*Mexican Adobo Chicken (Adobo de Pollo) is a flavorful, one-pot dish featuring chicken cooked in a smoky, vinegar-based red chili sauce.
This dish can be ready in about an hour by using boneless, skinless chicken thighs and a quick 25-minute adobo sauce. While boneless, skinless chicken breasts can also be used, thighs are more flavorful, tender, and juicy. The adobo sauce is spicy, savory, and rich with the smoky flavor of red chilies, and the chicken becomes tender and juicy after just 20 minutes of simmering.
This versatile dish can be served over rice, in tacos, or paired with beans, crispy potatoes, or pickled onions. It can also be shredded for burritos, and enchiladas, or used as a topping for nachos and tostadas.
For meal prep, the adobo sauce can be made up to two weeks in advance, and the cooked chicken can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days or frozen for up to three months. When reheating, it’s important to do so slowly to avoid burning the sauce.
Below is the recipe originally published on alittleandalot.com.
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Ingredients for Mexican Chicken Adobo:
- Butter and vegetable oil. Browning the chicken in a combination of butter and vegetable oil before smothering it in Mexican Adobo sauce creates a more flavorful dish than using oil alone. Using only butter can result in burnt butter.
- Boneless skinless chicken thighs. Using boneless, skinless chicken thighs makes this dish quick, easy, less fatty, and easier to eat. You could also use boneless, skinless chicken breasts if you like, but I think thighs are more flavorful, tender, and juicy.
- Mexican Adobo. Adobo is a staple sauce in Mexican cooking used in a wide variety of dishes. This Mexican Adobo recipe takes only 25 minutes to make and requires just a handful of ingredients: diced garlic and jalapeño, dried spices, pureed red chile, vinegar, and fresh cilantro.
Step #1: Pour some oil into a skillet and then add chopped garlic and jalapeño, ground cumin, dried oregano and thyme, some chili powder, and a pinch of sugar. Cook the vegetables and spices over medium heat for a couple of minutes to soften the veggies and open up the flavors in the dried spices.
Step #2: Pour the chili puree into the pan and bring it to a boil.
If using Adobo Base, stir 1 tablespoon of the base into 8 ounces of water and pour that into the skillet.
Step #3: Cook the adobo for about 5 minutes to round out and intensify the flavors. As the sauce cooks, the color of the red chili will darken and the sauce will thicken slightly.
Step #4: Remove the pan from the heat and let it cool down for about 10 minutes.
Scoop the adobo into the bowl of a food processor and add some vinegar, cilantro and salt. Process the adobo until it’s smooth. Taste the sauce and add more salt if you like.
That’s it! The adobo is now ready to use!
How to prepare Mexican Chicken Adobo:
- Prepare a double batch (double the amount of all the ingredients) of adobo. You should have approximately 2 cups of adobo. (Preparing Mexican Adobo takes about 25 minutes; this time is not included in the recipe times listed above. Mexican Adobo can be prepared up to 2 weeks in advance and stored in the refrigerator.)
- Lay the chicken out on paper towels or a clean kitchen towel. Using more paper towels or another clean kitchen towel, blot excess moisture from the chicken.
- Add butter and oil to a 12-inch non-stick skillet and set it over medium heat. When the butter has completely melted, add the chicken, arranging it into one layer without any overlapping pieces. If there is no way to arrange all the chicken without overlapping the pieces, do this in two batches.
- Sprinkle the chicken with a bit of salt and pepper and let it cook on one side for 3-4 minutes, until you can easily lift it from the pan without sticking and the bottom of the pieces are starting to brown. Turn the pieces over and allow them to cook on the other side just until you see a few brown spots beginning to form.
- Pour the adobo sauce into the pan, over the chicken. Turn the heat up slightly and bring the adobo to a boil.
- Cover the pan, turn the heat to medium-low, and cook for 20 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through. To know when the chicken is cooked through: Remove the thickest piece from the pan and cut it into the thickest part. If there is no pink on the inside of the piece of chicken, it is done cooking. Alternatively, stick an instant-read thermometer into the thickest part of the thickest piece of chicken. The chicken is done when it registers 165° F (73.8° C).
- Serve the chicken over rice, topped with sliced avocado and pickled onions, with crispy fried potatoes and tortillas on the side.
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