Filipino Chicken Adobo is my childhood comfort food. I was a picky eater as a kid, but I gobbled up chicken adobo every time we had it. Garlic, soy sauce, vinegar….yum. There are plenty of recipes for chicken adobo out there in books and the internet, some more complicated than others. This one is easy and just as tasty. I found it in Sunset Magazine many years ago and it tasted just like I remembered and so this is the recipe I make. Everyone in my family loves it. And it makes me happy to share a dish from my heritage.
Growing up half Filipino and half Central American in Maryland….well, I didn’t know very much of my parents’ cultures. We spoke English in our house because that’s how my parents communicated. But food was the primary way I knew anything about the countries my parents came from. Because my dad was very particular about food and really only liked filipino food, that was always in our kitchen. We even had a vegetable garden dedicated to growing asian vegetables that we couldn’t get in regular grocery stores back in the day. My dad’s diet was pretty healthy- lots of leafy greens and fish. It’s understandable why he couldn’t get used to the American palate. Now since I was a picky eater, I often didn’t eat the filipino food that we had in the house. It’s not even just that I liked American food better, I didn’t like anything! I was such a pain. But chicken adobo- I loved it! And I still do.
I picked a bay leaf to draw to go with the recipe because I rarely use bay leaves in the kitchen. But I always make sure to have a jar of dried bay leaves solely for chicken adobo.
Of course, it goes without saying, serve this with steamed white rice. Duh.
*I copied the recipe down word for word, but now I’m thinking that I should add an edit. I don’t use a medium frying pan. I use my dutch oven. You can use a frying pan, but I’d use one that is large enough to hold 8 thighs, since packages usually come with 4 per package. And one that has a bit of depth.