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Say what. Tinga bowl with shredded hearts of palm, quick spicy chickpeas, spanish rice and other fixins. Tons of chipotle pepper usage.
Tinga dish is shredded meat (chicken) slow cooked in a spicy red chipotle sauce and usually served in tostados, tacos or tortilla. To make a vegan version, I use shredded hearts of palm! Instead of adding it to tostadas or tacos, I made a bowl with it. Paired with spicy chickpeas roasted in a pan, some Spanish rice, salt and pepper corn, salsa and vegan sour cream.
Each of the elements of this bowl are bursting with a ton of flavor. It seems like many things, but it takes about 15 -20 minutes working in parallel. I started up the tinga sauce and spanish rice, then made the chickpeas. Use pre-made salsa and sour cream. Make all of bowl ingredients, or make just the hearts of palm tinga and serve as tacos or tostada with your favorite toppings. Or use refried beans, guacamole and plain rice in the bowl. Easy, spicy and delicious!
Hearts of palm are not necessarily the same tree as the palm tree used for palm oil. They are also called swamp cabbage and the multi stem palms (some are also grown in florida) from which they are harvested need not be destroyed during harvesting. Please use brands from the US or sustainable labeled from South America. Or use shredded jackfruit or soy curls.
Make some for Cinco De mayo!
More Cinco De mayo recipes
- Pulled Butternut Squash Tacos. Vegan Glutenfree Recipe
- Almond Crusted Cauliflower with Nacho Cheese Sauce
- Smoky Lentil and Sweet Potato Tacos. Vegan Recipe
- Vegan Nachos with Nut-free Nacho Cheese
- Chickpea Cauliflower Tacos with gluten-free tortilla flatbread.Â
- my Cinco de mayo round up here. and see this Vegan roundup on Buzzfeed! loads of ideas.
Look at that fantastic hearts of palm tinga.
If you are in Canada, check out Eat Grain for local chickpeas, canadian grown quinoa and other grains! Farm direct dry goods with a story. They might be available in the US as well in the future.
Steps:
Make the spicy tinga sauce.
Add shredded hearts of palm and cook until tender and flavorful.
Saute the chickpeas with spices and some tinga sauce until heated through and dry.
Make spanish rice or use plain brown rice.
Layer the bowl with everything. sprinkle salt, pepper and vegan sour cream or guacamole. Serve!
Vegan Tinga bowl with Hearts of Palm, Chickpeas, Spanish Rice

Ingredients
For the Tinga sauce Hearts of palms
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/2 medium white onion
- 5 cloves of garlic, divded, 1 clove chopped
- 2 ripe tomatoes
- 2 chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/4 tsp thyme
- 1/2 tsp ancho chili powder, optional, use paprika instead
- 1/3 tsp salt or to taste
- 14 oz can of hearts of palm, drained, washed and chopped or shredded
For the spicy Chickpeas:
- 15 oz can chickpeas
- 1 tsp oil
- 1/3 tsp salt or to taste
- 1/4 tsp oregano
- 1/2 tsp ancho chile or chipotle chili powder
- 1/2 tsp cumin powder
- 2 tbsp tinga sauce
Other bowl contents
- 1 recipe Spanish rice, I made the recipe with brown rice for this bowl salsa corn, cilantro, spinach or lettuce
- salsa, corn, cilantro, spinach or lettuce
- vegan sour cream , or cashew sour cream, or or nacho cheese sauce or guacamole
- salt, pepper, lemon juice as needed
Instructions
- Make the tinga sauce: Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add onions and 1 clove of garlic and a pinch of salt. Mix and cook until translucent. About 5 minutes. Stir occasionally.
- Blend the tomato, chipotle chili pepper, rest of the garlic, oregano, thyme, ancho chili powder and blend until well pureed. Add the blend to the skillet and cook for 4 to 5 minutes or until it thickens and the garlic smells cooked. Reserve 2 tbsp of the sauce for the chickpeas.
- Add shredded hearts of palm, salt and 1/4 cup water to the skillet, mix, cover and cook for 6 to 7 minutes, Stir once in between. Taste and adjust salt and spice.
- Make the chickpeas. Add oil to a skillet over medium heat. Add drained chickpeas and toss. Add salt, spices and toss well to coat. Add the 2 tbsp tinga sauce, mix, cover and cook for 4 to 5 minutes until the chickpeas soften and sauce dries out and sticks to the chickpeas. Taste and just salt and spice. Add a dash of lemon juice, toss and add to the serving bowl. Or use re-fried beans instead.
- Prepare the spanish rice or plain brown rice. Prepare salsa and corn. Toast the corn on a skillet if needed and toss with salt and pepper. (optional)
- Layer the bowl as you like with greens/lettuce, tinga hearts of palm, spiced chickpeas, rice, salsa and corn. Dress with vegan sour cream or guacamole. Serve!
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
This was amazing! I was worried because I kept adding 1/2 tsp. of chili powder at each step and I thought it was going to be over-chili-fied. I should know better with your spice acumen that it woudl be perfect. The rice was scrumptious on its own. We dressed the spinach with a little olive and lemon. Layered everything just like you did in the picture. Didn’t have hearts of palm so used zucchini as you suggested – was great! We put peas and carrots in the center because we don’t eat corn. Couldn’t wait until cashew sour cream was made because everything tasted so incredible as it was. Put some avocado slices on the top. That Tinga sauce was so scrumptious that it trumped any need for salsa. I think Tinga sauce may be our new sub for salsa. Wow – times 10!
Awesome!! so glad it turned out great!
Made your Tinga sauce but left it raw and drained it through a sieve. Then put thick part of sauce in sieve over zoodles (zucchini noodles) – gorgeous! Replaced the chilis in adobo sauce with a slice of serrano pepper. Not sure if works for others. That is one lovely sauce. Thanks:)
Awesome! also try the chipotle peppers once or try with dry chipotle powder. it has a beautiful smoky flavor!
Fantastic idea…thanks!
This bowl is so delicious and spicy, but everything works well with a helping of avocado. I am going to put that tinga sauce on everything now.
Gorgeous! Many years back while visiting Costa Rica, a guide that was taking us thru a jungle like area took his big knife out and cut us off a bit of fresh palm to taste. It was so delicious. Nothing like the typical hearts of palm that come marinated in vinegar and salt. So fresh. Such a treat, and great to wake up to what real fresh local flavors taste like! Happy Cinco. ~Tracy