Chicken legs stewed in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. This Filipino Chicken Adobo is easy, savory and oh, so delicious!
Filipino Chicken Adobo
If you haven’t figured it out by now, a lot of my recipes are handed down to me by my mom and this one is no exception. We ate this Filipino Chicken Adobo frequently when I was growing up because 1. it’s delicious and 2. it’s a very easy dish to make. There are minimal ingredients, the chicken is braised (so easy!) and you can have dinner on the table in less than 45 minutes.
It’s really a great option for a home-cooked meal on a weeknight! It’s one of those meals that seems like it takes a lot of work to prepare but is really simple. Who doesn’t love a meal like that?!
Chicken adobo is a classic dish in the Philippines, different from Mexican adobo. The basic gist of the Filipino dish is meat stewed in vinegar and soy sauce with crushed garlic and peppercorns. It’s made differently in different regions of the Philippines but the vinegar and soy base is the same.
I really like to finish my chicken adobo off on the grill because grilled food is just so good and I like the little bit of texture and char that the grill provides. You can stick then under a broiler for a few minutes too or just skip that all together and serve the chicken straight from the pot.
We’ve always had jasmine rice with our chicken adobo and I also like to serve it with some stir-fried snow peas. They literally cook in about 2-3 minutes so it’s a side dish that’s just as easy to prepare as the chicken. But you can serve whatever sides you want with it if you’re not into rice or snow peas. Enjoy!
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Filipino Chicken Adobo
Chicken legs stewed in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar and garlic. This Filipino Chicken Adobo is easy, savory and oh, so delicious!
Ingredients
- 3-4 lb chicken pieces (drumsticks and thighs)
- 1/2 C soy sauce (see notes for gluten-free suggestion)
- 3/4 C white vinegar
- 3 cloves garlic, crushed
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Tbsp whole peppercorns
Instructions
- Place chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns in a large pot and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Turn the chicken periodically in the cooking liquid.
- Remove the chicken from the pot and grill or broil for about 5 minutes.
- While the chicken is finishing cooking, continue boiling the sauce until it reduces by almost half. Place the cooked chicken on a platter, strain the sauce and pour over the chicken.
- Serve with jasmine rice and stir-fried vegetables.
Notes
Be sure to use a gluten-free soy sauce if following a gluten-free diet. I use San-J Tamari Gluten-Free Soy Sauce or La Choy soy sauce which is now labeled gluten-free. Sauce is not pictured because I forgot to add it back before taking pictures. Oops.
Mari Petrosky
Tuesday 29th of September 2020
So much flavor in this recipe. Thank you so much. It was really good!
Leah
Friday 6th of November 2015
This is not the right picture of chicken adobo at all, not even close! Adobo is with sauce, this is GRILLED CHICKEN or BBQ
Sharon
Friday 6th of November 2015
We actually do serve it with the sauce the chicken is cooked in. I just forgot to pour it over the chicken before taking pictures since I was still a newbie blogger when I published this post ;)
Serene @ House of Yumm
Friday 31st of October 2014
These look delicious! Pinning! Thanks so much for linking these up to Saturday Night Fever! Hope you have a Happy Halloween. XO
Ritchil Shafer (Cheng and 3 Kids)
Wednesday 29th of October 2014
I love adobo and yours look delicious! Thank you for the recipe!
Sharon
Wednesday 29th of October 2014
Isn't it wonderful how such simple ingredients can make something so tasty?
Diane (@SimpleLivingEat)
Tuesday 28th of October 2014
Those are gorgeous chicken pieces. Pinned. So wonderful that you have great recipes from your mom. Thanks for sharing this with us on Weekend Bites.
Sharon
Wednesday 29th of October 2014
Thanks Diane! My mom has always been my best recipe source, I'm very lucky :)