There’s white adobo and there’s dark adobo. This chicken adobo with lemongrass is white adobo. Chicken stewed in vinegar with garlic, pepper, lemongrass and bay leaves, and seasoned with patis (fish sauce).
It isn’t unusual for an adobo dish not to include soy sauce. In fact, historically, white adobo is older than dark adobo. In between, the variations are endless.
In Batangas, I’ve tried adobo sa dilaw, so-called because the fresh turmeric gives the dish a yellow hue.
Adobo sa gata has coconut milk thickened to a pasty consistency.
And then there’s the very aromatic adobo sa tanglad where the tanglad (lemongrass) almost obliterates the pungent smell of the vinegar and fish sauce. This chicken adobo with lemongrass has a subtle citrusy aroma.
It’s such a challenge photographing a dish that doesn’t look colorful. With or without soy sauce, adobo looks plain and photos just can’t seem to justify its wonderful flavors and textures. But then again, in food blogging, photos are aids and it is the food that’s important. I never thought that adobo with lemongrass would amount to much until I cooked a pot and was amazed at the results.
Chicken Adobo With Lemongrass
Ingredients
- 1 kilogram chicken (whole or choice cuts), bone-in
- 1 whole garlic
- 5 stalks lemongrass
- 1/2 teaspoon black peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1/3 cup vinegar
- patis (fish sauce) to taste
- toasted garlic bits to garnish
Instructions
- Cut the chicken into serving size pieces. Wipe each piece dry with paper towels.
- Separate the garlic cloves. Smash each one. Optionally, you make shake off and discard the skins.
- Cut off the dark green portion of the lemongrass stalks and discard. Take the light colored portion, peel off and discard the outer skin. Lightly pound the peeled stalks.
- Lightly crush the peppercorns.
- Place the chicken, skin side down, garlic, lemongrass, peppercorns and bay leaves in a wide thick-bottomed pan.
- Pour in the vinegar. Bring to the boil and cook until the liquid has reduced to half.
- Turn the chicken pieces over and continue cooking until the mixture is almost dry.
- In the rendered fat, fry the chicken until lightly browned.
- Pour in about four tablespoons of fish sauce and half a cup of water. Bring to a simmer. Lower the heat, cover the pan and let the chicken cook until the sauce has almost dried up, about 40 minutes. If the sauce dries up before the chicken is cooked through, add more water, no more than a quarter cup at a time.
- To serve, arrange the chicken adobo on a platter. Drizzle the contents of the pan over them. Garnish the chicken adobo with lemongrass with toasted garlic bits before serving. Best with rice.
Cook's Notes
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Hello and welcome! I'm a retired lawyer and columnist, wife for 28 years, mom of two, and a passionate cook. What is this blog about? Recipes for dishes 
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I’ve never tried making adobo with lemongrass before! I cant wait to try this esp since its about time for me to prune my lemongrass :)
oh wow, i just cooked a pot of chicken & pork adobo today, i’m just wondering ms cons, will tanglad work with pork adobo too? thanks!
Yes, why not? :)
ah ok, naisip ko lang kasi na lemongrass is really good with chicken dishes, never ko pa na try sa pork. sabagay hindi naman siguro aangal yung pork pag sinamahan ko sya ng lemongrass sa kaldero hehehehe. thanks ms. cons. =)
Tried lamb chops adobo with lemongrass yesterday. Discovered that lemon grass and lamb go well together too. :)
Tanglad/lemon grass is used to reduce the porky smell or after taste of crispy pata. My mom puts a bundle inside the pot with about 3-4 slices calamansi (not just the juice, whole calamansi).
Wala ka talaga maamoy na paa when you eat the crispy pata.
wow yummy naman, lamb chops.. drool drool… =)im going to cook your recipe of tilapia fillets with shredded corn tomorrow ms cons and later your hubby’s cowboy sandwich. the lamb chops will have to wait muna hahahaha. thanks ms. cons. nakakawala ng stress ang website mo ms. cons sa totoo lang.
This is my son’s favorite of all our adobos at home! I make ours with ginger (not necessarily the luyang dilaw but when there is some available we use that or astuete for color) and use sinamak (ilonggo spiced vinegar) for some punch.
Thanks again for this very informative write-up on adobo and its variants. I will be sharing this with a fellow teacher who now teaches Math in LA, California. He wrote in one of his sharings at the Pinoy Teachers Network that his students craved for his Pinoy adobo, especially at their party on the last day of classes.
Well, adobo is adobo is adobo…I will never grow tired of it…kanina nga it was adobong hito for my lunch!
Being a Singaporean chinese staying in the Philippines for almost 3 years..this is the first time I heard of such a recipe. Hmmmm…going to try it. I want to say how “de-stressing” reading your blog has done to me…count me in as your biggest fan too!
Connie, I’ve never thought of using lemongrass.
I’m excited to try it. I’ve used dried tarragon because my hubby who is not Pinoy complains about
the strong vinegar aroma when I’m cooking adobo.
So I added crushed dried tarragon. I like the taste and the vinegar aroma is not as strong.
Thank’s.
Hi Connie,
I never try to cook lamb chops before,so.. is it taste good with adobo with lemon grass?Did you put soy sauce? or patis? Thanks to your recipe.
Luz
Hi Connie,
I saw a very old newspaper clipping my mom kept (from the 70’s i think) for an adobo that used turmeric, lemongrass and gata. I don’t remember what it was called, but probably dilaw too. So many ways and all delicious! Do you have lemongrass in your garden?
Yes, I do. :)
try lemongrass also with your tinolang manok it adds a yummy flavor. you can also use it as flavoring when roasting whole chicken, put a bunch of it inside the chicken.. mangangamoy ang bahay mo ng nakakagutom na amoy. it’s also good daw for hypertension.
Tanglad/lemon grass can also be a very refreshing drink. We pound the white portion near the roots and put it in a boiling water. We filter the stalks and mix the tanglad mixture with our drinking water. Put ice or honey and presto you have your tanglad/lemon grass drink.
Its diuretic and will help you to drink water more often. You’ll feel clean after about a week of drinking the tanglad/lemon grass drink.
You could also use it in your sinigang, taste better like tom yum.
Ang sarap sarap nito! Cooked it last night, had it for lunch today, will add chicken livers tonight para ma-extend. I used frozen lemongrass which I bought at our local Oriental store, saka apple cider vinegar. Paired it with a radish and cucumber salad, dressing was light mayo, lemon juice, sugar and black pepper. Big hit sa aming bahay! Tomorrow, I’m trying your Vietnamese Beef Stew. Thanks for all the wonderful recipes!
The first time I tried this, I was overwhelmed by the sharpness of the vinegar and patis but still tasted so good. My hubby is a big fun of adobo and this variant is a welcome surprise. He just requested for more sauce next time. So when I cooked this again last week, I left more sauce in the dish so he can “sabaw” his rice. Thanks so much for such wonderful recipes.
My mom used to put lemon grass or tanglad sa dinuguan para hindi maamoy ito, sa loob ng whole bbq chicken, she even pound it and rub it inside. I don’t have fresh lemon grass but I have a powder called “sereh poeder” (conimex brand) an Indonesian seasoning but its lemon grass I will try to use it in adobo. When I saw your recipe of adobo with lemon grass, I read all my bottled seasoning and found out I have it – immediately tried your recipe – BUT there is nothing like FRESH ONE.
my kids are not fond of adobo. i tried this recipe and presto!!! it was a hit. i added turmeric for color. thanks for the recipe.