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Chicken Adobo

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Chicken Adobo - crazy delicious Filipino Chicken Adobo recipe made in one pot. Chicken Abodo is a perfect dinner for the entire family.

Chicken Adobo - crazy delicious Filipino chicken adobo recipe made in one pot. Chicken Abodo is an easy dinner for the entire family | rasamalaysia.com

Homemade Filipino Chicken Adobo recipe made in one pot.

What is Chicken Adobo?

Chicken Adobo is a slow-cooked Filipino chicken dish that is well loved by many people.

There is nothing not to love about tender, moist, fall-off-the-bone and delicious chicken cooked with a few adobo ingredients. It can be made in one pot, pan, skillet, slow cooker or Instant Pot.

Adobo

This recipe is adapted from Burnt Lumpia‘s cookbook: The Adobo Road Cookbook.

It’s a super easy and authentic adobo recipe but yields delicious and amazing results. The adobo seasonings consist of soy sauce and Filipino white cane sugar vinegar. You can also used distilled white vinegar.

How do you make Chicken Adobo Filipino style?

How Do You Make The Best and Authentic Adobo?

  • Brown the chicken thighs underneath the broiler for 3–5 minutes
  • Use freshly ground black pepper instead of whole peppercorns.
  • Reduce the sauce until it is almost completely evaporated and the chicken will then begin to fry in its own fat.
  • For make more adobo sauce, double the amount of soy sauce and vinegar.

Chicken adobo makes a perfect dish for weeknight dinner as the cooking process is so easy. I just love it that everything gets done in one pot and the ingredients are everyday ingredients that you can get easily in any store.

There is no need to marinate the chicken; the chicken soaks up the Adobo sauce while cooking in the pan.

You can also make it with a slow cooker or crock pot chicken adobo (click to check out my recipe). This recipe is amazing, so try it. Happy cooking!

Adobo - a popular cooking style in the Philippines with pork or chicken.

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Chicken Adobo Recipe

Chicken Adobo - crazy delicious Filipino chicken adobo recipe made in one pot. Chicken Abodo is an easy dinner for the entire family.

Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 50 minutes
Servings 6
Calories 251 kcal

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup 65 ml soy sauce
  • 1/2 cup 125 ml white Filipino cane vinegar, or distilled white vinegar
  • 6-8 cloves garlic smashed with the side of a knife and peeled
  • 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 6 skin-on bone-in chicken thighs
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Instructions

  1. Place the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, black peppercorns, and bay leaves in a large, nonreactive sauté pan, and then nestle the chicken thighs, skin side down, into the pan. Bring the liquid to a boil over high heat, and then cover and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Turn the chicken over, and then cover and simmer for another 10 minutes.
  2. Uncover the pan, and then increase the heat to high and return the sauce to a boil. While occasionally turning and basting the chicken, continue boiling the sauce, uncovered, until it is reduced by half and thickens slightly, 5–7 minutes. Serve with steamed white rice.

Recipe Notes

While the sauce is reducing, transfer the chicken thighs, skin side up, to a foil-lined sheet pan. Brown the chicken thighs underneath the broiler for 3–5 minutes. Use freshly ground black pepper instead of whole peppercorns. For a “drier” chicken adobo, you can reduce the sauce until it is almost completely evaporated. The chicken will then begin to fry in its own fat that is still left in the pan. This is how my grandmother finishes her adobo. For a saucier adobo, double the amount of soy sauce and vinegar. To make this adobo as an appetizer, use 2 lbs (1 kg) of chicken wings instead of thighs. For a saucier adobo, double the amount of soy sauce and vinegar. To make this adobo as an appetizer, use 2 lbs (1 kg) of chicken wings instead of thighs.

Nutrition Facts
Chicken Adobo Recipe
Amount Per Serving (6 g)
Calories 251 Calories from Fat 169
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 18.8g 29%
Saturated Fat 6.8g 34%
Cholesterol 98mg 33%
Sodium 671mg 28%
Total Carbohydrates 2.2g 1%
Dietary Fiber 0.2g 1%
Sugars 0.3g
Protein 17.7g 35%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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50 COMMENTS... read them below or add one

  2. Filipino food rocks in Marvin’s new cookbook The Adobo Road! I have interviewed Marvin for a feature article I wrote and have been an avid follower of his blog. He’s one of the nicest Filipino food bloggers around and I’m so proud of him and his beautiful cookbook! Congrats, Marvin. Thanks for sharing this favorite chicken adobo recipe, Bee!

    Reply

  5. This is the recipe I use, except that I add a little bit of sugar. It caramelizes the skin when you broil/fry the chicken.

    Reply

  7. Wow, this recipe is much more simple than I thought. I’ve had Chicken Adobo but didn’t realize it was something I could actually cook, I’m very excited!

    Reply

  8. There are several recipes for adobo. I cook it differently from my mother, my aunts and friends. I use some ingredients they do not use.
    I think adobo is a recipe with personal touch. They like mine.

    Reply

    • I like to add about a Tbsp of good patis or nuoc mam (fish sauce) and about a Tbsp of sugar (brown, if you have it; if you don’t, white sugar works fine). Sometimes, I also like to add a little heat: a seeded finely minced jalapeno or two or 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or more to taste.

      Reply

  11. My Filipino maid cooked it the Filipino way but I taught her the Chinese way to sauté them well with some oil only then add in some water. After that her Adobo is so yummy, she was so happy !!

    Reply

  15. This looks outstandingly mouth watering treat.. I am one from a list of Catering companies in Mumbai and I really appreciate this one …

    Reply

  17. Just a note that regular soy sauce (Kikkoman, etc) is very different to Filipino soy sauce, and using it makes it taste a bit differently compared to traditional Filipino adobo. Filipino toyo (Datu Puti, Silver Swan, Marca Pina) has a thinner consistency and is saltier.

    Reply

  18. Aloha Rasa,

    again your site intrigues and captivates me to try from your collection. again being a melange of ethnicities as most in Hawaii, we call it being “Chop Suey” or “Poi Dog” and Hapa…but whatever the term being a mix of Chinese, FIlipino, Portuguese ,Japanese, Hawaiian, Dutch and Spanish. We locals have acquired a wide pallet of tastes and truly enjoy a plethora of “Good Eats” Since our Filipino family had left the P.I. no Pinoy Vinegar/Sukang like Coconut or Palm vinegar being available , it has become a alternative choice with great success to use Organic Apple cider Vinegar with the Mother unfiltered like Bragg’s or now their our other brands on the market too. the inclusion of the Mother gives you the full benefit and alkalizing nature of vinegar and their is a sweetness and umami with Apple cider vinegar that gives it a tang and sweetness that definitely White Vinegar(too medicinal) and P.I. Vinegar can be inconsistent in strength. So try it with Cider Vinegar and Cut back a teaspoon or so. to recipe. Every Region(visayan,Illocano, Tagalog) all have their own interpretation of Adobo and even from island to Island and city to city barrio to barrio to house to house even family to family. It becomes a personal signature and a taste all Filipino’s think their version is the Best…LOL! maybe hubris but each person and Ohana will choose and prepare to their acquired taste. some use coconut milk, sugar,,,,(not my family this is Blasphemy. We add propriety spices that go beyond the basic, Shoyu, Vinegar, Pepper corns and Bayleaf. but Those are family secrets…;-) maybe one day I’ll start a blog…

    Reply

  19. I was raised in the Philippines and Adobo was one of my favorite dishes, right after Lumpia. I remember it being made with pork as well as chicken. As has been mentioned above, there are many different ways to make Adobo, and the way I remember was that Adobo day meant that the pot was cooking all day long and the smell would permeate the house. I didn’t know that it could be cooked as quickly as in your recipe, which I am going to try. There is only one way to make Adobo properly, . . . . . . and that is to do it the way that you and your family like it best.

    Reply

  20. Hi Rasa,
    I need to cook this for party of 50. Do I just have to multiply the ingredients by 8?
    Example, instead of 1/4 cup of soy sauce, I would use 2 cups?

    Reply

  21. This recipe calls for too much vinegar. Instead of one part soy sauce to two parts vinegar I’d do two parts soy one part vinegar. I’m half Filipino and grew up in the Philippines. This is not how I remember it tasting.

    Reply

  22. Thank you very much for the recipe. I followed all the directions closely and it turned out amazing. I only added a few fresh and slices pepper (medium hot) at the last few minutes. It is the best chiken I have tasted that is cooked by me.
    Sarah S

    Reply

  23. Wow this is crazy good. I’d never had adobo before but thought I’d give it a shot. It is so good I was drinking the sauce with a spoon after dinner. This will become a regular dish. For the record I added about one TBSP of sugar to the sauce, and broiled the chicken at the end to crisp it up.

    Reply

  24. Instead of fresh garlic, can I use frozen crushed garlic? Also, can apple cider vinegar be substituted for distilled white vinegar? Thanks.

    Reply

  25. I made this today (I never had Chicken Adobo before) and it was delicious! After I cooked the chicken top and bottom, I removed the chicken to put in broiler for 5 minutes while I reduced the sauce. It was excellent! Thank you for this very easy version of this recipe!

    Reply

  26. Hello, I’m of Filipino descent (5th gen). I had many Adobo’s before, but I was wondering where did it all started. What was the Original Adobo? During my research the most common adobo with Soy sauce was part of the Chinese influence. But this incudes the Hindu influence in Adobo sa Dilaw — yellow adobo sometimes they call it Curry chicken, also the Spanish influence in Adobo sa Pula — Red Adobo when red achiote paste from Mexico was added and lastly the European addition which added Balsamic vinegar and rosemary to the list of ingredients. While different sections and regions of the Philippines added their own touch like coconut milk (which I use – to pay homage to my descendants from the visayan region of the PI) some add tomatoes, Pineapples… and the list goes on. But, the Original Adobo called white adobo was very simple: Vinegar, water, Bay leaf, peppercorns & garlic and ginger (well maybe not ginger & garlic) and salt…. Just thought I add this comment in.

    Reply

  28. Hi! I chanced upon your page in Pinterest. We also add ginger or atsuete oil (made from atsuete seeds fried in canola oil or olive oil). I wanted to share that in Silay City, Negros Occidental, Philippines, there is an annual adobo festival. From what I know, it’s actually Chicken Pork Adobo.(CPA) and not just chicken unless one is avoiding pork. The fat from the pork makes it tastier. Here is the link to the write up about the 19th Adobo Festival last Nov. 3-11, 2018 -> https://www.sunstar.com.ph/article/1759516.

    Reply

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