Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo

Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo is a popular Filipino dish made of tender, fall-apart chicken that braises for hours in a delectable sauce made with vinegar, soy sauce, onions, and garlic. This flavorful chicken is perfect over rice with spoonfuls of the decadent sauce!

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I created Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo because there aren’t a lot of Filipino restaurants for me to get my fix, and with my kids in sports, I don’t have time to babysit the chicken on the stove for hours.

That’s where my handy slow cooker comes in. I can brown the chicken, throw everything in the slow cooker, and come home to the best smelling house on the street.

When I think about Filipino food, I think about the wonderful ladies that I worked with when I lived in Hawaii.

They were so sweet, thoughtful, and lucky for me, amazing cooks!

Whenever we had a company potluck or we were celebrating someone’s birthday, my co-workers would bring dishes like pancit, chicken adobo, and lumpia to share with everyone.

That’s how I really got familiar with all my favorite Filipino foods.

What is Chicken Adobo?

Chicken Adobo is unlike any other dish I’ve ever had.

It’s basically pieces of bone-in chicken that braise for hours in a sauce made with onions, garlic, soy sauce, and vinegar.

It has a wonderful, addicting sauce that’s savory and a little salty and tangy. I can’t get enough of it!

Ingredients needed for this recipe (scroll down to recipe card for complete recipe):

Bone-in chicken pieces
Onion
Garlic
Bay leaves
Soy Sauce
White vinegar
Pepper
Cilantro (for garnish)

How to make this recipe?

1) Brown the chicken in a pan, put it in a slow cooker and top it with onion, garlic, and bay leaves.

2) Deglaze the chicken pan with the soy sauce/vinegar and scrape up the brown bits. Pour the deglazing liquid over the chicken, onions, and garlic in the slow cooker.

3) Let everything cook in the slow cooker for about 4-6 hours on low. The chicken will fall off the bone!

4) Serve the chicken over rice, spoon the fabulous sauce over everything, and garnish with cilantro. Yum!

How to serve Chicken Adobo

I personally like Jasmine rice for this dish, but you can use white rice, brown rice, quinoa, or whatever starch you like to soak up all the yummy juices!

If you want a next-level rice recipe, try my Herbed Butter Garlic Rice!

Some chopped fresh cilantro is the perfect finishing touch for this dish!

Do I have to brown the chicken first?

Browning the chicken is not required, but it is highly recommended.

After you brown the chicken, you deglaze the pan the chicken cooked in with liquid and scrape up all the brown bits and pour all of that goodness in the slow cooker.

If you just put the chicken in the slow cooker without browning it first, you’re skipping all that flavor.

Plus, the chicken is more aesthetically pleasing when the skin is seared, but that’s up to you.

How long is this chicken good for?

Leftovers can be kept in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for 3-4 days.

If you have any leftover meat, it’s fabulous in homemade ramen bowls with sautéed baby bok choy, scallions, ginger, garlic, and chicken broth.

Looking for more slow cooker recipes? Here are some fan favorites:

NOTES:

Bone-in thighs and legs are the traditional pieces of chicken used in Chicken Adobo, but you could use any bone-in chicken parts you desire.
It’s customary to leave the skin on the chicken, but I don’t like soggy skin, so I usually remove it in my recipe. Feel free to leave the skin on for a more traditional chicken adobo.
Most chicken adobo has black peppercorns. Feel free to add some!

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