Until today I had never heard of Chicken Adobo, but thanks to this post in which Cristina calls Chicken Adobo her favorite Asian chicken dish ever, I decided to give it a try and now it is my favorite ever Asian chicken dish, too! It’s delicious and is easy to make. Chicken Adobo comes from the Philippines, where it is the national dish. This is the first time I’ve ever cooked something Filipino, and I must say I like it a lot!

Here’s my sous-vide version. With sous-vide cooking, we need less marinade, the chicken will stay juicy and it’s impossible to overcook the chicken and let it become dry. Since you need to add liquid to the bag, you need to use zip sous-vide pouches unless you own a chamber vacuum sealer.

If you don’t own sous-vide equipment, you can follow the recipe provided by Cristina (and make sure to let the chicken simmer very gently!).

Ingredients

For 2 servings

300 grams (.66 lbs) boneless and skinless chicken thighs

1 clove garlic, minced

2 Tbsp white wine vinegar or rice vinegar

2 Tbsp (Japanese or Chinese) soy sauce

120 ml (1/2 cup) chicken stock

1/4 tsp black pepper corns, crushed

1 clove garlic, minced

1 bay leaf

1 Tbsp vegetable oil

Preparation

Mix the chicken stock with vinegar, soy sauce, and black pepper. If using store-bought chicken stock, you may need to reduce the amount of soy sauce to prevent it from becoming too salty.

Pat the chicken dry with paper towels. Heat the oil in a frying pan and brown the chicken quickly over high heat on both sides. You do not need to cook the chicken through as this step is just to develop the flavor. Take out the chicken.

Lower the heat and sauté the minced garlic and bay leaf briefly.

Add the chicken stock mixture before the garlic starts to color.

Bring to a boil, then reduce over medium heat to about a third. Turn off the heat and discard the bay leaf.

Put the chicken thighs in a sous-vide zip pouch. Add the contents of the frying pan.  Use the water displacement method (i.e. submerge the pouch) to seal the pouch with as little air as possible still remaining. If you own a chamber vacuum sealer, allow chicken and sauce to cool completely before vacuum sealing them together.

Cook sous-vide for 1 hour at 64.5C/148F. If you have the time, the chicken will be even more juicy if you cook it lower and slower, like 8 hours at 62C/144F or 12 hours at 60C/140F. The exact timing depends on the age of the chicken.

Serve on pre-heated plates with the sauce from the bag with rice and stir fried vegetables.

Wine pairing

Good with pinot bianco/pinot blanc/weissburgunder.