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Chicken Adobo Recipe

This is a dish that’s dear to my heart. Adobo is unofficially considered the national dish of the Philippines, where my mother comes from. She made my adobo occasionally growing up. And now, with my growing culinary skills, I thought I’d try to claim this piece of my heritage. 

Filipino food can be amazing, but I find it sometimes lacks refinements and that puts some people off. I’d like to think I use a lot of interesting substitutions and techniques in this recipe to make it more universally palatable. Essentially, this is my way of trying to increase the profile of this wonderful dish. 

I have made quite a few modifications from a traditional adobo: I’m using coconut aminos instead of soy sauce, which avoids the digestive complications of soy, the potential for GMO, gluten, and a lot less salt. I use apple cider vinegar instead of white vinegar, mostly for avoiding gluten again. I use ground pepper instead of peppercorns; I never found it pleasant to bite into a peppercorn so this distributes the pepper around more evenly. Instead of brown sugar, I use coconut sugar. I’ve had both pork and chicken adobo, and it’s traditionally on the bone; but it’s a lot easier (and safer) to eat off of the bone. And I use my bone broth instead of water because it’s awesome much more flavourful and nutritious!

Adobo in particular holds a unique flavour profile. The slow-boiling of the meat makes it quite tender and juicy. But the most important part is the sauce. You get a hit from the pepper, which is muted a moment later from the sugar. That sauce/gravy can also be sopped up with something like a yorkshire pudding, caulisotto, or something else starchy. 

Note: Do not use chicken breast. I’ve tried it and it does NOT work. It dries out too easily. You need the fat and juiciness from the chicken thighs for this to work right.

Loosely based on the recipe found here: https://www.recipetineats.com/filipino-chicken-adobo-flavour-kapow/

Ingredients

Marinade

• 1.5 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs, about 6 pieces
• 0.5 cups coconut aminos (a soy sauce substitute)
• 0.5 cups apple cider vinegar
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 3 minced garlic cloves, crushed, or 1.5 tsp 

Cooking Stage

• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• 3 minced garlic cloves, crushed, or 1.5 tsp 
• 0.5 tsp rosemary
• 1 large onion
• 1.5 cups improved bone broth
• 2 tbsp coconut sugar
• 1 tbsp black pepper
• 0.5 tsp xanthan gum (optional)

Place the chicken thighs, coconut aminos, apple cider vinegar, 1.5 tsp garlic, and 3 dried bay leaves together in a bag to marinate. Marinate at least 20 minutes. I usually let it marinate overnight in the fridge. 

When you’re ready to cook, melt the coconut oil in a wide and deep pot on medium heat. Once heated, take the chicken out of the bag and brown each side for about 1 minute per side. Unlike most recipes, save the marinate because you will need it later. 

Once you have browned the chicken, set them aside. Add the onions, remaining garlic, and rosemary to the pot. Let it simmer for about 5 minutes until the onions are slightly transparent. 

Add bone broth, sugar, pepper, and the remnants of the marinade. Bring it to a boil and simmer for about 5 minutes.

Add chicken smooth side down. You should have enough fluid to cover the chicken. Let it simmer for about 20-25 minutes, and turn them over after about 15 minutes. You can check the chicken with a thermometer. It should easily be past the 170 degree safe eating temperature after 20 minutes. When the chicken is cooked, take it out and set it aside. 

So, something that bothers me about previous adobo’s I’ve had is that people leave the bay leaves in. I encourage talking them out at this point.

The fluid left in the pot is the best part. If you let it simmer for a few more minutes it will thicken. If it isn’t thickening fast enough, you can add about 0.5 tsp of xanthan gum. Stop when the remaining fluid is almost syrup or glaze-like.

To serve the adobo, it should be reunited with the glaze. Sometimes it’s served in a bowl with the sauce. I tend to cut it into slices and pour the glaze over it.

There are a lot of different ways you can serve this dish. The gravy lends itself well to something starchy, like rice, Yorkshire pudding, or caulisotto. Adobo and its glaze could go really well in a variation of chicken and waffles. I’m even considering serving this adobo with sweet potato fries and doing a sort of riff on poutine.

I hope to share this dish with others, and hope it catches on. It’s a part of my Filipino heritage I’m quite proud of.