Your Kids Will Love This

In 2014, Haitai-Calbee released honey-butter flavored potato chips in South Korea. They expected nothing out of it—the limited flavor was met with ambivalence in Japan two years prior.

But in South Korea, the sweet-salty treat became an instant sensation. Honey butter chips sold out 

groceries and convenience stores had waitlists, while online sellers sold their precious chips for three times the original price. Demand was so high, Haitai-Calbee launched an app just to alert people of freshly-stocked honey butter chips.

Honey butter mania has come and gone, but don't dismiss the flavor pairing as an overrated trend. The sweet-salty combo works magic on savory applications (let McDonald's popular honey butter Shake Shake Fries tell you!). These double-fried chicken wings, tossed in a sticky homemade honey-butter sauce, were inevitable.

Honey Butter Sauce

Chicken Wings

For Garnish

Make Honey Butter Sauce

Fry Chicken Wings

Honey Butter Chicken Wings

These chicken wings have everything one would want from the viral potato chip: they're salty, sweet, crispy, and too good to (not) share.

 into your classic chicken salad for a sandwich that combines the comforts of mom's packed lunches and 

 Sliced cucumbers add a cool crunch. As a bonus, you can serve the ginger-scallion poaching liquid as a warm sipping broth on the side.

Busy week ahead? Double or triple this recipe to cover lunch for a few days—chicken salad keeps well in the fridge. Sandwich between two slices of white bread, or slather over crusty sourdough for open-face toast.

Hainanese Chicken Spread

Ginger Scallion Sauce

For Assembly

Hainanese Chicken Sandwich

The secret to the best chicken salad you've ever had? A spoonful of fragrant ginger scallion sauce.

Imagine if your tapsilog was crispy, not chewy. This twist on Filipino tapa does just that, with a process closer to 

 than your traditional marinated and air-dried beef: It's battered, fried, and glazed in sauce.

 A light coating of cornstarch with some black pepper—that’s it.

 A shallow-fry in a pool of hot oil, just deep enough to cover the thin strips of tapa.

 The classic tapa marinade of garlic, soy sauce, black pepper, and calamansi juice, reduced until thick, syrupy, and concentrated with flavor.

 when making tapa. This recipe makes use of fatty beef belly, which we've made the case for in our 

 You want it thinly sliced, like beef bacon.

Some groceries sell thinly sliced beef belly in packs for 

 and hotpot. Try to avoid sukiyaki cuts—they can vary wildly in terms of thickness and parts used. Better to buy a slab and ask your butcher to slice it for you, or par-freeze it at home to slice yourself.

Crispy Tapa

Tapa Reduction

For Serving

Crispy Beef Tapa

Crispy battered beef belly dressed in garlicky tapa reduction just made your breakfast silog more exciting.

 is a dark horse in the cutthroat local chocolate cake arena. It looks less like your 

 Big Al's bakes their cakes in aluminum tins, then tops them off to the brim with chocolate icing.

And that chocolate icing—the best part of Big Al's! Imagine McDonald's hot fudge, or the ganache draped across the 

 of your childhood, but extra thick, super gooey, and deeply chocolatey. Pair that with a tender chocolate cake and it must be what pure happiness tastes like—and why Big Al's is one of our most requested food hacks.

You’ll notice that this recipe mentions three types of cocoa: unsweetened cocoa, Dutch processed cocoa, and black cocoa.

 is the classic, standard-issue cocoa powder you’ll find in groceries, from Ricoa to Hershey’s.

 is cocoa that has been dutched or treated with alkali, giving it a deeper, less bitter flavor and darker color. Some bakers prefer it for its more chocolatey flavor.

 is extra-Dutch processed cocoa with a much darker color and mellowed out chocolate flavor. It's what gives Oreo cookies their pitch-black color and distinct flavor. Black cocoa is optional in this recipe—we use it to achieve that dark Big Al’s-colored frosting without resorting to food coloring.

If you have to buy one type of cocoa for this recipe, get Dutch processed cocoa. Otherwise, unsweetened cocoa powder will serve you just fine.

Chocolate Cake

Hot Fudge Chocolate Icing

Make Chocolate Cake

Make Hot Fudge Chocolate Icing

Headline Title

This recipe was originally published in December 2021. It has been updated with adjustments and rewritten steps.

Big Al's-Inspired Chocolate Cake with Hot Fudge Icing

This Big Al's-style chocolate cake is all about the decadent hot fudge-like frosting.

Latik, the coconut caramel usually draped over kakanin like suman and biko, pairs wonderfully with 

 in this tender upside-down cake. Sophisticated enough to wow your tita friends, yet familiar enough to tuck into with kids.

Upside-down cake, a classic American dessert, is a cake that's baked upside-down: topping at bottom—usually 

 and cherries—then cake batter on top. Once baked and cooled, you flip the pan over a serving plate, releasing the cake right side up.

Instead of pineapples and cherries, this Filipino upside-down cake has a topping of bananas and latik caramel.

The base is a coconut-olive oil cake base made with almond flour, 

 and extra-virgin olive oil, yielding a unique sweetness and a moist, supersoft crumb well worth the extra trip to the grocery.

Banana Latik Caramel Topping

Coconut Cake

Banana Cake with Latik Caramel

Sliced ripe bananas and syrupy latik caramel tops this moist coconut-olive oil upside-down cake.

 aren’t just for breakfast. Outside the cereal bowl, they're a versatile pantry staple for added texture and sweetness. Add a cup to a classic 

 crumble and you'll recognize the extra crackly crunch immediately.

This cornflake oat crumble works as an excellent crunchy topper for 

 and yogurt. Before baking, sprinkle it over cakes, muffins, and fruit as a streusel topping. Or go ahead and munch on a handful for a simple sweet-salty snack.

Cornflake Oat Crumble

Add extra flavor and crunch to a classic oat crumble by adding a cup of crushed cornflakes.

 turns the cheeseburger from a solo affair into a shareable snack. Simply roll Worcestershire-seasoned ground beef, crunchy veg, and a slice of American cheese in lumpia wrappers, then deep-fry until golden.

For the dip, combine two burger condiments: ketchup and mayo. Add pickle relish for chunkiness, plus a squeeze of lemon for a bright zip. Serve as is, or lean into the 

 theme further with lettuce leaves to wrap your lumpia with, Vietnamese 

Cheeseburger Filling

Burger Sauce

Lumpia

Prepare Cheeseburger Filling

Prepare Burger Sauce

Assemble and Fry Lumpia

Cheeseburger Lumpia with Burger Sauce

A cheeseburger, but crispy. Stuff your lumpia with ground beef and American cheese, then serve it with a tart ketchup-mayo dip.

's comforting flavors into a crisp, lumpia-wrapped package.

This recipe is simple enough to pull off for a weekday lunch: just a combo of garlic, cumin, and turmeric for the spice mix, then a one-minute garlic sauce using all-purpose cream and more garlic. (If you prefer a mayo-yogurt base, try 

) To top it off, a colorful side of finely chopped fresh veg. Easy!

Side Vegetables

Garlic Sauce

Beef Shawarma

Prepare Sides and Sauce

Make Shawarma Lumpia

Plate and Serve

Shawarma Lumpia with Garlic Sauce

Instead of pita bread or buttered rice, match shawarma-spiced beef with lumpia wrappers for that added crunchy texture.

Shrimp balls come in many forms. Street food carts serve their most basic iteration: bouncy ping pong balls molded from pale shrimp paste. Chinese restaurants, on the other hand, like to add a deep-fried coating for texture. 

 for example, roll their shrimp balls in panko breadcrumbs. 

 takes it up a notch by using strips of wonton wrapper.

Then there’s these shrimp balls, resembling grenades or turtle shells. Establishments like 

 Comida China de Manila serve them in this style: clad in bread cubes with a side of sweet chili sauce or mayonnaise.

These homemade bread-crusted shrimp balls make an impressive addition to any dinner spread, sure to be the star of your family's flatlays. They taste as good as they look, too, so make sure to make a double batch. Here's how to make them.

 these shrimp balls are rolled in cubes of sandwich bread. This gives the balls their turtle shell-like appearance. Once fried, the cubes dehydrate into a golden brown coating with a light, shattering crunch.

You want to slice your sandwich bread into ½- to ¼-inch cubes—not too big, not too small. Anything bigger will fall off your shrimp balls while frying.

Most deep-fried recipes call for frying oil at 350°F. We found that a frying temperature 320–325°F works better for these shrimp balls, crisping up the outside while perfectly cooking the minced shrimp filling.

A tangy dipping sauce cuts through the fat while adding a bright flavor. Use your favorite bottled sweet chili sauce—or make it 

Turtle Shell Shrimp Balls

This classic Chinese appetizer gets its eye-catching appearance and crunchy texture from a coating of white bread cubes.

For better pan-fried Pinoy porkchops, treat them like an expensive cut of steak. Both are naturally tender cuts that don’t need much cooking. If you cook your porkchops like steaks, it yields great steak-like results: soft, juicy meat with a delicious brown crust, basted in rich butter for extra flavor. Here’s how to do it.

Look for porkchops that are at least 1 inch thick. This ensures juicy meat. Anything less will tend to dry out quicker while cooking. Both boneless and bone-in porkchops will work with this recipe, but take note that bone-in chops tend to cook unevenly around the bone.

The fat cap is that white band of fat running along the side of the porkchop. Leave it on, and don’t trim it out before cooking! The fat insulates your porkchop from too much heat while retaining its moisture. Without it, the porkchop becomes too lean and dries out faster while cooking.

When exposed to high heat, the fat cap tends to contract and curl, leading to unevenly cooked porkchops. To prevent the fat cap from curling, score the fat about 2 inches apart with a knife. This will keep your chops flat on the skillet.

Brine Overnight for Juicy, Flavorful Meat

A brine introduces extra moisture and flavor to your porkchops. For best results, prepare your porkchops a day ahead so they can brine overnight.

Searing your meat has nothing to do with locking in your porkchop’s juices. Getting that dark, caramel-colored crust adds to your porkchop’s flavor while making it look and smell more delicious, too.

Melted butter carries the heat necessary to gently cook your porkchops while infusing a rich, buttery flavor. If you want to infuse some herbs and aromatics, add them at this step. We used smashed garlic cloves.

For medium-well porkchops, aim for a central temperature of 145°F. You can remove it at around 130–135°F to avoid overcooking. The internal temperature will continue to rise as the porkchop rests.

Resting your freshly cooked porkchops sounds counterintuitive. Why wait if you can eat it hot and straight out of the pan?

As meat cooks in a hot pan, the muscles tense up and push moisture towards the center. A brief rest after cooking, about 5 minutes per inch of meat, relaxes those tense muscles and allows all that moisture to redistribute itself. The result? Juicier meat. If you cut into your porkchops while hot, all that pushed-out moisture will leak out. So sit tight and let it rest!

Pan-Seared Pinoy Porkchops

For better Pinoy-style porkchops, treat them like steaks: Get a proper sear, baste with butter, and rest before serving.

Good news for cooks who don't have a grill: You can make chicken inasal in the air fryer!

You won't get that smoky flavor from open-fire grilling. But this easy recipe more than makes up for it with sheer convenience. The chicken, marinated in a tangy mix of lemongrass, calamansi, and coconut vinegar, cooks wonderfully in the air fryer. Basting the chicken with atsuete butter produces a richly roasted skin in that trademark inasal-orange color.

What Do I Need to Make Air Fryer Chicken Inasal?

Before airfrying, you first need to marinate your chicken overnight. A typical inasal marinade consists of garlic, ginger, calamansi, brown sugar—basic ingredients you might already have in your kitchen. Then there’s 

 for the marinade. To prepare, use a sharp knife to trim the base off the stalks along with the woody tops—right around where the stalk starts to turn green. Peel away the tough outer leaves to reveal a smooth, tender stalk. Chop that up into thin rings or half circles for the marinade. Save the woody lemongrass leaves for steeping in soups, stocks, or tea.

 comes from fermenting either coconut sap (sukang tuba) or coconut water (suka ng niyog).

Coconut vinegar doesn’t exactly taste like coconut. It has an assertive tartness with a rounded, slightly sweet flavor. So if you don’t have coconut vinegar on hand, you can substitute it with cane or white vinegar just fine.

Baste Your Inasal with Atsuete Butter for Color and Flavor

Another important inasal ingredient: Atsuete or annatto oil. It gives your inasal its trademark reddish-orange color.

To make it, you steep atsuete powder or seeds in warm fat, like plain vegetable oil or rendered chicken fat, until it takes on the atsuete's color. This recipe uses 

 to add a touch of richness to the inasal.

You might think that using butter sounds non-traditional, even inauthentic. But you'll be surprised by how 

 for basting! They claim that Star is the top secret ingredient to making the best Bacolod's inasal.

Margarine works fine in grilling; not so much in the air fryer. If it doesn't cook off properly, it can leave your inasal with a greasy mouthfeel and a cloying flavor. We found that butter works better overall, and recommend using it here.

Inasal

Atsuete Butter

Air Fryer Chicken Inasal

This chicken inasal recipe takes the grill out of the equation by using the indoor-friendly air fryer.

We adapted this brownie recipe from Linda Skeens, the woman-slash-

 for sweeping awards at a county fair in Kentucky, Virginia. She bulldozed the competition and bagged first, second, 

 third place for best cookies, candy, and savory bread. That’s on top of her medals for best cake, pie, brownies, jelly, jam, and spaghetti sauce.

With a track record like that, we had to give Lola Linda's Blue Ribbon Brownies a shot.

Using unsweetened tablea yields fudgy, chocolatey brownies that taste just like a hot cup of 

 This recipe delivers maximum results with minimal effort: it’s super easy to make, uses ingredients you already have, and will always turn out delicious. Don't be surprised if you polish half the pan yourself.

Blue Ribbon Tablea Brownies

These rich and fudgy tablea brownies taste like a warm cup of tsokolate, and are simple enough to make when the chocolate craving strikes.

If there's one language that everyone understands, it's fried chicken. It doesn't matter whether you're having American buffalo wings or Taiwanese 

. We all love our deep-fried bird, in every shape and form.

 light yet crunchy bites of chicken seasoned with soy, garlic, and ginger. Boneless karaage fries faster and easier than your typical 

 making it a great starter dish for the deep-frying novice.

As soon as they leave the hot oil, you want to season your karaage with some togarashi and salt. This gives your chicken an extra pop of flavor.

Serve karaage as a side dish (as some ramen shops do), or over rice with some shredded cabbage.

Chicken Karaage

Breading

Chicken Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken)

A soy-based marinade plus a light coat of potato starch makes Japanese karaage juicy, flavorful, and crunchy.

Everyone seems particularly obsessed with milk tea these days—just check out the lines at Coco, and the tea wars over on Twitter.

We're just as desperate for our next Hokkaido fix as anyone else, but our clever culinary director found a way for us to have the flavors at home, with quadruple the amount of toppings in this Milk Tea Taho recipe.

If you’re a fan of pudding, then this recipe is for you. We’ve infused all the tea flavor into soy milk to create a cheat version of taho, which doubles as the popular sinker. You can fill your glass to the brim with the silky mixture, then layer with the black pearls and all its sugary syrup.

Milk Tea Taho

, the Filipino icebox cake also known as mango royale, comes together through layers of graham crackers, sweetened cream, and sliced ripe mangoes. Make it once, and you’ve pretty much mastered it. But this recipe shares a few tips to make yours even better.

To make a creamier mango float, transform the sweetened cream into no-churn ice cream. You can do this by whipping the cream into stiff peaks before adding the condensed milk. By whipping it first, you incorporate air into the mixture just like a churning ice cream machine. This creates softer, airier, ice cream-like layers of cream that stay scoopable even when frozen. No more rock-solid mango float!

Ever had mango float that’s soft and creamy all the way, right until you hit a dry layer of graham? This happens when there’s not enough cream for the graham to soak in, usually at the bottom-most layer where the crackers are pressed against the pan.

To prevent that dry bottom layer, begin your mango float with a thin layer of cream—not crackers. Then add the graham layer over it, gently pressing down on the crackers to submerge them.

Pile on the rest of the layers however you like—the only rule is to save the top layer for fruit.

Want a cakier base? Alternate graham and cream layers, then leave all the mangoes at the top.

Otherwise, a center layer of fruit makes for a prettier cross-section. To make it, add half of the mangoes after the first graham layer. Top the fruit with cream, followed by a double layer of graham to make a sturdy base for the top mango layer.

Mango Float (Filipino Mango-Graham Icebox Cake)

This no-bake refrigerator cake of graham crackers, sweet cream, and ripe mangoes is a classic Filipino dessert.

Make peanut brittle for an easy midday snack or a crunchy add-on for ice cream and cakes. We patterned ours after Baguio’s Good Shepherd peanut brittle, which makes use of crushed peanuts. This creates a smooth, thin brittle with a nutty terrazzo pattern. You can make a brittle out of other nuts like cashews and almonds, or seeds like pumpkin and sesame. (Or a mix of both!) If you want to keep it nut-free, pretzels will work wonderfully.

Easy Good Shepherd-Style Peanut Brittle

 that skirts the line between appetizer and dessert. Hot out of the fryer, each crispy baton breaks into ribbons of melted mozzarella cheese speckled with crunchy corn. The sugar coating is optional, but adds a delightful sweet-savory crunchy finish to every bite. Serve as a prelude to a meal, or enjoy as a party snack with a round of drinks.

Korean Corn Cheese-Filled Lumpia

Did you know you can fry milk? This Cantonese dessert is crisp and golden on the outside, then milky and melt-in-your-mouth within. To make the milk custard, some traditional recipes call for just three ingredients: milk, sugar, cornstarch. We combine regular milk, condensed milk, and powdered milk to achieve the richest, milkiest flavor possible.

Fried milk is good on its own, ready to serve as is. Or get Spanish and roll them in cinnamon sugar, like 

Milk Custard

Milkiest Taiwanese Fried Milk

While Jolly Spaghetti is the undisputed poster child for Pinoy sweet-style 

 Pancake House's comes in a close second. It's still sweet enough to make pasta purists cry, but holds back on the 

 and hotdog coins. Pancake House spaghetti is less fast-food and more like mom's cooking: tomato sauce, ground beef, grated cheese.

This is an overdue update to our original 10-year old (!) Pancake House spaghetti recipe. A tablespoon of liver spread sets everything right. (It's not Pinoy spaghetti without at least one weird ingredient.) The brow-raising liter of water has been reduced to 1 cup.

Is it 100% accurate? Probably not. But this copycat spaghetti will bring back memories of orange walls and faded movie posters, guaranteed. Make it a combo meal and serve with 

Spaghetti Sauce

Pancake House-Style Spaghetti

Revel bars are bar cookies consisting chocolate fudge sandwiched between crumbly oatmeal cookie layers. While some revel bars tend to be too soft and anemic, this recipe yields hefty, chunky bars worthy of a café dessert display.

Browning the butter seems like extra work, but pays off with nutty butterscotch notes in the oatmeal cookie layer. Whole rolled oats provide a toothsome, crumbly texture—don't settle for the instant stuff. Use the best dark chocolate you can find for the fudge. A dash of instant coffee tames the sweetness from the condensed milk, resulting in a bittersweet, almost dark-mocha dimension. These fudgy, not-too-sweet bars bake easily and quickly, making them perfect for a last-minute gift or potluck contribution.

Oatmeal Cookie Dough

Chocolate Fudge

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Revel Bars

Using browned butter and dark chocolate makes these revel bars rich and indulgent without being too sweet.

 a porridge of rice balls simmered in sweet coconut milk. Different provinces have their own unique variations. For example, Pangasinan’s 

 includes tapioca pearls and local produce like sweet potato, cassava, or saba bananas.

We adapted this recipe from Marvin Gapultos, author of 

 The rice balls and sago pearls makes this porridge fun to eat. Powdered milk gives it creaminess; vanilla makes it taste like ice cream. But feel free to skip them if you prefer a more coconut-y flavor.

Sago

Sticky Rice Balls

Sweet Coconut Milk

Filipino Coconut Milk Porridge with Mango and Sago

This version of Filipino tambo-tambo or ginataang bilo-bilo combines sweet mango with sticky rice balls, sago, and creamy coconut milk.

 which means “minced cutlet”, is not as popular as its pork-based cousin, 

 But thanks to its use of ground meat, Japanese home cooks have embraced it as an economical option. Imagine a burger patty that’s breaded with panko then deep-fried until gold and crispy.

You can make menchi katsu from beef, pork, or a mixture of both. We take inspiration from 

 and stuff our patties with cheese, which melts into a rich, gooey filling when cooked. Take the time to chill the patties in the fridge before breading—this helps them stay firm and intact while dredging.

Serve these cheesy patties as you would tonkatsu: with hot white rice, shredded cabbage, and tonkatsu dipping sauce. Or sandwich them between toasted white bread for a filling snack.

Your Kids Will Love This

Honey Butter Chicken Wings

Hainanese Chicken Sandwich

Crispy Beef Tapa

Big Al's-Inspired Chocolate Cake with Hot Fudge Icing

Banana Cake with Latik Caramel

Cornflake Oat Crumble

Cheeseburger Lumpia with Burger Sauce

Shawarma Lumpia with Garlic Sauce

Turtle Shell Shrimp Balls

Pan-Seared Pinoy Porkchops

Air Fryer Chicken Inasal

Blue Ribbon Tablea Brownies

Chicken Karaage (Japanese Fried Chicken)

Milk Tea Taho

Mango Float (Filipino Mango-Graham Icebox Cake)

Easy Good Shepherd-Style Peanut Brittle

Korean Corn Cheese-Filled Lumpia

Milkiest Taiwanese Fried Milk

Pancake House-Style Spaghetti

Dark Chocolate Oatmeal Revel Bars

Filipino Coconut Milk Porridge with Mango and Sago

Japanese Ground Meat Cutlet with Cheese (Menchi Katsu)

Filipino Chicken Barbecue with Java Rice

McDonald's-Inspired BBQ Sauce

Jollibee-Inspired Ube Mochi Pie Pockets

Tablea Chocolate Rolls

Korean Corn and Chicken with Cheese

Taiwanese-Style Fried Chicken Chops

Bacsilog with Extra Milky Cheese Sauce, Ate Rica's-Style

Air Fryer Wicked Oreos

Best Filipino Burger Steak with Mushroom Gravy

Chicken Cordon Bleu Meatballs

Dunkin-Style Choco Butternut Donuts

Pancake House-Style Fried Chicken and Gravy

Basic Filipino Sweet Milk Candies (Pastillas)

Milk and Cereal Cake

Kopi Roti-Style Malaysian Coffee Buns

Best Filipino Leche Flan

Best Classic Homemade Polvoron (Filipino Shortbread)

Fudgy Brown Butter-Soy Sauce Brownies

Parmesan-Cheddar Donut Balls

Buttery Lengua de Gato

Ube-Cheese Pandesal

Lola Nena's-Inspired Cheese-Filled Donuts

Mang Inasal-Style Sweet Chicken Inasal

Chowking Chinese-Style Fried Chicken

Shakey's-Style Mojo Potatoes

Ginataang Munggo (Lelot Balatong)

Cassava Cake with Cheese Custard Topping

Best Pinoy Sweet Spaghetti

Oreo-Filled Milk Buns

Jollibee-Inspired Honey Beef Rice

Easy 15-Minute Chocolate Frosting

Best Filipino Pork Barbecue

Kora-Inspired Leche Flan Donuts

Fastfood Pies: Apple Pie, Peach Mango Pie, Tuna Pie

Dunkin-Style Choco Honey Dipped Munchkins

Banapple-Style Lasagna Roll-ups

Homemade Fish Balls with Fish Ball Sauce

Spam Musubi with Spicy Mayo

No-Churn Easy Chocolate Ice Cream

Giant Chorizo and Cheese Fried Wontons

Pinoy BBQ Meatballs

Ube Spanish Bread

Homemade Choco Mallows

Sticky Coco Jam Rolls

Easy Mik-Mik Powdered Donuts

Easy Microwave Turkish Delight

Leche Flan Pie with Lengua de Gato Crust

One-Bowl Black and White Chocolate Cake

Curly Tops Hot Chocolate

Three Cheesy Trending Recipes with Danes Flavored Cheese

Dark Chocolate Raisin Sandwich Cookies

CDO Karne Norte Loaded Fries