Chicken Adobo with Coconut Milk (Adobong Manok sa Gata)

Adobo sa Gata is a Filipino stew of chicken braised in soy sauce, spices, and coconut milk. This tender stew is made in one pot and served with rice, making this an easy heartwarming meal to cook for friends and family.

Elijah introduced me to this version of chicken adobo, called Adobo sa Gata. It is very popular in Southern Luzon and Bicol, where his parents were raised.

This blog post will take you through the easy steps to make a pot of Adobo sa Gata as well as some helpful cooking tips. Make this for your next weekday meal or Sunday dinner with guests!

If you love cooking in big batches with minimal dishwashing, check out more of our one pot recipes! And don’t miss out on more of our soup and stew recipes.

Now let’s get cooking!

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Table of Contents

What Does Adobo sa Gata Taste like?

Chicken adobo with coconut, known as Adobo sa Gata, is a regional dish from Bicol where coconuts and spicy green chili peppers are abundant. Like the famous Bicol Express dish, this variation of adobo reflects the flavors of its home region.

Chicken adobo with coconut is a unique and flavorful stew. The chicken is braised in a mixture of soy sauce, vinegar, coconut milk, and aromatics, resulting in tender and succulent meat. The creamy coconut milk balances the strong flavors of vinegar and spices perfectly.

A side of white rice serves as a perfect canvas for absorbing all the delicious flavors and sauces of Adobo sa Gata.

Cooking Tips for Adobo sa Gata

This dish is a great meal to learn and adopt into your home cooking repertoire. Here are some of our cooking tips that we’ve picked up over the years!

• Maintain the heat at a low simmer to prevent coconut milk from curdling and to ensure a tender meat. Cooking low and slow is key for a successful stew, so practice patience!
• Want a healthier dish? Use low fat coconut milk or remove half of the chicken skins before cooking. You can even save those chicken skins to fry them later and sprinkle on top of Arroz Caldo!
• Make this on fridge cleanout day – When making this stew, it’s not typical to add extra ingredients to the chicken, but when you’re cooking at home it’s a great way to use up extra vegetables and prevent food waste. If you’ve got some vegetables that you need to eat before they expire, you can add them to the stew! We like to add mushrooms, cabbage, potatoes, squash, greens, etc.
• Make it spicy! Filipino green finger chilis may be difficult to find in the US, so you can broaden your search for serrano peppers, bell peppers, korean green chili, etc. Alternatively, you can keep it mild with black peppercorns.

Ingredients

Adobo with coconut milk

• 2.5 lbs chicken thigh or leg with skin
• ½ onion diced
• 5 cloves garlic sliced
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 1 cup white cane vinegar
• 1 cup coconut milk
• 1 tsp whole black peppercorns or spicy peppers of choice
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 cup mushrooms beach or shiitake (optional)

Toppings

• green onions
• parsley
• fried garlic

Recipe

1. In a mixing bowl, combine onion, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, coconut milk, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Stir well.
2. Heat a pan to med-high. Prep the pan with cooking oil, then add the chicken (skin-side down) and cook 5 min or until the skin is golden brown. Don’t worry about cooking the chicken completely.
3. Transfer the chicken to a large pot or dutch oven. Add the sauce to the large pot. Bring to a boil then adjust the heat to boil at a low simmer.
4. Cover the pot and let it simmer for at least 1 hour. Add mushrooms for the last 15 minutes.
5. Top with green onions, parsley, and fried garlic. Serve fresh with rice. Pour some of the adobo sauce on top of the rice.

Final Thoughts

This popular Filipino dish is an easy recipe that you can make any day of the week. Enjoy the rich taste of chicken braised in fragrant spices and creamy coconut milk.

Browse our website for more recipes like Chicken Adobo (Adobong Manok) and Bicol Express!

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References & Further Reading

https://theculturetrip.com/asia/philippines/articles/a-brief-history-of-adobo-the-philippines-national-dish/

https://www.pepper.ph/the-history-of-adobo/#:~:text=The%20word%20adobo%20is%20derived,Spaniard%20Pedro%20de%20San%20Buenaventura.&text=The%20Chinese%20traders%20who%20later,soy%20sauce%20to%20early%20Filipinos.