Chicken Tinga Tostadas With Smoky Chipotle and Crunch to Spare

It is 6:14 on a Tuesday, the oven is warming, and the kitchen smells like smoke and tomato. These chicken tinga tostadas take about 25 minutes, and the smoke in the sauce is the kind that makes you take your time over the first bite. The chipotle brings the heat and the crema puts out the fire, which is the whole push and pull of the dish.

Smoky chicken, crisp shell, cool crema, and a pickled onion that cuts through it all.

The method is a quick weeknight build. You shred 1 lb of chicken breast, dice a red onion, mince 3 cloves of garlic and shred a head of lettuce. The chicken simmers 15 minutes in a 14 oz can of crushed tomatoes with 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, the garlic and part of the onion, until the sauce thickens. The rest of the red onion pickles in lime juice and salt for 5 minutes, the refried beans warm in a small pan, and the 8 tostada shells crisp in a 400F oven for 5 minutes. Each shell gets beans, chicken, lettuce, onion and crema, then queso fresco and cilantro.

How to make it

1. Shred the 1 lb chicken breast. Dice the 1 red onion and mince the 3 cloves garlic. Shred the 1 head lettuce.
2. Simmer the shredded chicken in the 14 oz can crushed tomatoes with 2 chipotle in adobo peppers, minced garlic, and diced onion for 15 minutes until thickened.
3. Quick-pickle the diced red onion in juice from the 1 lime and salt for 5 minutes.
4. Warm the 15 oz can refried beans in a small pan.
5. Warm the 8 corn tostada shells in a 400F oven for 5 minutes until crispy.
6. Spread refried beans on each tostada. Top with chicken tinga, shredded lettuce, pickled onion, and a drizzle of 0.25 cups Mexican crema.
7. Crumble the 4 oz queso fresco over the tostadas and sprinkle with 0.25 cups fresh cilantro. Serve immediately.

Notes

Cooked leftovers keep three to four days refrigerated, per USDA FSIS. For chicken tinga tostadas, the tinga is the part that keeps, and it improves on day two, since the chipotle and tomato settle into the chicken. Store it apart from the shells, the lettuce and the crema, and reheat it in a skillet with a splash of water.

The chicken needs to reach 165°F inside, the USDA safe minimum for poultry. The method simmers it 15 minutes in the sauce, so check a thick piece before you build. Shredding it first, as the method says, means the pieces are small and cook through quickly.

Tostadas are fragile once they are dressed, so build them one at a time and eat them soon. Leftover tinga also works on a tortilla, over rice or on its own in a bowl.

Chipotle in adobo comes in a small can, and you will likely use only part of it. Freeze the extra peppers flat in a bag with a spoonful of the sauce, and break off a piece the next time tinga calls.

SwipeCart angle: the chipotle in adobo is the can that is easy to forget until you are standing at the stove. Swipe this into the week and the agent puts it in the cart along with the shells, the crema and the queso fresco, so tostada night does not get derailed by a missing can.

If you are feeding four, the recipe makes 8 tostadas, which is two per person. Build them in a row on a baking sheet if you want to serve them at once, and set the toppings out in bowls so people can finish their own. The tinga does the hard work before anyone sits down.

Taste the sauce before you spoon it out. Chipotle varies from can to can, and the simmer concentrates it. A pinch of salt now is easier than a fix at the table.

Swaps that actually work

Leave the chipotle in adobo alone. Those two peppers and their sauce are the smoke and the heat, and the dish tastes like a different plate of shredded chicken without them. If you want less fire, use one pepper and a spoonful of the adobo, and taste before you add the second.

Everything else in chicken tinga tostadas can move. Mexican crema can be swapped for sour cream thinned with a splash of lime juice. Queso fresco can be replaced with feta, which is saltier and tangier. Cotija is another option if you have it. Tell the SwipeCart agent you want cotija this week and it changes the cart without making you explain why queso fresco was not enough for you.

Corn tostada shells are the base. If you cannot find them, crisp corn tortillas in the oven for a few extra minutes, and they will do the same job. Flour tortillas will not stay crisp, so save them for another night.

A ripe avocado, sliced, cools the chipotle.

Lettuce can be swapped for shredded cabbage, which holds its crunch longer. Refried beans can give way to black beans, mashed lightly, though they will be a little looser.

If it goes wrong

The tostadas are soggy. They went into the oven too early or sat dressed too long. Warm the shells right before you build, spread the beans as a barrier, and serve each one right away. If one has already gone soft, crisp it in the oven for a minute or two.

The tinga is watery. The sauce has not reduced. Keep simmering over medium heat, stirring, until it clings to the chicken instead of pooling in the pan.

It tastes harsh or too hot. Too much chipotle or adobo. Stir in a spoonful of crema, a squeeze of lime or a pinch of sugar to calm it, and use less next time.

It tastes flat. Salt, and then acid. Add a pinch of salt to the chicken and a squeeze of lime to the pickled onion.

What to serve with it

The default for chicken tinga tostadas is the tostada as written, with beans, chicken, lettuce, pickled onion, crema, queso fresco and cilantro. A better version adds a few lime wedges on the side and a sliced avocado. If there is a jar of salsa or a bag of tortilla chips in the cupboard, put them out, since they make the table feel like a party.

As lunch the next day, scoop the chicken over rice or into a tortilla. Tostadas themselves do not travel well, so assemble fresh.

Why this one earns its place

A good tostada is a little flirty: crisp, smoky, a bit messy, and worth leaning over the plate for. It asks for one can of chipotle and a quick simmer, and it gives you a table that looks like you meant it. If you are choosing between tacos and something with more crunch, this is the one that settles it.

Swipe these chicken tinga tostadas in, then pair it with Chicken Tinga Tacos, Black Bean Nachos, and Food Tinder App if you want to know why dinner can feel like swiping right.

More like this: all Mexican recipes in Crave Corner.