Chicken Adobo is a classic Filipino dish that’s perfect for a weeknight dinner, or for something simple but impressive to feed a crowd. You can plan ahead to use the leftovers in Adobo Rice Bowls (see Notes section below for more details).

This recipe originally appeared in our series Why Did the Chicken Cross the Globe?

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

1/2 cup soy sauce

3/4 cup white vinegar

5-6 fat cloves garlic, crushed

2-3 bay leaves

1/2 Tablespoon black peppercorns

3 pounds of chicken pieces, bone-in and skin-on (dark meat will lend the most flavor)

More salt to taste, if needed

Instructions

1. Combine the soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, bay leaves and peppercorns in a Dutch oven or other heavy pot with a lid and stir to combine.  Add the chicken pieces, turning them in the sauce to coat them evenly.  Bring to a boil over high heat, then turn the heat to medium-low, partially cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

2. Remove the pot from the heat and turn on the broiler.  Being careful not to tear the skin, transfer the chicken pieces to a baking sheet lined with foil, and broil about 3 inches from the heat source for about 10 minutes, with the skin side toward the flame. Watch to be sure the skin doesn't burn (if you think it’s too close, move the rack away further from the flame and continue). When finished, chicken pieces will be a deep, caramel brown.

3. While the chicken is browning, bring the sauce back to a boil in the pot.  Boil the sauce with the lid off until it is reduced to a somewhat syrupy glaze. (The consistency of the sauce is personal preference. If you want a thinner sauce, boil it for a shorter time; if you want a thicker sauce, boil it for longer. See Why Did the Chicken Cross the Globe? for more on this.)

4. When the chicken and sauce are finished, put the chicken pieces in a serving dish, cover with the sauce, and serve with rice.

Notes:

I learned to make this from my friend Isabella, who contributed the recipe from her Filipino heritage for a school fundraiser cookbook we both worked on.

Adobo is a ridiculously delicious way to cook lots of things. The classic hallmark of adobo is the combination of vinegar and soy sauce. In this dish, they combine with the juices of the poaching chicken to make a super flavorful sauce.

This is one of those dishes where I plan ahead to make twice as much as we’ll eat, so I can use the leftovers for other things. I created the recipe for Adobo Rice Bowls for exactly this purpose, to use the leftover chicken and sauce from this dish in lunch or dinner on another day.

You can check out my recipe series Why Did the Chicken Cross the Globe? for more about chickens and adobo in the Philippines, as well as more chicken recipes from around the world.

Spices and ingredients used in this dish:

Thank you to Isabella Breslin for the original version of this recipe.