What does adobo mean?
Adobo is an English borrowing for a family of Filipino dishes and a related cooking method. Meat, seafood, or vegetables are typically marinated and then slowly cooked in a seasoned liquid, with vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and spices as characteristic flavors. Recipes vary widely, so the word can refer to a specific dish, such as chicken or pork adobo, and also to the broader method. In English, it is most strongly associated with Filipino cuisine, although its culinary sense comes from Spanish. The use of the same name for numerous dishes reflects the flexibility of the method: the defining combination is usually the sharp tang of vinegar with deep savory flavors rather than a single fixed recipe. Learning adobo therefore means learning both a familiar Filipino dish and a useful example of how a borrowed culinary term can name an entire category of preparations.
nounA Filipino dish or cooking method in which meat, seafood, or vegetables are marinated and simmered in a seasoned liquid, typically containing vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and spices.
- A Filipino dish made from meat, seafood, or vegetables simmered in a seasoned liquid, usually with vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and spices.
- A culinary method of marinating or cooking food in vinegar and spices, used more broadly in discussion of Filipino and Spanish cooking.
"She served fragrant chicken adobo with rice and a fresh cucumber salad."
"For dinner, we shared pork adobo, white rice, and atchara."
"The recipe describes the dish as adobo because the meat is slowly simmered in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, and bay leaves."
The plural is uncommon because the word is often used in a mass sense for the dish or method, but it can refer to multiple dishes or preparations.
"The buffet featured several adobos, including pork, chicken, and eggplant."
Adobo's identity lives in the contrast: sharp vinegar and savory soy sauce meeting in a deeply fragrant sauce.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does adobo come from?
The English word comes from Spanish adobo, a culinary term associated with simmering food in a seasoned liquid and with the resulting preparation. It entered English chiefly through the cuisine of the Philippines, where the name covers numerous meat, seafood, and vegetable dishes. The English word adobare and the Spanish forms adobar and adobado belong to the same etymological family.
How adobo is actually used
In English, the word most often refers to Filipino cuisine. It can name a particular dish or stand for the broader cooking method, and recipes vary considerably in their ingredients and seasoning.
Easily confused with adobo
Adobo is a Filipino dish or cooking method, whereas adobe is unfired clay used to make bricks or building material.