Chicken Tinga Taco Filling (shredded chicken in a smoky, spicy tomato sauce) - 2 points a tacos worth!

I was trying to decide what to do with a giant package of chicken that I needed to cook and a friend suggested making Chicken Tinga Tacos which I had never heard of but she had me at tacos. Because TACOS. 

So I did some googling and found this definition. 

"Chicken Tinga, a classic shredded chicken taco or tostada filling prepared with sliced onions and a tomato chipotle sauce is a full-flavored crowd pleaser. It has a smoky flavor with just enough heat from the chipotle. Tinga is served throughout Mexico." 

Okay now I am interested so I decided to make it. After looking at the recipe my friend sent me it seemed pretty easy but I was out of a couple of ingredients so I winged it and it turned out pretty good but it wasn't blog-worthy. I made it again yesterday with a couple more tweaks and now it's perfect.

One note - one of the major components of Tinga is the chipotle . I did not have any chipolte peppers in adobo which is what all the recipes I looked at called for BUT I came up with the most amazing substitute for them that tastes *exactly* like it would if I had used real chipotle peppers. And the substitute makes it way easier to control the heat level if you have someone that can't do spicy.

I'm so happy I found this substitute out because I have a couple of other recipes that call for chipotle in adobo but I never end up using all of them and some go to waste which makes me sad. I hate wasting food. I included a link to the substitute below in case you need it too. 

3 cups cooked shredded chicken (you can use rotisserie but I just poached 2 large breasts with salt, pepper, and a bay leaf until it hit an internal temp of  165) 

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium onion, finely diced

2-3 cloves garlic, minced

1-2 chipolte peppers in adobo sauce depending on your heat preference**substitute recipe at link

2 tablespoons of taco seasoning

3/4 cup tomato sauce 

1 cup water 

1 teaspoon Chicken Better Than Bouillon 

1/2 teaspoon salt 

2 tablespoons lime juice

1. In a large saucepan heat the olive oil on med-high heat. Add in the onions and cook until translucent. Add the garlic and cook for another 1 minute or so and then add in the taco seasoning and chipotle peppers/substitute. Stir until the spices are fairly well absorbed into the onions. 

2. Add the tomato sauce, water, Better Than Bouillon and bring to a low boil. Simmer on medium until the sauce has reduced and thickened, about 10-15 minutes but you can always cook it longer. The longer you reduce it and cook it, the deeper the flavor gets just be careful because you need to have enough sauce to coat all that chicken! 

3. Add the shredded chicken and cook for about 5-10 minutes. Add lime juice, stir and serve! Makes about 15 decent sized soft tacos or probably 18 crunchy tacos. 

I serve mine with sharp cheddar and red onion and the flavor is just perfect and the filling itself is only 2 points a serving if you divide it into 15 evenly sized portions which isn't too bad. It would also be awesome in a burrito, on nachos, or even on a salad.