Filipino Chicken Adobo

Instructions

1. Combine the chicken, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, sugar, and water in a wide pot or deep skillet. Bring to a boil.
2. Reduce to a steady simmer, cover, and cook, turning the pieces occasionally, until tender, 25-30 minutes.
3. Fish out the chicken. Uncover and boil the sauce hard until it reduces to a glossy, spoon-coating glaze, 8-12 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, heat the oil in a separate pan and sear the chicken pieces, skin side down, until deeply browned and crisp, 4-5 minutes (optional but transformative).
5. Return the chicken to the glaze and turn to coat. Serve over rice with plenty of the sauce.

Notes & Substitutions

• The old rule: don't stir the vinegar early — let its raw edge cook off in the first 10 minutes of simmering, then taste and adjust.
• Pork adobo (adobong baboy): swap in 900 g pork shoulder, simmer 40 minutes.
• Gluten-free: use tamari — everything else is naturally GF.
• Add 2 cubed potatoes in the last 20 minutes to soak up sauce (carbs up, joy up).
• Turbo shortcut: skip the sear; the braise alone is already dinner.

Storage & Make-Ahead

• Adobo is a famous keeper: refrigerate up to 5 days, freeze up to 3 months.
• Flavor peaks on day two — a flagship batch-cook recipe.
• Reheat gently; the glaze thickens when cold, so loosen with a splash of water.