These Tinga chicken polenta bowls drenched in a creamy spicy Tinga sauce. Oh hello, deliciousness. Honestly, I can’t believe it’s been 10 years since I originally made these after our trip to Mexico where I had them the first time. These bowls combine creamy polenta, fajita style veggies, black beans chicken cooked in tinga sauce.
How to make Chicken Tinga
- Combine fire roasted tomatoes, spices, onions, chipotle sauce, oregano, water/broth, garlic, chili powder, cumin and cayenne in your food processor or blender.
- Puree until smooth! .
- Pour it into a pot and simmer for 10-12 minutes!
- Toss in the cooked chicken and cook for another 5 minutes for the chicken to absorb all the flavors.
- Serve with polenta, or rice or in tacos. Along side sautéed veggies/ beans/slaw/ and of course slices of avocado.
Ingredients for Chicken Tinga Polenta Bowl
I can’t even begin to explain how delicious, fresh and comforting these savory saucy polenta bowls are. The are simple to make and perks up any weeknight dinner. Here’s what you’ll need to make them:
- Onions: A start of all good things. You’ll need one medium-large onion roughly chopped.
- Cooked chicken: one of the best parts about this recipe is that you can use already-cooked chicken. If you have leftover cooked chicken from the previous night or poach a couple pieces of chicken for the recipe.
- Black beans: we’re using a full can of black beans for a delicious boost of protein and fiber.
- Tomatoes: fire roasted tomatoes gives the sauce body and that smoky flavor.
- Chicken broth: you’ll want low sodium chicken broth or water to thin out the sauce a bit.
- Garlic: gotta have that garlic in the sauce.
- Bell Peppers and veggies: a simple stir fry of tricolored bell peppers add veggies to the bowl along with chopped green onions and cilantro.
- Spices: we’re using oregano, chili powder, cumin, chipotle sauce, salt & pepper in the sauce for the perfect flavor.
- Polenta or Rice: I like to use Italian quick cooking polenta (which also keeps this recipe gluten free) Simply follow the instructions on the package for cooking. Alternatively cooked rice works well in this recipe too.
- Shredded cheese: a little cheese stirred into the the final minute of polenta makes it so creamy and seriously irresistible. I like using shredded Mexican or colby jack cheese, but I think any spicy cheese would be delicious.
Tinga Chicken Polenta Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 15 oz can chopped fire roasted tomatoes
- 2 fat cloves garlic
- 1 tsp oregano, Mexican prefrebaly
- ¾ tsp ground cumin
- 1-4 pieces chipotle + 1-2 tbsp sauce
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 lb chicken, shredded poached/ rotisserie/baked
- salt and pepper as needed
Polenta Or Rice
- cook polenta or rice as needed for 4 people
- 1-2 tbsp Colby jack or any Mexican cheese you like, optional
Veggies
- For Slaw recipe linked.
- For Sautéed fajita style veggies recipe linked
- 1 can Black beans
- 1-2 avocado sliced
- 2-3 tbsp chopped cilantro
- 1-2 green onions chopped
- 1 lime, sliced to garnish.
Instructions
- Add diced tomatoes, chipotle peppers, oregano, garlic, cumin, onions, salt and in a large blender. Blend until smooth.
- Heat a large sauce pan over medium-high heat. Add olive oil and add the blended tinga sauce. Cook for 10 minutes. Add shredded chicken and toss with sauce until fully combined. Reduce heat to low and for 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. The sauce will thicken as the chicken absorbs some of the sauce. .
- Remove from heat, taste and season if necessary.
Polenta or Rice
- Cook Polenta according to the package instructions. If you prefer rice, cook rice as you normally do. TIP: for extra flavor cook in veggie or chicken broth. I also like to add about 1-2 tablespoons of shredded cheese right at the end, stir vigorously to blend in and make it extra creamy.
Veggies
- Saute sliced peppers, season and set aside. Full recipe linked in ingredients.
- For Slaw recipe linked in ingredients.
Assemble the bowls
- Divide the rice or polenta between 4 bowls. Add each component evenly and serve with a slice of lime.
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