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September 16, 2025
Filipino Pork Adobo Recipe
Pork Adobo is the satisfaction of the Philippines – one chunk and also you’ll be hooked! Meltingly tender pork is sluggish 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, and so they have each motive to be happy 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 sizzling steamed rice, you’ll perceive why this can be 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 components may be so unimaginable. 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 via 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 Chicken Adobo, an extended standing reader favorite and doubtless the kind of Adobo most individuals outdoors the Philippines are conversant in.
What pork adobo tastes like – The basic and commonest adobo is made with the important thing components of soy, vinegar and a contact of sugar. Like many conventional meals, Adobo is a type 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 desire 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 aspect however with out being overly salty. The thought is you eat Adobo with loads of rice and serve with modest quantities of sauce reasonably than drowning your rice in sauce.
Substances in Pork Adobo
Right here’s what you could make Pork Adobo. I guess you’ve received all of the sauce components in your pantry proper now! Pineapple is non-obligatory – learn under for background (sure, some Filipino recipes have it!).
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Pork meat – Pork stomach is the most typical reduce used for pork adobo, however I personally desire pork shoulder for a similar fall-apart-juicy meat however much less fatty. Shank/knuckle or forequarter chop meat additionally works rather well. Pork neck/scotch is great too however scale back simmering time to 1 hour (it doesn’t want sluggish cooking as lengthy).
Minimize the pork shoulder into giant 6 – 7cm / 2.5″ cubes. Bigger is healthier in order that they don’t develop into “fall-apart” too rapidly. Longer and slower prepare dinner = extra tender, juicier meat and higher flavour within the sauce.
Different proteins – Sure, this recipe can be utilized for different sluggish cooking proteins. See FAQ! For chicken, use my Chicken Adobo recipe.
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Soy sauces – The mild soy sauce is the first soy used right here which provides salt and umami with out an amazing soy flavour. The darkish soy sauce darkens the color of the sauce to nearly black. Darkish soy is sort of intense so we don’t want a lot – just one 1/2 teaspoons.
You’ll be able to 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’s going to too darkish and too intense, it’s going to break the dish! Extra about distinction soy sauces right here.
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Brown sugar – This gives the sweetness within the sauce. White sugar can be utilized as a substitute although brown is healthier as a result of it provides a smidge of caramel-y flavour. Honey can be substituted however scale back amount to 2 1/2 tablespoons.
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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 outdated white vinegar will all work. Vinegars can differ rather a lot 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 desire just a little extra sharpness, you’ll be able to add a teaspoon at a time to style.
Some adobos are intentionally fairly tangy, however we desire a gentler acidity. We use simply sufficient to deliver brightness with out being overly bitter. We sampled some from eating places that have been so bitter, we discovered it was an excessive amount of and troublesome to eat!
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Black peppercorns – Complete 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 an excellent pinch of floor black pepper, or go away it out.
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Pineapple – Expensive Filipinos, I do know, I do know. That is NOT a quite common ingredient in conventional pork adobo. Nonetheless I noticed it included in a number of trendy variations and albeit, after making an attempt it I fell in love with it as an addition. It gives 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, in fact!!)
If you will get your fingers on freshly reduce pineapple in fact that’s greatest. In any other case, canned pineapple does a superbly acceptable job and is what I exploit. I like greater chunks reduce from rings, however smaller pre-cut items will even do tremendous if that’s all you may have.
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Bay leaves – You wouldn’t consider bay leaves as having a spot in South East Asian cooking! It is a legacy of the Spanish colonial affect on Filipino delicacies. They’re non-obligatory in case you don’t have any. Recent is healthier in case you can (it’s a wonderful low-maintenance plant, if you wish to develop your individual!), else dried is ok.
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Water – Not proven. Sorry. As a result of I do know you’ve received some! (I’m speaking common faucet water right here, not a flowery hard-to-find Filipino water!)
Find out how to make pork adobo
It’s an extremely low-effort recipe. Extra nationwide dishes should be this hands-off! 😁
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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 all sides and get some good golden color on it. Take away to a bowl and reserve residual fats within the pot.
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Sauté the onion till it softens, including the garlic in direction of the tip.
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Braising liquid – Add the water, soy sauces, vinegar, sugar, bay leaves and peppercorns. Return the pork and any meat juices gathered within the bowl to the liquid. Deliver it to a boil, then decrease the warmth so the liquid is simmering gently (ie. a number of slow-ish bubbles, not fast small bubbles). Extra mild warmth = extra mild cooking = extra succulent meat.
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Gradual prepare dinner 1 1/2 hours – Partially cowl the pot with a lid – by this, I imply place the lid on off centre to go away a crack about 2cm / 1″ – and simmer gently for 1 1/2 hours or till the pork is tender and might simply be pried aside. If it’s nonetheless not tender, preserve simmering till it’s!
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Proof of collapse pork!
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Take away the pork with a slotted spoon (it’s okay if the onion stays).
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Scale back sauce – Then enhance 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 differ, it will depend on how a lot liquid you begin with, power 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 reasonably than drowning your rice in sauce.
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Serve – Add the pork and pineapple into the lowered sauce and stir for a couple of minutes simply to warmth via. Then over jasmine rice, garnished with inexperienced onions!
How and what to serve with Pork Adobo
With Pork Adobo, the concept is: numerous 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 chunk. 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 comparable flavour.
Add one thing contemporary to chop the richness – smashed cucumbers is all the time a winner, plain undressed tomato and cucumber wedges (very South East Asian), my trusty Asian Aspect Salad or a crunchy Asian Slaw (the freshness of the mint could be beautiful with Pork Adobo!).
Get pleasure from! – Johnsat x
Watch how you can make it
Ingredients
- 1 kg/ 2 lb pork shoulder (the parts ribboned with fat not lean parts), skinless, cut into 6cm/2.5" cubes – or belly (Note 1)
- 2 tbsp vegetable oil , or any other neutral flavoured oil
- 1 large onion , cut in half then 0.8″ / 1/3″ wedges
- 8 cloves garlic , finely sliced
- 3 cups water
- 1/2 cup light soy sauce , sub regular/all-purpose soy (Note 2)
- 1 1/2 tsp dark soy sauce (Note 2)
- 1/4 cup rice vinegar (sub regular white vinegar)
- 3 tbsp (tightly packed) brown sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp black peppercorns , can omit (Note 3)
- 5 bay leaves , preferably fresh, dried ok too
- 6 pineapple rings , each cut into 8 pieces, from canned pineapple in juice not syrup, or 2 cups fresh pineapple pieces
- 2 tsp vegetable oil , or any other neutral flavoured oil
- 1 green onion , finely sliced
- 2 batches jasmine rice , or any other rice of choice (garlic rice would be amazing!)
Instructions
- Brown pork, remove, sauté onion and garlic, add everything else. Return pork, bring to boil, slow cook 1 1/2 hours until fall-apart. Caramelise pineapple pieces. Remove pork, reduce sauce to 1 1/2 cups (375 ml), stir in pork and caramelised pineapple until warmed. Serve over rice!
- Sear pork – Heat the oil in a large heavy based pot over high heat. Sear half the pork until golden all over – about 4 minutes – then remove into a bowl. Repeat with remaining pork, add to the bowl.
- Sauté – Reduce heat to medium. Add the onion, cook for 2 minutes. Add garlic and cook for another minute until the onion is softened.
- Braising liquid – Add water, soy sauces, vinegar, sugar, peppercorns and bay leaves. Stir. Add the pork back in, including any juices accumulated in the bowl.
- Slow cook 1 1/2 hours – Bring to a boil, then partially cover with a lid (leave a 2cm / 1" crack) and reduce the heat to low/medium low so the liquid is simmering very, very gently. (Note 4) Simmer for 1 1/2 hours or until the pork is fall-apart tender (keep simmering if not tender).
- Caramelise pineapple – While pork is simmering, heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium heat. Spread the pineapple out in one layer and cook each side until golden, about 4 minutes each side (I use spatula + tongs to turn). Remove onto plate until required.
- Reduce sauce – Remove pork with a slotted spoon (onion etc doesn't matter when it's in or out). Increase heat to high and boil to reduce the liquid down to 1 1/2 cups – it will be a very thin syrup (it's not supposed to be thick), about 7 to 10 minutes.
- Coat pork – Reduce heat to low. Add the pork and pineapple pieces, plus any juices in the bowl. Stir gently to coat in the sauce and warm the pork through again.
- Serve over jasmine rice, garnished with green onion if using.
Notes
1. Pork meat – Pork belly is the most common cut used for pork adobo and can be used, but I personally find it a little too fatty in this dish, I prefer shoulder for the same fall-apart-juicy meat but less fatty. Make sure to use the parts of the shoulder ribboned with fat, not the lean fat-free areas. Shank/knuckle or forequarter chop meat also works really well. Pork neck/scotch is excellent too but reduce simmering time to 1 hour (it doesn’t need slow cooking as long).
Other proteins – Other stewing cuts will work great, see FAQ for directions. For chicken, see Chicken Adobo.
2. Soy sauces – Light soy provides the salt and a touch of dark soy makes the sauce a beautiful rich dark brown colour. You can substitute the dark soy with more light soy sauce, but don’t sub the light soy with dark soy sauce because it is so intense, it will ruin the dish!
3. The peppercorns are a bit spicy when you bite into them, though the spiciness dials down quite a bit during the slow cooking time. Some people are bothered by them, I love them! You can omit if you want, or sub with 1/4 tsp ground black pepper added towards the end.
4. Pineapple isn’t strictly traditional – it’s possibly a modern variation – though it is included in Filipino recipes. We LOVE the visual interest, and the refreshing and sweet element it adds to balance the salty/sour flavours and fatty meat, so we included it but it’s entirely optional.
5. Simmering strength – The bubbles should be small and gentle, not rapid and large. The more gentle the simmer, the slower the pork cooks, the more tender and juicy it is!
6. Slow cooker not recommended for this recipe unfortunately, it will lack flavour as you won’t get any surface caramelisation during slow cooking stage.
Leftovers will keep for 4 days in the fridge, or 3 months in the freezer.
Nutrition per serving assuming 5 servings, excluding rice. Assumes all sauce is consumed.
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