Chicken Tinga (Tinga de Pollo)

Last Updated on January 18, 2023 by Catrina

Spicy, saucy, deliciously filling, this chicken tinga is the perfect topper for a crunchy tostada or as a filler for a quesadilla or taco. Use pre-cooked and shredded chicken to have this dish on the table in less than 30 minutes!

What is tinga?

Tinga (pronounced teen-gah) is a dish traditionally made with shredded chicken, beef, or pork (or a combination) cooked in a tomato, onion, and chipotle pepper sauce. This dish is from Puebla but is made throughout central Mexico where variations of the original recipe exist. This is a common quesadilla option at the street-side stands or markets where I live.

The version that I am sharing here is my husband’s family recipe which has the traditional shredded chicken, tomatoes, chipotle peppers, and onions. However, this tinga has a twist and gets an extra boost of flavor by using a small amount of longaniza and raisins for a touch of sweetness. I think the combination of sweet, spicy, and salty hits just the right notes in this dish.

Ingredients for Chicken Tinga

Longaniza

You have probably heard of chorizo, but may be less familiar with its longaniza cousin. Chorizo is a sausage made with ground pork and spices, brought to Mexico originally from Spain. Longaniza is similar to chorizo, but uses finely minced pork meat (instead of ground) and typically comes in thinner, longer portions. Like most foods in Mexico, longaniza will have regional variations. Certain areas use both beef and pork filler, others pork loin and leg, while others still use pork shoulder. Spices can range from black pepper, chile guajillo, chile ancho, chile colorado, or even achiote.

Chorizo could be used as a substitute if longaniza is unavailable. Note that the texture of the final dish will be different since the ground meat of chorizo will break up into smaller pieces than the longaniza.

Chicken

I cheat with this ingredient :). I shred the meat from a rotisserie chicken until I get the total amount needed for this dish. You could also boil uncooked chicken breast (about 1.5 pounds raw) instead of using pre-cooked chicken if you wanted.

Chipotle

Even with recipes passed down to me from my husband’s family, I like to research other variations to get ideas on ways to improve or enhance these dishes. Chipotle pepper was included in ALL of the recipes that I checked for chicken tinga. That made me curious. Mexico is so rich in regional variations of food that it is common to find significant differences between dishes with the same name, including the type of chiles. So, I referenced the Larousse Diccionario Enciclopédia de la Gastronomía Mexicana, my self-proclaimed bible for Mexican food. Under the definition for tinga, the author Ricardo Muñoz Zurita, states that of all variations in possible ingredients for tinga, “the chipotle is a must-have ingredient” (translated). I would say the research is clear…authentic tinga must include chipotle.

Of course, you can vary the amount of chipotle used in this dish to increase or decrease the spice factor. Feel free to customize to your unique tastes!

How to eat chicken tinga

We usually eat our chicken tinga over a crunchy tostada, but there are so many ways to enjoy this dish! Use this to top a warm, fresh sope. Or, as I mentioned earlier, use as a filler for a quesadilla or taco. This would also be delicious served over rice and with warm tortillas.

Top these off with a cool drizzle of sour cream, queso fresco or queso cotija, avocado, or even shredded lettuce…yum!