Oven-Roasted Pork Adobo

Greetings from Virginia! We made it to our new home in one piece, and no worse for the wear. I’m still in the process of organizing our new kitchen, and acclimating to my new stovetop and oven, but I figure by next week’s recipe this new kitchen will feel like old hat to me.

Along with our other belongings, we ended up hauling up some frozen meat that we just didn’t have a chance to cook through before the big move. I’ve now made it my personal goal to use them all up by the end of the summer–starting with about 4 lbs of pork shoulder from my friends at ButcherBox, which I used in today’s recipe.

Pork Adobo is one of my favorite pork dishes to make. You’ll find an old recipe here on the blog, and there is a version of Pork Adobo in each of my printed cookbooks. Today’s preparation is easily my simplest: you cover and roast the pork at a low temperature for an hour to keep it tender, then you uncover and roast it at a high temperature for another hour to crisp it up and reduce the sauce.

Here’s a quick synopsis of the dish, from Paleo Takeout:

Adobo, often considered the national dish of the Philippines, is a method of stewing meat in vinegar. The word adobo itself is linked to a Spanish method of preserving raw meat by immersing it in a mixture of vinegar, salt, and paprika. When the Spanish observed an indigenous Philippine cooking method involving vinegar in the 16th century, they referred to it as adobo, and the name stuck. The original name for this dish is no longer known.

Oven-Roasted Pork Adobo (Gluten-free, Perfect Health Diet, Paleo-friendly, Primal-friendly, Whole30-friendly)

  • Servings: 6
  • Difficulty: Easy

3-4 lbs boneless pork shoulder, cut into 2-inch chunks
2/3 cup cane vinegar
1/3 cup tamari
10 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
2 tbsp black peppercorns
5 whole bay leaves

1. Combine the pork, vinegar, tamari, garlic, peppercorns, and bay leaves in a resealable plastic bag and marinate overnight.

2. Preheat your oven to 275F. In a deep baking dish, place the pork and its marinade, and cover snuggly with tinfoil. Bake for 1 hour.

3. Increase the oven heat to 425F, and remove the tin foil cover. Bake for 1 more hour, turning the pork pieces and spooning some sauce over the pork every 15 minutes.

4. Serve with white rice and your favorite vegetable side (we typically enjoy this meal with Simple Chinese Greens), spooning the sauce over the pork just before serving.

** For a soy-free recipe, use 1/2 cup coconut aminos in place of the tamari.

24 thoughts on “Oven-Roasted Pork Adobo”

  1. Does the vinegar get added to the marinade? Looks and sounds delicious. I will try it soon. Thanks for sharing.

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  3. Perfect timing with this one. I am making pork shoulder this weekend, my husband loves pork adobo, and my guest have never tried it! I love the photo too, nice work!

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    1. You can use white vinegar, but I’d use only 1/2 cup vice 2/3 cup, and add a bit of water to compensate for the lost liquid. I didn’t add it as a possible substitution in the recipe mostly because I really want people to try the cane vinegar for the dish – it makes a big difference!

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  9. Greetings from Germany! I had some friends over for dinner tonight and I wanted to cook something different. This didn’t fail. Huge hit. Will definitely make it again. Do you have other Philippine recipes?
    Thanks for the recipe.

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  10. Does this freeze well, and how does this keep in a refrigerator? 2-3 lbs is a lot for one meal (although, at my size not impossible!). I’m looking for recipes that can feed me for a few days, and I stumbled on this. It looks good!

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    1. Since it has vinegar, it last very long refrigerated. In the Philippines or humid/hot countries with little refrigeration, vinegar is used as a natural preservative.

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  11. Never heard of cane vinegar. Where can I get it? Definitely NOT at my local Publix!! How about Earth Fare? Fresh Market? Trader Joes??

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    1. Try Asian stores. If.they have a Filipino aisle, you can find several brands. It’s generally a tall glass bottle. It’s called cane vinegar and sometimes sugar cane vinegar. Pork adobo is delish as a one pot wonder. But another choice is oven baked chicken thighs. Same Marinade tho.

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        1. Sure, anytime. If you make this, please let me know. In a pinch, I’ve made it with apple cider vinegar, but not sure if that’s paleo or gluten free friendly.

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