This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.
Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo is a traditional Filipino dish that is made even easier to make by making it in the slow cooker. It features sweet, salty, and tangy flavors with little effort required. This set-and-forget recipe will provide you with a flavorful meal for your family or friends!
What is Chicken Adobo?
Chicken Adobo is a traditional Filipino dish that is the national dish of the Philippines. It has become increasingly popular throughout the world. The dish features dark meat chicken in a sweet, sticky, and tangy sauce that is served over a bed of white rice. It is amazing for a weeknight dinner and leftovers taste just as delicious!
Why You’ll Love It
Easy to make. Slow cooker chicken adobo is relatively easy to make in the slow cooker. After a quick sear of the chicken thighs, everything is added to the slow cooker to cook until the meat is tender and the flavors of the sauce develop.
Addicting flavors. The sauce is the star of the show here with its sweet, sticky, and tangy flavors. Your tastebuds will be having a party once you get a taste of this sauce!
Simple pantry ingredients. There’s no special ingredient in this recipe. You likely have all the ingredients to this recipe in your pantry! Can you believe it?!
Ingredients You’ll Need
- Bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs – unfortunately with chicken adobo (and honestly all slow cooked chicken recipes) you have to use dark meat. It’s truly the best way to get the most tender, fall-off-the-bone, succulent chicken.
- Chicken broth
- Vinegar – this ingredient gives it the tang in the sauce.
- Soy sauce – the salty, umami depth of flavor.
- Dark brown sugar – for that sweetness you get from the sauce.
- Onion
- Garlic
- Bay leaves
- Water
- Cornstarch
Pro tip: for even more flavor, marinade the chicken overnight in the sauce.
How to make Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo
Sear the chicken thighs. Before putting the chicken in the slow cooker, you’ll want to sear the chicken thighs in a skillet with some olive oil just to brown the skin. It gives it an extra flavor boost and who doesn’t love more flavor?
Make the sauce. In a bowl, whisk together the ingredients of the sauce and pour half of it into the insert of your slow cooker.
Add the chicken. Place the seared chicken thighs into the broth.
Add the remaining ingredients. Place the onions on top of the chicken thighs and add the bay leaves.
Set the slow cooker. Cook on low for 6 hours or on high for 4.
Make the sauce thicker. After the chicken is done cooking, if you want a thicker sauce, remove the chicken and bay leaves and pour in the cornstarch slurry. Whisk until mixture thickens then cover and cook for an additional 10 minutes. Add the chicken back in to warm.
Serve. Serve chicken adobo over a bed of white rice.
Storage and Reheating Instructions
This will keep in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to five days. Reheat in the microwave with a damp paper towel on top to keep it moist.
Common Questions
What does chicken adobo taste like? It’s sweet, salty, and tangy.
Is chicken adobo spicy? No, but you may add some spice if you’d like.
Can you make this on the stovetop? Yes, absolutely. You would prep the marinade and sear the chicken in a large heavy-bottom pot like a Dutch oven. Then you would add the marinade, onions, and bay leaves to the chicken, cover and cook for about 30-40 minutes, or longer depending on how thick your chicken thighs are. Sometimes bone-in chicken thighs need a bit longer due to the bone.
Can you make this in the oven? Yes. All the steps are the same as the slow cooker but instead, use a Dutch oven (typically oven safe) and cover it and bake at 375 degrees F for 30-45 minutes. To get a nice golden brown color, remove the lid for the last 15 minutes of baking.
Can I use chicken legs with the thighs? Yes, traditionally both are used in this dish.
What could I serve with adobo chicken? Traditionally it is served with white rice.
More slow cooker recipes
Slow Cooker Chicken Tikka Masala
Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup
Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Chicken
Slow Cooker Honey Sriracha Pulled Chicken
Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons olive oil
- 3 pounds (1361 g) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs
- Pepper, for seasoning
- 1 ½ cup (355 ml) chicken broth
- ½ cup (118 ml) white vinegar
- ¾ cup (177 ml) soy sauce
- ¼ cup (55 g) dark brown sugar, if you prefer a sweeter sauce, you can add ¼ cup more
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 yellow onion, sliced
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 Tablespoon water
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
Instructions
- Pour olive oil into a large skillet, turn to medium-high heat. Place the chicken thighs top side up into the pan and season with pepper. Lightly sear the thighs on both sides, then remove the pan from heat and set aside.3 pounds (1361 g) bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs, 2 Tablespoons olive oil, Pepper
- In a medium both, mix together chicken broth, vinegar, soy sauce, brown sugar, and minced garlic. Pour half of this mixture into the slow cooker.1 ½ cup (355 ml) chicken broth, ½ cup (118 ml) white vinegar, ¾ cup (177 ml) soy sauce, ¼ cup (55 g) dark brown sugar, 6 cloves garlic
- Now place your seared thighs on top of your broth mixture.
- Add the sliced onions over top of the chicken thighs and pour on the remaining broth mixture. Add two bay leaves to the slow cooker.1 yellow onion, 2 bay leaves
- Cook on low for 6 hours (or on high for 4).
- Once the chicken is cooked, if you prefer a thicker sauce, remove bay leaves and place the chicken thighs on a plate and add a cornstarch slurry (1 tablespoon on cornstarch mixed with 1 tablespoon cold water whisked together) to the adobo sauce left in the slow cooker, mix together, cover with the lid and cook for an additional 5-10, occasionally stirring until thickened.1 Tablespoon water, 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- Add the chicken thighs back to the slow cooker to warm and serve over rice.
Nutrition
Love this way of cooking this dish that I grew up with….. being a Filipina, Adobo is our national dish and if you haven’t tried adobo yet, I urge you to give it a try, it will not disappoint.
I still make adobo( chicken and pork) the traditional way at home for my Western family .Seeing this post, this will be added to my repertoire of cooking techniques..
Thank you for sharing this way of cooking one of my favourite comfort foods.
Yes! That’s definitely an attention whore! Chicken Adobo is one of my favorite Filipino dishes that I can’t resist. Although the process of this adobo is not that traditional, I can definitely sense that I’ll be enjoying this dish.
Hey, Julie!
I’m using 5 large chicken breasts but want to cook on low. How long should I cook them? I was guessing the 2-2 1/2 hours that you notes above must be on high?
I noted above that if you cook them on low, it’s 6 hours.
Interesting and will try. But as a Filipina note Adobo is not to have a “thick” sauce, it is to be more soupy and it traditionally contains, soy sauce, garlic, water, bay leaves, onion and vinegar ONLY. Vinegar is a key ingredient in Adobo! Never sugar. I will try this out modified. Tank you for sharing.
My husband loves chicken breast , so if I cook everything in high in the crockpot how long should I leave it? ..u think 2 to 3 hrs should be enough ?.. Thanks
I think 2-2 1/2 hours should be enough
Can I use frozen Chicken breast for this recipe? I’m not a fan of thigh meat.
Yes, you can.
I just found your blog via Pinterest and I can’t wait to try this (and the bourbon chicken) recipe. I do have one question: Can I substitute raw honey for the brown sugar? Thanks!
I don’t see why that’d be a problem – go for it :)
This dish looks really tasty! But I am Filipino and have never seen Chicken Adobo look like this… Authentic adobo has about 6 ingredients. Chicken, garlic, onion, bay leave, soy sauce, and white vinegar + S&P to taste and will have a more soupy consistency. I will have to try this recipe though, it looks amazing and I bet it would be awesome on rice!
Awesome recipe. So tasty and easy to make. I had 5 chicken breasts and cooked them for 4.5 hours and found that they were cooked perfectly! The low sodium soy sauce makes a big difference.
I just made these for dinner and they turned out fantastic! I added some extra cayenne pepper and a dash of chili garlic paste to the final glaze for some extra kick.
Even better – I have leftovers to take to work tomorrow. =)
Awesome! So glad to hear & I like that you added extra spice to suit your taste. It’s always great to have a delicious lunch to look forward to :)