Tender chicken thighs braised in a flavorful tomato-based sauce, rich and subtly smoky with a pleasant amount of heat. No salsa necessary for these tasty tacos!

Chicken tinga is a one-pot wonder of a recipe; by cooking the chicken in the sauce you amp up the flavor exponentially, not to mention make it easy on yourself when it comes time to clean up.

Chicken tinga is everything you want in a dinner recipe: one pot, easy, flavorful, and it makes for great leftovers (those are the best kinds of recipes, don’t you agree?)

The robust tomato-based sauce is surprisingly flavorful considering it contains just a few ingredients, and the chicken soaks up all that amazing flavor as it cooks.

That said, you could certainly make the sauce as directed here and throw in some shredded rotisserie chicken at the end if you prefer.

While we dished up our chicken tinga in corn tortillas taco-style, you could also spoon it over rice or quinoa with a side of sautéed veggies, or even serve it over scrambled eggs for breakfast, ranchero style.

Since the chicken itself is so flavorful (not to mention super sauce so, no extra salsa needed), we kept the toppings simple: a sprinkle of crumbled cotija cheese, thinly sliced pickled red onions, and fresh cilantro (we scored and found some micro cilantro at the farmers market, which is one of my favorite microgreens but also one of the hardest to come by).

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