Filipino food rarely travels with much more than a vague idea of adobo attached to it outside the country, which skips most of what actually defines this cuisine. There is real regional range here: Pampanga's rich, labor-intensive classics, Bicol's love of chili heat, the Visayas and Mindanao's confident way with raw and grilled seafood, and a dessert tradition built on shaved ice, caramel custard and rice cakes baked in banana leaves.
Here are 20 dishes that cover that range, from a whole roast pig from Cebu to a dessert that means mix-mix and insists you actually do it. Every one links to the full recipe, and where a dish is shared with a neighboring country or already lives elsewhere on this site, that gets a mention rather than a smoothing-over.
1. Chicken Adobo, Across the Philippines
Chicken braised in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and bay until the sauce reduces to a dark, clinging glaze. The Philippine national dish, with one argument per family about the right ratio.
Recipe: Chicken braised in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic and bay, served with rice.
Get the full recipe: Chicken Adobo.
2. Sinigang na Baboy, Across the Philippines
Pork simmered in a sour tamarind broth with vegetables added in waves. The Philippines' favorite proof that a soup can pucker and still be pure comfort.
Recipe: Pork, simmered in sour tamarind broth with vegetables.
Get the full recipe: Sinigang na Baboy.
3. Lechon Cebu, Cebu
A pork belly rolled around lemongrass, garlic and spices, roasted until the skin shatters into crackling. The home version of Cebu's famously stuffing-forward lechon.
Recipe: Lemongrass-and-garlic-stuffed pork belly, roasted until the skin crackles.
Get the full recipe: Lechon Cebu.
4. Kare-Kare, Pampanga
Oxtail and tripe, braised tender and folded into a thick peanut sauce with eggplant and long beans. Served with shrimp paste, which does the real balancing work.
Recipe: Oxtail and tripe in a thick peanut sauce, served with shrimp paste.
Get the full recipe: Kare-Kare.
5. Sisig Kapampangan, Pampanga
Pig's face and ears, boiled, grilled and finely chopped, then sizzled hard with onion, chili and calamansi. Pampanga's famous way of using the odd cuts nobody else wanted.
Recipe: Chopped pork face and ears, sizzled with onion, chili and calamansi.
Get the full recipe: Sisig Kapampangan.
6. Chicken Inasal, Bacolod, Negros Occidental
Chicken marinated in vinegar, calamansi and lemongrass, grilled and basted with annatto oil until charred. Bacolod's tangier, lighter answer to grilled chicken.
Recipe: Vinegar-and-calamansi-marinated chicken, grilled with annatto oil.
Get the full recipe: Chicken Inasal.
7. Pancit Palabok, Across the Philippines
Rice noodles in a savory annatto-shrimp sauce, topped with egg, shrimp, crushed pork crackling and spring onion. Pancit dressed up for a celebration.
Recipe: Rice noodles in shrimp-annatto sauce, topped with egg and pork crackling.
Get the full recipe: Pancit Palabok.
8. Lumpiang Shanghai, Across the Philippines
Minced pork and vegetables, rolled tight and thin, fried until crisp. The small spring roll that shows up at every Filipino party and birthday table.
Recipe: Pork-and-vegetable spring rolls, rolled thin and fried crisp.
Get the full recipe: Lumpiang Shanghai.
9. Crispy Pata, Across the Philippines
A whole pork leg, simmered tender then deep-fried until the skin blisters into crackling. Served with a sharp soy-vinegar dip that cuts right through the richness.
Recipe: Pork leg, simmered then deep-fried until the skin crackles.
Get the full recipe: Crispy Pata.
10. Bicol Express, Bicol region
Pork simmered in coconut milk with shrimp paste and plenty of chilies. Bicol's clearest proof that it's the spiciest region in the Philippines.
Recipe: Pork in coconut milk, with shrimp paste and plenty of chilies.
Get the full recipe: Bicol Express.
11. Laing, Bicol
Dried taro leaves, simmered low and slow in coconut milk with pork and plenty of chili. Bicol's other great chili-forward dish, alongside Bicol Express.
Recipe: Dried taro leaves, simmered in coconut milk with chili and pork.
Get the full recipe: Laing.
12. Pinakbet Ilocano, Ilocos
Bitter melon, eggplant, okra and squash, cooked with fermented fish sauce, Ilocos's signature seasoning over shrimp paste. A vegetable side with real bitterness and balance.
Recipe: Mixed vegetables, cooked with fermented fish sauce.
Get the full recipe: Pinakbet Ilocano.
13. Bulalo, Batangas and Tagaytay
A clear, long-simmered beef soup built on bone-in shank and marrow bones, with cabbage and corn. Tagaytay and Batangas's answer to a cool mountain evening.
Recipe: Beef shank and marrow bone soup, simmered clear with vegetables.
Get the full recipe: Bulalo.
14. Tinolang Manok, Across the Philippines
A light chicken soup with ginger, green papaya and leafy greens. The gentle, restorative dish Filipino families make when someone is not feeling well.
Recipe: Chicken soup with ginger, green papaya and leafy greens.
Get the full recipe: Tinolang Manok.
15. Kinilaw na Isda, Visayas and Mindanao
Fresh raw fish, briefly cured in vinegar and dressed with ginger, onion, chili and calamansi. The Philippines' own, much older answer to ceviche.
Recipe: Raw fish, cured in vinegar, dressed with ginger, chili and calamansi.
Get the full recipe: Kinilaw na Isda.
16. Beef Rendang Maranao, Lanao, Mindanao
Beef, simmered slowly and uncovered in coconut milk and spices until the sauce reduces dark and thick. The Maranao people of Mindanao's own rendang tradition.
Recipe: Beef, slow-cooked in coconut milk and spices until deeply reduced.
Get the full recipe: Beef Rendang Maranao.
17. Tapsilog, Breakfast eateries across the Philippines
Cured beef, garlic fried rice and a fried egg, with vinegar on the side. The three-word breakfast plate found at small eateries all across the Philippines.
Recipe: Cured beef tapa, with garlic fried rice and a fried egg.
Get the full recipe: Tapsilog.
18. Bibingka, Especially associated with Christmas
A soft rice cake baked in banana leaves, topped with salted egg and cheese. The Christmas-season cake sold outside churches during the Philippines' dawn Masses.
Recipe: Rice cake, baked in banana leaves, topped with salted egg and cheese.
Get the full recipe: Bibingka.
19. Leche Flan, Across the Philippines
An extra-rich egg-yolk custard, set over caramel. The Philippines' denser, yolkier take on crème caramel.
Recipe: Egg-yolk custard, baked over caramel until silky.
Get the full recipe: Leche Flan.
20. Halo-Halo, Across the Philippines
Shaved ice piled over sweet beans, jellies and fruit, topped with leche flan and ube ice cream, then mixed together before eating. Mix-mix is the whole point.
Recipe: Shaved ice, layered with sweet beans and fruit, topped with leche flan.
Get the full recipe: Halo-Halo.
good to have in the kitchen
A handful of things come up again and again across this list. None are strictly required, but they make the difference between a good version and the real one.
A cane vinegar, the real sour behind adobo, sinigang and kinilaw. White vinegar works, but this is the authentic one.
A shrimp paste (bagoong), the backbone of Bicol Express, laing and kare-kare, and the dip that makes kare-kare actually work.
A annatto seeds, gives chicken inasal and pancit palabok their distinctive orange color and faint earthiness.
A a cast iron sizzling plate, sisig isn't sisig without the sizzle, and this is the easiest way to get it at home.
A calamansi, shows up across half this list. If fresh calamansi isn't sold near you, bottled juice is the next best thing.
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