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!!
Made this last night using a couple of skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs as just the two of us. But made full sauce recipe and extra rice as I wanted leftovers. There weren’t any. This sauce is SO good that we cleaned the pan of every last drop. Definitely one for regular rotation!
I make this regularly and it’s sooo easy but tastes like I slaved over it for hours. Probably in the top 3 favourites in our household (all Nagi recipes of course!)
Wondering if I can put the chicken and marinade in a zip lock bag and freeze to use another night?
I made this recipe tonight and it was delicious! I think next time I’ll opt for the ground up pepper instead of the pepper corns as it was a bit intense. I had to take the chicken out at the end an crank up the heat to get the sauce to thicken but I just kept at it with a whisk to make sure the sugar didn’t burn and it thickened up perfectly. I paired it with the smashed cucumber salad as recommended, a great combo!
Totally agree! after the first time I made it, the next few times, I coarse ground the pepper first. You can also use a mortar and pestle, but whole peppercorns is a must versus fine ground.
This was the recipe that showed up on my ig feed and I’ve been a follower since! This is such an easy weeknight recipe with minimal prep and the kids love it. Win win!
Excellent, add some par-boiled potatoes to the mix for an economical meal
Fabulous flavor! I followed the recipe as written but a lot of water cooked out of the chicken so it couldn’t brown. At the end I removed chicken and tried to reduce sauce but could never get it sticky to coat the thighs; however, I served the chicken, onions and sauce in top of the rice which had perfect flavor. I would have liked the sauce to have been sticky for the chicken presentation but had I reduced the amount of water or eliminated it, the flavor would have been too strong. Easy and truly delicious flavor from simple ingredients
On the recipe notes it says to add 3/4 cup water of you’re using a different cut of meat than recommended. Did you happen to look there by mistake ? Also, I think the sugar is what gets the jammy texture, perhaps you didn’t add enough or used a different type of sugar ?
I grew up in the Philippines and this is the recipe I use for adobo chicken, and it is a hit every time.
Amazing!! My husband wants the sauce for everything now. Best meal I’ve tried in awhile and far better than the pork abodo I found on another site.
my bf forced me to make this and i think he’s obsessed now with this recipe.
So easy and delicious.
Thank you so much! This recipe helped me with my cooking project.
Fantastic recipe, well written, easy to follow and delicious. While the peppercorns did soften somewhat I think I’ll grind them up next time, would prefer to have the pepper flavour more evenly distributed. Thanks Nagi!
Greatly doubted this would be delicious based on the basic ingredients but… delicious. A tad salty. Will use even lighter soy sauce next time but will definitely make again.
Yeah this was a treat….A definite do-over….Can’t wait…:)
OMG! sooo delicious! I used thigh with the bone in and cooked it for a lot longer. It was delicious! Served with rice and asian greens. An absolute winner!
I am Filipino and this recipe is hands down, the BEST I have found for our national dish. The taste of that sauce takes me back to my childhood days when my grandma makes this for me. Pure nostalgia. Thank you Nagi!
Can I marinade this for 24 hours? Like make it for dinner and start the marinade the night before. Or does overnight mean 12 hours? And cook in the morning or for lunch.
Just want to check because some websites say vinegar breaks down the chicken a lot and I’m wondering if that’s the goal. What does overnight mean to your recipe? Thanks I’m advance and for all that you do!
I don’t see what’s the big deal. It’s kinda sweet and sticky. But not a flavor kapow. I’m giving 4 stars because it doesn’t taste bad but it’s nothing amazing either.
This recipe is not good. Way to much liquid. I do not know how everyone is reviewing this so high. If you follow the recipe exactly you will not get a sauce, you get a soup.