Chicken Adobo Filipino-Style

This Chicken Adobo is flavorful and garlicky. These chicken legs are so tender that it falls off the bone. The knife and fork will lift right through! The chicken is braised in a combination of vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns which creates a vibrantly rich sauce. Also, no sugar added making this recipe low-carb friendly!

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Dinner,

Cuisine: Filipino Cuisine

Keyword: adobo chicken, best adobo chicken,, chicken adobo, chicken legs recipe, easy dinner, filipino adobo chicken

Prep Time: 10

Cook Time: 50

Servings: 3 servings

Calories: 674kcal

Author: Evelyn Savinon

Ingredients

Chicken Adobo Ingredients:

▢ 6 chicken legs bone-in with skin preferred
▢ 1 teaspoon black pepper
▢ 1 medium garlic head lots of it
▢ 1 white onion small
▢ 1/2 cup soy sauce
▢ 1/2 cup rice vinegar
▢ 1/2 cup coconut milk
▢ Peppercorns about 10 to 12 I use my mortar and pestle to crush them
▢ 2 bay leaves

Instructions

How to make Chicken Adobo:

The first step is to season the chicken with black pepper. Make sure the chicken is room temperature and the skin is dry.
Heat a cooking pot over medium-high heat. I prefer to use my dutch heavy bottom pot as it holds the heat very well. Place all the chicken legs or chicken pieces of your preference and brown the chicken. About 3 to 4 minutes each side. * I decided to not use oil as the chicken has the skin.
Add garlic and onions and stir. Proceed to pour in the soy sauce and vinegar. Then, add bay leaves and peppercorns. I crushed the peppercorns.
Add coconut milk and cover the pot. Immediately reduce the heat to the lowest setting and simmer for about an hour.
Make sure to stir and that the sauce has enough liquid to prevent from burning. Add some water as needed. Cook until the chicken is tender and the sauce thickens.
*if you notice sauce is reducing too much, you can add some water as needed. About 3 tablespoons and simmer 5 minutes. Stir, remove bay leaves.
The sauce should thicken into a creamy glossy consistency.

Notes

Tips and alternative Ingredients:

While making this chicken adobo, I did not find the need to marinate the chicken because the chicken simmers for about an hour in the sauce absorbing all the delightful flavors.
I learned that the traditional Adobo chicken is usually made with coconut vinegar, palm vinegar or Cane Vinegar. All of these types of vinegar will give you the authentic flavors of the recipe. These are sometimes difficult to find in regular grocery stores or supermarkets so a good substitute for those is Rice Vinegar. In this recipe, I use Rice Vinegar. *The most important thing to know when replacing the vinegar is to taste it. If you can tolerate the acidity of the vinegar that will be a winner. I find that using white regular vinegar is too intense for me and it gives the sauce an unpleasant sour taste.
Another ingredient that is usually used in this Filipino recipe is sugar I decided to not use sugar. However, if you do that works fine. A teaspoon is all you need.
I use coconut milk in this recipe and it tastes amazing. Coconut milk gives the sauce the perfect thickness. However, a substitute for this is heavy cream.

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