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Instant Pot Chicken Adobo

Updated Aug 11, 2020Published Apr 10, 2018 By Julia 181 CommentsThis post may contain affiliate links.

Summary:
This is a superb Chicken Adobo with onions and garlic — Filipino comfort food conveniently made in a pressure cooker. The chicken comes out tender and flavorful, and the adobo sauce is simultaneously tangy, sweet, and savory. Don't have a pressure cooker? Check out Baked Chicken Adobo.
chicken adobo with onions served on plate

Instant Pot Chicken Adobo

4.8 from 115 votes
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Prep: 15 mins
Cook: 35 mins
Yield: 4 servings

INGREDIENTS

  • 2 to 2.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs, patted dry and trimmed (Note 1)
  • 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce (Note 2)
  • 1/3 cup white vinegar
  • 1 onion, sliced (Note 3)
  • 5 cloves garlic, minced
  • 3 bay leaves
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/4 teaspoon ground cayenne
  • salt and black pepper

For Serving:

  • 2 scallions (green onions), sliced

INSTRUCTIONS

  • Sear Chicken: Select saute mode on pressure cooker (Note 4) for medium heat. Season chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. When display reads HOT, add olive oil to coat bottom of pot. Add half of chicken thighs and cook for a few minutes on each side before transferring to plate. Repeat for remaining chicken thighs. Turn off saute mode.
  • Pressure Cook: Add soy sauce, vinegar, onion, garlic, and cayenne to pot, stirring well and scraping up any brown bits stuck to bottom of pot. Return all chicken thighs to pot in single layer, snugly on top of onions. Top with bay leaves. Secure and seal lid. Cook at high pressure for 10 minutes (Note 5), followed by quick pressure release.
  • Thicken Sauce: Uncover and select saute mode. Keeping chicken in pot, boil for about 15 minutes or until sauce is thickened (Note 6). Remove bay leaves. Serve chicken and sauce, topped with sliced scallions (Note 7).

NUTRITION

Makes 4 Servings
Amount Per Serving:
Calories 370 (52% from fat)  
Total Fat 21g 33%
   Saturated Fat 1g 5%
Cholesterol 182mg 61%
Sodium 1540mg 64%
Net Carb 6.5g  
Total Carb 7g 2%
   Dietary Fiber 0.5g 2%
   Sugars 3g  
Protein 37g  
Vitamin A 2% · Vitamin C 3% · Calcium 1% · Iron 17%

PHOTOS

chicken adobo with onions served on plate
chicken adobo with onions served on plate
close up view of chicken adobo
chicken adobo served with cauliflower rice

NOTES & TIPS

(1) Chicken. I use fresh chicken; if yours is frozen, defrost in the refrigerator overnight before using in this recipe. Patting chicken dry helps it develop a better sear, and trimming it removes excess fat (kitchen shears are useful). I use boneless and skinless chicken thighs and haven’t tested with other cuts. I don’t recommend skin-on chicken because the seasoning will end up on the skin, not in the chicken. Bone-in chicken should be fine; keep the pressure cooking time the same.
(2) Soy Sauce. I use low sodium soy sauce by brands like Kikkoman or Trader Joe’s. Avoid regular soy sauce, which will be too salty (reducing the liquid in Step 3 increases its saltiness). Light soy sauce refers to color and is not the same as low sodium soy sauce. If you follow a paleo, whole30, or gluten-free diet, substitute with coconut aminos.
(3) Onion. This is a must and shouldn’t be skipped; otherwise, the sauce will have a substantially different taste and texture.
(4) Pressure Cooker Equipment. I use a 6-quart Instant Pot. Other sizes of electric pressure cookers will work as long as all ingredients fit within the maximum capacity. If you’re using a 3-quart pressure cooker, you’ll need to halve this recipe.
(5) Pressure Cooking. Depending on your pressure cooker model, the setting I use is called “manual” or “pressure cook.” Make sure it’s set to high pressure. If you scale the ingredients up or down for a different number of servings, the pressure cooking time remains the same.
(6) Thickening Sauce. The adobo sauce is the highlight of this dish; it’s worth the extra effort to get right. If you boil for 15 minutes, you’ll get a decent amount of remaining sauce to spoon over the chicken, but it won’t be very thick. At 20 minutes, you’ll end up with a thick glaze that easily sticks to the chicken, but you won’t have much liquid to spoon over the chicken. You’ll also have to be careful that the sauce doesn’t burn on the bottom of your pressure cooker pot. Personally, I like the consistency of the sauce when boiled about 17 minutes. I recommend 15 minutes for most people because it’s easy to burn the sauce when it starts becoming glaze-like.
(7) Serving / Leftovers. Chicken adobo can be served with fried cauliflower rice, roasted vegetable medley, or a fresh salsa. This is a very flavorful dish, so a plainer side dish would be best. Leftovers keep well — store in a covered container in the refrigerator for up to 2 days and reheat in the microwave.

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Filed Under: Instant Pot, Low Carb, Mains: Poultry, Per Serving: 5-10g Net Carbs Tagged With: 31-60min, bay leaves, cayenne, chicken thighs, garlic, instant pot, more10ingredients, onion, popular, scallions, soy sauce, vinegar

About Julia

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Julia is a recipe developer and the founder of Savory Tooth. Since 2015, she has been sharing simple recipes for tasty dishes, mostly low carb and gluten free. Learn more.

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Tonya

So delicious!!!! I followed the recipe as written with 2 exceptions. I didn’t have low sodium soy sauce and I used rice wine vinegar. I followed Julia‘s recommendation in a previous comment and used 1/4 cup soy sauce mixed with 1/4 cup water. This still didn’t cut the saltiness. So, while thickening in the last stage, I added about 2 tablespoons of brown sugar and the juice of a quarter of a lime. This helped tremendously! In the future, I won’t salt the chicken at all in the beginning and add it at the table, if needed.

Vote Up18Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Cheryl F

I made this tonight for the first time, and my family smashed it down. They both complain about cauliflower anything, but I served it on cauliflower mash with ghee and they wanted more. I also used coconut aminos and apple cider vinegar instead of soy sauce and white vinegar as I am doing Whole30. This will definitely be going on the keep list. Thank you for the recipe 😊

Vote Up10Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Julia

You’re welcome, Cheryl. Thanks for sharing your Whole30 substitutions!

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Gary Gams

Any idea what the sodium level changed to?

Vote Up-1Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Cheryl F

Sorry, I have no idea what the sodium changed to.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Theresa

Use coconut aminos. Great taste and less salty.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago
AZ Lew

Love love this dish! The whole family does every single time I make it. So easy and always delicious. The only thing I changed was using coconut aminos instead of soy to make it Whole 30 compliant. Have not used the soy once once and don’t need to! Thanks a bunch 😁

Vote Up4Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Sharon Hallberg

I made this exactly as written. The flavors were very good, but even with low sodium soy sauce it was way too salty for my husband and me. Also, it took about a half hour longer than estimated by author. Admittedly, this could be partially due to this being my very first Instant Pot attempt, but with all the preheating necessary before the actual cooking times can be achieved I think some time needs to be added to prep and cook times.

Vote Up4Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Suz

Wow is what I can say. This is my very first meal I’ve ever done in an instant pot. I served it with cauliflower rice and it is to die for! I love tangy and savory and this definitely fits the bill.

Vote Up3Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Nancy M.

Has anyone used bone in thighs? How much time should I add for that?

Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Mon

We only use bone-in skin-on for this recipe! I feel boneless skinless is too dry. No additional time needed.

Vote Up6Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Kat

Absolutely love this particular Instant Pot Adobo Chicken Recipe. It is very close to the Adobo recipe I am used to having and I am Filipino. All the other recipes for Instant Pot Adobo does not have a lot of sauce, it’s more like a teriyaki adobo. This ones provides delicious sauce. You are certainly right the key to Adobo is the sauce. We served this Chicken Adobo over Green Onion Garic Cauliflower Rice and a Mango, Tomatoes, Red Onion Salsa (Salad) which is what a lot of Filipino’s have on the side…it was sooo delicious my hubby had 3 servings! Ps I did not salt the chicken since it has soy sauce.

Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
StephanieC

This recipes is so good! I also, like other reviewers, used regular soy sauce. With some other reviewer tips, I used 2 tblsps of brown sugar and some lime juice during the boiling of the sauce portion of the recipe to cut some of the saltiness from the soy sauce. I skipped salting the chicken as well. The sauce wasn’t thickening much so I made a cornstarch slurry (1 tblsp cornstarch and 1 tblsp water) and added it to the sauce before serving which thickened the sauce nicely. My husband loved this recipe and we will be adding this to our dinner rotation.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Penny

I am in love with this recipe. Regrettably I did not have the low sodium soy sauce on hand so it was a bit salty, but otherwise it turned out delicious. The onions caramelized perfectly after 15 minutes.

Definitely a favorite!

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Andrea

Thank you so much for the awesome recipe!!! My whole family loved it!!! I used coconut aminos and apple cider vinegar instead of soy sauce and white vinegar. I also did not use any salt and I only used 1/8 tsp of cayenne. I boiled it for almost 20 minutes and the glaze was so perfect that we wanted more of it! 🙂 Maybe we’ll try adding some broth next time…Thanks again!

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Hew

Made it tonight for my Filipina spouse. She said it’s better than what what her mom used to make! Thanks for a great recipe!!

Substituted rice vinegar for the white vinegar.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Arnette

My friends have a Power Quick Pot and I had some drumsticks so I made this tonight. I’m Filipino so this is a pretty good quick healthy version. Salamat!

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Charlie

I just made this for the first time – so easy and incredibly good. The sweet, savory and spice (I may have gone a little heavy on the cayenne) come together so well, and the thickened sauce gets soaked up by the rice perfectly.

The only thing I think I need to figure out is how to cut some of the salt. You DEFINITELY need to use only low sodium soy sauce. I would probably cut back the salt on the raw chicken before searing the chicken, and maybe even cut the soy sauce with a bit of water.

Oh, I made this in my 3qt mini duo pretty easily by going somewhere between half and 2/3 the recipe.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Karlee

Was looking for an easy recipe and found this. What an AMAZING meal. Used half coconut aminos and half low sodium soy (can’t resist actual soy sauce)

And just threw in the cauliflower rice during the last simmer process to thicken the sauce. Rice cooked and it’s absolutely delicious.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Steve

Loved this recipe! My friend commented that it could be toned down a bit with a bit of water or broth because the flavor while excellent was a bit concentrated.

Next time I’ll cut the Cayenne by half only because I’m a wimp but, this was amazing!

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
Anna

This was so good! I used half gluten free soy sauce and half coconut aminos.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
FabGab

I have made Chicken Adobo on the stove top and in my slow cooker probably a million times because we all love it but this recipe is by far the best I’ve ever made! Thanks so much!

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
Kate

Really delicious. My mother in law is new to the InstantPot, and I used this recipe to get her using it. We used thighs with the skin on and bones in. No timing adjustments were necessary since chicken is left in during the boiling process. I will likely use skinless next time (but bone in was VERY tender!). Much of the cayenne ended up on the skin and not in the chicken, which it why I would probably use the skinless next time. Sauce was not thick after 15 minutes, but it had reduced significantly and was amazing delicious! Thanks for the new recipe!

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
4 years ago
Joy Lynn Whitmore

For a 3 quart instant pot do you just cut the chicken and onion in half? Seems you would still want the extra sauce.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Julia

If you’re halving the ingredients, I would do so proportionally, so all ingredients are halved. If having extra sauce is important, then keep the soy sauce and vinegar the same without cutting them in half. Note that the pressure cooking time should not be changed even though you’re altering the amounts of ingredients.

Vote Up1Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Lauren

The flavor was good and the chicken turned out VERY tender. As other reviews mentioned, even if you use low-sodium soy sauce, 1/2 cups makes it very salty. I even used 1/3 cup and substituted water for the rest and the saltiness was borderline. Lastly, pan searing the chicken was pretty cumbersome inside the deep pot, but I wouldn’t recommend doing it on the stove…then you don’t get those flavorful bits that stick to the pan.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
2 years ago
Chrissy

I made this for dinner tonight and it was awesome!! Steamed some broccoli to go with it. Great combination of sweet and spicy. Thanks for the recipe.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Michaela

Loved this recipe! Made it three times and each time was excellent!

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Resa

Amazing! Didn’t salt the chicken (per other reviews), followed recipe for everything else. Everyone loved it at dinner.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Jennifer H.

I realized while making this that it’s very similar to a dish my mom makes with pork instead of chicken. She also adds shiitake mushrooms and hard boiled eggs to it so I added hard boiled eggs to this recipe while it was on the last boil step. they were a very good addition and went well with the overall flavor of the dish. Any Tawainese folks or those in the know on Taiwanese cuisine may recognize the eggs as tasting similar to tea eggs but without the star anaise flavor. Anyway, I agree with other comments that it was too salty even with low sodium soy. Next time I won’t salt the chicken. Thank you for sharing this recipe!

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Julia

Your addition of hard boiled eggs sounds delicious. I haven’t had tea eggs in a long time, but they’re one of my favorite street snacks (my parents are from Taiwan).

Vote Up2Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Maxi

Ms. Julia, Ms. Julia, Ms. Julia!!! I have never tasted Adobo chicken before, but if the chicken is tender and seasoned anything like this, then I am a fan! I am making two more of your recipes, but this one is a WINNER! Thank you.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
3 years ago
Elizabeth Fong

I do no have pressure cooker.

Vote Up0Vote Down  Reply
1 year ago

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