Toppings of choice: lettuce, tomatoes, onions, radishes, cabbage, queso fresco or cotija cheese, cilantro or parsley.

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These Chicken Tinga Tacos cook up in the pressure cooker and taste like you traveled to Mexico. The chicken cooks in a chipotle tomato sauce packed with flavors.

Cinco de Mayo is coming up. I could have gone the standard Tex-Mex route for some delicious food to celebrate, but I’m trying more and more to make authentic recipes. Or as authentic as I can make them. That includes these Chicken Tinga Tacos.

What is chicken tinga?

Chicken tinga is shredded chicken cooked in a tomato sauce. The sauce consists of crushed tomatoes, chipotle peppers in adobo with some of the adobo sauce, onions, garlic, and jalapeno just to name a few ingredients. Typically, the chicken and the sauce are cooked separately. The chicken is cooked and shredded. The sauce is prepared, and the chicken gets added to the sauce.

I’m not about that. I feel like the chicken needs to cook in the sauce and be super flavorful. And I didn’t want to have two pots to clean later. I just wanted to clean one pot. The liner of my multi-cooker. I don’t want to call it an Instant Pot. Because that’s not what it is. It’s like calling computers HP when there are many different brands of computer.

Originally, chicken tinga was more of a soup or stew. Now it’s usually served on top of a tostada or other crispy corn vessel. But there’s many great ways to eat this delicious chicken. I turned mine into tacos. With all the sauce they would make delicious enchiladas. And then there’s the obvious taco bowl. All that sauce on top of some rice with cheese, tomatoes, onions, and avocado would be delicious.

Where did chicken tinga come from?

It originated from the Puebla state of Mexico. They call that are the birthplace of traditional Mexican cuisine because many traditional dishes came from there. Dishes like mole poblano, this chicken tinga, and chiles en nogada. They also call Puebla the birthplace of corn.

This recipe sort of comes full circle. I’m making these chicken tinga tacos to celebrate Cinco de Mayo. They originated from Puebla in Mexico. That’s also where the Cinco de Mayo battle took place. So, there it comes full circle with this recipe and celebrating Cinco de Mayo.

What is Cinco de Mayo?

You mean other it being the 5th of May? It’s the day that the Mexican army fought and overcame the French during a pivotal battle in the Franco-Mexican War. The elected president at that time was trying to rebuild the country that was in financial ruin due to internal strife. Mexico owed money to France, Britain, and Spain.

Spain and Britain negotiated with Mexico and withdrew their forces allowing Mexico to rebuild. France, on the other hand, did not negotiate and withdrawal. This is due to the ruler of France at that time. Napoleon III. France wanted to carve a portion out of Mexico for themselves and just did not give up.

The battle didn’t really end the war. But it did rally the “troops” as they say. It started a resistance movement against the French. The battle occurred in 1862. In 1867 the Mexicans along with support from the United States finally drove France out of Mexico.

The US provided political support to our neighbors to the south. Even though the French helped us with our Civil War that didn’t mean we wanted them to be our new neighbors in the south. And it was the end of the Civil War that allowed us to help Mexicans get rid of French forces on their soil.

What does chicken tinga tacos taste like?

It’s not packed with chili powder and cumin like most people are used to. This chicken tinga tacos recipe is rich with smoky chipotle chiles in adobo sauce. It also has a smokiness from the smoked paprika in there. The rest of the herbs and spices round out and bring a richness to the sauce that you wouldn’t expect. At least I didn’t expect it.

Not all chipotle in adobo is spicy. I was concerned because I opened a can that was super spicy once. So, taste the adobo sauce first before adding in all those chipotle chiles. The jalapeno was not too spicy either. And I removed the pith and seeds so it was less spicy.

In researching this recipe, I found a huge range of herbs and spices in there. I picked the ones I thought would make a delicious chicken tinga taco. Outside of the chipotle and adobo sauce, I added in a little chili powder and cumin. There’s oregano. I didn’t have Mexican oregano and just used the regular kind. It doesn’t quite taste the same, but it’s close enough.

Finally, there’s coriander and bay leaves. Coriander are the seeds of the cilantro plant, but they don’t have the same soap taste that I get when I eat cilantro. It’s also a spice that is in some curry and masala recipes. It has an earthy flavor that you don’t really notice but you taste the richness it brings to the party. Same with the bay leaf. It’s an umami flavor to me in soups and stews. And it’s always something I drop in the water when I’m making a roast.

I didn’t have any expectations of what these chicken tinga tacos would taste like. I love making recipes where I have no idea what they taste like together but know that I love all the ingredients in the recipe. This is one of those recipes. I loved all the flavors in there and was surprised at how rich the sauce and chicken tasted.

The sauce is dark red and smoky. The chicken is tender and delicious. I loved pairing the chicken with crispy ingredients like radishes and cabbage. I used a queso fresco cheese for its sharpness and saltiness. A cotijo would be delicious, too. Or pickled onions on top. Maybe some candied jalapeno slices. Think beyond the standard lettuce, tomatoes, and onions for most tacos. I almost tried some cucumber slices as a cool and crispy contrast to the smoky and spicy chicken.