Low Carb Chicken Adobo Recipe

One of my Cub Scout mothers got me hooked on this classic Filipino dish and after my wife and I jumped onto the Keto Bus, she mentioned to me again how easy it is to make AND it's also low carb if you stick to Cauli-rice.  In a typical Filipino household, I've been told by many that adobo is usually served just with rice.  No sides.  Boring.  Stick around, I'll cover all the stuff in this picture.

First, the chicken...because it needs to marinate for a couple hours.

Filipino Chicken Adobo

• 6-8 boneless skinless chicken thighs (feel free to trim some of the fat if desired)
• 1/2 cup soy sauce (can use liquid aminos, coconut aminos, or Tamari)
• 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar (or apple cider vinegar)
• 2-3 green onions, sliced fine
• 1 whole clove of garlic, minced.  I use the pre-minced stuff from Sam's Club.
• 1-2" fresh ginger, peeled and minced fine *optional, but would not recommend omitting
• 2 Tbls coconut oil for cooking - not in the marinade 
• 1 Tbls Chicken Base (or 2 bouillon cubes)

Everyone into the pool! Put all ingredients but the coconut oil and chicken base into a gallon freezer bag and massage thoroughly to ensure the garlic, onions and ginger are evenly distributed.  Leave in the fridge to marinate for 2-4 hours.  This is a good time to prep the cucumber salad below.

Heat a deep skillet and add a couple tablespoons of coconut oil.  Place the thighs into the pan to sear, but don't crowd the pan.  Work in batches if you can't fit them all at once.  Turn them after about 5 mins on medium high heat.  When both sides of all the thighs are GBD (Golden Brown Delicious), pour the marinade (and enough water to cover the chicken) and add the chicken base into the pan and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer, and cover to cook for about 30-35 minutes.  At this point, you are done...but I go a couple steps further.  Remove chicken from pot carefully, and then hit the liquid with an immersion blender to emulsify all the ginger and garlic bits, then thicken with a little xanthan gum (keto friendly) or a cornstarch slurry.  After slightly thickened, add the chicken back to the sauce and serve.

Again, this is usually served with just rice.  Since we are low carbing it these days, I got out a bag of riced cauliflower. 


Cauliflower "Sticky Rice"

• 1 bag of frozen riced cauliflower
• 2 tsp coconut oil
• dash of TJ's Umami seasoning or 1/2 tsp salt
• 2-3 Tbls cream cheese

Heat a 10" non-stick skillet over medium heat and add the coconut oil.  Add the frozen cauli-rice to the pan and saute over medium high heat until all moisture is cooked out (no visible moisture in bottom of pan).  Remove from heat and mix in the cream cheese until well combined.  

Asian Cucumber Salad

• 1 english cucumber, sliced with seeds removed with a spoon
• 1 colorful bell pepper
• 3 sliced green onions
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 Tbls toasted black sesame seeds

Now...for the dressing, as with most of my recipes - it's a little of this and a little of that.  Soy sauce (or Tamari), sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, S&P, a touch of honey, and a little sriracha.  I go by taste, and sometimes will swap out the vinegar for lime juice. 

And lastly, something I cannot take credit for - the hibachi steakhouse salad with creamy ginger dressing - I got the recipe from Low Carbing Asian

Enjoy!

Macros for the chicken adobo were calculated at https://happyforks.com/analyzer