10 Filipino Foods You Should Know About

Not only is adobo one of the most well-known Filipino specialties, it's the national dish of the Philippines. It's most commonly made with pork or chicken simmered in vinegar, soy sauce, garlic, black pepper, and bay leaves. Versions can vary with a mix of chicken and pork, different types of protein, or even adding coconut milk like some of the southern islands of the Philippines.

Lumpia shanghai is Filipino food 101. These meat-filled eggrolls are Chinese in origin but now staples at every Filipino pot luck. Compared to traditional eggrolls, lumpia shanghai is smaller and filled with a mix of mostly meat and some vegetables (usually pork). If you order from a restaurant, make sure you specify lumpia shanghai and not fresh lumpia, which is bigger, mostly vegetables, and not fried.

Pictured: lumpia shanghai from FOB Kitchen in San Francisco, CA.

Pancit most often refers to rice noodles, but can be loosely used to refer to noodles in general. Pancit bihon is a mix of rice noodles cooked with a mix of vegetables and meat while pancit palabok is served with a shrimp sauce and various toppings such as scallions, crushed chicharon, and slices of hard-boiled eggs.

Pancit bihon served at a JunJun pop-up dinner in Portland, OR.

Filipino breakfast is in a league of its own. "Silog" is a combination of two words — sinangag, meaning garlic fried rice, and itlog, meaning egg. To serve something "silog" is to pair it with garlic fried rice and an egg. Longsilog is longanisa (sweet sausage) with rice and a fried egg. Bansilog is bangus (milkfish) with rice and a fried egg. Spamsilog is spam with rice and a fried egg. The options are limitless, and you can "silog" almost anything — just fry it up and serve with rice and an egg.

Pictured: crab-fat fried rice served with a fried egg by Archipelago Eats in Portland, OR.

Sisig is becoming more well-known in mainstream food media, but Filipinos will tell you its a long beloved dish with origins in Pampanga dating back to the 17th century. It's traditionally made with pork (usually parts of the pig's head and liver) that have been boiled, broiled, then grilled with kalamansi or some kind of citrus to give it a bright, acidic flavor to balance out richness of the meat.

Pictured: chicken sisig served with lemon at Tselogs in Colma, CA.

While Filipino food is most often described as rich, sweet, and salty, few dishes can pack a sour punch like sinigang. This sour and savory soup is traditionally made with a tamarind base and can be made with seafood (usually milkfish and shrimp), pork, or beef.

Pictured: Bangus (milkfish) and shrimp sinigang at Kuya's in San Bruno, CA.

Traditionally a Christmas dessert, it's now common to eat bibingka year-round (thank God). This coconut rice cake is baked in banana leaves and can be made vegan and gluten free (like Chef Yana Gilbuena's ube bibingka!)

Pictured: bibingka from Valerio's Tropical Bake Shop in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Although reminiscent of tapioca pearls in the ever-popular boba milk tea, sago is made with the starch from the pith of palm trees, so the texture is a bit different. Sago at Gulaman is a simple mix of brown sugar, water, gelatin, and sago tapioca pearls.

Pictured: Sago from Tselogs in Colma, CA.

I hope you knew this was coming, because Filipino food with halo halo is like life without breathing. Halo halo literally translates to "mix mix," alluding to its variation of dessert contents and the mixing you do to combine the flavors before you eat it. Ingredients can include a selection or combination of sweetened fruit (like ube or saba bananas), jelly, pinipig, sago, kaong topped with shaved ice, ice cream, and evaporated milk.

Last but not least (and this list could go on forever), you can't really know Filipino food without Jollibee. Not only is Jollibee the Philippines's largest fast-food chain, but it serves a variety of dishes that the majority of Americans might not think to pair but Filipinos feel right at home with. Its hallmark is sweet Filipino spaghetti served with fried chicken, but you'll also find favorites likes palabok, arroz caldo, burgers, and a variety of desserts on the menu.