Chicken Tinga Tostadas

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These chicken tinga tostadas are made easy with our make-ahead slow cooker chicken tinga, canned refried beans, mashed avocado, and queso fresco. Make these tostadas for a fun twist on taco night!

Now that we’ve released our big batch slow cooker chicken tinga recipe we needed to give you something to make with it. So how about some chicken tinga tostadas? Tostadas are a great way to mix up your taco tuesdays without going too crazy. And while they can be even messier than tacos, that just makes the experience more fun for everyone! Who can pile their tostada the highest without it breaking under pressure? Let’s find out.

What This Recipe Entails

Making tostadas is very similar in the time and effort needed to make tacos. But we suggest giving these tostadas a try as a fun twist on your Taco Tuesday.

• Prep time: 5 minutes
• Cook time: 10 minutes

This recipe requires you to already have chicken tinga ready to go. You can either buy some pre-made from the store, or you can follow our recipe for slow cooker chicken tinga. We also love making our own tostadas at home, but you can find tostadas at the grocery store for an easy option.

What Are Chicken Tinga Tostadas?

Traditionally, authentic Mexican chicken tinga tostadas are fried corn tortillas topped with refried beans, chicken tinga, avocado, and cheese. Since tostadas are just like tacos (but served open face), you can choose from tons of different toppings like salsa, crema, lettuce, hot sauce, and more. You can always customize this chicken tinga tostada recipe to your liking, but here’s what ingredients our recipe uses for the most authentic flavor:

• Tostadas – These will be the crunchy base of your tostadas.
• Refried beans – A creamy layer of beans contrasts the crunchy tortilla and adds savory flavor.
• Shredded chicken tinga – Our Mexican chicken tinga recipe uses tomatoes, chipotles in adobo, and onion for authentic flavor and is easy to make ahead of time in a slow cooker or crock pot.
• Mashed avocado with lime juice and salt – Affectionately dubbed “fake guac” in our household, creamy avocado with lime adds a bright pop of citrus to these tostadas.
• Queso fresco – If you like cheese on your tostadas, use a sprinkle of queso fresco for the finishing touch.
• Chopped cilantro – Fresh herbs take these tostadas up a notch and add great color to this dish.

How To Make Chicken Tinga Tostadas

These Mexican tostadas with refried beans, chicken tinga, and avocado are super easy to make for lunch or dinner. Especially if you’ve prepared a batch of our slow cooker chicken tinga ahead of time or have leftovers in the fridge! Here’s how to make our shredded chicken tinga tostadas:

1. Make the chicken tinga. For easy chicken tinga tostadas, you need a delicious chicken tinga recipe. Try our slow cooker recipe and let it cook all day before using it for tostadas at dinnertime. Or, prepare a big batch at the beginning of the week, store in the refrigerator, and simply reheat for tostadas!
2. Prepare the toppings. Next, get all your tostada toppings ready to go! We like to use canned refried beans for convenience – just follow the microwave instructions on the can to have them ready in about 2 minutes. Then, mash an avocado in a small bowl with some lime juice and sea salt. Crumble a bit of queso fresco into a bowl, then chop some fresh cilantro, and you’ll be ready to go.
3. Assemble the tostadas. This is the fun part! You can either assemble all the tostadas before serving, or set up a build-your-own tostada station right at the dinner table. It’s really up to you!

Here is our recommended assembly for making these shredded chicken tinga tostadas as delicious (and structurally sound) as possible:

1. Spread a thin layer of refried beans on top of a crispy tortilla.
2. Top with a small scoop of shredded chicken tinga.
3. Top the chicken with a dollop of mashed avocado.
4. Sprinkle queso fresco and chopped cilantro over the tostada and serve!

If you are looking to make your own tostadas from corn tortillas here’s what you need to know:

1. First, prepare your workstation for frying the tortillas. Line a large baking sheet with paper towels and place a wire cooling rack on top. Then, preheat about a quarter-inch of vegetable oil in a large frying pan over medium to medium-high heat.
2. Once the oil is nice and hot, carefully place the tortillas in the pan with tongs (you will likely need to work in batches of only 2 or 3 tortillas at a time). Fry for about 30 seconds to 1 minute, until the bottoms are lightly golden brown, then flip and fry for another 30 seconds or so. Transfer tortillas to the wire rack to drain over the paper towels. Continue until all the tortillas have been fried.

Serving Suggestions

• Bring all the toppings to the table to serve. This way everyone can make their own tostadas and customize them how they like. Plus it’s less work for you!
• Add in some chips and a couple homemade sides to allow for more customization of your tostadas. We like making pico de gallo, guacamole, and cilantro lime rice.
• Shake up a batch of margaritas to make it an extra special night! Or try our spicy mezcal margarita if you’re looking for something a little more fun.

The layers of flavor in these chicken tinga tostadas are so delicious, eating this meal is a whole experience. In one bite of these tostadas, you’ll get crispy tortilla, salty refried beans, juicy chipotle chicken tinga, creamy avocado, milky queso fresco, and fresh cilantro, all with a hint of zesty lime. There’s truly nothing like it! 

We hope you love these chicken tinga tostadas as much as we do! They’re such a fun twist on taco night, perfect for weeknight dinners with the family. Tostadas are also one of our favorite date night recipes to make together, since we both love Mexican food. Whatever the occasion, these easy shredded chicken tinga tostadas will be a hit!

Try the recipe below and don’t forget to rate, comment, and share. We’d love to hear what you think!