Bagoong is a Filipino condiment made from salted and fermented seafood. This imbues the paste with the umami of the sea: proudly briny and deeply salty, with a funky aroma that's impossible to ignore. Love it or hate it, bagoong is vital to Filipino cuisine, whether used as a dip for green mangoes or cooked alongside kare-kare.
There are several types of bagoong in the Philippines, all made with different kinds of seafood. Here's a short breakdown of the most common types.
Wait. What is bagoong made of?
The main ingredients of bagoong are tiny shrimp (known as alamang) or small fish, salt, and sometimes a bit of water. The mixture is allowed to ferment for weeks or even months, developing a strong, salty, and umami-rich flavor that’s essential in many Filipino dishes.
Bagoong Alamang (Shrimp Paste)
Made with: small shrimp or krill
If you got your bagoong from the grocery, chances are it’s bagoong alamang. The most common bagoong variety, this fermented paste is made with small shrimp or krill. When sautéed and turned into bagoong guisado, it acquires a sweeter caramelized flavor.
Bagoong alamang can vary in appearance and texture. Some have a bright pink tint to them caused by the addition of angkak, a food coloring made from red yeast rice. Other varieties, specifically the one from Iloilo (ginamos or guinamos, made from hipong Bisaya) have a thicker consistency from pounding the shrimp into a thick paste.
Bagoong alamang has many names. Other parts of the country call it bagoong aramang, baguc, bagon, uyap, dayok, or balao (or balaw).
Bagoong Isda (Fish Paste)
Made with: fish
Switch out the krill for fish and you have bagoong isda. Since we have so many varieties of fish, you’ll find different types of bagoong isda across the Philippines:
Bagoong Balayan or Bagoong Tamban
Made with: herring or anchovies
Bagoong balayan (or bagoong tamban) is mainly produced in Batangas. This bagoong is made of (tamban) or anchovies (dilis or galunggong), which are fermented for six months to a year in traditional jars (tapayan).
Bagoong balayan has a fragrant, slightly pungent, and almost cheese-like flavor.
Bagoong Monamon
Made with: anchovies, scad
You'll usually find bagoong monamon in Ilocano cooking, included in classic dishes like pinakbet or dinengdeng. It uses salted tiny anchovies (dilis) to provide a smoother texture.
Though infamous for its extremely pungent smell, bagoong monamon has the potent flavor to match it. It works as pure ulam on plain rice or as a dressing for salads.
In Cebua and Bohol, bagoong monamon also goes by ginamos bolinao.
Bagoong Terong
Made with: bonnetmouth (terong)
Bagoong terong hails from Ilocos region. It features similarities with bagoong monamon, but with a coarser texture and a different fish.
Ginamos
Made with: anchovies
Ginamos (or guinamos) means "preserved" in Cebuano and Boholano; it means the same thing as Tagalog bagoong.
While it shares the same meaning as bagoong, ginamos can also refer particularly to a monamon-like variety with a grayish color and more noticeable fish components. Sometimes, ginamos also comes in moist, reddish-purple heaps of pounded fermented fish.
Tinabal
Made with: parrotfish
Tinabal uses parrotfish, resulting in larger fermented bagoong. This Bohol and Leyte product can be eaten as a main dish, added to vegetables, or fried and sautéed with aromatics as an appetizer.
Bagoong Padas
Made with: siganid or rabbitfish
Pangasinan’s bagoong padas uses fermented rabbitfish. Unlike other bagoong, bagoong padas tends to have a more liquid consistency, making it an easy-to-use condiment to flavor all kinds of dishes.
Bagoong Sisi (Fermented Oyster)
Made with: small oysters, clams
Bagoong sisi (or ginamos nga sisi) is primarily produced in Roxas City, Capiz. It uses small oysters and clams harvested from the Visayas region. It only takes three days to ferment!
How to Use Bagoong
- Serve it as a condiment alongside kare-kare or laing.
- Use it like salt to season pinakbet.
- Mix it with honey to make a chicken wing glaze or a sweet-salty dipping sauce.
- Treat it like anchovies, as an ingredient in pasta or in Caesar salad dressing.
This article was originally posted October 2021, with minor edits in 2023.
