In these chickpea tinga tostadadillas, chickpeas are cooked in a homemade Mexican tinga sauce, lightly mashed, and used as a topping for tinga-spiced tostadadillas. Tostadadillas are a mash-up of tostadas and quesadillas: small corn or flour tortillas are baked until crispy, layered with shredded cheese, and topped with tinga spices, then baked again until the cheese has melted. The finished tostadadillas are topped off with guacamole and creamy cashew sauce for the perfect vegan or vegetarian Mexican-themed Meatless Monday!

overhead close up of a chickpea tinga tostadilla on a wooden tray

Starting off the week with panache thanks to these chickpea tinga tostadillas! Sharing it a little later than I would have liked (too late for you to enjoy it for Meatless Monday this week), but perhaps you can put it on your menu for taco Tuesday?!

I have seen a bunch of chicken tinga taco recipes circulating the internet in the last year or two, and I have become intrigued, never having heard of tinga sauce for my first two and a half decades of life. Have I been living under a rock? Anywho, I did a bit of research into what tinga sauce is, and learned that it is a Mexican tomato and chipotle-based sauce that’s typically seasoned with smoked paprika, oregano, and thyme.

And since Tieghan posted her tostadadilla recipe back in the winter, I wanted to come up with my own tostadadilla recipe. The two concepts- the tinga sauce and the tostadillas- converged into an idea a few weeks back, and that is how these chickpea tinga tostadillas came to be.

I will admit that these tostadadillas take a bit of time to prepare, so by all means, if time is in short supply, simply make the chickpea tinga and enjoy it as a taco filling or tostada topping. But I recommend going the extra mile and making the tostadadillas. Essentially, you make tostadas, and then add tinga spices and layer them with cheese in between two of the tostadas, like quesadillas. (Hence the name, tostadadillas.) You bake them for five minutes, until the cheese has melted, before topping them off with the chickpea tinga. Sounds complicated, but I can promise you that it’s easier than you might think.

overhead shot of Chickpea Tinga in a cast iron skillet

ingredients you’ll need

For the chickpea tinga, you’ll need extra virgin olive oil, onion, garlic, tomatoes, red pepper, chipotles in adobo sauce, sea salt, pepper, smoked paprika, oregano, thyme, sugar, red wine vinegar, and cooked chickpeas.
For the tinga seasoning, you’ll need garlic powder, oregano, thyme, smoked paprika, and sea salt.
For the tostadadillas, you’ll need small corn or flour tortillas, extra virgin olive oil, and Monterey Jack or cheddar cheese.
For the guacamole, you’ll need avocados, lime juice, sea salt, garlic, and cilantro.
For the cashew cream, you’ll need cashews, water, lime juice and zest, honey, garlic, and sea salt.
For garnish, you’ll need radishes and pickled jalapeños (optional).

overhead shot of the tinga seasoning

overhead shot of the Tinga-spiced tostadadillas before being topped off with the chickpea mixture

grated cheese on top of the tortillas

overhead shot of the tostadilla all ready to be topped off with Chickpea Tinga

the method

Make the chickpea tinga: Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it shimmers, add the onion, garlic, and a small pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for ten minutes. Add the red pepper, salt, pepper, and spices; cook a few minutes more, until the pepper is softened.

Add the diced tomato, chipotles, and adobo sauce to an upright blender and blend until smooth. Pour into the skillet. Add the sugar and chickpeas and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, so that the flavours can blend and the sauce can thicken up. Remove from the heat. Using a potato masher, lightly mash the chickpeas so that some are broken up and some are left whole.

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Meanwhile, make the tinga seasoning: Combine the garlic powder, oregano, thyme, smoked paprika, and salt in a small bowl and stir to combine.

Make the tostadadillas: Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lightly brush both sides of each tortilla with extra virgin olive oil. Arrange them on two baking sheets, with as little overlap as possible so that they crisp up optimally. Bake for 8 minutes, flipping them over halfway through so that both sides get crispy. Remove from the oven and top four of the tortillas with the cheese, then top with the remaining tortillas. Sprinkle the top tortillas with the tinga seasoning and return to the oven for five minutes.

Meanwhile, make the guacamole and cashew sauce: To make the guacamole, mash the avocados. Stir in the lime juice, salt, garlic, and cilantro. To make the cashew sauce, combine the soaked cashews, water, lime juice and zest, honey, garlic, and salt in a blender. Blend until super smooth. Transfer into a jar or container.

Assemble: Evenly divide the chickpea tinga between the tostadadillas, top with cashew cream and guacamole, and enjoy with any garnishes you like.

While these don’t beg for a side salad (they are pretty darn satisfying on their own), they would be great alongside a Mexican-style cabbage slaw. I don’t have my own recipe posted, but I usually just shred half of a cabbage and some carrots in the food processor and toss it with a simple cumin lime dressing. The perfect cooling, palate cleansing counterpoint to this boldly flavoured and spiced tostadadillas!

overhead shot of the cashew cream sauce in a jar

overhead shot of the guacamole in a jar

overhead shot of the tostadadilla surrounded by guacamole, lime, and radishes

looking for more meatless Mexican recipes?

You might want to check these ones out!

Finally, I hope that you love these chickpea tinga tostadadillas! If you make them, let me know how you enjoyed them by leaving a comment and rating below the post. And if you share a photo to Instagram, tag it @upbeet.kitchen and #upbeetkitchen. I love seeing what you’ve made.

Enjoy!

Chickpea Tinga Tostadadillas

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Author: Allison
Total Time: 50 minutes
Yield: 4 servings 1x
Diet: Vegetarian

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Description

Ingredients

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Chickpea Tinga

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 large yellow onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, minced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
½ teaspoon sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 ½ teaspoons dried oregano
1 ½ teaspoons dried thyme
2 cups diced tomatoes
2 chipotle peppers + 2 tablespoons adobo sauce
1 tablespoon cane sugar
3 cups cooked chickpeas (or 2 14-oz cans, drained and rinsed)
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar

Tinga Seasoning

1 teaspoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon sea salt

Tostadadillas

8 small corn or flour tortillas
Extra virgin olive oil
1 cup shredded Monterey Jack or medium cheddar cheese

Guacamole

2 medium ripe avocados
Juice of 1–2 limes (to taste)
¼–½ teaspoon sea salt (to taste)
1 large garlic clove, minced
¼ cup fresh cilantro, finely chopped

Honey Lime Cashew Cream

1 cup raw cashews, soaked in boiling water for an hour and drained
½ cup water plus more as needed
Zest of 1 organic lime
2 tablespoons lime juice
1 tablespoon raw honey
1 large garlic clove
½ teaspoon sea salt

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Instructions

Make the chickpea tinga: Warm the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. When it shimmers, add the onion, garlic, and a small pinch of salt. Cook, stirring occasionally, for ten minutes, until the onion softens. Add the red pepper, salt, pepper, and spices; cook a few minutes more, until the pepper is softened.
Add the diced tomato, chipotles, and adobo sauce to an upright blender and blend until smooth. Pour into the skillet. Add the sugar and chickpeas and bring to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, so that the flavours can blend and the sauce can thicken up. Remove from the heat. Using a potato masher, lightly mash the chickpeas so that some are broken up and some are left whole. Stir in the red wine vinegar.
Meanwhile, make the tinga seasoning: Combine the garlic powder, oregano, thyme, smoked paprika, and salt in a small bowl and stir to combine.
Make the tostadadillas: Preheat the oven to 400 F. Lightly brush both sides of each tortilla with extra virgin olive oil. Arrange them on two baking sheets, with as little overlap as possible so that they crisp up optimally. Bake for 8 minutes, flipping them over halfway through so that both sides get crispy. Remove from the oven and top four of the tortillas with the cheese, then top with the remaining tortillas. Sprinkle the top tortillas with the tinga seasoning and return to the oven for five minutes.
Meanwhile, make the guacamole and cashew sauce: To make the guacamole, mash the avocados. Stir in the lime juice, salt, garlic, and cilantro. To make the cashew sauce, combine the soaked cashews, water, lime juice and zest, honey, garlic, and salt in a blender. Blend until super smooth. Transfer into a jar or container.
Assemble: Evenly divide the chickpea tinga between the tostadadillas, top with cashew cream and guacamole, and enjoy with any garnishes you like.

Notes

To make these vegan, use shredded vegan cheese and omit the honey in the cashew cream.

The guacamole and cashew cream make way more than you’re likely to need for garnishing, but store them in the fridge and enjoy them with chips the next day! Delish.

Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Category: Main Course

Thanks to the Ottawa Farm Fresh Summer Abundance CSA for providing the tomatoes used in today’s recipe!