Hola Mi Gente,
One of the things few people know about Ben is that he is 1/4 Filipino. Grandma Solly grew up in the Philippines and married Grandpa White over 60 years ago, and created his maternal side of the family.
When things got serious with Ben and me, and I started coming around family reunions, I quickly learned one of the beautiful understood traditions of the White Family: there will be Filipino food, and there will be A LOT of it.
Pancit, lumpia, and chicken adobo are staples of the White Christmas, Thanksgiving, and any and all arrivals that include Grandma Solly. She descends on the house with boxes of fresh fruit, mochi and other delicious rice desserts, and immediately gets to work. She simultaneously does laundry, passes out change to play LCR, and starts working on the foods that are synonymous with her presence.
Seeing her navigate the house and kitchen with so much authority reminds me of my own Abuelita, and it made joining the family that much sweeter. This past Thanksgiving I dropped into the kitchen with her to watch her make some of her staples and pepper her with questions (keeping her cup of pina colada full along the way). She graced instagram stories with her matter-of-fact sass, and disregard for any kind of measuring of ingredients (Grandpa White doesn’t say much, but he always chimes in that this is the best kind of cooking), and the verdict was that you were enamored with her as well.
In fact, one of the most shocking things I learned in my interview with Grandma Solly, was that she didn’t learn to cook a lot of Filipino dishes until she had left the Philippines. Having her own children gave her the opportunity to learn. She asked questions, and basically learned to cook dishes from her taste memory.
One of her tricks for Chicken Adobo is one of the most important elements for this recipe. It seems unconventional, but what it yields is total balance to the dish. What’s that trick? Frozen Chicken! Grandma Solly always uses frozen wings in her adobo. This way, the water from the chicken balances the acidic and strong broth of vinegar and soy sauce. In the end you get perfect fall-apart chicken, in a tangy savory sauce. The vinegar pinches your cheeks a little bit, while the soy sauce fills your palate with it’s salty umami goodness. This way of cooking with vinegar and soy (a good way to preserve food and ward off bacteria) is a form of cooking in the Philippines that predates colonization.
To make it all ten times better, you get these softened onions soaked in the broth for a sweet finish. To be clear here, its going to feel like you’re adding a whole onion field to your adobo. Trust me when I tell you that they cook down, and it’ll feel like you could have added so many more.
Adapting this recipe to the instant pot was relatively easy, and it makes it SO quick. You still get fall-off-the-bone chicken, and a rich, rich, rich broth. When I tasted my first spoonful I got tears in my eyes because it was so perfect. I didn’t have to adjust any seasoning with these proportions. If you want a more savory and less acidic based adobo, you can always adjust it at the end by adding in a little more soy sauce. But for us, this was perfection.
Pro Tip: Make a huge pot of rice to go with this. In my experience chicken adobo ONLY gets better with time. One of MY favorite traditions the morning after any holiday with Grandma Solly, is to have adobo and rice for breakfast. The flavors just settle in all the cozier over night.
Love, love, love,
Instant Pot Chicken Adobo
Ingredients
- 4-5 LBS Frozen Chicken Wings
- 1 C Distilled White Vinegar
- 1 C Soy Sauce
- 3 Onions Sliced into rounds
- 2 TSP Freshly Cracked Pepper
Instructions
- Combine all ingredients in the instant pot and set on Stew/Meat function for 30 minutes with the vent sealed. When cooking time is over, manually release steam. Serve over rice and enjoy!
Mary-Beth Johnson
Mary-Beth is a creative, food-obsessed, Georgia transplant living Chicago. She is proudly and fiercely Latina, and more specifically Chapina. In her day to day she is a food educator to students around Chicagoland aged 3 to 80+, both virtually and in-person. She is passionate about cultivating the truth that every person has an understanding of food that deserves being brought to the table, and that time in the kitchen can be sacred, passionate, and an act of love for self and others. Outside the kitchen you can find her at the intersections of infertility, chronic illness, and a deep love for the dignity of all humans. She hopes to create a space that is holistic about the role of food in the social, political, relational, and physiological dynamics of our world.
