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Filipino pork adobo on a round plate served with white steamed rice surrounded by peppercorns, dried bay leaves and cloves of garlic on the table
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Adobong Baboy (Filipino Pork Adobo)

An easy to follow pork adobo recipe that results in a truly sinful and delightful melt in your mouth experience.
Prep Time5 minutes
Cook Time55 minutes
Marinate Time1 hour
Total Time2 hours
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Filipino
Keyword: authentic Filipino, comfort, flavourful, savoury, tangy
Author: Shena

Ingredients

Pork & Marinade

  • 2 lbs / 1 kg pork cubed
  • ½ cup soy sauce 125ml
  • 2 tablespoons sugarcane vinegar 30ml
  • 4 cloves garlic minced
  • 3 pieces dried bay leaves

For Cooking

  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil separated (15ml x2)
  • 1 small onion diced
  • 2 cloves garlic crushed
  • 1 cup water 250ml
  • 1 tablespoon brown sugar heaped
  • 1 teaspoon whole peppercorn
  • 2 tablespoons sugarcane vinegar 30ml
  • 1 red bird's eye (Thai) chili optional

Instructions

Pork & Marinade

  • Combine pork, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic and dried bay leaves in a large bowl. Mix well. Cover tightly and marinate in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour, or up to 24 hours.

Cooking Method

  • Heat 1 tbsp of cooking oil in a pot.
  • Remove the pork from the marinade and place into the pot.
  • Brown the pork for 2 minutes each. Don’t cook pork all the way through. Reserve the marinade.
  • Remove pork from the pot and set aside in a bowl.
  • Heat the remaining oil (1 tbsp) in the same pot.
  • Add onions and garlic. Saute for 1-2 minutes until fragrant.
  • Place the pork back into the pot and add the reserved marinade.
  • Add water, brown sugar and whole peppercorns.
  • Turn the heat up to high, cover the pot and bring to a boil. Boil for 2 minutes.
  • Turn the heat down and simmer covered for 45 minutes or until the pork becomes tender.
  • Add vinegar.
  • Stir and continue to cook for 5 minutes.
  • Turn the heat off.
  • Serve hot with steamed rice.

Notes

  • The longer you marinate the pork, the better and more appetising the adobo flavour will be. I prefer to marinate it overnight. 
  • Traditionally regular all purpose soy sauce is used for this recipe. However, depending on your palate and/or food allergies and sensitivities, you can also use dark soy sauce or gluten-free soy sauce.  Two gluten-free soy sauces that are pantry staples in our household are Kikkoman Gluten-Free Soy Sauce and San-J Tamari Gluten-Free Soy Sauce.
  • Whilst using regular white vinegar is ok to use with this recipe, using sugarcane vinegar is best for its mildly sharp taste, that helps to add freshness, as well as add some balance to the richness of the adobo sauce.
  • To take the heat up a notch, add a red Thai chili after adding the vinegar and simmer for 5 minutes.