Filipino Adobo drumsticks

While blogsurfing the other day I discovered yet another delicious sounding recipe: this one was from Gina at Gina's Skinny Taste. She has a lot of delicious, low cal and Weight Watchers friendly recipes on her blog and everything I've tried from her site has been very yummy. When I ran across Filipino Adobo chicken I had to stop and look. Soy sauce, vinegar, bay leaves, garlic and pepper. That's it! Well hell, that sounds delicious, different and just plain GOOD! So I decided then & there that I must make it.

When I went to my grocery store I found a family pack of chicken drumsticks, 14 of them, for $4.50. That price told me that I was on the right track with this dinner idea! Vinegar I have on hand at all times along with soy sauce. All in all, including pantry items, I'd have to estimate the total cost of this meal, including side dishes of green beans and brown rice, to be about $6. And that's enough for 7 meals!! You just can't beat that!

This recipe was beyond simple and easy. And it could easily be adapted for the slow cooker (just omit the water in the cooking process). The taste was pretty good, however I will make a few changes next time I make this; one of which will be to add some honey to the marinade. I think a little sweetness would help cut the acidity of the vinegar. I'll also cook up some peppers and onions, the sweetness from the veg would play nicely with the savory chicken. All in all, this is a very cost effective family friendly meal that we'll be making again I'm quite sure!


Filipino Adobo drumsticks
makes 4 servings, 2 drumsticks each
From Gina's Skinny Taste
8 chicken legs, skinned if desired
1/3 c soy sauce
1/3 c cider vinegar
6 bay leaves
6 pepper corns, crushed (or 1/4 t ground pepper)
6-8 cloves garlic, papers removed and clove crushed
1/2 c water

Mix the soy sauce, vinegar, pepper, garlic and bay together in a bowl. Pour over chicken legs and allow to marinate, 1 hour minimum up to overnight (the Witch let them go for over 24 hours, the flavors really penetrated the meat and it was delicious). Turn the chicken every 4 hours or so to ensure even marinating.

Heat a large skillet with a lid or a dutch oven over medium high heat. Add the chicken and marinade to the pan, along with 1/2 cup water. Bring to a boil then reduce to medium low heat and cover, cooking for about 45 minutes.

Remove lid and increase heat to medium high and allow sauce to reduce some. You will have a LOT of sauce, so don't worry about reducing it too much. Cook about 15 minutes over medium high heat.

Remove bay leaves and serve chicken legs with sauce and rice.



~*~Kitchen Witch NOTE: Personally, I think the sodium count in this inaccurate. The nutritional calculator doesn't understand that the soy sauce used in the marinade makes a LOT of sauce and chances are really good that all the sauce won't be consumed. Please don't let its high number scare you, honestly I'd say the real sodium count should be about 1/3 of that listed~*~
Nutrition Facts provided by SparkPeople recipe calculator
Amount Per Serving
Calories 169.6
Total Fat 4.3 g
Saturated Fat 1.1 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1.0 g
Monounsaturated Fat 1.3 g
Cholesterol 95.5 mg
Sodium 1,296.1 mg
Potassium 366.1 mg
Total Carbohydrate 4.6 g
Dietary Fiber 0.4 g
Sugars 1.6 g
Protein 27.2 g