Instant Pot Chicken Adobo

Growing up in the cultural diversity of the Bay Area gave me the ability to be exposed to an array of foods from a very young age. Filipino foods such as crispy lumpia, lechon, and delicious pancit were very much a part of my life during birthdays, celebrations, and holidays.

Chicken Adobo, a Filipino chicken stew, is one of the dishes I loved eating growing up. This is my take on Chicken Adobo using an Instant Pot, which helps to make this an easy, quick, weeknight dinner! The marinade can be prepared ahead of time. This recipe was adapted for Instant Pot from panlasangpinoy.com.

INGREDIENTS
YIELD: 4 Servings

  • 2 LBS of chicken thighs and drumsticks

  • 3 pieces of bay leaves

  • 1/2 cup of soy sauce

  • 1/4 cup of white vinegar

  • 5 cloves of garlic crushed

  • 1 1/2 cups water

  • 3 TBS of vegetable oil

  • 1 TBS brown sugar

  • 1 TBS whole peppercorn

  • Salt to taste

PREPARATION

  • Combine chicken, soy sauce, and garlic in a large bowl. Mix well. Marinate chicken for at least 2 hours, preferably overnight in the fridge. The longer it marinates, the better it tastes!

  • Turn your Instant Pot to the high saute setting. Add the vegetable oil and once its shimmering, add the marinated chicken and brown on all sides, about 7 minutes. Reserve the remaining marinade, this will be used to create a sauce. Perform step in batches if needed to be able to brown all of the chicken.

  • Place all of the browned chicken pieces back in pot. Pour in the reserved marinade including the water, peppercorn, bay leaves, vinegar in the pot.

  • Follow the manufacturer instructions for locking the lid and preparing to cook. Set to manual high pressure cook for 9 minutes. After the pressure cook cycle is complete, perform the quick steam release. Be careful to wait for all steam to release, unlock the lid and remove. Take out the chicken and place on plate.

  • Turn Instant Pot back to high saute setting. Add the brown sugar and salt to taste. Let the sauce come to a boil and reduce it until very dark and fragrant. Remove the bay leaves.

  • Pour sauce on all of the chicken and serve hot with rice and scallion.

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