Chicken Tinga Tostadas
These easy Chicken Tinga Tostadas are the perfect easy dinner recipe to spice up any day of the week. Made with shredded rotisserie chicken, chipotle peppers, refried beans, red onions and crumbled Cotija, these smoky spicy chicken tostadas are exploding with flavor and ready in under 30 minutes making them the perfect weeknight dinner! Fresh ingredients make this chicken tinga recipe the ultimate healthy comfort food and can easily be transformed into tostadas, nachos, tamales, tacos, burritos or Mexican rice bowls.
CHICKEN TINGA TOSTADAS
When it comes to Mexican comfort food, these spicy Chicken Tinga Tostadas are my new favorite way to serve up a ton of flavor without a ton of fat and calories and EFFORT!
Seriously, if you are looking for the ultimate quick and easy dinner experience, here you go because this is the BEST chicken tinga recipe !
Ready in under 30 minutes, these quick and easy chicken tostadas are a bit spicy, a bit crunchy and a whole lot of delicious!
Plus at only 150 calories a serving, these Chicken Tinga .. or tinga de pollo… is healthy by almost anyone’s standards.. as long as you don’t go buck wild on some of the toppings like sour cream or eat like 15 of them in one sitting.
WHAT ARE CHICKEN TINGA TOSTADAS?
The word ‘tinga’ means a Mexican dish made with shredded beef or chicken in a red chili sauce and this chicken tinga recipe is an easy Mexican comfort food recipe with tons of flavor.
When it comes to tinga ingredients, fresh is best!! Chicken tinga is a Mexican dish made with shredded chicken in a tinga sauce made from tomatoes, chipotle chilis in adobo, and sliced onions.
Regardless if you use beef, pork or chicken, tinga can be served up on tostadas, tamales, in tacos or simply served up alongside warm tortillas.
Serve these chicken tostadas with fresh ingredients like chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, cilantro, lime wedges and you have the perfect Taco Tuesday meal!
HOW DO YOU SERVE CHICKEN TINGA TOSTADAS?
You can top off your tinga tostadas any way that makes you happy. I top my chicken tostadas off with crumbled Cotija cheese, cilantro, red onion and a squeeze of lime but you can also add pico de gallo, lettuce, avocado slices or sour cream.
WHAT TO SERVE WITH CHICKEN TINGA
- Red onion
- Fresh cilantro
- Sliced avocado
- Shredded lettuce
- Black beans or refried beans
- Lime Wedges
- Crumbled Cotija cheese
- Pico de gallo
- Sour Cream
- Corn
- Red, Green or Yellow peppers
THE BEST TINGA RECIPE
- This chicken tinga recipe is my favorite to serve up for a busy weeknight dinner and let me tell you why!!
- Tinga tostadas are bursting with authentic flavor. Onions, garlic, fire roasted tomatoes, chipotles in adobo sauce and pantry seasonings blended and bubbling together bring together such a rich savory sauce that transforms your juicy shredded chicken into the best tinga recipe you will ever eat!
- Quick and easy dinner recipes are the secret to a happy life.. lol! This tinga tostada recipe is ready to hit your dinner table in under 30 minutes. You can’t beat that!
- Customize your tinga tostadas any way you like. I have added below a list of fresh ingredients to pair perfectly with your chicken tinga for the ultimate Mexican comfort food experience.
- There is nothing unusual or any specialty items in this easy tinga sauce recipe. That means no special trips needed as you can pick up all of the the tinga ingredients at your usual grocery store.
HOW DO YOU MAKE CHICKEN TINGA TOSTADAS?
Ready? Stay with me because this recipe moves FAST! To make your Chicken Tinga Tostadas, start by heating olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet and then adding the chopped onion.
Stir and cook for 3 – 4 minutes and then add in your diced garlic. Cook for another minute and then add in your chopped / diced chipotle peppers in adobe sauce.
Stir to combine and cook for 2-3 minutes. Then stir in the diced tomatoes and spices and cook for 5 minutes. At this point, you can either continue to cook it as it is or you can move the mixture to a small food processer or a blender and blend until smooth.
Return the sauce to the skillet, add in your shredded chicken, stir to combine and continue to cook over medium heat for 10 – 15 minutes.
While your tinga sauce is cooking, heat a can of refried bean up in a small pot, warm your tostada in a 250 degree oven and prepare your garnishes.
Once your Chicken Tinga is done, take a spoonful of refried beans and lightly smear it on a tostada. Top the beans with an even layer of Chicken Tinga and then garnish and serve.
See? I wasn’t lying! These Chicken Tinga Tostadas are THAT easy and the flavor is amazing. Smokey, a bit spicy .. super flavorful.
Now, if you are not a fan of super spicy food, you may want to only add in one or two chipotle peppers first and see how you do with it. I started with two and went up to five but that’s just me.
PRO TIPS FOR PERFECT TINGA TOSTADAS
- This is the perfect quick and easy dinner recipe so have all of your fresh ingredients chopped and ready to go because this tinga recipe moves fast!
- Fresh ingredients are key to the BEST chicken tinga tostadas but taking a hand from the store is totally ok! Grab that rotisserie chicken and shred it to save you the time and trouble of making chicken at home.
- If you do want to skip the rotisserie chicken, roast 2 or 3 chicken breasts (about 2 pounds of chicken) in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until fully cooked. Shred chicken and use in place of the rotisserie chicken in this recipe.
- Tweak these chicken tinga recipe to fit your families needs. Like shredded lettuce, sliced avocado and fresh pico de gallo? Go for it! Want it super spice? Add more adobe peppers in the red sauce .. you get the idea!
EASY SIDE DISHES TO SERVE WITH CHICKEN TINGA
If you’ve tried this Chicken Tinga Tostada recipe or any other recipe on this website, please don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave me a comment. I love hearing from you!
Chicken Tinga Tostadas
Ingredients
Tinga Sauce
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 large sweet onion diced
- 4 cloves garlic minced
- 2 - 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce chopped
- 15 ounce fire roasted diced tomatoes
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 3 chicken breasts, shredded or one rotisserie chicken
For Serving
- 12 tostadas
- 10 ounce refried beans
- 1/4 cup cilantro chopped
- 1/3 cup red onion diced
- cotija cheese crumbled
- 2 limes cut into wedges
Instructions
- To make your Chicken Tinga Tostadas, start by heating olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet and then adding the chopped onion. Stir and cook for 3 - 4 minutes and then add in your diced garlic. Cook for another minute and then add in your chopped / diced chipotle peppers in adobe sauce. Stir to combine and cook for 2-3 minutes.
- Stir in the diced tomatoes and spices and cook for 5 minutes. At this point, you can either continue to cook it as it is or you can move the mixture to a small food processer or a blender and blend until smooth. Return the sauce to the skillet, add in your shredded chicken, stir to combine and continue to cook over medium heat for 10 - 15 minutes.
- While your Chicken Tinga sauce is cooking, heat a can of refried bean up in a small pot, warm your tostada in a 250 degree oven and prepare your garnishes. Once your Chicken Tinga is done, take a spoonfull of refried beans and lightly smear it on a tostada. Top the beans with an even layer of Chicken Tinga and then garnish and serve.
Notes
PRO TIPS FOR PERFECT TINGA TOSTADAS
- This is the perfect quick and easy dinner recipe so have all of your fresh ingredients chopped and ready to go because this tinga recipe moves fast!
- Fresh ingredients are key to the BEST chicken tinga tostadas but taking a hand from the store is totally ok! Grab that rotisserie chicken and shred it to save you the time and trouble of making chicken at home.
- If you do want to skip the rotisserie chicken, roast 2 or 3 chicken breasts (about 2 pounds of chicken) in a 350 degree oven for 25 minutes or until fully cooked. Shred chicken and use in place of the rotisserie chicken in this recipe.
- Tweak these chicken tinga recipe to fit your families needs. Like shredded lettuce, sliced avocado and fresh pico de gallo? Go for it! Want it super spice? Add more adobe peppers in the red sauce .. you get the idea!
Nutrition
Update Notes: This post was originally published in July of 2018 but was republished with an updated recipe, new photos, step by step instructions and tips in July of 2023.
Love that this is made with a rotisserie chicken! Quick and easy is right up my alley!
Chicken Tinga was a revelation for me. Smoky, saucy goodness. It is always good to see how someone else makes their version, Thanks for sharing,
This recipe looks amazing, and I have everything I need to make it. I love all of the flavors that go into it, so I know this recipe is a keeper because the prep is so simple.
I’ve not this before, but I will be soon! I love all the flavors in this and it looks so tasty good!
I have been home visiting my mom for the past 2 months and I’ve been craving tacos. She’s not big into Mexican food but I go home in a few days and this is first on my list!
Your chicken tinga tostadas recipe sounds delicious. I haven ‘t had chicken tinga before but it sounds easy to prepare and very flavorful.
Yum! This looks amazing. I’ve never heard of chicken tinga before, but the recipe sound delicious. And chicken tinga is just fun to say!
These look great! I am always looking for new “Taco” night ideas!
Hi, my name is Renee and I don’t know how to eat a tostada without making a mess and your recipe looks too good to pass up! It’s basically like an open faced taco, right? Do you just pick it up and eat it and enjoy the mess? Or is there a secret mess free tostada method that I don’t know? Seriously, this looks delicious and I really want to try it!!
These tostadas look awesome! Seriously, now my stomach is growling. Adding these ingredients to my shopping list so we can try this for dinner this week.
Perfect. A restaurant the family here enjoys serves chicken tinga tacos. Well, first, I kept mildly wondering what chicken tinga was, and secondly – whatever it is, it tastes good! So now I know what it is, and how to make my own!
Beans are always a must on my tacos! It keeps all the good stuff in, like this delicious looking chicken. Can it be Tuesday already?
These look AWESOME! My boys would go nuts over this recipe to the point where I’d probably have to make a double batch! Good thing it’s so quick and easy to make!
These look absolutely delicious! We are huge fans of Mexican food and eat it frequently, but we haven’t done tostadas yet — can’t wait to give these a try!
Theses look amazing and have the best bright fresh colors! I always order tostadas out at restaurants but I have never made them at home. This recipe is making me want to change that. YUM
I always look for great ways to use rotisserie chicken leftovers and i am getting excited each time i see creative ideas like this!
This perfect tostda recipe, great for busy nights and weekend. I like the spicy twist with arbdo sauce.
I love tostadas, and this recipe looks great for a weeknight treat!
That looks so hearty and wholesome. This would make a perfect dinner in our home over the weekend. We love such simple yet fun kinda foods. Saving this for later.
I love recipes like this! The chipotles and fresh toppings are the best parts for me!
Oh my yum! These look amazing!! I’ve not made my own before but I need to give this a try…the tinga sauce sounds awesome!
These look so flavourful! What a delicious way to mix up taco Tuesday….or any day for that matter 😉
The pics look so good! And going by those, I think one will be tempted to have more than his/her share of the tostadas!My husband loves spicy food and I might make these for him with a vegetarian protein substitute!
Oh my goodness, I am literally drooling over these images, love spicy and anything in a wrap so I’m all over these and I know my boys would love this recipe too!
These tostadas sound very flavorful. This would be a great recipe for fall, on a chilly night where turning on the oven is enough to remove the chill and put the smell of yummy food in the air.