Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Avocado Jalapeño Crema. (2024)

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Weeknight-style Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Avocado Jalapeño Crema. Chicken seasoned up with smoky chipotle peppers and enchilada sauce, then mixed with cheese, stuffed into tortillas, and oven-baked. Each tinga taco is crunchy on the outside, but spicy and cheesy inside. Serve with a creamy, salty, honey-lime avocado crema sauce, and a mix of your favorite toppings. These come together easily and are so delicious. The perfect crispy taco that everyone loves!

Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Avocado Jalapeño Crema. (1)

It’s definitely no secret that we love Mexican food, especially tacos. Honestly, anything Mexican is a go for my family. Spicy, cheese, lots of flavors, avocado, and cilantro. These are some of our favorite flavors/foods.

I have told the childhood taco story here one too many times, so we’ll skip that today. But if you’re new, basically I grew up on my dad’s crispy, cheesy hard shell tacos.

His were very basic, but to this day my brothers still request them. Hard not to love any kind of taco, you know?

But today we have chicken tinga tacos, one of my very favorite flavors. If you’re not familiar with Chicken Tinga, it’s a Mexican dish consisting of shredded chicken in a tomato-based chipotle sauce with sliced onions. Like a lot of popular Mexican dishes, it’s pretty simple. The flavors from the chipotle peppers are KEY and what’s most traditional with any Tinga dish.

I’ve done a few variations now, but this is probably the most traditional. Well kind of, I use a shortcut in the sauce to save a little time!

Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Avocado Jalapeño Crema. (2)

The quick details

They are easy you guys. I want to start out by saying you can make these in either the crockpot, instant pot, or on the stove. We all love options when it comes to dinner, so use whichever method suits you best! They will all give you the same outcome.

For the crockpot, just add all the ingredients for the chicken right into the crockpot. So the onions, chipotle, enchilada sauce, and the seasonings. Let it all slow cook, then shred the meat. Done.

The very same with the instant pot, except the cooking time is much, much shorter (just 8 minutes).

And for the stove-top, there is slightly more involved, but it’s still easy. Just cook the chicken in a skillet until seared. Add the onion, then everything else. Simmer until the chicken is cooked through. Then shred the chicken and that’s that.

Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Avocado Jalapeño Crema. (3)

For the crispy shells

Instead of using store-bought taco shells, I like to take corn tortillas and stuff them with the chicken tinga and cheese. I throw them into the oven to bake until the tortillas are crispy.

This method is my favorite and I use it every time I make tacos for my family. We love the crispy oven “fried” shells and melty cheese. It’s the best when some of the cheese melts out onto the pan and gets crispy too. Delicious.

Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Avocado Jalapeño Crema. (4)

And finally the crema

Do you all remember the creamy jalapeño sauce I made with my Cuban quesadillas? Well, that sauce uses pickled jalapeños. Ever since making those I’ve been using pickled jalapeños in everything.

For this crema, I whipped avocado in a food processor with the jalapeños and lots of cilantro. I added garlic and a little honey to balance the heat, and then some sea salt.

It is so creamy, and the pickled jalapeños make it so delicious. Spicy, but not SPICY. Serve up the crema on each taco, then add whatever other toppings you love most.I always recommend a pineapple salsaormango salsa. I love a good fruity salsa.

Crockpot Crispy Chicken Tinga Tacos with Jalapeño Avocado Crema

Author: Tieghan Gerard

Prep Time 25 minutes minutes

Cook Time 4 hours hours

Ingredients

▢ 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts or thighs
▢ 1 yellow onion, chopped
▢ 3/4 cup red enchilada sauce
▢ 2-3 chipotle peppers in adobo, finely chopped
▢ 1 teaspoon dried oregano
▢ 1 teaspoon ground cumin
▢ 1 teaspoon kosher salt
▢ 12-16 corn tortillas, warmed
▢ 1/2 cup shredded pepper jack cheese
▢ 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
▢ shredded lettuce and pickled onions, for serving

Crema

▢ 2 large avocados, halved
▢ 1/4-1/2 cup pickled jalapeños
▢ 1/2 cup fresh cilantro
▢ 1-2 teaspoons honey
▢ 1 clove garlic, grated
▢ 2 limes (juice from)
▢ flaky salt

US Customary – Metric

Instructions

Crockpot

1. In the bowl of your crockpot, combine the chicken, onion, enchilada sauce, chipotle, oregano, cumin, and salt. Cover and cook on LOW for 4-5 hours or on HIGH for 2-3 hours.
2. When finished cooking, shred the meat and toss with the sauce. Preheat the oven to 425° F.
3. Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave, until pliable. On a baking sheet, rub the tortillas with olive oil. Lay each tortilla flat and then layer evenly with cheese and chicken. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling, gently pushing to adhere (see above photo). Transfer to the oven and bake for 5-8 minutes, then flip and cook another 5 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are crisp.
4. Meanwhile, make the Avocado Crema. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Season with salt.
5. Serve the tacos topped with avocado, lettuce, limes, and any other desired toppings.

Instant Pot

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F.
2. In the bowl of your instant pot, combine the chicken, onion, enchilada sauce, chipotle, oregano, cumin, and salt. Seal the lid and cook on high pressure for 8 minutes. Once done cooking, release the steam.
3. Follow the directions as directed above for steps 2-5.

Stove-top

1. Preheat the oven to 425° F.
2. Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large skillet over high heat. When the oil shimmers, add the chicken. Cook until 2-3 minutes, then flip and add the onion. Cook another 3-5 minutes, until fragrant. Add the enchilada sauce, chipotle, oregano, cumin, and salt, and 1/3 cup water. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the sauce has thickened and the chicken cooked through, about 10-15 minutes. Remove from the heat.
3. Warm the tortillas for 30 seconds to 1 minute in the microwave, until pliable. On a baking sheet, rub the tortillas with olive oil. Lay each flat and then layer evenly with cheese and chicken. Fold the other half of the tortilla over the filling, gently pushing to adhere (see above photo). Transfer to the oven and bake for 5-8 minutes, then flip and cook another 5 minutes more, or until the cheese has melted and the tortillas are crisp.
4. Meanwhile, make the Avocado Crema. Combine all ingredients in a blender and blend until smooth and creamy. Season with salt.
5. Serve the tacos topped with avocado, lettuce, limes, and any other desired toppings.

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