The Best Easy Chicken Tinga Tacos Recipe

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This will be a contender for your weekly taco night, trust me. Huge flavor, incredibly filling, healthy, family friend, and easy …I can’t say enough great things about these chicken tinga tacos!

01 Chicken Tinga Tacos – Why You’ll Love Them

02 What is Chicken Tinga?

03 Ingredients for Chicken Tinga Tacos

04 How to Make Quick and Easy Chicken Tinga Tacos

05 What to Serve with Chicken Tinga Tacos

06 How to Store and Reheat Chicken Tinga

07 Chicken Tinga FAQs

Side view of three chicken Tinga tacos on a teal plate. The tacos are topped with cilantro, avocado, a drizzle of crema, with a side of lime. There is an avocado cut in half on the table as well as charred corn tortillas, a plate of purple cabbage slaw, a bowl of chopped cilantro, and a sheet pan with chicken Tinga. All are sitting on a teal surface.

Chicken Tinga Tacos – Why You’ll Love Them

I’m over the moon excited to introduce you to a chicken tinga taco. Tinga, referring to the chipotle-infused sauce that the chicken is tossed in, can be used on just about any protein or veggie …but my go-to is shredded chicken. I especially love these tacos for a quick weeknight meal because it’s a great way to use up shredded chicken from another meal (just make the sauce and then saute in a skillet with your chicken), load it up into a toasted corn tortilla (ALWAYS TOAST YOUR TORTILLAS), and then a simple cilantro and lime sauce is drizzled on top for a creamy, dreamy, tangy perfection.

My family loves this dinner with a simple slaw, but pinto beans are another standard we serve them with as well.

What is Chicken Tinga?

Chicken Tinga is a traditional Mexican dish of shredded chicken smothered in a tomato-y, chipotle chili-forward sauce. Chicken Tinga is commonly served tostada-style (on top of a crispy tortilla slathered with a thick layer of refried beans), taco-style (like we’re doing here!), or burrito bowl-style.

Ingredients for Chicken Tinga Tacos

Chicken tinga ingredients on a grey and white marble surface.

For the Chicken Tinga

1½ – 2 pounds of chicken tenders
3 chipotle chiles in adobo, finely chopped
½ cup of tomato paste
⅓ cup of fresh lime juice
2 teaspoons of dried oregano
1 teaspoon of ground cumin
1 teaspoon of fine sea salt
½ teaspoon of black pepper
6 tablespoons of water

For the Cilantro Lime Crema

¼ cup of sour cream
2 tablespoons of lime juice
½ cup of cilantro

For Serving

Corn tortillas
Cilantro, roughly chopped
Avocado, sliced

How to Make Quick and Easy Chicken Tinga Tacos

Tinga ingredients in a small, white bowl.

Tinga ingredients being whisked in a small white bowl.

Tongs coating chicken with Tinga mixture in a white bowl.

Tongs placing chicken coated in Tinga on a sheet pan

Forks shredding cooked chicken on a sheet pan.

Preheat the oven to 375°F.
Whisk together the tinga mixture – add the finely chopped chipotles, tomato paste, lime juice, oregano, cumin, salt, pepper, and water to a bowl, and whisk together to combine.
Toss the chicken in the tinga mixture – add the chicken to the bowl with the tinga mixture and toss to fully coat.
Bake – spread the chicken tenders out evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes.
Make the crema – combine the ingredients for the cilantro lime crema in a blender, and blend until smooth and there are no green specks.
Shred the chicken – once the chicken is out of the oven, use two forks to pull it apart.
Make the tacos, then serve and enjoy – fill the tortillas with the shredded chicken tinga, then top with the cilantro, avocado, and crema. Serve and enjoy!

What to Serve with Chicken Tinga Tacos

You can serve these chicken tinga tacos with a bunch of different sides! Any kind of slaw would be really yummy (this easy Mexican coleslaw with a creamy avocado dressing is a great pick). You could also do a really simple slaw with thinly sliced purple cabbage tossed with a couple of squeezes of lime juice and sprinkle of salt.

There is a teal plate with two chicken Tinga tacos visible on the plate. A spoon is drizzling lime crema over the top of one of the tacos.

Top down view of three chicken Tinga tacos on a teal plate. The tacos are topped with cilantro, avocado, a drizzle of crema, with a side of lime. There is an avocado cut in half on the table as well as charred corn tortillas, a plate of purple cabbage slaw, a bowl of chopped cilantro, and a sheet pan with chicken Tinga. All are sitting on a teal surface.

How to Store and Reheat Chicken Tinga

Store any leftover shredded chicken tinga in an airtight container (separately from the rest of the ingredients to keep the tortillas from getting soggy!) in the refrigerator. Stored this way, it’ll last for up to 5 days. To reheat, either pop the chicken tinga in a pan on the stovetop or in the microwave until warmed through.

Chicken Tinga FAQs

Q What does Chicken Tinga taste like?

If you’ve never had chicken tinga, you may be wondering what it tastes like! It’s pretty tomato-forward (a ½ cup of tomato paste is no small amount!) with a nice hint of spice from the chipotles and really delicious Mexican-style flavors from the cumin, oregano, and lime juice.

Q Where does Chicken Tinga come from?

Chicken Tinga originated in Puebla, Mexico – Puebla is actually an area that is credited with a lot of the Mexican dishes that are considered to be classic!

Q Are Chicken Tinga tacos spicy?

Because Chicken Tinga is made with chipotle peppers, it definitely has a bit of a kick, but nothing extreme. I fed this meal to my 2-year-old, and though she’s used to some spice, it didn’t phase her one bit.