Pork Adobo is the satisfaction of the Philippines – one chew and also you’ll be hooked! Meltingly tender pork is gradual cooked till fall-apart in an intense soy-garlic sauce that reduces right down to a glaze, then served over steaming rice. That is meals so good but so easy to make, you’ll be shaking your head in disbelief.
The Filipino are genius!
Adobo is the nationwide dish of the Philippines, they usually have each purpose to be pleased with it! It’s a dish comprised of pork chunks braised in a garlic-soy flavoured liquid that reduces down into an intense flavoured glaze-like sauce. The pork is fork-tender, stained a wealthy mahogany color, and when it’s served over a pile of scorching steamed rice, you’ll perceive why it is a nationwide treasure.
At its coronary heart, it’s a easy, homely dish, and therein lies the genius – that one thing really easy with so few substances might be so unbelievable. It’s a one-pot recipe that’s hands-off, and the sauce simply requires pantry staples – soy, garlic, onion, vinegar, sugar, pepper and bay leaves.
Oh, and pork! 😅
Recipe credit score goes to my brother Goh – RecipeTin’s tech wizard and ace of world meals recipe growth! He’s sacrificed his waistline consuming his means by way of numerous Adobos within the Philippines and Sydney, in pursuit of making our good Pork Adobo I’ve been chasing for years.
inform me about filipino adobo!
Adobo is the nationwide dish of the Philippines, and the nation’s best-known meals export. There are literally many dishes known as “adobo” within the Philippines – some have coconut milk, some are soupy whereas others are dry-style and glazed, like my Hen Adobo, an extended standing reader favorite and doubtless the kind of Adobo most individuals exterior the Philippines are accustomed to.
What pork adobo tastes like – The traditional and most typical adobo is made with the important thing substances of soy, vinegar and a contact of sugar. Like many conventional meals, Adobo is a kind of dishes the place each family makes it their very own means, to their very own tastes, and right this moment’s model is how we prefer it. We choose Adobo with a extra rounded flavour the place it’s principally savoury with simply sufficient vinegar for brightness with out being overly bitter (some restaurant are so bitter!) and never too candy (once more, some eating places are tooth-achingly candy!).
The Adobo sauce has an intense flavour which is the best way it’s presupposed to be: on the stronger facet however with out being overly salty. The thought is you eat Adobo with loads of rice and serve with modest quantities of sauce moderately than drowning your rice in sauce.
Components in Pork Adobo
Right here’s what you should make Pork Adobo. I guess you’ve obtained all of the sauce substances in your pantry proper now! Pineapple is optionally available – learn beneath for background (sure, some Filipino recipes have it!).
-
Pork meat – Pork stomach is the most typical reduce used for pork adobo, however I personally choose pork shoulder for a similar fall-apart-juicy meat however much less fatty. Shank/knuckle or forequarter chop meat additionally works very well. Pork neck/scotch is great too however cut back simmering time to 1 hour (it doesn’t want gradual cooking as lengthy).
Lower the pork shoulder into massive 6 – 7cm / 2.5″ cubes. Bigger is healthier in order that they don’t turn into “fall-apart” too rapidly. Longer and slower cook dinner = extra tender, juicier meat and higher flavour within the sauce.
Different proteins – Sure, this recipe can be utilized for different gradual cooking proteins. See FAQ! For hen, use my Hen Adobo recipe.
-
Soy sauces – The mild soy sauce is the first soy used right here which provides salt and umami with out an awesome soy flavour. The darkish soy sauce darkens the color of the sauce to virtually black. Darkish soy is sort of intense so we don’t want a lot – only one 1/2 teaspoons.
You may substitute the darkish soy with extra mild soy sauce, however don’t substitute the sunshine soy with darkish soy sauce as a result of it can too darkish and too intense, it can spoil the dish! Extra about distinction soy sauces right here.
-
Brown sugar – This offers the sweetness within the sauce. White sugar can be utilized as an alternative although brown is healthier as a result of it provides a smidge of caramel-y flavour. Honey can be substituted however cut back amount to 2 1/2 tablespoons.
-
Rice vinegar – The addition of vinegar is what makes adobo distinctive and distinctly Filipino. It provides spine and sharpens the sauce, however in a rounded means because the lengthy braising softens the acidity. Be happy to make use of different kinds of vinegar. White wine, apple cider, or plain previous white vinegar will all work. Vinegars can fluctuate lots of their depth, amongst sorts in addition to even manufacturers. So begin with the quantity per the recipe, then style in direction of the tip of cooking. If you happen to choose a bit extra sharpness, you’ll be able to add a teaspoon at a time to style.
Some adobos are intentionally fairly tangy, however we choose a gentler acidity. We use simply sufficient to deliver brightness with out being overly bitter. We sampled some from eating places that had been so bitter, we discovered it was an excessive amount of and tough to eat!
-
Black peppercorns – Entire peppercorns are conventional however not important in my opinion. If you happen to don’t like biting into entire peppercorns (I personally love the spicy pops!), you’ll be able to both add pinch of floor black pepper, or go away it out.
-
Pineapple – Expensive Filipinos, I do know, I do know. That is NOT a quite common ingredient in conventional pork adobo. Nevertheless I noticed it included in a couple of fashionable variations and albeit, after attempting it I fell in love with it as an addition. It offers a scrumptious candy and contemporary counterpoint to the richly-flavoured pork and sauce, to not point out some welcome color to what’s in any other case a uniformly brown dish (no shade at brown dishes, after all!!)
If you may get your arms on freshly reduce pineapple after all that’s greatest. In any other case, canned pineapple does a superbly acceptable job and is what I exploit. I like larger chunks reduce from rings, however smaller pre-cut items may even do effective if that’s all you may have.
-
Bay leaves – You wouldn’t consider bay leaves as having a spot in South East Asian cooking! This can be a legacy of the Spanish colonial affect on Filipino delicacies. They’re optionally available in the event you don’t have any. Recent is healthier in the event you can (it’s a superb low-maintenance plant, if you wish to develop your personal!), else dried is ok.
-
Water – Not proven. Sorry. As a result of I do know you’ve obtained some! (I’m speaking common faucet water right here, not a elaborate hard-to-find Filipino water!)
Learn how to make pork adobo
It’s an extremely low-effort recipe. Extra nationwide dishes have to be this hands-off! 😁
-
Sear – Utilizing a big heavy based mostly pot, sear the pork in two batches over excessive warmth till properly golden throughout. Take about 4 minutes to do every batch, turning as wanted to sear both sides and get some good golden color on it. Take away to a bowl and reserve residual fats within the pot.
-
Sauté the onion till it softens, including the garlic in direction of the tip.
-
Braising liquid – Add the water, soy sauces, vinegar, sugar, bay leaves and peppercorns. Return the pork and any meat juices accrued within the bowl to the liquid. Convey it to a boil, then decrease the warmth so the liquid is simmering gently (ie. a couple of slow-ish bubbles, not fast small bubbles). Extra mild warmth = extra mild cooking = extra succulent meat.
-
Gradual cook dinner 1 1/2 hours – Partially cowl the pot with a lid – by this, I imply place the lid on off centre to depart a crack about 2cm / 1″ – and simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours or till the pork is tender and may simply be pried aside. If it’s nonetheless not tender, maintain simmering till it’s!
-
Proof of collapse pork!
-
Take away the pork with a slotted spoon (it’s okay if the onion stays).
-
Cut back sauce – Then improve the warmth and boil the sauce to scale back right down to about 1 1/2 cups (375 ml), about 8 minutes. The precise time this takes will fluctuate, it depends upon how a lot liquid you begin with, energy of range and so forth.
Adobo sauce thickness and flavour – It must be like a skinny syrup, it gained’t thicken, with an intense flavour – that is the best way it’s presupposed to be. The thought is you eat adobo with loads of rice and serve with modest quantities of sauce moderately than drowning your rice in sauce.
-
Serve – Add the pork and pineapple into the diminished sauce and stir for a couple of minutes simply to warmth by way of. Then over jasmine rice, garnished with inexperienced onions!
How and what to serve with Pork Adobo
With Pork Adobo, the concept is: a lot of steaming rice in your plate, a modest quantity of that intense flavoured sauce, and items of pork that you simply break so it “falls aside” earlier than scooping up with a spoon for max flavour in each chew. Within the Philippines, fork-and-spoon consuming is the norm – good for Adobo consuming!
I’ve used plain jasmine rice right here, however any rice works, and garlic fried rice (sinangag) is a well-liked improve – – right here’s my garlic rice recipe, not strictly Filipino however related flavour.
Add one thing contemporary to chop the richness – smashed cucumbers is at all times a winner, plain undressed tomato and cucumber wedges (very South East Asian), my trusty Asian Facet Salad or a crunchy Asian Slaw (the freshness of the mint could be pretty with Pork Adobo!).
Take pleasure in! – Nagi x
FAQ – Pork Adobo
Sure – it is a conventional pork adobo. It makes use of the traditional core substances you’ll discover in the most typical Filipino variations: pork, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, onion, sugar, black pepper, and bay leaves. The strategy can be genuine – browning the meat, then slow-braising it till tender whereas the sauce reduces to a shiny glaze.
Nevertheless, we do decide to make use of pork shoulder which, although used within the Philippines, is just not as widespread as pork stomach. And our model additionally consists of pineapple which isn’t strictly old-school conventional although you do see it in some fashionable variations (we tried it with and with out and there’s no query – we like it with pineapple!).
Sure. The strategy on this recipe is good for any slow-cooking reduce of meat and is simple to adapt – simply braise per the recipe till the meat is fork tender, take it out, then cut back the sauce. I feel pork is the perfect for the sauce flavour, although beef would even be pretty and really, I feel it will be good with lamb too – the sturdy meat flavour will maintain as much as the extreme flavoured sauce fairly properly!
If you happen to’re considering hen, use my Hen Adobo recipe – it cooks a lot sooner, in a pan as an alternative of a pot.
Not advisable for this one sadly. It’s such a easy sauce, and watery one at that, so getting the flavour depends on the caramelisation you get throughout the gradual cooking stage on the floor and edges of the liquid which then intensifies when the sauce is diminished. I do know that in a gradual cooker this is able to actually lack depth of flavour.
This recipe was created by my brother Goh – RecipeTin’s resident tech wizard and, unofficially, our king of world meals recipe growth. Whereas he’s the brains behind every little thing IT for RecipeTin Eats and RecipeTin Meals, he’s equally obsessive about meals. He’s the sort of one that will attempt his hand at Thomas Keller’s butter-poached lobster, tediously decide crab meat for from-scratch ravioli, can learn and perceive menus in 12 totally different languages, and famously spent most of his twenties saving to dine at a elaborate restaurant every year.
His favorite sport is looking down Sydney’s greatest hole-in-the-wall joints (his reside meals map is a factor of legend) and he’s additionally the man who unapologetically balances all that appreciation of lovely meals with an equally profound appreciation of the Golden Arches and Colonel Sanders.😅
In relation to conventional Asian recipes, Goh is my go-to for fact-checking, tasting, or growing recipes fully from scratch – as with this Pork Adobo. Understanding I’d been desirous to share “our good Adobo” for years, he ate his means by way of numerous variations when he lately visited the Philippines, then extra right here in Sydney (some so unappealing they had been virtually academic – sauces too thick, too bitter, too candy, meat too dry). These less-than-perfect meals formed precisely what we didn’t need, and it didn’t take lengthy for Goh and JB to nail a model that was every little thing we did need – savoury, balanced, fall-apart tender pork, and a sauce simply intense sufficient.
The actual enjoyable was within the growth course of – heated WhatsApp debates, shuttling samples between homes, speeding over a freshly made batch as a result of “it’s important to attempt it whereas it’s scorching!”, and prolonged arguments about sauce discount (“Can a sauce be too intense?” – sure there may be such a factor, we determined). It’s that blend of Goh’s technical precision, culinary curiosity, and love of flavour that made this Pork Adobo working with JB and I that led to this recipe – the right Pork Adobo I’d at all times dreamed of sharing!
A lot of the recipe was created based mostly our normal information we’ve garnered over time about Adobo and from the Hen Adobo I shared some years in the past. As a point out within the above FAQ, it’s not a tough recipe (there’s not that many substances in Adobo!), it’s nearly balancing the flavours to realize the right steadiness.
Each time we share significantly conventional recipes, we do extensively scour the web to see “what others are doing”, extra out of normal curiosity and observe widespread themes. The recipes we principally referenced are:
As famous above, we additionally obtained samples from Sydney eating places however I don’t wish to identify them as a result of neither had been excellent, I’m unhappy to report.
Goh additionally tried adobos from varied areas in Manila, together with road markets and standard conventional Filipino eating places.
Watch find out how to make it
Hungry for extra? Subscribe to my publication and observe alongside on Fb, Pinterest and Instagram for all the newest updates.
Pork Adobo
Prep: 10 minutes
Cook dinner: 2 hours
Predominant
Filipino
Servings4 – 5 folks
Faucet or hover to scale
Components
Non-obligatory pineapple (Observe 4):
Stop display from sleeping
Directions
ABBREVIATED:
-
Brown pork, take away, sauté onion and garlic, add every little thing else. Return pork, deliver to boil, gradual cook dinner 1 1/2 hours till fall-apart. Caramelise pineapple items. Take away pork, cut back sauce to 1 1/2 cups (375 ml), stir in pork and caramelised pineapple till warmed. Serve over rice!
FULL RECIPE:
-
Sear pork – Warmth the oil in a big heavy based mostly pot over excessive warmth. Sear half the pork till golden throughout – about 4 minutes – then take away right into a bowl. Repeat with remaining pork, add to the bowl.
-
Sauté – Cut back warmth to medium. Add the onion, cook dinner for two minutes. Add garlic and cook dinner for one more minute till the onion is softened.
-
Braising liquid – Add water, soy sauces, vinegar, sugar, peppercorns and bay leaves. Stir. Add the pork again in, together with any juices accrued within the bowl.
-
Gradual cook dinner 1 1/2 hours – Convey to a boil, then partially cowl with a lid (go away a 2cm / 1″ crack) and cut back the warmth to low/medium low so the liquid is simmering very, very gently. (Observe 4) Simmer for 1 1/2 hours or till the pork is fall-apart tender (maintain simmering if not tender).
-
Caramelise pineapple – Whereas pork is simmering, warmth the oil in a non-stick pan over medium warmth. Unfold the pineapple out in a single layer and cook dinner both sides till golden, about 4 minutes both sides (I exploit spatula + tongs to show). Take away onto plate till required.
-
Cut back sauce – Take away pork with a slotted spoon (onion and so forth would not matter when it is in or out). Improve warmth to excessive and boil to scale back the liquid right down to 1 1/2 cups – it will likely be a really skinny syrup (it is not presupposed to be thick), about 7 to 10 minutes.
-
Coat pork – Cut back warmth to low. Add the pork and pineapple items, plus any juices within the bowl. Stir gently to coat within the sauce and heat the pork by way of once more.
-
Serve over jasmine rice, garnished with inexperienced onion if utilizing.
Recipe Notes:
Different proteins – Different stewing cuts will work nice, see FAQ for instructions. For hen, see Hen Adobo.
2. Soy sauces – Gentle soy offers the salt and a contact of darkish soy makes the sauce a lovely wealthy darkish brown color. You may substitute the darkish soy with extra mild soy sauce, however don’t sub the sunshine soy with darkish soy sauce as a result of it’s so intense, it can spoil the dish!
3. The peppercorns are a bit spicy whenever you chew into them, although the spiciness dials down fairly a bit throughout the gradual cooking time. Some individuals are bothered by them, I like them! You may omit in order for you, or sub with 1/4 tsp floor black pepper added in direction of the tip.
4. Pineapple isn’t strictly conventional – it’s probably a contemporary variation – although it’s included in Filipino recipes. We LOVE the visible curiosity, and the refreshing and candy aspect it provides to steadiness the salty/bitter flavours and fatty meat, so we included it nevertheless it’s fully optionally available.
5. Simmering energy – The bubbles must be small and mild, not fast and enormous. The extra mild the simmer, the slower the pork cooks, the extra tender and juicy it’s!
6. Gradual cooker not advisable for this recipe sadly, it can lack flavour as you gained’t get any floor caramelisation throughout gradual cooking stage.
Leftovers will maintain for 4 days within the fridge, or 3 months within the freezer.
Vitamin per serving assuming 5 servings, excluding rice. Assumes all sauce is consumed.
Vitamin Data:
Energy: 357cal (18%)Carbohydrates: 25g (8%)Protein: 28g (56%)Fats: 16g (25%)Saturated Fats: 4g (25%)Polyunsaturated Fats: 3gMonounsaturated Fats: 9gTrans Fats: 0.03gLdl cholesterol: 82mg (27%)Sodium: 1502mg (65%)Potassium: 642mg (18%)Fiber: 2g (8%)Sugar: 20g (22%)Vitamin A: 80IU (2%)Vitamin C: 11mg (13%)Calcium: 68mg (7%)Iron: 3mg (17%)
Lifetime of Dozer
Ah. So that is what it feels wish to be dethroned by your personal darn canine.😅 Row, Row, Row (with Monsters) that includes Dozer takes over my very own cookbooks within the charts – go Dozer, go!
For individuals who missed the thrilling announcement on Friday, Dozer is starring in a youngsters’s ebook written by Adam Simpson known as Row, Row, Row your Boat (With Monsters). Pre-orders had been introduced final Friday, the ebook lands in shops (or in your doorstep!) on 11 November 2025, and the writer is donating all his royalties to a meals charity. 🥰 You perceive now why it was a straightforward YES! when the writer requested if I’d wish to be concerned!
