Slow Cooker Chicken Tinga

Last updated: September 12th, 2024

If you’re always looking for new slow cooker recipes, you’ll love this chicken tinga. You can achieve authentic chicken tinga flavor with surprisingly few ingredients, all while your crock pot does all the work for you! Keep reading to learn about what the best chicken tinga is made of and how to easily make it at home.

What Is Chicken Tinga?

Chicken tinga, or tinga de pollo, is a Mexican dish made of shredded chicken in a smoky tomato, chipotle, and onion sauce. Traditionally, chicken tinga is served on tostadas with refried beans and other toppings (check out our recipe for chicken tinga tostadas here). But this deliciously saucy chicken goes great in tacos, enchiladas, quesadillas, and burritos, too! If you love spice and the flavor of chipotles in adobo, you’ll want to use this chicken in all your favorite Mexican recipes.

Is Chicken Tinga Spicy?

Our chicken tinga is definitely spicy, as an authentic Mexican tinga de pollo should be! We drew inspiration from the chicken tinga we’ve eaten at local taquerias here in Southern California to achieve the perfect balance of sweet tomatoes and onions balanced by spicy, smoky chipotles in adobo. If you’re wary of spice, don’t worry – we’ll suggest a few adaptations to the recipe later on in this post.

How To Make Chicken Tinga In A Slow Cooker

Making chicken tinga at home isn’t hard, especially if you have a slow cooker or crock pot. And since the best part about slow cooker recipes is the convenience and low effort, our chicken tinga sauce has only 3 easy ingredients (plus a few spices) for simple, authentic flavor. Here’s what you’ll need to make the best easy chicken tinga recipe:

• Chicken breast
• Canned fire-roasted tomatoes
• Canned chipotles in adobo
• White onion 
• Minced garlic
• Cumin
• Oregano
• Salt

Canned ingredients are the best for easy slow cooker recipes! The fire roasted tomatoes add a touch of spice and smoke to the chicken tinga, but this recipe really gets its heat and smoky flavor from the canned chipotles in adobo. White onion balances these flavors out, while a bit of minced garlic, cumin, Mexican oregano, and salt help to enhance the flavor.

To make our easy crock pot chicken tinga recipe at home:

1. Add the tomatoes, chipotles in adobo, onion, and seasonings to a blender and blend on medium speed until smooth.
2. Pour the sauce into a large slow cooker or crock pot.
3. Add whole chicken breast to the crock pot, submerging it fully in the tinga sauce.
4. Cover and cook on LOW for 4 to 6 hours, until the internal temperature of the chicken is about 160 degrees F.
5. Remove the chicken, shred, and return to the slow cooker. Let the chicken continue cooking for another 30 minutes to 1 hour on LOW so that it soaks in the flavors of the sauce.

You can easily make big batches of flavorful meats like this chicken tinga in a slow cooker and use it throughout the week for tostadas, tacos, sandwiches, and more. If you love meal prep, you might also like our slow cooker pulled pork or salsa marinated chicken.

Recipe Variations

There are a few adjustments you can make to this chicken tinga recipe based on your preferences. First, we’ll remind you that this is a spicy dish! If you are wary of spice, you can decrease the amount of chipotles in adobo. Alternatively, you can use regular canned tomatoes instead of fire-roasted as some of the sweetness will counteract the smoky spice of the chipotles.

Next, you can choose not to blend the sauce if you’d like to simplify this recipe – or if you prefer chunks of tomato and onion in your chicken tinga. (We prefer to blend our tinga sauce for a smoother consistency and an evenly spicy flavor throughout). Just make sure to adjust a few things if you’re skipping the blender:

1. Chop up the chipotles in adobo before adding to the slow cooker.
2. Thinly slice or dice the onion, depending on preference (authentic chicken tinga traditionally has slices of onion in it).
3. Stir together the tomatoes, chipotles, onion, and seasonings in the slow cooker before adding the chicken.

Why Make Chicken Tinga In A Slow Cooker?

This is one of our favorite recipes all thanks to our trusty slow cooker and requires so little work! Plus, cooking chicken tinga in a slow cooker really helps ensure the chicken is super tender. Thanks to the hands-off cooking, this is a recipe you can set and forget until dinnertime. That’s why slow cooker chicken tinga is the perfect recipe for easy big batch meal prep, family dinners, and feeding a crowd. It’s basically no prep, no effort, and no hassle in exchange for a delicious main protein you can use in tons of Mexican dishes. Who wouldn’t love that?

Try the recipe below and don’t forget to rate, comment, and share! If you love it, let us know – and make sure to try our recipe for chicken tinga tostadas when you make your next batch.

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Love this recipe? You may enjoy these recipes, too:

• Chicken Tinga Tostadas
• Salsa Marinated Chicken
• Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
• Slow Cooker Carnitas
• Homemade Ranchero Sauce