Instant Pot Chicken Adobo
INGREDIENTS
- 2 - 2.5 pounds boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 1/2 cup
low-sodium soy sauce (do not use regular, which will be too salty) - 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. Keeping the chicken in the pot, 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
| 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 |
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.
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 😊
You’re welcome, Cheryl. Thanks for sharing your Whole30 substitutions!
Any idea what the sodium level changed to?
Sorry, I have no idea what the sodium changed to.
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.
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 😁
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!
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.
Amazing! Didn’t salt the chicken (per other reviews), followed recipe for everything else. Everyone loved it at dinner.
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.
For a 3 quart instant pot do you just cut the chicken and onion in half? Seems you would still want the extra sauce.
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.
You might be able to fit the recipe as written in a 3 quart Instant Pot, so you wouldn’t have to adjust anything.
I used half amino and half low sodium soy sauce. It was so good that I had to take more chicken out of the freezer. Never thought to put cayenne pepper in adobo, but next time I’m adding extra. I also added some peppercorns to mine. I didn’t even need rice.
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.
I was told this is the ONLY way I am to make chicken thighs ever again! I did cut the soy to 1/4 cup and 1/4 water as the hubby isn’t a fan of salt. It was perfect and so delicious!
I made this for dinner today for my (very picky) husband and he loved it!
YAAAY!!!
What should the timing be if I’m doubling the recipe? Or is it the same?
The pressure cooking time remains the same.
Has anyone used bone in thighs? How much time should I add for that?
We only use bone-in skin-on for this recipe! I feel boneless skinless is too dry. No additional time needed.
Hi, I’d like to substitute amino acid and apple cider vinegar for the soy sauce/white vinegar. Do I use the same measurements as soy sauce/white vinegar?
Yes, I would use the same measurements. If you give it a try, please let me know how it turns out for you!
Did it work?
I liked this, but in my opinion, there is way too much soy sauce. All other recipes have either equal measurements of soy to vinegar or the measurements reversed. Again, this is just my opinion.
Sounds good. But why bother to saute chicken first? The skin just gets rubbery after pressure cooking anyway. Maybe at the end, if you want a little crisp. I don’t imagine sauteing would cut down on cooking time all that much if that’s the goal, and it’s another step. Wondering.
The purpose of sautéing the chicken is for flavor, color, and juice retention. By lightly browning the chicken, you get more flavorful meat with an attractive finish, and also seals in the meat’s juices, resulting in more tender tasting meat.
My son and I absolutely love this simple, delicious chicken recipe. Make it 2 to 3 times a month.
Awesome dish! Didn’t add any salt after reading reviews and it was wonderful. Definitely making this a keeper.
My first instant pot meal and WOW!!!!!!! Amazing!!! Came out so well. Thank you for this amazing recipe.
Julia, what a fantastic recipe! I followed others’ recommendations to eliminate the salt, but otherwise kept the recipe as-is and it was delicious. I served this dish with cauliflower rice and a cucumber/mango salad dressed with rice vinegar. Next time I might add a little broth to increase the sauciness (I like extra sauce), but seriously this was so good.
It is a go to recipe for me now, two years in on the Instant Pot. Although I prefer bone in thighs, it works either way. Super easy, very tasty, a great weeknight dinner.
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.
Loved this recipe! Made it three times and each time was excellent!
Mine is very salty…do you think it’s because I used regular soy sauce?
Yes. The recipe states that you should use low sodium soy sauce because otherwise it will be too salty.
Even with low sodium soy sauce, this is probably too salty for someone on a low sodium diet. It’s just the nature of soy sauce.