Chicken Adobo
You can now purchase my handmade candy bars and marshmallows at http://www.bonbonbar.com/
Note: This entry was edited on April 2, 2006, in order to make it a part of “Something Out Of Nothing” at Toast.
In his intro to this recipe, Mark Bittman claims that this Filipino classic has been called the best chicken dish in the world by a number of his friends. It’s also one of the easiest and cheapest, and is my fallback recipe for when I feel like having home-cooking, but don’t really want to or have time do it myself; I lived on it in college and during my first office job. It’s essentially chicken poached in a soy sauce/vinegar sauce that is then broiled until crispy. The chicken emerges juicy and accompanied by a balanced peppery/sweet/sour tangy sauce dotted with caramelized bits of garlic.
In 2002, it was one of the first real recipes I’d ever made, and at the time, I was dead precise about every aspect of its making; and my cut out of the original New York Times article was very stained before long. I soon discovered that it’s a supremely easy and flexible recipe that requires very little work and very few fresh ingredients (in a good way). All that needs to be chopped is the garlic, so you feel the accomplishment of having cut something up before letting it cook away on its own.
The dried chipotle pepper turns out the best (and you can easily store a stash of them), but I’ve also separately used dried chiles de arbol and a fresh habanero with good results; you can add more peppers for more spice.
You can use any cut of chicken that you like, and as little as two pounds. I don’t like dark chicken meat, so I sometimes use bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts… but since I don’t really like chicken skin, I usually use skinless and boneless…. which means that the broiling step is irrelevant. I like to think that saves time and paper towels, but of course, the more fat and bones the recipe has, the richer and more amazing the sauce is. You can also decrease the amount of the water for a more concentrated flavor and a more syrupy sauce. I’ve even made it without vinegar, and it still turned out good enough.
Even though it’s a great pairing, I usually don’t have rice or don’t want to make it, so I’m used to having this with frozen peas, haricots verts, or broccoli; in either case, these are durable items that can also be stashed away. You can heat leftovers in the broiler, microwave, or partially covered pot, thinning the sauce with a little water if necessary. Or, if you finish the chicken and have sauce leftover, it goes well over many vegetables. I have been told that I should try it with pork or potatoes instead, and I’m looking forward to doing that. I’ve never eaten any version of this dish, except for this one that I’ve always made.
And as far as price goes, I like that this is a relatively cheap recipe even if you have to buy all the ingredients at one time, and once you buy them, all you have to do to have it again is buy chicken, and possibly garlic. Back when I barely cooked or baked, I always bought things in small quantities, so I didn’t have a cupboard to fall back on. I didn’t buy butter or flour (or have containers to store them in), so I couldn’t bake on a whim. Instead, I always kept my eye out for dried chipotle peppers (which are often sold by weight… and are very light), and made sure that I had a bottle of soy sauce… or at least, many packets.
Probably it’s only negative is that it doesn’t photograph terribly well, poor thing.
Chicken Adobo
Conservatively adapted from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything
Serves 4
1 cup light soy sauce
½ cup white or rice vinegar
1 cup water
1 tbs chopped garlic
2 bay leaves
½ t. freshly ground black pepper
1 dried chipotle pepper
1 whole (3- to 4-pound) chicken, cut up
Combine the first six ingredients in a covered pot large enough to hold the chicken in one layer. Bring to a boil over high heat. Add the chicken; reduce the heat to medium-low or low. Simmer, covered, about 30 minutes, turning once or twice, until chicken is cooked through. (You may prepare the recipe in advance up to this point; refrigerate the chicken in the liquid, for up to a day before proceeding.)
Start a charcoal or wood fire or preheat a gas grill or broiler. The fire need not be too hot, but place the rack just 3 or 4 inches from the heat source.
Remove chicken, and dry it gently with paper towels. Boil liquid over high heat until it is reduced to about 1 cup; discard bay leaves and pepper, and keep sauce warm.
Meanwhile, grill or broil chicken until brown and crisp, 5 minutes per side. Serve sauce with chicken and white rice.
March 17th, 2006 at 2:52 pm
hey dude… i might just try this one… i’m always looking for something new to do with chicken. i’ll let you know how i like it, too…
March 17th, 2006 at 3:19 pm
Cool! For the first time, I would make the recipe as is, including broiling and white rice, because it’s really the best version. And when it simmers, just let it barely bubble so that the chicken stays tender. Hope you like it!
March 18th, 2006 at 6:11 pm
One of my favorite Filipino dishes.. I like adding potatoes to it sometimes.
March 19th, 2006 at 7:41 am
Gerald - That’s a great idea. I’ve only ever thought of pairing it with green vegetables, and frankly, a change would be good.
I’ll try it next time I make it.
March 21st, 2006 at 8:11 am
hi nina..
nice site! as they say adobo is our national food! lol! i think i’ve had too much of this so i’m experimenting on other stuffs lately..hehe..
March 21st, 2006 at 10:17 pm
Thanks, ces! And yeah, I think I’ve had this dish more than any other in my life…. Though, I just looked at your very cool site, and I’m embarrassed to say that I’ve never made it with pork! I’ll have to try that
April 14th, 2006 at 7:20 am
It’s my fave Filipino dish too. You can try to sprinkle it with toasted/crispy garlic. Oh boy! It will make a lot of difference. I usually use olive oil to toast the garlic.
April 14th, 2006 at 10:19 am
Mark - Thanks for the suggestion–the caramelized garlic that comes out of the poaching liquid is just about my favorite part, and contrasting that with toasted garlic sounds terrific! And it’s always fun to spiff up something that I’ve had over and over again.
April 14th, 2006 at 3:48 pm
[...] Making this meal was like opening a time capsule to myself. I’d bought the ingredients in jars and cans about a month ago, in anticipation of one day lacking fresh ingredients, except for garlic and parsley, with which to make a meal. So, like chicken adobo, it’s another delicous meal that can be made quickly with a minimum of ingredients (especially fresh ones), and is a step up from, say, frozen dinners. This recipe, too, can be customized however you’d like, adding more or less garlic, capers, anchovies, or olives… or anything else that you may want to add. My only point of confusion was that the original recipe insinuated that only the plum tomatoes should be used for the sauce, but after cooking down the tomatoes into a loose mass, I decided that I wanted a saucy sauce, so I added in the juices from the can and cooked it down a bit more. I’ve never ordered this in a restaurant, so I didn’t know exactly how liquid-y the sauce was supposed to be… but I knew what I like. I also didn’t add nearly as much olive oil as specified… probably more like 3/4 tsp. The recipe has also been changed around a little to reflect a “mise-en-place” idea. Rather than chopping tomatoes as you’re sauteing the garlic for such a short time, I think it’s better to have everything ready to go before you start. Pasta Puttanesca adapted from Mark Bittman, NYTimes 3 to 6 servings. Salt to taste 3 tablespoons olive oil 3 or more cloves garlic, peeled and minced 3 or more anchovy fillets 1 28-ounce can whole plum tomatoes, diced or crushed with fork or hands, juice reserved Freshly ground black pepper to taste ½ cup pitted black olives, preferably oil-cured 2 tablespoons capers Crushed red pepper flakes to taste 1 pound linguine or other long pasta [I used penne] Chopped fresh parsley, oregano, marjoram or basil leaves for garnish, optional. [...]
April 17th, 2006 at 9:46 am
I found this recipe in Bittman’s book a while ago and tried to make it but it went awry. I was trying to reduce the sauce and I did exactly as instructed, “boiling it over high heat until reduced to one cup.” It was not down to a cup yet when all of a sudden it instantly transformed into this thick tarlike mess. I guess the sugar burned or soemthing. But I don’t know why this happened. Was the heat too high? Or was I cooking it for too long? I’d like to try it again sometime in the future but I don’t know how to avoid the problem.
April 19th, 2006 at 7:26 pm
Hello Sarah,
I’ve been trying to think of why this happened… and I really don’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever put sugar in it, but it would probably take a lot of sugar for it to turn tarlike, or maybe if the sugar somehow managed to stay undissolved until it was boiled, then it caramelized. I would try making it without any, and see what happens.
I don’t think the heat was too high — I’ve always boiled it pretty vigorously for a short time to get it down to a cup, and it’s been fine… Not like the first time I tried to make chicken stock, and wound up as something like aspic
November 6th, 2006 at 7:56 am
Hi Nina, i found your site through google, following a referral search of adobo on my site through google to statcounter. Confused? so am i! lol.
Anyway, i like adobo too and it’s one of my staple dish no-fuss-food. I do agree that it does not photograph well but your photo looks tempting enough!
I posted about adobo too on my site called riceandnoodles.
August 14th, 2008 at 12:20 am
if ur gona cook chicken adobo, don’t forget the cinnamon stick.. trust me
August 19th, 2008 at 12:09 am
huh… I’ll have to try that…
December 11th, 2008 at 8:35 pm
take a razor blade to some garlic and cut them as thin as u can, and fry them in olive oil on the side then put it in the mix 5 - 10 mins. b4 its completly done simmering (u can cook the garlic much later after starting the adobo)…. and also u need some oil in the ingredients, not alot but its suppose to have oil in it, i usually put alot less then wats normally put in it like one and a half table spoons for every 4 pieces of chicken. Im in manila now, and adobo is a life saver wen it comes to ingredients. Enjoy!
September 10th, 2009 at 11:38 pm
Okay, it says chicken adobo is so easy that it is often the fall back recipe when people just don’t wanna cook but want a quick recipe…then I see that the prepare time requires one freakin’ day in advance! Am I the only one who sees somethings very wrong here???
September 11th, 2009 at 8:50 am
You can prep up to a day in advance, but it’s not mandatory. I don’t think I ever have and it’s always been great!