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Easiest Chicken Adobo

Chicken drumsticks and thighs covered in a dark glaze and piled on steamed rice a halved head of garlic center of the...
Photo by Chelsie Craig

For adobo that’s sweet, salty, tangy, garlicky, and ready in a fraction of the time, don’t peel and slice each garlic clove: Just cut open a whole head and simmer it in the sauce.

Ingredients

4 servings

1 Tbsp. vegetable oil
4 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
4 chicken drumsticks
1 head of garlic, halved crosswise
5 dried bay leaves
3/4 cup distilled white vinegar
3/4 cup soy sauce
1 Tbsp. light or dark brown sugar
2 green chiles (such as serrano or jalapeño), thinly sliced, seeds removed if desired, divided
Freshly ground black pepper
Cooked rice (for serving)

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat oil in a large Dutch oven over medium. Cook chicken, thighs skin side down, lifting pieces with tongs once or twice toward the end to let fat flow underneath and turning drumsticks as needed to brown both sides, until skin is crisp and golden brown, 7–10 minutes. Transfer to a plate and turn thighs skin side up.

    Step 2

    Add garlic, bay leaves, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and half of chiles to same pot. Bring to a simmer; reduce heat to low and cook, stirring constantly, until sugar is dissolved; season generously with pepper.

    Step 3

    Return chicken to pot; arrange skin side up. Cover and cook gently, adjusting heat to maintain a bare simmer and turning pieces halfway through, until chicken is very tender and meat is pulling away from bones but not falling apart, 35–40 minutes.

    Step 4

    Transfer chicken to a clean plate. Bring braising liquid to a boil over medium-high and cook, stirring often, until thick enough to coat a spoon, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; return chicken to pot, turning to coat in sauce.

    Step 5

    Serve chicken over rice topped with remaining chile and more pepper.

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  • karens cant take a little vinegarrrrrr

    • Uma407

    • 9/19/2020

  • I prefer my recipe -- 1/4 cup soy sauce, 1/4 cup vinegar (any type -- distilled white, red wine, or rice wine are my favorites -- but no to balsamic) and absolutely no sugar because it's not necessary. I'm not certain that more than one or two bay leaves are required either.

    • greyrock

    • NY

    • 10/3/2019

  • So yummy! When I make it again, however, I will not bother crisping the skin. As soon as I covered the pot to simmer, the skin went limp.

    • Anonymous

    • 6/22/2019

  • We made this as written. It was great!

    • eandcinthekitchen

    • Minnesota

    • 6/12/2019

  • So, I can see why this would be a bit more potent for some with all the vinegar and I dont regret NOT cutting any of it out of the recipe. In my opinion taking away from that takes away from the overall 'cultural' part of the dish and I dont feel like I experienced it properly. I did have to make a personal change in how I cooked it though...since I dont own a Dutch oven tragically I decided to try pressure cooking this dish after getting the skin crispy in a cast iron pan and omg it turned out just as fall off the bone and as amazing as it would have otherwise I also had trouble getting thr sauce to Thicken but I'm excited to try again next time I make this!

    • Trashpanda420

    • San Diego, California

    • 6/12/2019

  • After reading the reviews, I substituted 1/2 the vinegar with chicken broth. Still has a lot of vinegar taste, but not bad.

    • katherinemfrost@gmail.com

    • Seattle, WA

    • 6/12/2019

  • Vinegar dominates. Not a fan

    • noridoo3

    • Madison, WI

    • 5/27/2019

  • Too salty and acidic, but this is what filipinos like. Some areas use coconut milk to give it balance. I make this all the time for my pinay gf, but I only use a 1/3 cup of vinegar, and 1/2 cup of ammino acids (Braggs). Then add a can of coconut milk. Remove the sugar. Not needed.

    • filipinogringo

    • Manila

    • 5/19/2019

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