Chicken Adobo #FilipinoFoodSessions

I'm sharing the recipe for a classic Filipino dish that is a staple at all Filipino dinner tables! If you've heard anything about Filipino cuisine or culture you are most likely familiar with adobo because it's one of the most well-known Filipino dishes out there.

My parents would serve this for dinner with a fresh pot of hot rice all the time! And I sometimes find myself craving a good adobo meal if I haven't had it in a while. My parents also make pork adobo, which is super delicious and maybe even better than the chicken version. That is another blog post for another day :)

And the best part about this famous dish is how EASYYYYYY it is to make. I never realized how simple it was to make adobo until I tried making it a few years ago. You literally take the ingredients, drop it in a pot (you can saute/brown the meat first) and leave it on the stove until it's done lol. So easy, no wonder it's one of the most popular dishes :) I think other recipes may recommend marinating the chicken/meat in the soy sauce and vinegar before cooking, but I don't really bother with that step. I just throw it all in the pot and it gets pretty flavourful without the extra step of marinating the meat!

For this recipe I used chicken drumsticks, for two reasons: 1) I prefer brown meat and like to make adobo with bone-in skin on pieces of chicken and 2) there was a sale on chicken drumsticks at my grocery store lol But, you can make it with a whole chicken, chopped into pieces or with pieces of chicken breast. However, I highly recommend you add some chicken pieces that are bone-in with skin because I do believe it adds some flavour to the adobo.

My version includes green peas because that's how my mom and dad made it, adobo always had peas! Sometimes they would add potatoes too and I guess you can add other vegetables if you wish, but I prefer a simple meat and peas adobo.

I hope that you guys give this recipe a try if you want to attempt some homestyle Filipino cooking! Because if there is any intro recipe to Filipino Cuisine it is definitely THIS one!

Chicken Adobo

Serves 6

2 lbs of chicken drumsticks

5 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 C soy sauce

1/4 C vinegar

2 - 3 C water

6 bay leaves

1 tbsp black peppercorns

Pinch of salt

1 C frozen green peas

1/2 tbsp vegetable oil

1. On medium-high heat add the vegetable oil and minced garlic into a large pot, saute the garlic for about 1 minute. Next, add in the chicken drumsticks and brown the chicken for about 2-3 minutes on all sides. Finally add in the remaining ingredients and stir to combine together. Cook on medium-high heat for 35-45 minutes. I cooked mine covered for the first 20 minutes and then uncovered for the last 15-25 minutes.

2. Once it's cooked and your sauce has been reduced to your preference, add in the frozen peas and mix it into the adobo. The peas only take a few minutes to cook/warm up! Once the peas are incorporated that's pretty much it, ready to serve, devour and enjoy! Serve with a big bowl of white rice :)

Tip: If you want more/less sauce ("sabaw") you can add more or less water to the pot! I don't like a lot of sauce so I used 2 cups of water and let the sauce reduce while the adobo cooked uncovered. Also, try to remove the bay leaves before serving and also be careful to not eat the peppercorns lol!