Make authentic Filipino Adobo with this Instant Pot Chicken Adobo recipe! All the original flavors you love in a fraction of the time.
Instant Pot Filipino Chicken Adobo
Instant Pot Chicken Adobo is one of those recipes that normally takes a lot of time to cook. Typically, you’d combine the tangy sauce with soy sauce, vinegar, and spices, marinate it overnight for the chicken to tenderize, and then you’d simmer it for hours and hours.
That’s why I love my Instant Pot because it makes traditional recipes and makes them accessible to cook on a regular basis. Cook time is only 8 minutes for this (not counting time to come to pressure, and pressure release) and then a few minutes under the broiler makes it crispy.
Which is 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 airfryer to reverse sear the chicken, but you can also do it under a broiler of course, and that’s how I wrote the recipe below.
LIKE THIS RECIPE? CHECK OUT MY PRESSURE COOKER CHICKEN CONGEE RECIPE TOO!
Dump and cook makes this easy enough for a weeknight dinner, but the fact that this turns out so amazing makes it nice enough to serve any guest. If you’re making it for company, I’d make it the day before because this chicken adobo actually tastes better the next day.
You may have to reheat and blend the sauce together once more to serve, but the flavors meld so much better with a little rest time, that you can either make ahead of time or just double the recipe and plan to have leftovers.
Serve it 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 to be a great accompaniment to this chicken adobo.
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Make authentic Filipino Adobo with this Instant Pot Chicken Adobo recipe! All the original flavors you love in a fraction of the time.
- 1 pound bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- 1/2 cup white vinegar
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
- 2 tablespoons minced garlic
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar or 1 teaspoon splenda
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns roughly crushed
- 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes optional
- 3 bay leaves crushed
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.
I am not a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information is provided a courtesy, and can vary depending on the exact ingredients you use.
Don’t forget to check out my Instant Pot Fast & Easy Cookbook!
This book is full of all kinds of boldly flavored and internationally-themed recipes—Mexican, Thai, Moroccan, and more—with Instant Pot Fast & Easy, fully authorized by Instant Pot. Just like you have come to expect, my recipes will work perfectly every time, and of course taste great too. And because these are Instant Pot recipes, dishes like Japanese Chicken Curry, Chinese Steamed Ribs, and Mexican Pulled Pork are ready in a fraction of the time they would take using traditional cooking methods. As with all of my recipes, the focus is on whole foods instead of artificial convenience ingredients, so the recipes are delicious, easy, and healthful too.
Maria Rudolph says
Can I double it?
Christine Fink says
Do you think it would come out good if I substituted apple cider vinegar for the white vinegar?
Jeff Frane says
I made this for dinner last night! I was a little skeptical going into it because it’s so darn simple but it was delicious and done before I knew it. Steamed bok choy was perfect as a side dish.
URVASHI PITRE says
So glad to hear this!
cj says
loved this. didn’t bother with broiling. used trimmed boneless/skinless chix thighs. put meat in the liner pot w the marinade a few hours before it was eating time; then pressure cooked, removed meat from pot, and boiled the liquid down to concentrate and thicken. delicious gutsy flavor. I second guessed the cooking time, cooked for 9 minutes instead of 8. A mistake!! 8 and paying attention to do a QR after 10 minutes, as instructed, would have been perfect.