A quick and easy way to make delicious, smoky, and saucy shredded chicken breast for your meal prep routine, or simply for a great spin on your next taco night!
What do I need to make Smoked Chicken Tinga?
- Pellet smoker or other smoker type of your choosing. I use a Pitboss smoker, which you can find here.
- A good instant-read thermometer. I recommend THIS ONE.
- A blender of food processor
- Wood pellets or firewood
- Some sort of Mexican style seasoning. I used this one.
- Chicken breast
- Canned Chipotle Chiles in Adobo
- Canned Tomato Sauce
- Garlic
- White Onion
- Sea Salt
- Black Pepper
- Cumin
- Cilantro
- Lime
Smoked Chicken Tinga
Ingredients
- 3 lbs Chicken Breast, boneless and skinless
- 4 tbsp Mexican Style Seasoning for Chicken Use any Mexican seasoning or just salt and pepper to season the chicken breasts.
- 2 each Tomato Sauce, 15oz cans
- 2 each Chipotle Chiles in Adobo Sauce
- 4 each Garlic Cloves
- 1 each White Onion
- 1/4 cup Fresh Cilantro Pack somewhat tightly into measuring cup, or just eyeball about one handful of leaves and tender stems.
- 1/2 tsp Sea Salt
- 1/2 tsp Black Pepper
- 1/2 tsp Cumin
- 1/2 each Lime, juiced
Instructions
- Preheat smoker to 300 degrees.
- Season chicken liberally with desired seasoning mix.
- Place chicken on smoker, away from the heat source.
- For the sauce, combine tomato sauce, chipotle chiles, garlic cloves, white onion, cilantro, salt, pepper, cumin, and lime juice in a blender. Blend until smooth.
- Place sauce in a deep sided skillet, directly over heat source of pellet smoker (if possible).
- Once the internal temperature of the chicken is around 130-140 degrees, place the breasts into the sauce to finish cooking. Move sauce pan away from heat source for a gentler cook for the remaining time.
- When the chicken has reached an internal temperature of 160 degrees, remove from the smoker and allow to rest for 10-15 minutes at room temperature.
- After the chicken has had time to cool slightly, shred the meat with two forks and mix thoroughly into the sauce.
- Serve on rice or tortillas, with a bit of cotija cheese and a little fresh cilantro.
