A superb Filipino chicken adobo with onions and garlic cooked in the Instant Pot pressure cooker. Low carb and keto.
Chicken adobo is traditional Filipino comfort food made easy with a pressure cooker. The chicken comes out tender and flavorful, and the adobo sauce is simultaneously tangy, sweet, and savory. I don’t get the chance to eat Filipino food often, but this is one of my favorites!
The main ingredients in chicken adobo are chicken thighs (I use boneless and skinless ones), onions, soy sauce, and vinegar. The chicken thighs are seasoned and pan seared, followed by pressure cooking with soy sauce, vinegar, and onions in the Instant Pot. The saute mode is then used to reduce the sauce to an almost sticky consistency.
The adobo sauce is the highlight of this dish, so here are a few details regarding the last step when you’re reducing the sauce. The recipe recommends 15 minutes of boiling to be on the conservative side, but you can boil longer for a different result.
If you boil for…
- 15 minutes then you’ll get a decent amount of remaining sauce to spoon over the chicken but it won’t be very thick. The sauce will, however, taste amazing with the onions and chicken.
- 20 minutes then you’ll end up with a thick glaze that easily sticks to the chicken. However, since it’s more of a glaze than a sauce, 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, but it’s up to you!
A few notes on ingredient substitutions:
- The onions are a must and cannot be skipped. The sauce would have a very different taste and texture without them.
- If you follow the Paleo or Whole30 diet, you can substitute soy sauce with coconut aminos.
- I don’t recommend using chicken breasts. Use chicken thighs, legs, or drumsticks. I use boneless and skinless ones because it’s easier, but you don’t have to.
This recipe’s ingredients were a good amount for my 6 quart Instant Pot, but you can easily double them for an 8 quart pressure cooker.
If you have any leftovers, they store well in the refrigerator and can be reheated the next day in the microwave.
Instant Pot Chicken Adobo
A superb Filipino chicken adobo with onions and garlic cooked in the Instant Pot pressure cooker. Low carb and keto.
Ingredients
- 2 - 2.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/2 cup low-sodium soy sauce
- 1/3 cup white vinegar
- 1 onion sliced
- 5 cloves garlic minced
- 3 bay leaves
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
- salt and coarse black pepper
For serving:
- 2 scallions sliced
- cooked white rice or cauliflower rice
Instructions
-
Select the saute mode on the pressure cooker for medium heat. Generously season chicken thighs on both sides with salt and pepper. When the display reads HOT, add olive oil to coat the bottom of the pot. Add half of the chicken thighs and cook for a few minutes on each side before transferring them to a plate. Repeat for the remaining chicken thighs. Turn off the saute mode.
-
Add soy sauce, vinegar, onion, garlic, and cayenne to the pot. Stir well and scrape up any brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot. Return all chicken thighs to the pot in a single layer, placing them snugly on top of the onions. Top with bay leaves. Secure and seal the lid. Cook for 10 minutes at high pressure followed by a manual pressure release.
-
Uncover and select the saute mode. Boil for about 15 minutes to thicken the sauce. Remove the bay leaves. Serve the chicken and sauce, optionally with cooked cauliflower rice. Top with sliced scallions.
Nutrition Info
This recipe yields 6.5 g net carbs per serving. Nutrition information doesn't include serving ingredients like rice.
| Nutrition Facts Per Serving |
| Calories 370 | |
| Total Fat 21g | 33% |
| Saturated Fat 1g | 5% |
| Trans Fat 0g | |
| Cholesterol 182mg | 61% |
| Sodium 1540mg | 64% |
| Potassium 10mg | 0% |
| Total Carb 7g | 2% |
| Dietary Fiber 0.5g | 2% |
| Sugars 3g | |
| Protein 37g |
Omg this is the best chicken I have ever made, a bit too spicy 🌶 for my hubby but I Loved it So easy & Delicious. Thanks for the recipe 😀
This was so good! I used half gluten free soy sauce and half coconut aminos.
I am making this tomorrow, I have bone in chicken thighs, do I need to increase cooking time?
Go through the comments to search for one by Kate. She used bone-in thighs and describes what she did to make it work.
Is it possible to double this recipe in an Instant Pot 6 quart? We love it so much!
Should be fine 🙂 No need to double the pressure cooking time.
Wow that was really good! Made it just as is and served it with cauliflower rice, will def make it again.
Easy and yummy! Even the “I don’t like Asian food” child ate it up.
This is an amazing recipe!! My husband loveddddd it! He declared it in the rotation! Thank you!
This was sooooo good. My family ate the whole thing and is already asking for it again this week.
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!
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… Read more »
This was the first recipe I made with my Instant Pot. I’ve made it twice now. And it’s excellent! My boyfriend and I love it. It makes enough for a big dinner and a generous lunch for the two of us. I only had distilled vinegar…don’t know if that makes a difference. I also never measured the cayenne just dumped it in until it looked like enough. It honestly looks and tastes like it has been slow cooking all day. Thank you!
Thanks for your review, Miki! Both white and distilled vinegars work well for this recipe.
I love this recipe! I read over probably 10 different Adobo Instant Post ones and this is the one I ended up trying. I’m curious to see how it’ll do when I cook a bigger batch, but other than that it turned out really good. I will agree with others here, the sauce turned out really watery compared to yours, but there are so many factors that go into this it’s hard to tell which one was the cause. I often make my Adobo in the oven, which is, by design, very liquidy, so it didn’t bother me at all.… Read more »
Thanks for your feedback, Jeremy. If you make this again with some changes and it turns out even better, report back and let me know 🙂
I made this tonight for my family and I have never heard them rave about a meal like this one! It was a big hit!
Hi Julia, amazing dish! Totally loved it! 2 questions:
1. When I made it the onions were completely pulverized into the sauce and chicken. In your photos it looks like they’re laying on top of the chicken. Did I slice them too thin?
2. Also in your photos the dish has a reddish-brown color. When I made it everything was deep brown. Any idea why this was?
Many thanks!! ~d
Hi David! The onions should be quite soft and tender, almost falling apart but still distinguishable. The color of the dish could depend on how thick your resulting sauce is, as well as the specific brands you use for the ingredients.
Hi. What is a serving? One chicken thigh?
One serving is 1/4th of the entire dish, which is about 8 oz of chicken.