Chicken Adobo + Edamame Rice

Back in March, I made this chicken adobo recipe twice in two weeks, with several lunches of leftovers in-between. I’ve had the recipe and photos sitting in my drafts since then, half-forgotten as everyday life began taking over more and more of my time. Quite a lot has happened in the past two and a half months! As a start, I received my acceptance letter to JMU (!!!) here in Virginia, finished up my final semester of community college, and began my first JMU summer term online. Alex is in the process of changing jobs, and we’re both in the process looking for new apartments as it seems we’ll need to be in two different places for the time being.

In the meantime, too, I’ve done quite a bit of cooking! Although taking the time to photograph and blog about my kitchen adventures definitely fell by the wayside with the stress of school and life changes, I never stopped exploring new culinary delights. From veggie burgers to lemon shrimp pesto crostini, vegan buffalo chickpea wraps to vegetable fritters, tofu peanut quoina salad to a huevos rancheros-adjacent breakfast skillet we’ve affectionately named “hot with beans” (and more), I have continued to play with my food while in social isolation. I will definitely be recreating the most successful of my experiments to post in the coming weeks!

This (wildly inauthentic) chicken adobo recipe was something I decided to delve into completely on a whim after getting tired of eating the same five things over and over again in the first few weeks of self-isolation. To my surprise, Alex adored it to the point of requesting I cook it again for our anniversary dinner (a meal usually reserved for the likes of a juicy ribeye or a visit to our favorite sushi restaurant). It was spicy, tangy, and savory in a way that hit every craving I didn’t even know I had, and I seriously considered trying to bottle the sauce so we had it on-hand as a condiment for other meals. Just thinking about it makes me want to cook it again!

This recipe makes 3 servings.

(note: the pictures above show only two chicken thighs because this was my second attempt at taking photos and I had run out of chicken; I used three thighs the first time I cooked this chicken adobo recipe, hence three servings.)

Indregients:

• 3 chicken thighs, skin-on bone-in
• 12 oz edamame, shelled, frozen
• 15-20 sweet mini peppers
• 4-5 strips bacon
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo, minced
• 2 cups + 3/4 cups water, divided
• 1 cup rice, uncooked
• 1 cup onion, diced
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp sake
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp gochugaru/red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 2 tsp light oil
• 1 tsp +1/2 tsp salt, divided
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• handful cilantro leaves, to finish

Directions:

1. Into a rice cooker or pot, add uncooked rice, 2 cups water, frozen shelled edamame, and 1/2 tsp salt (note: follow water/rice instructions per rice cooker if using that method; edamame requires no additional water). Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until rice is fluffy and edamame has steamed through. Set aside.
2. Dice onion, slice sweet peppers into 1/4 inch thick rounds (as pictured). Set aside.
3. In a small mixing bowl, combine soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sake, rice vinegar, honey, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, oregano, thyme, gochugaru/red pepper flakes, minced chipotles in adobo sauce, and white pepper. Stir to incorporate and set aside.
4. Heat a large skillet on medium/medium-high, and fry 4-5 strips of bacon until crispy. Remove, roughly chop, and set aside.
5. Dab a majority of the excess oil from the still-hot pan so that only a tablespoon or two is left, then add diced onion, salt, 1 tsp light oil, and 1/4 cup water. Cover and let cook until water has evaporated and a fond has begun forming on the bottom of the pan. Repeat 2-3 times until onions have softened and caramelized, deglazing pan with 1/4 cup water, incorporating fond, repeat. This takes about 7-10 minutes in total (be vigilant!)
6. When onions have begin caramelizing, clear spots on the pan per each chicken thigh and add chicken thighs skin-side down. Let cook 5-7 minutes or until skin has begun to crisp.
7. Flip chicken thighs and add sliced sweet peppers, chopped bacon, and sauce (see step 3). Bring sauce to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Let cook for about 15-20 minutes, occasionally spooning the sauce over top of the chicken thighs, or until chicken has cooked through to 165F.
8. (Optional: Remove chicken thighs to a place and continue reducing sauce on a simmer until you have reached your desired thickness.)
9. Remove from heat and add lime juice and cilantro. Serve with edamame rice.

This recipe keeps well overnight in the fridge, especially when leftover rice is incorporated with extra sauce to keep it moist when reheated. I would suggest removing the chicken bones before reheating in the microwave, but there is a good chance that my fears of bones exploding when nuked is the product of just an old wives’ tale. Enjoy!

Print Recipe

Chicken Adobo with Edamame Rice

Prep Time10 minutes mins

Cook Time50 minutes mins

Total Time1 hour hr

Course: Main Course

Servings: 3 servings

Calories: 727kcal

Ingredients

• 3 chicken thighs skin-on bone-in
• 12 oz edamame shelled, frozen
• 15-20 sweet mini peppers
• 4-5 strips bacon
• 2 chipotle peppers in adobo minced
• 2 cups + 3/4 cups water divided
• 1 cup rice uncooked
• 1 cup onion diced
• 1/3 cup soy sauce
• 3 tbsp honey
• 2 tbsp sake
• 2 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp gochugaru/red pepper flakes
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 1 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 1 tbsp garlic minced
• 1 tbsp ginger minced
• 2 tsp light oil
• 1 tsp +1/2 tsp salt divided
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1 tsp thyme
• 1 tsp white pepper
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder
• handful cilantro leaves to finish

Instructions

• Into a rice cooker or pot, add uncooked rice, 2 cups water, frozen shelled edamame, and 1/2 tsp salt*. Cover and cook for 15-20 minutes, or until rice is fluffy and edamame has steamed through. Set aside.
• Dice onion, slice sweet peppers into 1/4 inch thick rounds (as pictured). Set aside.
• In a small mixing bowl, combine soy sauce, dark soy sauce, sake, rice vinegar, honey, fish sauce, garlic, ginger, sesame oil, oregano, thyme, gochugaru/red pepper flakes, minced chipotles in adobo sauce, and white pepper. Stir to incorporate and set aside.
• Heat a large skillet on medium/medium-high, and fry 4-5 strips of bacon until crispy. Remove, roughly chop, and set aside.
• Dab a majority of the excess oil from the still-hot pan so that only a tablespoon or two is left, then add diced onion, salt, 1 tsp light oil, and 1/4 cup water. Cover and let cook until water has evaporated and a fond has begun forming on the bottom of the pan. Repeat 2-3 times until onions have softened and caramelized, deglazing pan with 1/4 cup water, incorporating fond, repeat. This takes about 7-10 minutes in total (be vigilant!)
• When onions have begin caramelizing, clear spots on the pan per each chicken thigh and add chicken thighs skin-side down. Let cook 5-7 minutes or until skin has begun to crisp.
• Flip chicken thighs and add sliced sweet peppers, chopped bacon, and sauce (see step 3). Bring sauce to a boil then reduce heat to a simmer. Let cook for about 15-20 minutes, occasionally spooning the sauce over top of the chicken thighs, or until chicken has cooked through to 165F.
• (Optional: Remove chicken thighs to a place and continue reducing sauce on a simmer until you have reached your desired thickness.)
• Remove from heat and add lime juice and cilantro. Serve with edamame rice.

Notes

* follow water/rice instructions per rice cooker if using that method; edamame requires no additional water