29 Filipino Recipes That Are Absolutely Worth Feasting On (2024)

FAQs

What is the most eaten food in the Philippines? ›

Staples. As in most Asian countries, the staple food in the Philippines is rice. It is most often steamed and always served with meat, fish and vegetable dishes. Leftover rice is often fried with garlic to make sinangag, which is usually served at breakfast together with a fried egg and cured meat or sausages.

1. Adobo. No list of the top 10 Filipino foods can begin without the famous Adobo on top. The unofficial Philippines national food is made with pork or chicken simmered in soy sauce and vinegar with loads of black pepper and crushed garlic.

Lechon. Lechon is one of the Philippines' most well-known foods whose name translates to “roasted piglet.” However, this dish isn't usually made with piglets, rather with one fully-grown pig, lightly seasoned and roasted whole. Part of what makes lechon so world-famous is its striking visual appearance.

The most popular snacks in the Philippines include balut, fried banana spring rolls, peanut butter, and fortified Filipino snacks such as Moringa Sweet Potato Tuile and Saba-Potato Halaya. Balut, a partially incubated duck egg, holds symbolic value in Filipino culture and is considered a rite of passage .

Pagpag can be eaten immediately after it is found, or can be cooked in a variety of ways. The act of eating pagpag arose from the challenges of hunger that resulted from extreme poverty. Selling pagpag was a profitable business in impoverished areas of Metro Manila.

Pinoys consume around 25 kilograms of meat yearly, including 15 kgs of pork. Next to pork, the average Filipino consumes about 11.6 kg of chicken and 3 kg of beef or veal. To add, unlimited grilled pork restaurants are mushrooming around the country.

Most first-time visitors to the Philippines will find themselves challenged by the locals into eating one of the country's best-known exotic delicacies, balut. It's basically a boiled egg with a semi-developed duck embryo aged between 16 to 21 days.

San Miguel may be the Philippines' national beverage, but there's more to the islands' drink culture than a 100-year-old beer.

Not only is adobo the unofficial dish of the Philippines, there are many ways in which adobo embodies the characteristic flavors of Filipino food: the unctuous salty & umami from the soy sauce, the floral notes from the various aromatics, and most importantly - ACIDITY from the vinegar.

What do they eat for breakfast in the Philippines? ›

The basis of most Filipino breakfasts is sinangag, or garlic fried rice. Loaded with fragrant bits of crisp fried garlic, sinangag is a simple dish that comprises just a handful of ingredients – garlic, salt, pepper, oil and rice – but it requires a lot of technique and precision to ensure it's cooked properly.

halo-halo — This is quite possibly the Philippines' most renowned dessert. It is relatively easy to find served at filipino restaurants. ube macapuno — in short, ube (purple yam) ice cream. crème caramel — very similar to the Spanish dessert, flan.

Kamayan is a communal-style buffet of delicious Filipino food: it features seafood, grilled meats, vegetables and garlic rice served on fresh (or frozen and thawed) banana leaves. In Tagalog, kamayan means “by hand” — and refers to how the meal is eaten.

A variety of fish balls, squid balls, kikiam, isaw (barbecued pig or chicken intestines), pork barbecue, betamax (barbecued coagulated chicken blood), or kwek-kwek (deep fried quail eggs) await experience seekers.

Another unique aspect of Filipino cuisine is its use of unexpected glazes and sauces! These are often made from a combination of different ingredients such as soy sauce, vinegar, coconut milk, and calamansi (Philippine lime), adding a depth and richness to the dishes.