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!!
I’m going to cook it today 🙂 I am excited hahah! I consulted the recipe with my friend from Philippines and she suggested adding a bit of ginger.
Yum, that would be a great addition ❤️
P,S,
I forgot to clarify that I used tamari to taste instead of the full amount of kikkoman and I omitted the onion.
I figured I already had aromatic flavors in the stock and my observations online seemed to paint the root ingredients as white or palm or coconut vinegar, soy sauce, water, LOTS of garlic, bay leaves, and whole black peppercorns.
Some added coconut milk, hot fresh chiles, sweeteners, onions, shallots, green onion garnish, and even tomatoes -it seems every Filipino island has its own version 🙂 Next time I will try with coconut milk instead of water (maybe still some water? have to taste) OR stock.
And you have a GREAT food blog 🙂 so happy google led me here.
-Laura
Yes, its true! We Filipinos from some of our islands have different versions of adobo. We have yellow adobo (with added turmeric on it); another would be red adobo (with anatto oil), white adobo (replace the soy sauce with fish sauce), etc.
Vegans would be delighted to know that some veggies could be cooked adobo style, too. Just cook first the sauce, then add the veggie (string beans or mushroom or morning glory, etc.).
Hey, hard boiled eggs could be cooked adobo style, too. Remove the shell before putting it in the simmering sauce.
The possibilities are endless!
Sounds delicious Laura!
Hi Nagi 🙂
I’ve been researching adobo chicken recipes for a day, and having never made it before, yours seems to have the perfect combo of simplicity, authenticity, and wonderful reviews. I made it as written, except I used apple cider vinegar (as it was what I had) and a very lightly salted homemade chicken stock instead of water and then tamari to taste (I am an umami addict), and it was WONDERFUL. Not like this could ever be bland, but if you have some stock you need to use up and watch the total salt taste it certainly works.
-Laura
Nagi I have a question. I have made this two times and it is outstandingly delicious!!! but when I start the meat from marinading stage to the pan with the oil I get a pool of liquid, not a searing of the meat. Do you mean for it to be pat dry? because like I said i get a pool of liquid and not a sear. I cooked the meat for the 25 minutes and it was fall apart tender but then I had to take the meat out and reduce the liquid for 25 more minutes. Please help!!! Still tastes outstanding and that glaze left over IS “”LIQUID GOLD”” 😀 for rice or?….
Hi Theresa, you don’t need to pat it dry but just try to shake off all the excess marinade before putting it in the frying pan so you get it searing rather than stewing – hope this helps, I’m so glad you love the flavour!
I’ve read and reread this recipe and it doesn’t say anywhere as to when you add the remaining ingredients??
Hi Can, which step are you up to? – N x
I made this tonight and it was a huge hit!! I served it with roasted Brussels sprouts and rice. Perfect!
I’m so glad you loved it Jen!
Hello!:) what brand of soy sauce did you use for this recipe? 🙂 thank you so much! 😉 looking forward to try this soon! 🙂
I use Kikkoman! N x
Hi Nagoya! I am trying this recipe tonight after having something similar at a friend’s dinner party. Her ex-wife husband is Filipino and she retained some techniques 🙂
Can you try this recipe with beef as well? If so, would you alter the recipie at all? I see some people mentioned trying pork but I’m wondering if it will work on other types of meat as well.
You can do it with either beef/pork/or chicken. My mom always made it with with pork!
I haven’t tried with either beef or pork, sorry Monique!
*Nagi
I was typing fast on a tablet and didn’t notice I misspelled your name!
Was searching for a quick chicken dinner recipe and I came across this. I made it and it came out sooo amazing. . I will definently make this again some time.
FANTASTIC!!! So glad you enjoyed this Kiana, thanks for letting me know! N x
Do you not flip it for 20-25 minutes? – so that the top can get glazed but then my other side is undercooked!
I’ve made this twice and it’s delicious! I see the best way for the sauce to thicken is to use chicken thigh. Any advice on how to get the sauce to thicken quicker with skinless chicken breast?
You can also try other versions of Adobo using coconut milk as the sauce base. Or tweak the main ingredient althogether, like using vegetables or using fish 😊 There are variations in this dish in different regions of the Philippines. ❤
Oooh! I didn’t realise, I would love to try this with coconut milk!!
Have made this twice now, the whole family loves it. Super delicious. Served with roasted green beans and your restaurant style coconut rice.
Have made your Honey Garlic Chicken twice this week!!! Once for company and last night for myself. Since I am an American southerner I made cheese grits with it last night to soak up that yummy sauce from the chicken! My next recipient to try will be the Chicken Adobo! Bless you for these wonderful treats!!!
I LOVE hearing that Blondie! Thanks so much for letting me know! N xx
Sounds delicious! I’m planning on making this tonight with about 4lbs of chicken. Would I just double the recipe? Thanks.
This is my favorite recipe so far. My husband and friends who have enjoyed this are wild about it. I can’t wait to try it with pork!
That looks absolutely delicious! And the thickened sauce. Oh my! I am so looking forward to this. Thank you 🙂
It is absolutely delicious! I have made this 6 times now and my friends get so excited when I anounce I can bring it again. It is easy and so tasty. If you are lucky enough to have leftovers it is really good warmed up again.
Great recipe. I used skin on bone in thighs and a bit extra sauce. Delish and great in a salad next day
That’s so terrific to hear Cathy!!!! Thank you were sharing your feedback – N x ❤️
Hi Nagi just made this with 4 pork steaks that needed using up, i followed your recipe and even used white wine vinegar as that is all i had. It was absolutely delicious the pork was very tender and the flavour was amazing got a lovely sticky glaze and am saving the remainder of the sauce to add to rice tomorrow.
This is the third recipe i have tried of yours for pork and they have all been perfect
Love the blog keep up the good work…
Sue
UK x
Wow, what a good idea! I will have to try that.
Yesssss!!! so glad to hear that Sue! N x ❤️
Hi Nagi😊I’m new to your website but this was amazzzzing. A tip to those who may have had partially cooked chicken…I took the drumsticks out when the sauce had started to thicken and microwaved them to ensure they were cooked throughout. Then I swept them through the sauce again….yummmm! I will be trying out your other recipes as we love asian food!! 😁
That’s a wonderful tip, thank you Liezel! I’m so glad you’re enjoying my site 🙂 N x