Chicken Tinga

A couple of years ago, I moved into a new apartment.  Thanks to my roommate, I had access to a slow cooker for the first time since I moved from home.  

I have become a fan of dishes made in a slow cooker.  It is so convenient to put all the ingredients into the slow cooker and then walk away for a few hours.  It is my preferred method of cooking on Sundays.

In the past few years, I have made root beer barbecue chicken, lamb tagine, Tex-Mex chicken and beans, butter chicken, beef barbacoa, honey mustard chicken, and chicken stew.  All of these recipes were made in a slow-cooker.

According to Wikipedia, chicken tinga is a Mexican dish made with shredding chicken, tomatoes, chiles in adobo, and onions.  It is often served on tostadas along with refried beans.  It originated in Puebla, Mexico.  I once spend a summer in Puebla.

This chicken tinga recipe came from allrecipes.com.  I added a little bit more chorizo than directed.

The ingredients are 4 skinless and boneless chicken breasts, 1 onion, 1 15-ounce can tomato sauce, 1 7-ounce can chipotle chili peppers in adobo, 2 jalapeños, 2 minced garlic cloves, 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1 teaspoon chili powder, 1/4 teaspoon red chili flakes, and 1 pound chorizo.

I added the chopped onion, chopped jalapeños,  tomato sauce, and chilies in adobo into the slow-cooker.

I added the oregano, cumin, chili powder, and red chili flakes.

I added the minced garlic and the chopped chicken breasts.  I stirred all the ingredients together.  I cooked this on low for three hours.

Meanwhile, I cooked the chorizo.

After three hours, I added the cooked chorizo to the slow cooker.  I cooked the chicken for another 30 minutes on high.  I shredded the chicken as well.

I ate this chicken in tacos.  I added some hot sauce as well, but I didn't take a picture of that.  I think this chicken would have been delicious on tostadas as well.

The chicken was very flavorful, succulent, and tender.

It has a nice smokey flavor.  It was a little hot but not overbearingly hot.  I has a good and appropriate level of heat.

It had little acidity and sweetness from the tomato.  It was savory and scrumptious.

The chicken was so tender that it required little effort to shred.  The texture was amazing.

It was very tasty.  It was also very convenient.  

I just had to throw the ingredients in the slow-cooker and it was ready in a few hours.

 This was winning recipe.  I would recommend it.