Chicken Adobo
I remember the first time I went to a filipino restaurant. I grew up in a predominantly hispanic and filipino neighborhood so I was about 9 years old. The place was called Maharlika and was walking distance from my home. My dad had given me 10 dollars to figure out lunch and I walked right on over there. I saw a bunch of things I’ve never seen before and was wondering why everything came with white rice. I remember pointing at the brown, bubbling chicken mixture right under the heat lamp and they plopped it right on top of some rice and called it a day. I was walking home and I could smell how fragrant it was despite it being double bagged. I opened it and had a soy sauce steam facial of onions, and black pepper. I dug right in and fell in love with the savory combination of fluffy white rice and vinegary goodness. It’s the Philippine’s national dish for a reason. You can choose to do adobo with either pork or beef, but with this recipe we’re going to use chicken! It’s actually a pretty inexpensive dinner as well if you are looking for a dump and leave it as a recipe too!
Choose 2 to 2 ½ pounds of chicken but please make sure it is bone in and skin on! This is not a recipe for chicken breasts, it is a comfort food and there is nothing comforting about low fat, no skin chicken in this amazing sauce.
Get two separate bowls, add one with your chicken after patting it dry. I like to dissolve my dry baking spices in water before adding to the mixture so take your chicken bouillon, onion powder, garlic powder, and dissolve it in your 1 cup of water (stir vigorously).
Take your soy sauce and white vinegar and dump it into your chicken bowl.
Follow with your water mixture. Stir lightly until everything is mixed thoroughly. I then top it with black pepper, 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar, 5 whole peppercorns, and 5 bay leaves. Find something to cover your chicken and leave it in the fridge overnight or for at least 6-8 hours!
The next day leave it in your crockpot for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low. If you’d like to do this on a stove top do it in a pot and lead it with medium high heat until you get a good rolling boil and let it simmer covered for an hour or so until it reaches your desired tenderness. (Make sure you stir every 20 minutes or so to prevent sticking and uneven cooking).
Refrigerated:
2 - 2 ½ pounds of chicken thighs or SKIN ON BONE IN chicken of choice
1 head of garlic or more
1 yellow onion
Baking & Spices:
1 tbsp Onion Powder
1 tbsp Garlic Powder
1 tbsp Black pepper
1 tbsp of chicken bouillon or chicken flavoring
5 whole black peppercorns
5 bay leaves
Liquids:
1 cup of soy sauce
1 cup of water
Oils and Vinegars:
1 cup of white vinegar
2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar
Directions:
Take chicken out of packaging and pat try with paper towels
Take large bowl and put chicken inside
On the side dissolve the 1 tbsp of chicken bouillon, 1 tbsp of onion powder, and 1 tbsp of garlic powder
In a separate bowl mix 1 cup of white vinegar, 1 cup of soy sauce, and water mixture and mix.
Chop one whole yellow onion and cut a head of garlic and add to the large bowl with chicken.
Add liquid mixture on top of chicken
Stir with a spatula or utensil of choice
Top of with 1 tbsp of black pepper, 2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar, 5 whole peppercorns and 5 bay leaves
Let it sit overnight, covered, or for at least 6-8 hours.
Add to crockpot after marinating and and set for 4 hours on high or 6 hours on low
(Stove top put in pot until boiling then lower to a simmer for 1-2 hours)
