Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo
104 Comments Apr 05, 2022
Updated Oct 27, 2024
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
This Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo is a perfect dish to add variety to your weekly dinner menu. The sauce has soy sauce, ginger, garlic, and tangy vinegar and goes perfect over rice with steamed vegetables.
If you love tender chicken, then this recipe is for you! Thighs turn out perfect in the slow cooker, just like my ranch chicken and lemon pepper chicken.
The first time I encountered a chicken adobo recipe was on a viral youtube video that popped into my feed. Of course, I had to try out chicken adobo on my site and share how good it is with all my readers. (Note that I use a few more ingredients than she does in her video).
Some will say making chicken adobo in the crockpot isn’t authentic; that’s fine, don’t make it then. If you want the EASIEST way to make chicken adobo, then try my recipe; you won’t be disappointed.
What is chicken adobo?
- Chicken Adobo is a Philippine dish; the sauce for this recipe is heavy in vinegar and soy sauce. The taste is savory, with a touch of sweetness. There are also hints of garlic and ginger.
- Chinese traders introduced soy sauce to replace the traditional salt in this dish. – Wiki
Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken thighs – Bone-in chicken thighs work the best for Filipino chicken adobo! They get very tender in the crockpot. You can use bone-in chicken breasts, though you will want to cook for the full 7 hours.
- Soy sauce – I use low sodium soy sauce, though regular works just fine in this recipe if that is all you have.
- White vinegar – Add a tang to this recipe. If you are out of white vinegar, you can use apple cider vinegar.
- White onion – One whole diced white onion adds so much flavor to the dish.
- Chicken broth – Helps keep the entire dish moist and evens out some of the vinegar taste.
- Seasonings – Sliced fresh ginger root, garlic cloves, bay leaves, and peppercorns
- Green onion – Be sure to grab a bunch of green onions. Slice and top your chicken and rice with the green onion for added texture and flavor.
Step-by-Step Directions
Step One – First add oil to a hot pan and brown the chicken, no need to cook through. Add the chicken thighs to the crockpot.
Step Two – Next add the onion, ginger, garlic, bay leaves, and peppercorns.
Step Three – Pour over the chicken broth, vinegar, and soy sauce. The chicken marinates in the sauce as it slow cooks. Cook on LOW for 6-7 hours. Serve and enjoy!
What to serve with chicken adobo?
- Steamed white rice, jasmine rice, or fried rice goes well with the vinegar and soy sauce flavors.
- Steamed green veggies such as asparagus, bok choy, sugar snap peas, green beans, or broccoli
- Cauliflower rice for if you’re watching your carbs. This chicken adobo is very low in carbs!
- Top your chicken adobo Filipino recipe with green onions. Also, great with a touch of sriracha if you want spicy chicken.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, pretty much any cut of chicken works though bone-in dark meat will have better results. Drumsticks, bone-in chicken breast, boneless skinless thighs, or breasts can be used in this recipe. You can even use a combination of thighs and drumsticks.
Yes, add 3-4 cups of sliced bok choy during the last 5-10 minutes of cooking time. Make a great compliment to this along with rice.
If you desire shredded chicken, remove the chicken onto a plate. Remove and discard the skin.
Shred the chicken off the bone and add the shredded chicken back into the slow cooker with the sauce. This shredded chicken is excellent over rice.
Place your whole (thawed) chicken in the slow cooker. Pour over the chicken broth, soy sauce, and vinegar. Place as much of the onion, peppercorns, garlic, and ginger on top of the chicken (It’s ok if some fall down into the sauce). Cook for 8 hours or low or until your chicken is no longer pink inside and is fork-tender.
Want to make more magic in your crockpot? Stay up to date and subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest and YouTube.
Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo Recipe
How to Video
Ingredients
- 5 skin-on, bone-in chicken thighs
- 2 Tbsp. cooking oil
- 1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce, regular soy sauce will work fine as well
- 1/4 cup white vinegar, (can use apple cider vinegar)
- 1 cup chicken broth
- 1 cup white onion, diced
- 3 garlic cloves, left whole
- 3 small slices of peeled fresh ginger root, (or 1/4 tsp. ground ginger)
- 2 bay leaves
- 10-15 black peppercorns, (or 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper)
- 1 bunch green onion, sliced – for serving
Instructions
- Set a large skillet over medium-high heat. When the pan is hot add enough of the oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Brown the chicken on both sides. Add the chicken to the slow cooker.
- In a medium sized bowl whisk together the soy sauce, vinegar, chicken broth and onion. Pour this mixture over the chicken. Or you can add everything to the slow cooker without dirtying a bowl, this works fine too.
- Add the garlic cloves, ginger slices, bay leaves and peppercorns on top of the chicken.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6-7 hours or HIGH 4 hours for without opening the lid during the cooking time.
- Remove bay leaves, and garlic cloves if desired.
- Serve chicken drizzled with plenty of the sauce out of the slow cooker and enjoy! Top with sliced green onion for flavor and texture.
Sarah’s Notes
- Drumsticks
- Bone-in chicken breast
- Boneless skinless thighs or breasts
- If you desire shredded chicken, remove the chicken on a plate. Remove and discard the skin.
- Shred the chicken off the bone and add back into the slow cooker with the sauce.
- This shredded chicken is great over rice.
- Steamed white rice
- Steamed green veggies such as asparagus, bok choy, sugar snap peas or broccoli
- Cauliflower rice for if you’re watching your carbs. This chicken adobo is very low in carbs!
Nutrition
Nutrition info is auto-generated. This information is an estimate; if you are on a special diet, please use your own calculations.
I’m out of chicken broth, if I use water instead what will the soy sauce and vinegar measurements change to?
Can’t say without testing. Do you have a chicken bouillon cube you can dissolve into the water?
My Girlfriend is a Filipina. She always cuts her bone-in chicken (into pieces) so that as it stews the bone broth within the chicken also stews into the recipe. If you think it is bland, if no one else is at the table, some have been known to toss in some pepper flakes or add hot sauce. A native, she makes the best I’ve ever had.
Thank you for your tips!
I tried this tonight and was anticipating the wonderful pungent flavor that I’ve previously tasted with chicken and pork adobo. I’d never made it before. I followed the recipe, except I used full strength soy sauce, and was disappointed with the flavor. Maybe will try apple cider vinegar if I use this recipe again.
I have used apple cider vinegar and was good.
Please write Filipino Dish, not Philippine dish. I’m not Philippine. I am Filipino. Also soy sauce and vinegar ratio should be 3 to 1, not 1 to 1. Definitely needs more ginger, however I recognize everyone cooks to their own palette. This was a good starting point to just see how long it takes to cook in crock pot. So I got the information I needed. Glad you took the time to post this.
bland
I added 2 tblespoons of oyster sauce! I had a Filipino friend that added that to his recipe. I can hardly wait to eat it for dinner1
The smell of the slow cooked Chicken Adobo filled up the kitchen and the dish was delightful. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
I added double the recipe sauce and put rice in with it. Hope it comes out good. Smells good. Doing low for 6 to 7 hrs.
Is the onion meant to be chopped ? Use fresh onion or dried minced onion?
Diced fresh onion, thank you for letting me know.
I’ve got this in my slow cooker right now! Looks amazing. Wasn’t able to get bone-in and skin thighs so just using regular one. Would be nice with drumsticks too. Can’t wait to try it tonight! 🙂