Chicken · Slow cooker

Crockpot Chicken Tinga (Slow Cooker)

Internet Shaquille's pitch for chicken tinga is the laziest possible route to a Mexican classic: a white onion smashed apart by hand, garlic battered with the side of a knife, a tin of fire-roasted tomatoes and as many chipotle peppers as your spice tolerance allows. The crock pot does the rest while you go to work.

R By Richard · Adapted from Internet Shaquille · Published 23 June 2026
👁 858.5k source views ❤️ 29.1k source likes
⏱Prep 10 min
🍲Slow cook 6 hr (Low) / 3 hr (High)
🍽Serves 6
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Internet Shaquille presents chicken tinga as a deliberate slow cooker recipe rather than the traditional hob version. Chicken thighs go in raw on top of a roughly diced white onion, smashed garlic, a tin of fire-roasted tomatoes, chipotles in adobo, cumin and Mexican oregano. Six hours on Low or three on High and the chicken is fully cooked when it stops supporting its own weight. The final move is to lift the chicken out to shred, blend the braising liquid into a smooth sauce, then return the meat to the pot on High for another ten minutes so the sauce thickens and clings.

Ingredients

Main
  • 1white onion, roughly diced by hand, in a chopper, or with a mandolin
  • 3garlic cloves, smashed to irregular bits with the side of a knife
  • 411 gtin of fire-roasted tomatoes
  • 0.9 kgchicken thighs
  • 3 tspsalt
  • 3chipotle peppers in adobo, from a tin
  • 1 tbspadobo sauce, from the chipotle tin
Spices
  • freshly cracked black pepper
  • 1 tspground cumin
  • 1 tspMexican oregano

Method

  1. Roughly dice one whole white onion. You can do it by hand, in a chopper, or on a mandolin. Tip into the slow cooker.

    ~3 min

  2. Smash 3 garlic cloves to irregular bits with the side of a knife and add them to the pot.

    ~1 min

  3. Tip in one 411 g (14.5 oz) tin of fire-roasted tomatoes.

    ~1 min

  4. Lay 0.9 kg (2 lb) of chicken thighs on top and sprinkle over 3 teaspoons of salt.

    ~2 min

  5. Add 3 chipotle peppers in adobo plus a tablespoon of the adobo sauce. Drop to 2 for a milder pot, push up to 5 if you like real heat.

    ~1 min

  6. Finish with several big cranks of black pepper, 1 teaspoon of ground cumin and 1 teaspoon of Mexican oregano.

    ~1 min

  7. Cover and cook on Low for 6 hours, or High for 3 hours. The chicken is fully cooked when it fails to support its own weight when lifted.

    ~360 min

  8. Lift the chicken out onto a plate and let it cool enough to handle. Shred it apart with your hands, two forks, or plastic claws.

    ~10 min

  9. Pour the braising liquid into a blender and blend smooth. It will thicken from the rendered chicken fat and pick up more heat as the chipotles fully integrate.

    ~2 min

  10. Pour the blended sauce back into the slow cooker, set to High, add the shredded chicken and cook for another 10 minutes so the sauce reduces a little and clings to the meat.

    ~10 min

Frequently asked

Do I need to brown the chicken first?
No. The source is explicit that this is the lazy version: chicken thighs go in raw and the crock pot does the work. The flavour comes from the chipotles, cumin and Mexican oregano, not from a sear.
Can I use chicken breasts instead of thighs?
You can, but thighs are far more forgiving over a long braise and shred better. If you use breasts, check at the lower end of the cooking window (around 4 hours on Low or 2 on High) so they do not turn stringy.
What if I cannot find Mexican oregano?
Regular dried oregano (the kind in an Italian spice blend) will work. Mexican oregano has a citrus, slightly grassy note that is quite different, so the source recommends seeking it out if your shop carries it, but the recipe still works without.
How spicy is 3 chipotle peppers?
Medium. The source range is 2 chipotles for a mild pot up to 5 for serious heat. Three plus a tablespoon of adobo lands in the middle, warming rather than aggressive. Adjust to your household.
What do I do with the finished chicken tinga?
It is built to go into things. Tacos, burritos, burrito bowls, quesadillas, enchiladas, nachos. The source serves it on corn tortillas with a slice of avocado and a wedge of lime. It freezes and reheats well, which is the whole point of the batch.
Extraction notes (transparency): Source already presents this as a slow cooker recipe, no adaptation needed. Black pepper given as 'several big cranks', so quantity is null with a note. Adobo sauce given as 'a spoonful', taken as 1 tbsp with the range in notes. Chipotle peppers given as a 2 to 5 range depending on heat tolerance, taken as 3 with the range in notes. Default servings (6) inferred from the 2 lb chicken batch the source describes as 'half a week's worth of lunches', not stated explicitly. Prep time (10 min) estimated from the prep tasks the source describes (dice one onion, smash 3 garlic cloves, open two tins), not stated.