The Mexican shredded chicken stew cooked in chipotle tomato sauce is tinga.
Chicken tinga combines shredded chicken with tomatoes, chipotle chiles in adobo, and sliced onions. The chipotle supplies smoky heat, while the tomato-based sauce keeps the stew moist and gives it its familiar red color. Cooks may adjust the chile level, but the combination of shredded meat, tomato, and chipotle is the dish’s defining pattern.
Tinga is widely eaten in central and southern Mexico and is often associated with Puebla. The earliest known published recipe is reported to appear in an 1881 Pueblan cookbook, although the dish’s exact origin is difficult to establish. Today, chicken is the most familiar version, but other meats can also be prepared as tinga.
Tinga is frequently spooned onto tostadas, often over refried beans, and finished with avocado, crumbled cheese, crema, or salsa. It is not the same as mole, whose sauce is typically more complex and often includes dried chiles, spices, nuts, seeds, and sometimes chocolate.