Filipino Chicken Adobo is the national dish of the Philippines and may well become your new favourite Asian chicken dish! Just a few everyday ingredients I can practically guarantee you already have, it’s an effortless recipe that yields juicy, tender chicken coated in a sweet savoury glaze with little pops of heat from peppercorns.
This is a chicken thigh recipe and it MUST be made with thighs – no substituting with chicken breast!
Filipino Chicken Adobo
Filipino Chicken Adobo is one of the first chicken thigh recipes I shared way back in 2015 when I started this website. Back then, I boldly stated that this was my new favourite Asian chicken recipe even it was thoroughly disloyal of me to say that, being of Japanese background and all (Teriyaki, Karaage and Yakitori….to name a few….).
To be honest, I may have embellished a wee bit. Blinded by the excitement of discovering Chicken Adobo, how unbelievably easy it is for a dish that yields such incredible flavour,
Check out how sticky the sauce is! It truly tastes as incredible as it looks. And it’s SO EASY with just a HANDFUL of ingredients!
What you need
Filipino Chicken Adobo is the national dish of the Philippines and like all traditional dishes, there are many variations – including using different proteins like pork and beef.
Fundamentally though, the key is the right balance of soy sauce, vinegar, black peppercorns and sugar that creates an incredibly sticky glaze with a depth of flavour like it’s been slow cooked – but it’s not!
boneless skinless chicken thighs – cannot substitute with breast, need the fat to transform sauce into a glaze;
soy sauce – all purpose or light soy sauce. NOT dark soy sauce (bottle will be labelled as such if it’s dark soy sauce);
white vinegar – just everyday, plain white vinegar. Sub with any clear vinegar, including rice wine, apple cider, sherry vinegar. Vinegars can vary in their acidity, so if using substitutes start with less (see recipe notes);
onion and garlic;
peppercorns – or coarse cracked pepper;
sugar – brown best, white ok;
bay leaves – fresh or dried, not the end of the world if you don’t have; and
green onion – optional garnish
How to make Filipino Chicken Adobo
And here’s how to make it. Basically, you marinate the chicken briefly, sear the chicken, then simmer it in the pan with the marinade for 25 minutes. It will look watery right up until the last few minutes, then all of a sudden, the liquid transforms magically into a syrupy glaze!
What Chicken Adobo tastes like
The glaze of Filipino Chicken Adobo is savoury and sweet with a hint of tang, with a distinct soy flavour. The garlic and onion creates a savoury base along with the bay leaves, and the peppercorns add little subtle pops of heat.
Don’t be afraid of the peppercorns in this! The spiciness is tempered from both the cooking time and the strength of the flavour of the sauce so it becomes a flavour enhancer rather than fiery spiciness.
And finally, the chicken itself. It’s incredibly tender, owing to the cook time. Chicken thighs only take about 6 to 8 minutes to cook on the stove, so simmering them in sauce for 25 minutes yields thighs that are so tender inside, it’s like you’ve slow cooked them for hours.
What to serve with Chicken Adobo
Rice to soak up the sauce is essential! Though if you’re counting calories, I can highly recommend Cauliflower Rice – pictured in the first photo in the post alongside Smashed Cucumbers for a seriously delicious dinner plate clocking in at a grand total of just 415 calories.
You may not use all the sauce this Filipino Chicken Adobo recipe makes. It is quite strong, so have a taste before dousing your entire plate with it.
As you can see in the photos, I do not hold back. 😂 – Nagi x
PS If you do have leftover sauce, don’t throw it out! That stuff is GOLD. I use it to make Filipino Chicken Adobo fried rice – just fry up cooked rice with chopped up pieces of this chicken, some chopped Asian greens and the sauce. The sauce is so flavoursome that you don’t need anything else!
Watch how to make it
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Filipino Chicken Adobo (Flavour Kapow!)
Ingredients
Chicken and Marinade
- 750g / 1.5 lb chicken thigh fillets , boneless and skinless (5 – 6 pieces) (Note 1)
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1/3 cup (85ml) soy sauce , ordinary all purpose or light (not dark soy sauce, Note 2)
- 1/3 cup + 2 tbsp white vinegar , see Note 3
- 4 bay leaves (fresh) or 3 dried
For cooking
- 2 tbsp oil , separated (vegetable, canola or peanut)
- 3 garlic cloves , minced
- 1 small brown onion , diced
- 1 1/2 cups (375 ml) water
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tbsp whole black pepper (sub 2 tsp coarse cracked pepper)
Serving:
- 2 green onions/scallions , sliced (garnish)
Instructions
- Combine Chicken and Marinade ingredients in a bowl. Marinate for at least 20 minutes, or up to overnight.
- Heat 1 tbsp oil in a skillet over high heat. Remove chicken from marinade (reserve marinade) and place in the pan. Sear both sides until browned – about 1 minute on each side. Do not cook the chicken all the way through.
- Remove chicken skillet and set aside.
- Heat the remaining oil in skillet. Add garlic and onion, cook 1 1/2 minutes.
- Add the reserved marinade, water, sugar and black pepper. Bring it to a simmer then turn heat down to medium high. Simmer 5 minutes.
- Add chicken smooth side down. Simmer uncovered for 20 to 25 minutes (no need to stir), turning chicken at around 15 minutes, until the sauce reduces down to a thick jam-like syrup.
- If the sauce isn't thick enough, remove chicken onto a plate and let the sauce simmer by itself – it will thicken much quicker – then return chicken to the skillet to coat in the glaze.
- Coat chicken in glaze then serve over rice. Pictured in post as a healthy dinner plate (415 calories) with cauliflower rice and Ginger Smashed Cucumbers.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published February 2015. Updated January 2019 with brand new photos, step photos, video and most importantly, Life of Dozer section added!!
Life of Dozer
Dozer started 2019 the same way as he finished it – in the POOL!!
Loved it!
WOW! This was delicious and flavorful! Would make it again!
Hi Nagi,
Spot on chicken adobo recipe. It’s perfect, wouldn’t change a thing. Next I’m going to try the ginger smashed cucumber! Thank you for your recipe!
Chuck
I enjoyed this recipe. It had so much flavor and the chicken was very tender. The only thing I didn’t like was the peppercorns. I highly highly recommend using ground pepper. Even after cooking it for the allotted time (even adding 15 minutes to it), the pepper is hard. It ruins the meal to bite into hard, spicy peppercorns.
I love the peppercorns in the finished sauce! I find they get soft enough to easily eat, and they add a nice peppery pop. Once again proof that we all have different tastes. lol
Delicious flavor, but not enough fat on the chicken thigh to thicken the sauce. Been simmering for over an hour haha. If it takes this long, consider adding cornstarch.
Ohman!!! I cooked this and it was sooooo goooooood!!!!! 😋😋😋 Thank you for this recipe!!! My husband love it so much!!! 😍
Kapow is RIGHT Nagi!! Holy smokes, what a knock-out flavor – and perfect texture of those usually tough areas of thighs! I made a reduction!! I’m not an experienced cook, and you showed me how to do it! Next time, I may reduce the amount of peppercorns, BUT! they were so complex and aromatic in flavor – I was impressed and intrigued by how much they added. Thank you, Nagi! 🙏
Hi Lynn…so glad you enjoyed it! N x
My significant other loves chicken adobo that his family made when he was younger. I never had it and wanted to make it for him. He sent me this recipe and I laughed; I was like: “That’s Nagi! It will be great!’ lol. Aaaaand it was! Thank you!
Absolutely delicious! Seared the chicken then put everything in slow cooker on low for 6 hours. Thickened the sauce with cornstarch at the end. Used a little bit less water and sugar than called for. Looked exactly like the picture. Will make this again – am going to do same recipe with pork next week!
So glad you enjoyed it, Alison! N x
It was different and I liked it!!! I did add the five spices Asian blend seasoning and a little more sugar. I made this with fried rice and my family liked it!
So glad you enjoyed it Carlla! N x
What kind of changes do I need to make if I wanna keep the skin on the chicken? I’ve been cooking this with chicken midjoint wings and my husband is starting to complain about the bones. 😅
It’s the best adobo recipe I’ve tried btw!
it was my first time cooking chicken adobo. it tastes great! thank you for the recipe ♡
If I wanted to double the amount of chicken, what adjustments would I make to cooking? I can adjust the ingredients but am unsure about changing the rest. 2 pans?
I cooked it for my little 10yr old niece. We have a new favourite, she loved it.
What an AWESOME dish!! The chicken is soooo moist & flavoursome.
Next time I’m going to make another batch of just the sauce so that I’ll have leftover sauce to have with the leftover rice 🙂
Oh yes! Love the sauce!! N x
My father in law taught me to make chicken adobo, but the vinegar and soy sauce were added until the smell was right. This worked for years until I began losing my sense of smell and I kept over doing the vinegar. Finally, your recipe has me back in my families good graces – thanks!!!
Oh! So glad I could help! N x
Excellent recipe! So easy to make and so delicious. Tq Nagi.
Followed the recipe, with the exception of using half the amount of chicken. That gave me a nice ratio of sauce to meat. Had the chicken with rice and steamed broccoli, with the delicious sauce on everything! So easy to make and had everything needed on hand.
In no way does the sauce become jelly! There’s no chemical reason it would either. This part seems to misinform
Nagi says to reduce to a thick jam-like syrup. She doesn’t say she is making jelly.
Jelly?
BOOOM its a winner!!!….Bonus is…. its so easy to cook & can be precooked…with the pepper I’d do half whole pepper corms & the other amount smashed into the recipe A+++++++++++
Made this tonight exactly as written and it was delicious! Definitely a keeper.
Wahoo, that’s awesome Wade!! N x