Juicy and tender chicken adobo in 30 minutes!
Chicken adobo is a popular Filipino dish made with soy sauce, vinegar, black peppercorns, garlic and bay leaves. It's the perfect dish to make for a quick dinner and you probably have all the ingredients already!
Chicken adobo is traditionally made with bone in chicken thighs or drumsticks. The bone and skin on the chicken provide a lot of flavor and ensure tender and juicy chicken.
You can use boneless chicken thighs but I highly recommend keeping the skin on for extra flavor and the fat from the skin helps create a rich sauce. If you don't like the skin, you can remove before eating.
There are different variations of cooking chicken adobo depending on the region in the Philippines.
Some recipes call for marinating the chicken but I don't think it's necessary. I'm all for one less step in the prep process!
Since the chicken is braised in the sauce it's already going to pick up all the flavors!
You can definitely make this a day or two ahead of time and it tastes even better after all the flavors have had some time to get to know each other!
Five Ingredients
The savory, tangy, garlicky flavors for chicken adobo are achieved with only five main ingredients!
- Soy sauce, white vinegar, garlic, black peppercorns and bay leaves.
- Traditionally made with cane vinegar. I use white vinegar since it's more readily available- you can also substitute with apple cider vinegar or rice vinegar.
- I like to balance out the sourness with a little bit of brown sugar.
To Serve
Serve chicken adobo with a heaping scoop of white rice to soak up the sauce and a side of vegetables like Chinese Broccoli (Gai Lan).
If you make this recipe, leave a comment and tag me on Instagram @beyondthenoms. I'd love to see your creations!
Follow me on Pinterest for more recipes!
Chicken Adobo
Ingredients
- 6 chicken thighs or drumsticks bone-in and skin-on
- ½ cup soy sauce
- ½ cup white vinegar
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- 4 garlic cloves crushed
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 3 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon scallions sliced
Instructions
- On medium high heat, add 1 tb oil to a skillet. Brown the chicken for five minutes on each side.
- Add soy sauce, vinegar, brown sugar, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves. Bring the sauce to a boil then cover and simmer on low for 20-30 minutes or until tender. Turn the chicken over 15 minutes into cooking.
- Uncover and on medium high heat, reduce the sauce for five minutes or until desired consistency.
- Serve with white rice, sauce and garnish with scallions. Happy nomming!
Notes
- You can adjust the vinegar/soy sauce ratio to your taste. If you'd like more sauce, feel free to double the sauce! I wouldn't blame you because it tastes so good!
- Instead of reducing the sauce, you can also thicken with cornstarch. Remove the chicken from the pan. Combine 2 teaspoon cornstarch with 2 teaspoon water, whisk into the sauce on medium heat until thickened.
Leave a Reply