I have put together 10 easy-to-make Filipino recipes you can cook for dinner that are healthy and delicious that use fresh vegetables and other ingredients you can find at your local grocery store.
These recipe collections are a favorite any time of year and are perfect for family sit-down meals. And do people still do "potluck" dinners? Well then yes, these Filipino dishes with vegetable recipes are perfect for bringing something tasty to any gathering!
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Top Tip How to Keep Vegetables Looking Vibrant
Wondering how to keep vegetables staying fresh and vibrant looking, come mealtime? Try these cooking methods.
Blanching: More often than not, this is one of the first steps I do when cooking any dishes that contain vegetables. Why? Because blanching preserves the flavor, texture, and color of vegetables, making your dishes more inviting and delectable. Don't you agree? I mean look at that Vegetable Pancit picture below. The vegetables are perfectly cooked with the right amount of crispness when you bite into every single carrot, broccoli, and pea pods. And the flavor? You will taste the natural flavor without any bitterness from the vegetables, making this easy-to-make Filipino vegetable noodle dish so satisfying with each and every bite.
Blanching is when you immerse the vegetables for a quick short few minutes of time in hot boiled water, then quickly remove and then shock in an ice-cold water bath (if not used to cook right away) or stir-fry (if the vegetable ingredients are being cooked immediately).
Stir-fry: another way to keep all the bright colors and crisp textures of the vegetables is by stir-frying. Stir-frying is when small cuts of vegetables are cooked quickly in a small amount of very hot oil while stirring so the vegetables do not rest on the hot pan to prevent them from burning. If you want to retain the bright colors of the vegetables, you'll want to make sure you stir the vegetables constantly. Long chopsticks would be great to use in stir-frying. Otherwise, a spatula, wok spatula, slotted spoon, or tongs would also do the trick.
Another way to ensure that all the vegetables in your dishes cook at the same time is to cut them all the same size as I did here for the Opo Squash recipe. The opo squash and shrimps are all cut in bite-sized portions.
Recipe Roundup of Filipino Dishes with Vegetables
- Stove-Top Cooking
- Filipino Vegetable Pancit - vegetables needed for this recipe are carrots, broccoli, celery, onion, and garlic.
- Quick and Easy Shrimp Sinigang - vegetables needed for this recipe spinach, and taro root (gabi).
- Pork Sinigang - vegetables needed for this recipe are bokchoy, and spinach.
- Chicken Afritada - vegetables needed for this recipe are potatoes, carrots, peas, green bell pepper, red bell pepper, garlic, and onion.
- Beef Steak (Bistek) - vegetables needed are potatoes, and onions.
- Chicken Tinola - vegetables needed for this recipe are spinach, chayote, potatoes, ginger, garlic, and onion.
- Opo Squash - vegetables needed are onion, garlic and of course, opo squash!
- Pancit Canton - vegetables needed are garlic, onion, carrots, scallions, and cilantro.
- Instant Pot Cooking
9. Beef Nilaga (Bulalo) - vegetables needed are potatoes, cabbage, broccoli, scallions, and onions.
10. Pork Sinigang vegetables needed are spinach and rutabaga.
Did you make any of these recipes? Please leave a comment and a star rating below! And share this blog with family and friends.
Frequently Asked Questions
An "Instant Pot" is a brand of multi-cookers. It's a cooking pot that can be used for pressure cooking, slow cooking, rice cooking, steaming, warming, and sautéing. I used my Instant Pot to pressure cook the Pork Sinigang and Beef Nilaga recipes shown to cut back on cooking time.
A fruit! Tomatoes are considered a fruit because they contain seeds.
An eggplant is classified as a fruit because it contains seeds.
Green beans are considered a fruit because they contain seeds.
An okra is a product of the pods of a flowering plant that contains seeds, and is therefore, a fruit.
Pea pods contains seeds, and are therefore, considered a fruit.
Lynda
I love all your recipes so thank you for putting this all together. ❤️