Chicken Tinga Tostadas

Sometimes, when I’m browsing through cookbooks, I run across one that I just have to make immediately.

In this case, it was these chicken tinga tostadas. I was searching for a chicken recipe to cook for the night, and found this one in Food & Wine’s Annual Cookbook from 2012 (buy for $0.01 at Amazon). I’ve modified it from the original version, which was a taco recipe. I got a little fancier (or unhealthier, whatever you wanna call it), and I fried up the tortillas. 

There’s nothing better than that crunch to the tortilla!

I kept the basic recipe the same, except I had no diced tomatoes in the fridge, so I used some whole San Marzano tomatoes (ha!) — Mixing up some Italian & Mexican flavors never hurt anybody! You throw the whole tomato mix in the food processor anyway, so you’re welcome to use either diced or whole.

I also added an extra chipotle pepper.. only because of my spicy taste preferences.

This was one of my favorite chicken recipes I’ve had in a while! Most foodies would prefer using chicken thighs with the bones (which is what the original recipe called for). Do everything the same if you use the thighs, but make sure to remove the bones before shredding the meat.

Tinga is a traditional chicken dish that originated in Mexico. It consists of shredded chicken, tomatoes, chipotle and onion — pretty much my heaven. I definitely prefer the texture of shredded chicken in Mexican dishes, and when you combine it with the crunchy tortilla, the spicy robust tomato sauce, and the light queso crumble and scallion garnishes, your tastebuds will go crazy! I LOVED this dish, and it really was super simple. Tinga is now a Whitney-favorite, and I can’t wait to experiment with it more in the future!