A little sweet, a little spicy…Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo is an easy dinner you’ll love any day of the week. The chicken is marinated in a simple vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar sauce and slow cooker with jalapeños and garlic for an extra boost of flavor!
Inspired by a favorite Filipino Chicken Adobo, this classic chicken adobo recipe is made easy with our favorite countertop appliance, a slow cooker. Spoon over a bed of white rice with a side of green beans!
Skip the Oven
Winter is on its way and it’s time to dust off that slow cooker or crockpot to start stewing all the things if you haven’t been using it all summer like me. I love using my slow cooker or Crock Pot all year long but this year, I’ve been defaulting to the grill for most meals.
I still enjoy an easy, braised chicken dinner when the weather heats up. In fact, I’ve been craving this Filipino Chicken Adobo for months and didn’t want to keep the oven on for hours because it’s been so hot most of the summer.
So, I created an easy Crock Pot Chicken Adobo recipe for those times when you don’t want to leave the oven on all day because it’s hot….or have to go to work. This easy slow cooker recipe is one of our favorites and has been on repeat ever since we first made it.
What is Chicken Adobo?
Filipino Chicken Adobo isn’t really a “recipe” as much as it is a method of marinating and stewing a specific cut of meat in a broth mixture made of vinegar, soy sauce, and spices.
Most recipes call for a period of marinating the meat before stewing in the same mixture. This creates the most tender, tangy, melt-in-your-mouth meat.
For this chicken recipe, we skip the step of marinating the meat. The slow cooker does all the work of infusing your Chicken Adobo with all the flavors commonly found in a classic Filipino recipe.
How to Make Chicken Adobo
Making Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo is so easy to do and can be whipped up early in the day before you leave for work, school, or wherever you need to be during the day.
- GARLIC: Cut the garlic bulbs in half to expose the inside of the cloves. Keep the whole bulb intact and don’t separate the cloves.
- CHICKEN: Brown chicken in a skillet until crispy and golden on all sides. (If you’re in a rush, you can skip this step but browning the chicken adds a ton of flavor). Transfer all ingredients to the slow cooker.
- SAUCE: In a small bowl, whisk together sauce ingredients and pour over chicken.
- COOK: Cover and cook on high for 4 hours or low for 6 hours.
This recipe leans closer to a Mexican Adobo Chicken with jalapenos for spice. For a milder flavor, leave them out. This will not affect the overall success of the recipe!
What to Serve With Chicken Adobo
We like to serve Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo alongside a fluffy pile of white rice but if you’re going the low carb route sub that rice with a mountain of cauliflower rice, as I do!
You can also serve Filipino Chicken Adobo with buttered noodles or a fresh green salad.
More Slow Cooker Recipes
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup – great for busy weeknights
- Slow Cooker Pork Loin Roast – with a savory sweet honey garlic sauce!
- Slow Cooker Pork Carnitas – a table side fiesta
- Slow Cooker Beef Burritos – loaded with tender shredded beef!
- Slow Cooker Salisbury Steak – favorite comfort food
Slow Cooker Chicken Adobo
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 8 bone-in skin-on chicken thighs and/or drumsticks
- 1 head garlic
- 2 whole jalapeño or serrano chilis
- 1 cup diced onion
- 4 bay leaves
- salt and black pepper
Sauce
- ¾ cup apple cider vinegar
- ½ cup less sodium soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
Instructions
- Heat the olive oil in large skillet over medium heat.
- Season the chicken with salt and pepper. Cook the chicken in the skillet until golden brown and crispy on all sides, approximately 10-15 minutes. Transfer to the slow cooker.
- Cut the garlic lengthwise to expose the top of the garlic cloves being careful not to break the bulb apart. Transfer the garlic to the slow cooker.
- Thinly slice the chilis removing the seeds to make it less spicy, if desired. Add to the slow cooker along with diced onions.
- In a small bowl, whisk together the sauce ingredients and pour over the chicken. Top with the bay leaves.
- Cover the slow cooker and cook for 4 hours on high or 6-7 hours on low.
- Remove bay leaves. Serve the chicken over white rice and spoon the sauce over the chicken.
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dinner
Cuisine Filipino, Mexican© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
This sounds delicious. In your other version you use cane vinegar, can this be used in this version as well?
I haven’t tried it so I can’t say for sure Betty, but it should be just fine replacing the apple cider vinegar. If you try it I would love to hear how it turns out!
I was very excited to make this recipe. But it was very heavy on vinegar taste and liquidy that I had to throw away the whole dish. We couldn’t eat it. Not sure if you have any suggestions to fix vinegar taste and to thicken the liquid to the way you have it in your picture.
The flavor should be tangy and salty, almost that of a sweet and sour but more pungent. The sauce doesn’t really thicken in this recipe. If you’d like to thicken it slightly, you can remove the chicken from the slow cooker and add a cornstarch slurry. Combine equal parts cornstarch and water and add to the slow cooker a bit at a time and allow the mixture to thicken.
What happens to the garlic skins?
Most of them seem to dissolve. The few pieces that can be picked out with a fork.
Wow! Winner ,Winner what’s for Dinner? This Chicken was Amazing! Fork tender and full of Flavor! So Easy! Everyone Loved it! Definitely making this again, but I will use more Chicken! Fantastic!! Thanks Holly!
Yay! Doing a happy dance over here! So happy to hear it was a huge hit Christine!!
Loved this dish.. very tasty and the meat falls off the drumsticks so easily .. thank you .. is it possible to use chicken breasts instead of thighs or drumsticks ?
Hi Derek, you can use boneless chicken breasts, but I would suggest reducing the cooking time so they don’t dry out.
I made this for dinner two nights ago and it was delicious; however, your recipe calls for skinless chicken, but your pictures clearly show chicken pieces with skin. Which is the one I should be using?
Sorry for the confusion Penny! You are right, it is skin-on bone-in chicken! The recipe has been updated to reflect this.
Kelly,
I have a filipino friend, who makes this often. I never thought to ask for her recipe. I bought adobo spice, thinking that’s what was needed. .However, I have yet to see a recipe that calls for adobo seasoning. Could you explain?
Adobo seasoning generally contains garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and sometimes other seasonings. In this recipe we use fresh onion and garlic with other flavorings.
Can I use boneless chicken thighs and breasts
You can use boneless thighs however I would suggest reducing the cook time so they don’t dry out.