This Twist on Classic Chicken Adobo Is Extra Luxurious (but Just as Easy)

When I first started writing adobo recipes awhile back, I learned that the dish is a great starting point for Western cooks interested in cooking Filipinx food. Many Americans I spoke to would say, “Oh my mom had a Filipino coworker/friend/ex that would always make this for potlucks.” I consider it the gateway drug to what will surely be your Filipinx food infatuation. Adobo in its most commonly known form is meat or vegetables stewed in a combination of vinegar, soy sauce, and aromatics. I have also seen this combination used in a sort of stir-fry, but the stew is the iteration I am the most familiar with.

The earliest adobos came about before colonization. The Indigenous people of the Philippines would preserve meat in vinegar to protect it from the tropical climate. When the Spanish arrived, they called it adobo because of a similar dish they had that uses a vinegar-based marinade (adobo is derived from the Spanish word adobar, meaning “marinade”). Original iterations of adobo did not have soy sauce and are now called white adobo.

I have witnessed many online conversations — or rather, heated discussions — about what is the “right way” to make adobo. Perhaps this is an unpopular opinion, but I don’t believe there’s a right or wrong way — and honestly, those discussions would always prove that theory correct. For every comment that says “ginger doesn’t belong in adobo,” there’s another arguing it does. The Philippines is a vast island nation with different topography and food availability. Why wouldn’t the “official dish of the Philippines” have different variants based on where the person lives? 

In my life, I’ve enjoyed adobo many ways. I’ve made it vegetarian, I’ve added chiles, I’ve even used apple cider vinegar in a pinch, which I know makes some diehard adobo traditionalists cringe. But I grew up in the U.S., and sometimes you have to use what’s available. Adobo doesn’t just come in the chicken variety, either; beef, pork, and shrimp are other ways to enjoy it. One of my favorite versions is adobo made with squid.

One of my favorite ways to have adobo that I didn’t grow up eating is adobo infused with coconut milk. There are coconuts all over the Philippines, and in this recipe coconut milk adds a luxurious texture to the broth.