Award Winning Pork Tinga Tacos
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A traditional dish from the Puebla region of Mexico, these pulled pork tinga tacos are absolutely mouth-watering! Enjoy them as tacos, burritos, or tostadas.
Tinga Poblana is a classic pork stew from the Puebla region of Mexico. It is simmered with tomatoes, onions, garlic, chorizo, chipotles and spices. This version is for the slow-cooker and is used as a delicious filling for burritos, tortas, and tacos, or as a topping for tostadas. Very little hands-on work. Sit back and let your slow-cooker do the work and then sit down for a meal that is sure to become a family favorite. These Tinga Tacos were also selected by Better Recipes as the winner for “Best Mexican Recipe Ever“!
This recipe calls for Mexican chorizo and while you can find it in your local Mexican grocery stores, for the BEST flavor I highly recommend making your own. It’s super easy! Check out my recipe for homemade Mexican Chorizo. And for all my DIY readers, also check out my recipe for homemade Chipotle Peppers! And for a variation of this recipe, be sure to try my Chicken Tostadas!
Pork Tinga Tacos Recipe
Let’s get started!
Add the pork roast and the onion and garlic to the slow cooker.
The chorizo is the only thing you’ll need to cook separately. The slow-cooker will do everything else for you. Fry up the chorizo. This will allow you to break up the lumps and it will also enhance the flavor of the spices.
Add the chorizo, tomatoes, chipotles, salt, pepper, sugar, oregano, thyme, bay leaves and chicken stock. Stir the ingredients to combine and ladle some on top of the pork roast.
Set the slow-cooker to low and cook everything on low for 8 hours or most of the liquid is absorbed and you’re left with a very thick sauce.
Remove the pork roast and, using two forks, shred the meat.
Place the shredded pork in a large bowl.
Add the sauce from the slow-cooker and stir to thoroughly combine with the meat.
Side tidbit: If using corn tortillas for soft tacos, briefly fry them in a skillet with a little oil until until soft and bendable without breaking. If you want tostadas, fry them until golden brown on both sides and crispy.
Serve as a filling for tacos, burritos, tortas or on tostadas. Serve with diced tomatoes, avocados, sour cream, and any other topping of your choice. For an added burst of flavor you can sprinkle on some homemade Elote Seasoning.
Enjoy!
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Pork Tinga Tacos
Ingredients
- 3 lb pork shoulder or butt
- 6 oz Mexican chorizo , click link for our easy homemade chorizo!
- 1 large white onion
- 3 cloves garlic minced
- 15 ounce can petite diced tomatoes , do not drain
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 3 bay leaves
- 3 chipotles en adobo , chopped
- 8 corn or flour tortillas , or tostadas
- diced tomatoes and avocados for serving
- sour cream for serving
Instructions
- Place the pork roast in the slow cooker along with all the ingredients except for the chorizo. Heat a skillet on medium-high heat and brown the chorizo, breaking up the lumps. Add the chorizo to the slow-cooker. Stir the slow-cooker ingredients to combine and ladle some of the sauce on top of the pork roast. Set the the slow-cooker on the LOW setting and cook for 8 hours or until the majority of the liquid has evaporated and you're left with a thick sauce.Remove the pork roast and set on a plate. Using two forks, shred the pork. Place the shredded pork in a large bowl. Add the sauce from the slow cooker and stir to thoroughly combine.
- Serve as a filling for tacos, burritos, tortas, or on tostadas, along with diced tomatoes, avocados, sour cream, and any other toppings you enjoy.
Nutrition
Originally published on The Daring Gourmet February 19, 2013
Hi, I’m Kimberly Killebrew and welcome to Daring Gourmet where you'll find delicious originals, revitalized classics, and simply downright good eats from around the world! Originally from Germany, later raised in England, world-traveled, and now living in the U.S., from my globally-influenced kitchen I invite you to tour the world through your taste buds!
Mine turned out very runny, am I supposed to cook it with or without the crock pot lid on? I ended up taking the sauce out and boiling it down on the stove.
Hi Justin, yes there will be runny liquid in it unless you thicken it with something like flour or cornstarch. What most people do is just spoon the pulled pork out and leave the liquid in the crockpot.
It was very good. I ended up just boiling the liquid down about 30% on the stove. It also allowed me to spoon off the grease/fat that rose to the surface.
Made some New Mexican sopapillas to go with it, it was even better stuffing the pork into the sopapilla and eating it.
That sounds awesome, Justin, thanks for the feedback!
If a taco is not runny then it is not a good taco ;)
This is also great if you can smoke the butt with a nice spicy rub. :)
Definitely, Joy!
Hello ,avid cook n gardener ,would like ta send you some heirloom chilis ,Machaca crock pot pork butt ,simple recipe, onion carrot celery sage sauted w any spicy chil in olive oil add to pot sear boneless pork few minutes add to pot w juices add some liquid and knorr beef cube ,cook on high about 4 hours cool rerig next day cut and pull one inch by half inch pieces cut white onion half the amt. cut pablano sameso as to have equal amounts of combined vegies and meat like one cup meat half cup onion half cup pablano all same size . one hot skilles few table spoons oil veg , not canola it is a GMO , have another heated pan to crisp the burrito ,place meat in very hot pan not to close to each other crisp one side remove ,add onion and peppers add a serrano for heat , stir fry till aldente add meat crack an egg in it stir egg is the glue ,season make large burrito add it to other hot pan to toast flap side down remove use tapatio hot sauce or any non vinegar based sauce enjoy great for breakfast lunch dinner .sides use your head !!!
Hi, is sugar required? It’s in the instructions, but not the ingredient list. Thanksb
Hi Brad, that’s a great question! I’m not sure! :) It’s been a while since I made these and I can’t remember whether I added sugar. I’ll have to go back and find my original hand-scrawled recipe with my notes from when I first developed this dish. If I did add sugar to it, it won’t be more than a teaspoon – it’s just to help balance the spicy flavors. It’s going to be delicious either way, but I’d say go ahead and add 1/2 teaspoon or so. Happy cooking!
Just started reading this blog and cannot wait to try some of your insanely-fabulous looking recipes. Do you think this would work with subbing chicken for pork?
Hello and welcome! I’m excited for your feedback once you’ve had the chance to try some! Using chicken – sure, I don’t see why not. You may need peek into the slow cooker occasionally to see if you need to add a little more liquid since chicken is much leaner.
Sweet mercy that looks delicious!
Thanks, Whitney! :) I hope you give it a try – you’re gonna love it!
Mexican food is a weakness of mine.
Ohhhhh, mine too!
Made this for dinner tonight. Delicious! (I finally used my home made Daring Gourmet Chorizo!) Thank you.
Fantastic! So glad you made it, Susan, and that it was a hit! :)
Kimberly, thank you for linking this in to Food on Friday. We have got a super collection of Mexican dishes. I hope you have stopped by some of the other links to check them out!
Ps I have just signed up to follow your blog. A follow back to Carole’s Chatter would be wonderful – or have you already followed? Cheers
Ps If you would like email reminders of future Food on Fridays, just pop by and comment and include your email – I won’t publish it – and the reminder will be by bcc so it will remain private
Hi there. The current Food on Friday on Carole’s Chatter is collecting links to posts about Mexican dishes and flavours. I do hope you link this one in. This is the link . Please do pop back to check out some of the other links – there are a lot of good ones already. Have a great week.
Done! Thanks for visiting and for the invite.
Good morning, Kimberly! I don’t often “blog”, but I just had to let you know how wonderful this recipe is! We had a family game night, and I made tiny tacos with this as an appetizer. At one point, they left the game and were gathered around the kitchen. Couldn’t get enough. This tastes so authentic and satisfying. Thank you so much for sharing and I can’t wait to see what is next!
I’m so happy to hear that, Michelle! I appreciate your feedback. Thank you for your kind words and compliments and I hope that whatever you make next from The Daring Gourmet will be just as successful!
Kimberly