Filipino cuisine isn’t popularly known to use a specific cooking style. Many Filipino recipes typically use uncomplicated cooking methods and tend to rely more on quality flavorful Filipino ingredients to alleviate the quality of the dish. A lot of Filipino dishes only require a simple palayok and a good fire to create a delicious meal.
Filipino recipes are for the most part, are uncomplicated affairs to cook and mostly let their ingredients do most of the talking. One of the uncomplicated but reliable methods of cooking that Filipinos do is something called inihaw or better known as grilling or roasting their food.
Read more: 13 Traditional Filipino Ways of Cooking
Meats like chicken and pork are highly popular ingredients in the Philippines and are even true for Filipino population that goes way back to precolonial times. Making inihaw or roasting these meats is one of the simplest methods to cook these ingredients all over the country. Filipinos often marinade their or stuff their ingredients before grilling them to achieve that delicious Filipino style flavor in the dish.
In this article, we are listing some of the most popular Filipino inihaw recipes. Filipinos can practically ihaw or grill a lot of the ingredients they have. Just pair it up with rice and condiments for flavoring and they’re good to go. This article will contain some Inihaw Filipino recipes that many will be familiar with and also a number of very popular grilled fish recipes that many everyday Filipino love.
A lot of the inihaw recipes in this list will use marinades consisting of flavorful ingredients staple to the Filipino cuisine to get that signature delicious Pinoy-style flavor. Some are a little more complicated that requires the main ingredient to be stuffed while others, like many of the inihaw na isda or grilled fish recipes, simply prepare the fish by seasoning it with salt and it’s ready to grill with condiments like soy sauce, calamari juice, and chili give it flavor.
Read on to see the best Filipino Inihaw Recipes.
1. Lechon
First up on this list is the very popular lechon. The Filipino lechon uses the whole pig that’s stuffed in delicious flavorful aromatic ingredients that can make anyone’s mouth water and slow-roasted over a bed of hot coal. Every region in the Philippines has its own special place that serves the best lechon as it’s not really an everyday dish that can be cooked and is reserved for special occasions. The city of Cebu is famous for reportedly having the best lechon in the country.
For a less extravagant but still mighty delicious version of lechon, an impressive roll of pork belly stuffed with the same aromatic ingredients is a worthwhile substitute.
See also: Cebu’s Famous Boneless Lechon Recipe
2. Inihiaw na Liempo
Staying on the topic of pork as the main ingredient, inihaw na liempo uses pork belly in the recipe and have it marinate into a mixture of soy sauce, ketchup, calamansi juice, garlic, salt, and pepper. The most delicious liempo have the pork belly marinate overnight and grill it the next day.
Inihaw na liempo is one of the many recipes on this list that’s a popular carinderia meal and this can be served for everyday meals and special occasions. Typically, the liempo is cut into smaller pieces once it’s cooked so it can be shared by the entire family. Eating it with condiments and rice is the best way to go.
See also: Inihaw na Liempo at Hito Recipe
3. Pinoy Pork Barbeque
We can’t have a list of the best Filipino inihaw recipes without having the Pinoy Pork Barbeque on it. This Filipino dish is a popular street food that attracts passersby when the stall owner fan the hot flames while grilling the barbeque causing the delicious smell from the smoke to travel through the street.
Most westerners know barbeque as simply grilling the meat but Filipinos specifically associate the name with pork bits that are marinated and then skewered on a stick so it can be grilled while basting it with a delicious special marinate. The special Pinoy marinate for the Pinoy pork barbeque is quite sweet in flavor which perfectly describes the Filipino palette.
See also: 18 Best Filipino Pork Recipes
4. Grilled Pork Sisig
This is the last pork recipe on this list and this grilled pork sisig isn’t exactly a purely inihaw recipe but it’s a handy recipe to know if you have any leftover grilled pork. A lot of Filipino recipes find creative things to do with leftover parts of its ingredients so no food can go to waste.
This grilled pork sisig recipe makes use of leftover grilled pork that can come from a fiesta or any special occasion, get it chopped, and turn it into a no-frills sisig dish. Mant Filipino love experimenting with their ingredients and this recipe embody the innovative spirit found in Filipino cuisine.
See also: The Best 13 Sisig Recipes Available in the Philippines
5. Lechon Manok
Much like the first entry above that uses the entire pig, lechon manok recipe needs to use the entire chicken, stuff it with delicious aromatic ingredients, and have it roasted over a bed of coal.
This Filipino recipe is typically ordered from restaurants if you want to have a taste of it but dedicated home cooks can easily recreate their own version of lechon manok at their home as long as they have a large enough grill or even an oven. Lechon manok is one of the recipes that’s typically served for special occasions.
See also: Litson Manok or Lechon Manok Recipe
6. Inihaw na Manok
Unlike lechon manok that’s typically only served for special occasions, inihaw na manok is one of the country’s favorite everyday dishes. The whole chicken is cut up into parts, with the drumsticks and thighs being the most popular, marinade in the everso useful Pinoy style sauce then grilled and basted.
A very popular variant of inihaw na manok is the inasal na manok recipe that originated in the Visayas region. This recipe gained popularity throughout the country because of a fast-food chain called Mang Inasal.
Both Inihaw na Manok and Inasal na Manok recipe is best served with java rice and a choice of condiments consisting of soy sauce, vinegar, and chicken oil that’s mixed with calamansi juice and soy sauce.
See also: Bacolod City’s Chicken Inasal Recipe
7. Grilled Tuna Belly
We’re now at the seafood side half for this list of Filipino inihaw recipes. The first one is for the grilled tuna belly which has only recently risen in popularity because of the booming culinary industry in the country. New diners, restaurants, and carenderias are popping up left and right and many have brought in grilled tuna belly for the masses to try.
Grilled tuna belly is probably nothing new to most people outside the Philippines but the Filipino style grilled tuna belly brings mixed the native Filipino ingredients, marinate the tuna belly in it, and then grilled for people to enjoy.
See also: Sawsawang Toyo at Inihaw na Bangus, Tuna Belly at Ulo ng Salmon Recipe
8. Inihaw na Pusit
Squid or pusit is a little bit of an uncommon ingredient in the table for most households in the Philippines. Most Filipinos have a taste of squid at restaurants making the ever delicious fried calamari a popular choice on the menu. But for the typical Filipino household, squid is a rare treat and one of the best and popular ways is to stuff it with aromatic ingredients and grill it to get the perfect flavors.
See also: How to Cook Inihaw na Pusit Recipe
9. Inihaw na Tilapia
Now we’re at the part of the list of inihaw recipes that many Filipinos eat for everyday meals. Inihaw na isda or fish recipes are some of the most popular meals in the country because of how easy it is to prepare them. One of the most popular meals and the best example of this description is inihaw na tilapia.
Getting a big tilapia fish and cooking it at the grill until the meat is soft and fluffy for the entire family to share is akin to a mini celebration in an of itself. Condiments like a mixture of soy sauce, calamansi juice, and chili are always present for these kinds of meals.
See also: Different Cook Recipes for Tilapia
10. Inihaw na Bangus
Bangus or milkfish has a reputation of being of the bonier fishes but for those patient enough to set aside the bones. The milkfish’s boniness won’t be that much of a problem with the inihaw na bangus recipe though and most recipes these days as bangus is typically sold in markets already deboned.
The inihaw na bangus recipe is a delicious inihaw na isda recipe that’s elevated to another level. The milkfish is stuffed with fresh ingredients of tomato, onion, ginger, lemon juice, and seasonings of ground flour. The fish is then grilled to a perfect temperature for the whole family to share a meal with.
See also: Top 15 Recipes for Bangus
