This Instant Pot Chicken Adobo brings an authentic Filipino Chicken dinner to your table in under 30 minutes! All the original flavors of Filipino Chicken Adobo you love in a fraction of the time.
What Makes This Instant Pot Chicken Adobo The Perfect Weeknight Dinner
- Fast. Done in under 30 minutes.
- Easy. A simple pour and cook Instant Pot recipe.
- Authentic. Authentic Filipino flavors with traditional reverse searing.
- Low Carb. Only 3 net carbs per serving.
Chicken Adobo is one of those recipes that normally takes a lot of time to cook. Typically, you'd combine the tangy sauce made of regular soy sauce (see recipe notes for additional information), vinegar, and spices, and marinate it overnight for the chicken to tenderize. Then, you'd simmer it for hours and hours to get that amazing flavor.
What Is Adobo Chicken?
Pressure Cooker Chicken Adobo is chicken perfectly seasoned with traditional Filipino spices. It is seared after it is fully coooked for the perfect crispy texture.
What is in Chicken Adobo Sauce?
Chicken Adobo Sauce is made up of white vinegar, soy sauce, vegetable oil, garlic, brown sugar, peppercorns, red pepper flakes, and bay leaves. The flavors meld so much better with a little rest time, so this makes a great make-ahead Instant Pot chicken recipe. And you can double the recipe to plan to have leftovers or freeze it for another night.
What Does Chicken Adobo Taste Like?
Chicken Adobo Pressure Cooker Recipe is the perfect blend of sweet and salty. It's packed with flavor that your entire family will love. The best part? It tastes just as good when it's reheated.
What Does Adobo Mean?
Adobo is a Filipino dish of chicken or pork stewed in vinegar, garlic, soy sauce, bay leaves, and peppercorns.
Ingredients You'll Need
- Bone-in Skin-on Chicken Thighs
- White Vinegar
- Soy Sauce
- Vegetable Oil
- Minced Garlic
- Brown sugar
- Whole Black Peppercorns
- Red Pepper Flakes
- Bay Leaves
How To Make Instant Pot Chicken Adobo
- In a large bowl or ziplock bag, combine vinegar, soy sauce, oil, garlic, sugar, black and red pepper, and bay leaves. Place the chicken thighs in the mixture, and coat them well with the sauce. Allow the chicken to marinate for 30 minutes, or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Place the chicken and marinade into the inner liner of the Instant Pot. Set Instant Pot at High pressure for 8 minutes. When cook time is complete, allow the pot to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes, and then release all remaining pressure.
- Remove chicken thighs and set on a foil-covered sheet pan. Broil under high heat for 3-5 minutes until the skin crisps.
- Meanwhile, set the Instant Pot on Sauté and cook until the sauce has bubbled and thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Pour this thickened sauce over the chicken and serve.
What Goes Well With Chicken Adobo?
Tips For Searing The Chicken
Another interesting characteristic of this dish--the chicken is browned after cooking. And here you thought reverse searing was some kinda hipster way of cooking. Turns out, Filipinos have been doing this well before it became popular!
I used my air fryer to reverse sear the chicken, but you can also do it under a broiler of course, and that's how I wrote the recipe.
Tips And Tricks For making Instant Pot Chicken Adobo
- Serve this with rice to make it a complete meal if you're not low-carbing.
- If you're low carb, I found simply steamed bok choy or cauliflower rice to be a great accompaniment to this Instant Pot chicken adobo.
Can You Reheat Instant Pot Adobo?
Chicken adobo actually tastes better the next day. You may have to reheat and blend the sauce together once more to serve.
How Long Does It Last?
Generally, you can expect any chicken dish to last 3-5 days after it is prepared. Of course, you will want to take into account the life of your particular cut of meat when you decide how long it will last.
For best results, and health safety standards, always use your chicken (no matter if it is breast, thigh, or wings) by the use by date.
Looking For More Great Instant Pot Chicken Recipes?
- Indian Curry Recipe
- Pesto Chicken recipe
- Instant Pot Chicken Korma Recipe
- Butter Chicken
- Shredded Chicken Tacos
- Instant Pot Chicken and Rice
- Chicken Tikka Masala
This Instant Pot Chicken Adobo recipe comes out tasting so authentic and delicious that you're unlikely to have any leftovers. Make sure to share this recipe with your friends on Pinterest and Facebook so they can enjoy it as well!
Ingredients
- 1 pound (453.59 g) Bone-in Skin-on Chicken Thighs
- 1/2 cup (127.5 ml) White Vinegar
- 1/4 cup (58 ml) Soy Sauce
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) Vegetable Oil
- 2 tablespoons (2 tablespoons) Minced Garlic
- 1 tablespoon (1 tablespoon) brown sugar or 1 teaspoon splenda
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Whole Black Peppercorns, roughly crushed
- 1 teaspoon (1 teaspoon) Red Pepper Flakes, optional
- 3 (3 ) Bay Leaves, crushed
Instructions
- In a large bowl or ziplock bag, combine vinegar, soy sauce, oil, garlic, sugar, black and red pepper, and bay leaves. Place the chicken thighs in the mixture, and coat them well with the sauce. Allow the chicken to marinate for 30 minutes, or up to 24 hours in the refrigerator.
- Place the chicken and marinade into the inner liner of the Instant Pot. Set Instant Pot at High pressure for 8 minutes. When cook time is complete, allow the pot to sit undisturbed for 10 minutes, and then release all remaining pressure.
- Remove chicken thighs and set on a foil-covered sheet pan. Broil under high heat for 3-5 minutes until the skin crisps.
- Meanwhile, set the Instant Pot on Sauté and cook until the sauce has bubbled and thickened, about 3-5 minutes. Pour this thickened sauce over the chicken and serve.
- Crisping the chicken skin after cooking is the best way to get that crispy skin! If you crisp it before cooking, it will get soggy in the Instant Pot during cook time.
- This recipe uses regular soy sauce. Lite often doesn’t mean low salt, just lite colored and thin in consistency. Dark soy sauce is aged longer and has molasses added to it, and tends to be less salty.
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Nutrition
Originally Published June 1, 2018
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Tonya C
If you do not have an Instant Pot, can this recipe be cooked using another method? Thanks
Kris T Bell
Made this for the first time and It was great! Much better than my old recipe. We will make this again.
Allyson
I have made this 3 times now since I found the recipe a couple of months ago. I am the backup cook in the house (my husband does almost all of it) so I can verify this is delicious and super easy. I have been using kikkoman low sodium soy sauce since that's what we keep in the house... I'm sure it's better with regular, though!
Milo Benko
I agree with you
Debbie
I have had adobo made by people from the Philippines and Guam. I measured the vinegar exactly as written and it is too much. However, I will say that I did not marinade it overnight, so that might make a big difference. That is why I am not giving it 2 stars. I had to add more soy sauce, sugar and some water in attempts to tone it down. I may try it again as written with overnight marinade and if I do, I will update this review. If I make it again without marinating, I will definitely cut back on the vinegar to maybe half. I also used my Mealthy Crisp lid to crisp the skin in the pot.
Suzi
I have boneless skin on thighs will that be ok or better to get with bone in?
URVASHI PITRE
Boneless isn’t a problem at all
Linda
This was really easy and ingredients that are on hand. Can not believe how great it tasted given how quick and easy. I used the Mealthy Air Fryer to crisp the skin without taking out the chicken thighs out of the pot.