Chicken Adobo is actually a Filipino dish that one of my best friends introduced me to. It’s tangy, sweet, and salty all rolled into one simple, flavor-packed recipe. Chicken adobo also happens to be a common Hawaiian food, so it’s become somewhat of a staple for us. Generally, there aren’t many vegetables in this dish, so I’ve long since made it my own.

The recipe I use now is a cross between my best friend’s style and Hawaiian style, with a few added twists. My base recipe comes from Jean Watanabe Hee’s cookbook “Best of the Best Hawai’i Recipes” in case you are curious.

Ingredients:

2 large chicken breast OR 4-6 large chicken thighs (It is fine for the chicken to be frozen when you put it in the crock pot. It will thaw as the vegetables cook.)

4 ripe tomatoes, quartered

1 large onion, cut into wedges

2 cups mushrooms, sliced in half (Any kind of mushroom will work, but we use either cremini or white mushrooms usually)

1/2 cup white vinegar

1/2 cup soy sauce

1 tsp brown sugar

1/2 tbsp ground black pepper OR 2 tbsp black peppercorns, crushed

5 cloves of garlic, crushed and minced

3 bay leaves

Put all of the vegetables into the crock pot, in any order.

Mix together the vinegar, soy sauce, and brown sugar until the sugar dissolves. Pour this over the vegetables. Add the garlic and bay leaves on top.

Next, add the chicken and top with the pepper.

Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours. Serve over rice.

That’s it! Super easy, right?