I became addicted to adobo while living in Brooklyn. Albert, my roommate from Guam, made chicken adobo one night and handed me a plate with some fat chicken thighs, a thick brown sauce with onions, and a clump of rice. Keep in mind that at this time, I was making dainty hors d’oeuvres everyday in culinary school and hadn’t eaten good home-cooked braised meat in months. One bite and I was in heaven.
“What’s in this?” I asked.
“Soy sauce, vinegear, honey, pepper.”
“No, there’s something else,” I insisted.
He whipped out a small spice bottle. Mrs. Dash Original Blend. Just what his mom used to use.
Now, I know Filipino and South Pacific families each have their own ways to cook adobo, a way of stewing meat in soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaf, and black pepper. Albert’s method was not the precise formula of cookbooks. He sautéed his chicken legs and wings until crispy and brown, then threw in a rice-measuring cup filled a third of the way with vinegar and two-thirds with soy sauce. He dumped in another rice cup full of water. After 15 minutes he took a bear-shaped bottle of Busy Bee honey and squeezed enough onto the chicken to make your teeth tingle just to watch. He threw Mrs. Dash into the skillet like he was scattering seeds. This haphazard cooking produced some of the most sublime chicken I had ever tasted.
I made chicken adobo, in this exact manner, every week for the next year. It was easy and hot comfort food, perfect for dinner in a chilly apartment. When I ran out of Mrs. Dash, a single sharp bay leaf provided enough flavor to do without the spice blend. I substituted brown sugar for honey, and tried cayenne, paprika, and chilis.
Recently, I started making pork adobo instead of chicken, mostly for convenience. One-inch pork cubes take half the time of chicken thighs to cook. You can use pork belly or spare ribs or another fatty cut. I threw in some cherry tomatoes, though I’ve seen other versions with button mushrooms or eggplant. This pork adobo recipe is adaptable and easy. And who doesn’t have some soy sauce and vinegar handy?
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More intoxicating pork dishes to try:
Cantonese Roast Pork (Char Siu)
Red-Cooked Pork (Hongshao rou)
Twice-Cooked Pork (Huiguo rou)
Pork Medallions with Raisin-Ginger Sauce
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Pork Adobo
Serves 4
1 1/2 pounds pork belly or spare ribs, chopped to 1-inch cubes
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup vinegar (white or apple cider)
1/2 cup water
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons brown sugar
8 to 10 cherry tomatoes, halved
In a medium to large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat and cook pork until brown and crispy on the outside, about 3 minutes. Add onions and garlic and cook until onions are caramelized, about 2 minutes. Add soy sauce, vinegar, water, bay leaf, paprika, and black pepper. Simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, until sauce is slightly thickened. Stir in brown sugar to melt. Add cherry tomatoes and cook for another minute. Serve with rice.
{ 37 comments… read them below or add one }
What type of vinegar are you using? I have white, white wine, red wine, Japanese rice, dark Chinese vinegar, etc. Too many choices for my weensie brain!
Fiona – White or apple cider vinegar are my favorites. Dark rice vinegar works in a pinch, though it gives more of a fermented/brewed taste.
I was about to ask the same question as Fiona! Thanks!
Oh my god that looks delicious! I’ve been meaning to cook adobo for a while but haven’t yet got round to it. I know what I’ll be doing with those chicken thighs…
I make it w/ Balsamic Vinegar and it’s very yummy!
my mom lived in guam during her teenage years and she makes some mad awesome Pork or chicken adobo. i love that sauce all over rice. *drool*
Hi Diana, the basic recipe for Filipino adobo is vinegar, garlic, bayleaf and peppercorns. Supposedly the soysauce came in later. Think of it as a confit of pork, as it can be cooked til the fat renders out and then you can keep the dish in a jar/claypot/container for up to a month, so long as the fat covers the meat.
I like making adobo with pork since it has a lot more flavor than plain chicken. So you find pork adobo, pork plus chicken adobo, chicken, and also squid!
It’s a comfort food for millions of filipinos all over the world. And as you said, who doesn’t have vinegar and soy sauce in their cupboard?
Mila – Thanks for clarifying for me. Do some people still make adobo without soy sauce?
Hi Diana, Adobo sans soy sauce is still cooked by many families in the Philippines, there’s still a debate what constitutes an original adobo, since purists say the soy sauce addition came with the chinese. I like both options, heavy on the garlic and peppercorns when I cook it without soy sauce. I also love using pork belly, cooked for hours so the sauce gets all sticky with flavor.
Fabulous! I have that in the house already. I think this recipe is going into rotation this weekend…must go get some fatty porky bits.
Had to do a double take when I saw a Filipino dish on your blog :) Gotta try making adobo with Mrs. Dash. Makes perfect sense to me.
i like that you’re branching out :) maybe do the filipino version that some of the commenters have mentioned :) Eat Filipino Food!
totally loving this photo!
how are you?
xo
I made this last night, absolutely loved it. I had all the ingredients in the cupboard already and it was so simple to put together. Ate the leftovers today which actually tasted even better (if that’s possible). By far the best recipe for adobo I’ve come across, will be using again! Thanks!
My boyfriend and I aren’t big fans of tomatoes (in fact he won’t eat them at all) but that looks just too good! I was wondering if you think this would go well with a different vegetable.. maybe carrots or something?
I thought those cherry tomatoes were chunks of sweet potato.. now THAT would be amazing.
Gwen – I would sometimes throw in fat slices of bell peppers or broccoli florets. Or you can try small-cubed potatoes, sweet potatoes, carrots, or taro. Honestly, there are few vegetatables that won’t go well with adobo. The magic is in the sauce.
Hi! Your observation that the adobo leftovers tasted better is true. In the Philippines, any dish made with a sauce will taste better the next day compared with the newly cooked one. You can taste the ingredients more because it has time to permeate into the meat. FYI, in the Philippines, different regions have different ways of cooking adobo. We even have a variety with the sauce dried out and the meat is stringed out then fried.
Check out an online Juliet Mae Spices, they make the best adobo bar none. Sorry for the advertisement, its just as my partner says everybody makes adobo except the Mexicans. Her mother, her sister, they all claim the best and they all like Juliet Mae’s. Use it when nobody gets to be happy!
I lived in the P.I. during the late 70′s for a couple of years and there is nothing better than adobo ng baboy (pork adobo)and lumpia (filipino egg roll) and just plain sticky rice. My taste memory centers are jumping right now reading this recipe. I have not made it in a long time and I am really thinking that it is time.
If you would like to try something different, do it the Mexican way and use Lime juice instead of vinegar. As a filipino would say… kainan na! (Let’s eat!)
Dave
made this last night with balsamic, since that’s all I had around. Delicious. I ate the whole thing.
Hey, I’ve never tried adding honey in adobo! I’m doing this recipe next time I prepare adobo. So far, my sons aren’t complaining! There are so many versions of adobo! Thanks!
I usually make chicken (wing drumettes) adobo with the simple ingredients, but i’m interested in the use of honey. I’m going to be making this tonight :) Thanks for sharing the recipe!
You can try a spicier version of that adobo, called “kadon pika”. It literally means hot soup.
Using your basic adobo recipe, add a little bit of coconut milk and a bunch of donne’ (Guam hot peppers). A good substitution in the mainland US is Thai Green Peppers. I grab the ripe red ones as it adds nice bright color to your dish. A dash of lemon juice adds another level of flavor.
Your version looks delicious, though. It’s always nice to experiment. You can try everything from stewing chicken to kimchi powder.
Great looking rice!
What’s the secret? What kind of rice; cooking technique?
The secret is regular brown rice, shaped in a ramekin.
A visiting friend liked this so much he took home all the leftovers. Years ago my mom gave me a booklet of adobo recipes. I’ve tried quite a few variations: with coconut milk, with ginger, with star anise, with chili ketchup, with cinnamon, with fish sauce instead of soy sauce, broiling the meat after simmering then simmer again in the sauce, fried then served with banana ketchup, using whole peppercorns, leaving the skins on the garlic, using coconut vinegar, using cane vinegar, etc. Tastes great everytime.
Good to know! And adobo is one of those dishes that tastes just as good if not better a day later. The endless variations you mention seem spectacular, especially with un-skinned garlic.
my gran likes making adobo with half pork and half chicken. she would also use squid as adobo, pretty good stuff.
Aha! I finally found your pork adobo recipe after stumbling upon the more recent chicken adobo post!
Boiling the adobo until most of the sauce has evaporated and all fat has rendered out seems to be the more traditional way of making this dish. Chicken bones and garlic skins and all have turned into a “mush” together with tender cuts of meat falling off the bone (or what’s left of them). This is the real “sauce” of a traditional adobo.
You might find it interesting that adobo is very very recycle-able. Take the meat and shred it and stuff it into white steamed buns! Or into dinner roll doughs for baking.
Another way is to saute some of the sauce and more garlic to make some yummy adobo fried rice!
AMV – Thanks so much for your comment. I have been toying with the idea of braising a hunk of pork shoulder for a few hours in this sauce, then shredding it pulled-pork style. Thanks for the reminder! Adobo fried rice is another strong contender too.
You bet, adobo will keep you addicted to it. I learned to cook chicken adobo from a friend and Albert’s method is indeed different from what was taught to me. I already tried pairing it up with fried rice and the combination was great. You might want to try it. You’ll never regret it.
That pork adobo pic looks amazing. Thanks for the recipe. I have never done it with pork but am looking forward to trying. I imagine a person could even use beef too…
I’ll have to try this recipe myself sometime.
For more adobo recipes, check out this website Adobo Recipe
Adobo has always been my favorite Filipino dish. It has a very unique taste and I really love it. I can still remember finishing about 5 cups of rice before my stomach got full. What an appetite! You guys better try this.
i just cook this one now and it taste good for this version. i love cooking and love it too…..
I first tried pork adobo the vietnamese version. Then a friend made adobo the filipino version. Her adobo didn’t have any sweet in it. both versions had boiled eggs with the meat. the sauce is awesome on rice.