Tangy, smoky, and a little spicy with fall-off-the-bone tender meat that is juicy and full of flavor – our chicken tinga wings are a good twist on chicken wings right from your slow cooker!

We love making these for the big game, tailgating, parties, and picnics!

At Avdaye, we add lots of tips in all of our recipes – because we are a home cook without any formal training, and we find we are more confident making dishes when we understand why it works, and what each ingredient means to the flavor of a recipe. Our goal is for even the most beginner home cook to feel empowered in the kitchen.

Slow Cooker Chicken Tinga Chicken Wings

Chicken wings in the slow cooker are good and easy – they are incredibly soft and tender, and you can pop them under the broiler at the end of cook time using our method to give a bit of crispy crunch, making them the solid texture for the best easy chicken wings!

Tinga sauce is one of our favorite sauces to serve with chicken – it is tangy and zippy, but rich – full of flavor thanks to a rich base from tomatoes, chipotle chilis in adobo, and sliced onions.

Tinga is a traditional Mexican sauce from Puebla, and also has lots of oregano, Bay leaf, and thyme – as well as piloncillo sugar, if it is made traditionally. For this recipe, you can use your own favorite tinga sauce preparation (we use our friend Yvette's chicken tinga recipe to make our own sauce), or use a pre-made tinga sauce.

bookmark our Easy Homemade Blue Cheese Dip Recipe to whip up to serve with these wings!

How To Make Slow Cooker Tinga Chicken Wings

To make this recipe, we will need the following ingredients:

2 pounds chicken wings: The main protein in the dish, becoming tender and juicy during slow cooking. The wings absorb the tinga sauce, making each bite flavorful.
1 cup tinga sauce: A smoky, spicy, and slightly tangy sauce made from tomatoes, chipotle peppers, onions, garlic, and spices. It provides bold and complex flavors with a hint of heat.
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil: Adds richness and helps the wings brown slightly. The olive oil also ensures the tinga sauce clings to the wings and enhances the overall texture.

Add a bit of olive oil to the bottom of a slow cooker.
Place wings in slow cooker.
Add tinga sauce and toss to cover wings completely.
Place lid on slow cooker and set to high, cook for two hours (cook four hours on low, or if your wings are still frozen).
When chicken is done, remove from slow cooker and place on baking sheet lined with nonstick foil or parchment paper and place under broiler set to high for 4-5 minutes, then flip and broil other side, to give a light crunch.
Serve with crema, guacamole, ranch, blue cheese, and vegetables.

Kitchen notes

You can make these wings with still-frozen chicken – while we prefer to make this recipe with fresh chicken wings, if you've forgotten to thaw, toss the frozen wings in the slow cooker, toss in sauce, and double the cooktime (so four hours total, on high) until the wing meat is fall off the bone tender.

To trim your own chicken wings from the grocery store, use a heavy knife to cut wings into three pieces – the flat, the drummette, and the tip. You'll want to feel for the joint of the wing with your knife, and press into the joint with weight, and it will easily cut through. We discard the wing tips, as they do not provide much meat.

A few answers

What is tinga sauce?

Tinga is a Mexican sauce made from tomatoes, chipotle chilis in adobo, and sliced onions. It is lightly acidic and a bit tart from the tomatoes, a little smoky from the adobo, a little spicy from the chipotle chilis, and rich and balanced with umami from the onion.

We like using this recipe for tinga sauce – or you can buy tinga sauce pre-made.

When are chicken wings cooked?

Chicken wings are cooked when the internal temperature is over 175 degrees. We will be cooking these chicken wings in the slow cooker past 175 degrees, and will instead aim for four hours, when the chicken meat is tender, pulls easily from the bone, and has reduced in size.

What setting to cook chicken wings in slow cooker?

We prefer cooking chicken wings on high for two hours.

Can we use frozen chicken?

You can use frozen chicken in slow cooker chicken wing recipes – double the cook-time.

How can we make slow cooker wings crunchy?

We like to pop slow cooker wings under the broiler for a few minutes after cooking to crisp them up for the best texture. Be careful to not burn the wings, but also broil at the highest temperature possible to let the skin crisp.

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Ingredients

2 pounds chicken wings
1 cup tinga sauce
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Method

Add a bit of olive oil to the bottom of a slow cooker.
Place wings in slow cooker.
Add tinga sauce and toss to cover wings completely.
Place lid on slow cooker and set to high, cook for two hours (cook four hours on low, or if your wings are still frozen).
When chicken is done, remove from slow cooker and place on baking sheet lined with nonstick foil or parchment paper and place under broiler set to high for 4-5 minutes, then flip and broil other side, to give a light crunch.
Serve with crema, guacamole, ranch, blue cheese, and vegetables.