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This dish was inspired by a trip I took a few years back to the Philippines as well as one of my favorite casual restaurants in the city, Flip Sigi, who does this dish VERY well.
I highly recommend you use a Dutch Oven for this recipe if you have one (if you don’t, I also highly recommend you invest in one!)–it really helps make the chicken very tender! This dish is really easy to put together, and the flavors just melt together so well. I love the chicken over some garlic rice but you can also make these into sliders, burrito or quesadilla just to name a few!
Ingredients
- 4 skin-on chicken thighs you can also add 2 drumsticks or 1 chicken breast if you prefer
- 1 tablespoon vegetable/canola oil
- 3/4 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup rice wine vinegar
- 1/4 cup black vinegar or use more rice vinegar if you don't have this
- 1 head garlic
- 5 dried bay leaves
- 1 heaping tablespoon dark brown sugar
- freshly ground black pepper
Optional
- sliced scallions for topping
- garlic rice see notes for a quick recipe
Instructions
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Cut the entire head of garlic in half (through the widest part of the garlic). Set aside.
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Heat vegetable oil in a large Dutch oven on medium heat. Add in chicken skin side down and cook until skin is browned, about 5-7 minutes. Flip and cook for another few minutes. Remove chicken and set aside.
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In the Dutch oven, add in soy sauce, vinegar(s), brown sugar, garlic (both halves of the head), and bay leaves. Bring to a simmer and then reduce heat to low. Season generously with pepper and give it a nice stir before adding chicken back in.
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Using tongs, add chicken skin side up. Cover the Dutch oven and let cook for 50 minutes.
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Remove chicken and place onto a cutting board. Using two forks, shred the chicken, separating the meat from the bones and skin.
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Remove the bay leaves from the sauce and discard. Remove the garlic and squeeze out a couple cloves and put them back into the sauce. Put the shredded chicken meat back into the sauce and use a wooden spoon to coat the chicken with the sauce.
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Optional: top with sliced scallions and serve over garlic rice (see notes)!
Recipe Notes
For garlic rice, I like to use day-old white rice from my local Chinese food restaurant (yes, ultimate life hack!). Start with about a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a non-stick pan or wok. Add in A LOT of chopped garlic and cook until fragrant. Add in your white rice and bam, that's it.
What do you think?