Fiery Tinga Sauce

Ohhhh, if you like Mexican food you are going to love this Low Carb Chicken Tinga Recipe. It takes chicken tacos to a whole different level.

This Tinga Sauce is spicy and embodies the taste of Old Mexico.

We’ll be making Chicken Tinga in this post but this versatile sauce can be used on pork or as a hot salsa on anything you want as well.

Make sure that your shredded chicken is cooked and ready to go before you start this sauce. This recipe is the perfect use for leftover Mexican Roasted Chicken.

You can find the four easiest methods for making shredded chicken right here.

Ingredients:

• 2 tomatoes Roma or similar

Don’t use two giant tomatoes here. You don’t want them to take over the sauce.

If your tomatoes are super large…just use one.

4 tomatillos

If you haven’t used tomatillos before, choose the smaller firm fruit to make sure they are still in their prime.

Alternatively, if you live somewhere that doesn’t have tomatillos available you can use the firmest under-ripe tomato you can find and a squeeze of lime.

• 1/4 cup onion chopped

Use green onion to lower the carb count (it’s already pretty low). But don’t add them in until the sauce has finished simmering.

Cooked green onions taste…slimy.

• 4 garlic cloves

If you opt for powdered garlic, use 1/2 tsp.

• 3 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce – reserve sauce because you’ll use it.

These are spicy. Use less if you don’t like fiery food. Taste everything and check out this brand if you are gluten free.

• 1 tbsp adobo sauce. Use the sauce from the can of chilies.

No need to make a special batch of adobo sauce.

If you won’t be able to use the whole can of chilies within a few days, pop it into a freezer bag and toss it into the deep freeze for up to six months.

• 1 teaspoon oregano dried- Mexican Oregano is preferable.

Yes you can use regular oregano if needed. But Mexican Oregano is more suited to this sauce if you can get your hands on it.

• 1/2 tsp cumin– powdered

• 1/2 teaspoon salt

• 2 lbs Chicken Cooked and Shredded

You can shred a rotisserie chicken, make it your favorite way or check out this post to learn about the four main methods of making shredded chicken. It’s easy peasy.

Instructions

Peel the husk off of the tomatillos. Rinse Tomatoes and Tomatillos and cut out the stems to make it easier later.

Roast in a 400F (204 C) oven for about 20 minutes in an oven safe dish. Prepare the rest of the ingredients while they are roasting.

• Saute the onion and garlic cloves in a bit of olive oil over medium heat. Cook until the onion is just starting to brown. Remove from heat.

Add all of the ingredients in this recipe- including any liquid from the tomato/tomatillo dish to a blender and pulse until combined but not perfectly smooth.

You want small chunks of the vegetables in the sauce.

• Return the sauce to the saute pan to simmer for a few minutes.

If you are making Chicken Tinga:

• Add the cooked shredded chicken to the Tinga sauce if using and combine well.

Let simmer until it’s hot all the way through. Take a final taste test for seasoning – add more salt if needed.

• Serve with low carb tortillas, avocado, cilantro, hot sauce and cheese (Cojita is the most common with Chicken Tinga).

Store in the fridge for 3 days or freeze for up to six months.

I should clarify that you can freeze the chicken in the Tinga Sauce or just the Tinga Sauce by itself.

• If you are making the Tinga Sauce ahead of time:

Store in an airtight jar in the fridge for up to three days. Freeze for up to six months if you won’t be able to use it all.

Tips & FAQ’s :

Can I make Chicken Tinga Ahead of time?

Oh yeah. Keep it in the fridge for up to three days. Or pop it into the freezer in portions for later.

How do I serve the Chicken Tinga?

This is typically an ingredient for tacos. But you could make low carb enchiladas or salads.

Serve with all of the taco fixings that you like and make this flatbread or buy some low carb tortillas.

We like crema, hot sauce, cojita cheese and maybe a little bit of shredded cabbage…maybe, if the tortillas are big enough.

This brand is fluffy and looks just like the high carb version with only 4 net carbs.

What can I serve with the Low Carb Chicken Tinga?

• Spanish Riced Cauliflower
• Guacamole Supreme
• Coleslaw
• Jalapeno Poppers
• Flan
• Bourbon Pumpkin Cheesecake
• Lemon Squares ( vanilla & citrus based desserts go great with Mexican food)

That’s all for the Tinga…

I hope you love it and that this Low Carb Chicken Tinga spices up your week… That’s why we keep doing the recipe sharing thing.

As always, please leave a comment below if you have any questions or just want to say hola.

¡Que tengas una buena semana!

The nutritional information for the Low Carb Chicken Tinga is provided as a courtesy.

We are pretty careful about our figures but if you ever feel like anything is off please feel free to do your own calculations.