My Ma’s Chicken Asado

When I was younger, my mom made chicken asado (asadong manok in Tagalog) every single time there was a party. It wasn’t until I was older that I realized that the way every other Filipino made asado was very different from the way my mom made it. A number of people have asked my mom for asado recipe but she never wanted to give it to them! Fortunately, I am her daughter and she taught me how to make it about 3 years ago. I just hope she doesn’t find out that I’m sharing her recipe online… Haha

I don’t make it often because it’s a little time-consuming but every single time I make it, I always think, “I should make this more often… it’s worth the wait!”

If you’re Italian or if you’re at all familiar with chicken cacciatore, the recipe might sound familiar to you. It’s somewhat like chicken cacciatore but it’s quite different. If I’m not mistaken, this dish has a Hispanic origin… hence the name.

Anyway, here’s the recipe and feel free to adjust the measurements of the ingredients. I’m telling you, I don’t normally measure when I cook so watch out… especially when it comes to salty ingredients, my measurements might be a little off.

Ingredients:

2 – 2 1/2 lbs of chicken (I would recommend bone-in thighs but you can also use skinless, boneless thighs or even skinless and boneless chicken breast. And make sure the chicken pieces are not frozen or you’ll have to eat bloody chicken later)

1/4 cup of soy sauce (reduced sodium soy sauce should be fine)

1 medium-sized yellow onion, sliced

1/2 medium-sized red bell pepper, sliced

2 tablespoons lemon/calamansi juice

2 bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon of ground black pepper

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1 tablespoon (maybe more) of cooking oil

1 8 oz can of tomato sauce (I prefer oregano-basil canned tomato sauce but my mom makes it with plain tomato sauce)

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Directions:

1. Put the first 7 ingredients together in a pot.

2. Bring the chicken (with the marinade) to a boil. Let everything simmer on medium heat for 20-35 minutes. It depends on what kind of chicken you use. If they’re boneless, they should cook pretty fast. If they’re bone-in, you’ll need to let them simmer for a longer period of time. Don’t forget to stir everything every now and then to avoid the chicken from sticking to the bottom of the pot. After simmering, separate the chicken pieces from the marinde.

3. Heat up a wok or a fairly big pan. Add the oil. Fry the chicken and brown the pieces. You probably won’t be able to fit all the chicken in one wok/pan so put the already-browned chicken in a plate and set aside until all the pieces have been fried and browned. Just a note, yes the oil will splatter quite a bit. And yes, the chicken will try to stick to the wok/pan. It’s okay. Just make sure you won’t burn yourself!

4. Once all pieces have been browned, take the onions and bell pepper from the marinade (no need to drain them completely) and fry them for a couple of minutes before putting the rest of the browned chicken back into the wok/pan.

5. Add the can of tomato sauce to the chicken.

6. Let it simmer until cooked.

Serve it on top of white rice (this is important because by itself, it will be too salty) and you’ll be in asado paradise. I love my asado with a little bit of red crushed pepper flakes and a squeeze of lemon. And I try my best to scoop up the fat that the chicken will release because this isn’t supposed to be a healthy dish but I want to pretend like I actually care about that stuff when eating my favorite dish.

I hope some of you will actually make this recipe and, if you make it and have any suggestions/constructive criticisms, feel free to leave a comment.

PS: I will try to make some soon and I’ll take a picture to show you just how delicious it is