INCREDIBLE Filipino Pork Adobo Recipe (Super Tender and Flavorful)

This pork adobo is loaded with flavor! It combines pork shoulder, a soy sauce vinegar mixture, garlic, and black pepper to make a sweet and savory sauce for an incredible Filipino dish everyone is sure to love. Plus, it's a really easy recipe to make, and you can prepare the pork to cook in just 5 minutes!

The Best Pork Adobo Recipe

If you love pork and are looking for a great recipe to add to your home cooking repertoire, this Filipino pork adobo is everything you need! I mean, this dish is absolutely packed full of incredible flavors, from the juicy, tender pork meat to the tasty sauce that is just so good.

Honestly, every time I cook pork adobo, I fall in love with it all over again!

And along with being delicious, it's really easy to make too. In fact, all you have to do is sear the pork with the sauce ingredients, then just let it simmer in the pot.

That's it!

So since this recipe is basically all passive cooking time, you'll be able to whip up some sides while the pork is cooking. If you're wondering what to serve with pork adobo, my go-to side is this fluffy Chipolte cilantro lime rice, or I like to mix the pork with this Uncle Roger egg fried rice to make pork adobo fried rice!

Ingredients

Another great thing about this recipe is it's made with just a handful of pretty simple ingredients. In fact, you probably have most - if not all - of them at your house already since they're kitchen/pantry staples.

Anyway, here's everything you'll need to make this pork adobo recipe:

• 1 ½ tablespoon olive or vegetable oil
• 1.5lb. boneless pork shoulder
• 2 tablespoon white vinegar
• 3 tablespoon light soy sauce
• 4-5 garlic cloves, sliced
• 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
• 1 ½ teaspoon sugar (or brown sugar)
• 1 ½ cup water

Really straightforward, right?

By the way, if you love black pepper and you still have some whole peppercorns left, you can grind them up for this amazing black pepper angus steak next. 

Ingredient Substitutions and Suggestions

While I recommend making this pork adobo recipe with the ingredients listed above, there definitely are some really cool ways to make it your own. So with that said, here are some of my favorite ideas:

Try Different Cuts Of Pork

My Filipino adobo uses pork shoulder, but you can cook pork adobo with any cut of pork you like. In fact, pork is so big in the Philippines, that you will find people cooking adobo with pork belly, pork ribs, pork tenderloin, pork butt, and pork loin. Pork belly is particularly popular, but it can be very fatty, so I prefer to use a leaner cut like the shoulder or sometimes pork ribs. Oh, and you can even use chicken to make chicken adobo. 

Experiment With Different Types Of Soy Sauce

My recipe uses light soy sauce, but you will find other adobo recipes which use regular soy sauce, dark soy sauce, or different soy sauce mixtures. The best thing is to experiment and see what type of soy sauce gets your taste buds going.

Add Extra Flavor To The Adobo Sauce

I like to keep my adobo sauce really simple, and this is more of a classic adobo. But there are loads of traditional ingredients you can add to create different flavor profiles. Coconut milk, bay leaves, datu puti vinegar, and coconut vinegar can all be found in different adobo recipes around the Philippines.

With that said, if you can't find those in your local Asian supermarket, then you can also add onion, apple cider vinegar, and rice vinegar - also called rice wine vinegar - for some extra flavor.

How To Make Pork Adobo

As I've mentioned a few times, this recipe truly is so easy to make. I mean, you barely have to lift a finger, and the pork cooks perfectly every single time! 

So without further ado, let's not waste another second get cooking!

Step 1: Sear The Pork

First things first, you'll need to heat up some oil in a pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.

Once that oil is hot, you're going to add the pork to it and brown it on all sides. This will help you to lock in those juices and create a rich, caramelized crust.

Step 2: Create The Adobo Sauce

Now, the sauce is where the real flavor comes in!

To make it, you can add vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, whole peppercorns, sugar, and water to the pot. Then you can give everything a good stir so it combines, and bring the sauce to a boil.

Once it boils, reduce the heat and let the pork simmer for 1 hour with a lid on the pot. 

Step 3: Cook The Pork

After an hour of cooking, you'll want to take off the lid and let the pork simmer for another 30 minutes until the sauce reduces.

Now, adobo sauce is traditionally thick and sticky, but if you want more sauce or you want to thin it out a little, then just add a drop of water after it is reduced until it reaches your desired consistency.

Anyway, as soon as the pork is done simmering, you can serve it warm over rice and dig in. 

Enjoy!

How To Store Pork Adobo

This recipe for pork adobo will make about 4 servings, so it should be plenty for a dinner.

Then if you have any leftovers, you can store adobo pork in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Stored like this, it should keep for 3-4 days.

If you want to keep the leftovers for longer, you can freeze 'em. To freeze adobo pork, allow it to cool and transfer it to a freezer-safe container or a freezer bag with the air squeezed out and store it in the freezer for up to 3 months.

How To Reheat Pork Adobo

Whenever you're ready to enjoy the leftover pork adobo, it's actually pretty tasty cold, but you can definitely warm it up if you want!

To reheat adobo pork, just add it to a pot with a little water and gently heat it on the stovetop over low heat for a few minutes until it's warmed through.

FAQs About This Pork Adobo Recipe

Can I cook adobo with chicken instead of pork?

Yes, you can cook adobo with chicken instead of pork. Chicken adobo is a very popular dish in the Philippines and follows this same basic recipe, just with chicken thighs instead of pork. For a really rustic adobe recipe, you can use chicken thighs with the bone in them for extra flavor.

Is Filipino pork adobo the same as Mexican adobo?

No, Filipino pork adobo is not the same as Mexican adobo. Mexican adobo uses chilis, cinnamon, and oregano in the sauce for a more spicy flavor, whereas Filipino adobo uses ingredients for a sweet and savory sauce.

Wrapping It Up

Well, that's how to make pork adobo in just a few simple steps!

This really is such as easy recipe to make, but everyone will think it took you hours of hard work in the kitchen! Seriously, the finished dish is a show-stopper. I don't know if it's the fork-tender pork or the savory, sweet, and sour adobo sauce that makes this such a great recipe. All I know is my family, and I can't get enough of it.

So I hope you and your family enjoy this adobo pork as much as I/we do.

As always, if you give it a try, let me know what you think by leaving a comment below.

More Pork Recipes

If this Filipino pork adobo has got you in the mood for some more incredible pork dishes, we have a bunch on the blog you can try next!

Here are some other great recipe ideas to try:

• Fried pork chops
• Baked pork steaks
• Moo shu pork
• Pulled pork casserole
• Pork chop casserole
• French onion pork chops
• Shake and bake pork chops

Oh, and as always, make sure to check us out on TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube! We post new recipes on them every day.