Instant Pot Chicken Tinga

Here I’ve simplified my favorite chicken tinga recipe by using my Instant Pot, which not only turns the dish into a one-pot wonder but also allows it all to come together in just about 30 minutes. Use tinga as a taco, burrito, enchilada, or tostada filling. So easy and delicious.

Tinga, if you are unfamiliar, is a Mexican dish made with shredded chicken, chipotles in adobo sauce, tomatoes, onion, and cilantro.

A woman I worked with years ago at Fork taught me how to make it: poach a whole chicken, remove the meat and shred it; make a simple sauce, and simmer it with the chicken; shower with cilantro, and serve.

Most often it was served for family meal as part of a make-your-own-tostada buffet, the elements of which included crispy corn tortillas, shredded lettuce, crema, guacamole, crumbled cotija cheese, and pico de gallo. It was, as you can imagine, delicious.

Tinga is an incredibly simple dish, but there is one step — that first step — that I worry deters many people from giving it a go: poaching a whole chicken.

It’s not that plunging a chicken into boiling water is hard, it’s the aftermath: removing the meat. If the bird is still quite warm, the process can be painful, but even when the meat has cooled, removing it is time consuming and a test of patience, to boot.

Chicken Tinga, Simplified

I recently simplified the tinga-making process in three ways, and much to my delight, the streamlined method sacrificed zero flavor.

1. In place of a whole chicken, I used boneless, skinless thighs. (You can use breasts if you prefer.)
2. In place of chicken stock for the sauce, I used water.
3. In place of poaching the chicken and making the sauce in two separate pots stovetop, I used my Instant Pot to make the whole thing.

I elaborate on the process below, but in short, to make tinga using your Instant Pot, first you use the sauté function to cook the onion and make the sauce. Then you add the chicken, close the lid, and use the high pressure setting.

Once the Instant Pot comes up to pressure, in just 10 minutes it creates that falling-off-the-bone texture in the meat. And while you do have to remove the meat and shred it, using the Instant Pot turns tinga into a one-pot job. Hooray!

You, of course, can serve tinga on its own or over rice, but the beauty of tinga is its ability to stretch: when used as a taco or enchilada filling, one batch of tinga can feed a lot of people or, more practically for today’s world, it can be stretched over many meals. It freezes well, too.

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, follow this recipe for classic chicken tinga.

Final note: When I posted this enchilada sauce recipe, I received a number of questions about where to get chipotles in adobo sauce. All of my local grocery stores carry it, and yours might, too — call ahead or ask if you can’t find it. Mexican groceries will definitely carry it or you can order it online: Goya Chipotles in Adobo Sauce.

5 Other Favorite Instant Pot Recipes

• Perfect Instant Pot Brown Rice (This is a staple.)
• The Instant Pot Miracle: One-Pot Pasta with Meat Sauce (Child approved!)
• Instant Pot Soft-Boiled Eggs (Peel like a dream!)
• Instant Pot Hard-Boiled Eggs (Peel like another dream!)
• Instant pot Moroccan Rice with Harissa and Dates (So much flavor here.)

How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Tinga

Step #1: Gather your ingredients.

Tinga requires just a handful of ingredients: onion, olive oil, chipotle in adobo sauce, canned tomatoes, chicken, and cilantro.

Step #2: Slice the onion.

Step #3: Sauté the onion.

Step #4: Add 1/4 cup of chipotle in adobo sauce.

Step #5: Add 1 cup crushed tomato and 1 cup water.

You absolutely can use fresh tomatoes here, especially if you are making this in the summer and early fall.

Step #6: Add 2 lbs. boneless, skinless chicken thighs (or breasts).

Cover, and cook on high pressure for 10 minutes.

Step #7: Remove the chicken and shred with two forks.

Step #8: Return the chicken to the Instant Pot.

Step #9: Add about a cup of roughly chopped cilantro.

Step #10: Stir to combine. Season with salt to taste.

Step #10: Serve.

There are countless ways to eat tinga. You can serve it over rice. Or, you can serve it with soft tortillas, cheese, and lettuce and make tacos or crispy corn tortillas for tostadas. You can also make …

… enchiladas! (More on these soon!) Use this bean and cheese enchilada recipe as a guide, subbing in the tinga for the beans. This quick, fresh enchilada sauce has been a welcomed discovery this summer.

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