The Best Adobong Manok Recipe (Filipino Braised Chicken Adobo)

If you were to ask anyone if they knew a Filipino dish, it would be this one. Adobong Manok (Chicken Adobo) is a dish that is foundational in Filipino cuisine.

Adobong Manok, or chicken adobo, is a soy sauce and vinegar braised chicken dish. This dish has heavy garlic flavors and an incredible amount of umami. It is typically served with rice and vegetables.

This recipe is our personal version of Adobong Manok. Since it’s very cost-effective and easy to batch, this dish is great for everyday meal prepping or feeding large families. This is a recipe that you need to save in your cooking arsenal.

Keep reading for the recipe!

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History and Culture of Adobong Manok (Chicken Adobo)

Chicken adobo is the “unofficial” national dish of the Philippines. Chicken adobo is special because its roots are traced back to indigenous Philippines. It also highlights star ingredients of Filipino cuisine – soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, and bay leaves.

You’ll see adobo made in numerous variations with countless ingredients, toppings, or sides.

Nearly every region, as well as individual families, have their own unique take on the dish. Some people use orange juice, sprite, coconut milk, or some other “secret” ingredient that’s been kept in their family for generations!

We don’t know any person who cooks adobo the same as another. 

How to eat Chicken Adobo

To eat chicken adobo, serve with white rice and grilled or steamed vegetables.

A very common way to eat adobo is to take some sauce and pour it on top of white rice. Some prefer to add just a little sauce to the rice, others prefer to generously pour sauce on top until it’s soupy.

Use a fork and spoon to cut the chicken, then push everything onto your spoon so you’ll get chicken, rice, and sauce in every bite.

Eating chicken adobo with fresh sliced bananas is something very special that Noelle’s family does (to our knowledge).

To this day, we don’t know any other Filipinos who eat adobo this way. We asked Noelle’s lola (grandmother) why we eat it this way, and she explained that it’s because she grew up in the region of Pampanga, where they always ate banana slices with their adobo.

We’ve tried researching and asking around to learn more, but have not found any info to confirm that this is really a Kapampangan way to eat adobo. If you know anything about chicken adobo with banana, please let us know in the comments or DM us!

That being said, we encourage you to give banana a try. It gives a sweet contrast to the savory chicken, and it truly is something we personally love and recommend!

Perfect Pot by Our Place

Before we get into the recipe, we’d like to give a shoutout to one of our sponsors, Our Place! They recently launched the Perfect Pot – a pot that’s thoughtfully designed to multifunction for boiling, roasting, steaming, straining, and dutch oven!

Its lightweight and large capacity makes this pot very homecook friendly. Additionally, we actually like to travel with this pot when going on big family trips or camping.

We used the Perfect Pot to cook our adobo! Even with the family-sized serving we cooked for ourselves, the Perfect Pot had no problem holding everything and still with room to spare. And of course, the adobo turned out delicious!

Shop the Perfect Pot now at Our Place!

Ingredients

• 5 cloves garlic sliced or whole
• 1 cup white onion sliced
• oil for the pan
• 5 lbs chicken thigh or drumsticks with bone and skin
• 1 cup low sodium soy sauce
• 1 cup white cane vinegar (datu puti)
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp black peppercorns whole
• 1 cup water
• 3 small bay leaves

Serving

• fried garlic
• green onion
• white rice
• steamed or grilled vegetables
• fresh bananas sliced

Datu puti is a brand that produces Filipino white cane vinegar. Regular white vinegar is also fine, but we recommend sticking to Filipino ingredients due to a slight difference in taste.

Filipino soy sauce and white cane vinegar are often sold in a combo pack, which is perfect for making adobo. You can find them at local asian grocers or here on Amazon!

Recipe

Prepare the braising sauce

1. In a mixing bowl, combine onion, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, water, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Stir well and set aside.

Prepare and sear the chicken

1. Wash the chicken thoroughly with water. Set aside.
2. In a pot, saute garlic and onion with some oil. Once fragrant, add chicken pieces. Cook on medium-high until the chicken has a seared skin. To prevent overcrowding, use an extra pan or cast iron to sear more chicken.

Braise the chicken adobo

1. Once all the chicken is seared, place them all in the pot. Add sauce mixture.
2. Bring the pot to a boil then adjust the heat to maintain a low boil.

3. Cover and let it braise for at least 1 hour. Stir occasionally and skim off excess fat. If you want a thicker sauce, braise for up to 2 hours.

Serve

1. Top with fried garlic and green onions. Serve with rice, steamed or grilled vegetables, and fresh banana slices. Pour some of the adobo sauce on top of the rice.

Tips on cooking Chicken Adobo

• Although not required, the longer your cook time, the thicker the sauce will be.
• To lower the fat content for a slightly healthier dish, remove half of the chicken skins before cooking. You can also skim off the fat during braising.
• For slow cooking, cook on low for 6 hours.

Final Thoughts

When you think about Filipino food, this dish is often what comes to mind. The ingredients are very affordable and convenient to cook in large portions, so you can use this recipe to feed you and your loved ones.

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References & Further Reading

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

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philippine_adobo

Editor’s note: This post was originally published on April 30, 2020. It has been updated with content and images on November 9, 2021.