Since most places in the country are back on a stricter lockdown, people who are on a full-time work-from-home arrangement may be having struggles in the kitchen. Some may be tired of delivery food and are trying to cut on food expenses, while others are tired of eating the same 5 dishes.
If you’re out of ulam (viand) ideas, we’ve whipped up the perfect list for you. Here are 8 Filipino cooking channels you can follow on YouTube, each with different specialties to suit different types of home cooks.
Crispy Pork Binagoongan (sautéed pork in shrimp paste)
Video credit: Panlasang Pinoy
The Filipino cooking channel Panlasang Pinoy on YouTube has a companion website for those who want to read recipes in detail after watching cooking videos. US-based Filipino IT professional Vanjo Merano created the channel and website to share recipes from all across the Philippines to the world.
In his YouTube videos, he cooks a wide array of Filipino dishes using a variety of proteins, from seafood to pork to duck.
His videos are usually less than 15 minutes long and have voiceovers as he cooks so they’re easy to follow. He also uses flavorings such as broth cubes so you don’t have to worry about price, unlike recipes that use more expensive homemade or store-bought stock.
Follow Panlasang Pinoy on YouTube
Salted egg chicken wings
Image credit: @friendcheapmenu
Friend-Cheap Menu whips up easy recipes with accessible ingredients, useful for when it’s petsa de peligro or when you’re low on cash but you need good food to get through the week.
The channel has videos that compile similar recipes or recipes that share a common ingredient such as graham cracker desserts. It also contains videos with dish ideas for events from Christmas to Lent. Their creations are also not limited to traditional Filipino food, with dishes such as cheesy potato balls and salted egg chicken wings.
While their cooking tutorial videos have no voiceovers, the creator puts text with the ingredients and simple instructions on the video.
Follow Friend-Cheap Menu on YouTube
Bread pudding with streusels from stale bread
Image credit: @kusinerong_arkitekto
If you want to learn how to cook and have a good laugh at the same time, Kusinerong Arkitekto is the perfect Filipino cooking channel for you. The creator behind the channel, architect CK, cracks jokes as he gives cooking instructions, making you feel as if he’s part of your barkada (friend group).
This Filipino cooking channel gives you ideas on what to cook when you have a surplus of a certain food item but don’t know what to do with it as seen in his tortang kalabasa (squash omelet) video and more. It also has recipes that use ingredients you may already have in the kitchen such as instant noodles and stale bread.
Like a true tropa (friend), CK even shared a recipe for fishball sauce in his channel so you can have the authentic street food taste in the safety of your home.
Follow Kusinerong Arkitekto on YouTube
Bulgogi (grilled beef) noodles
Image credit: @sharlenegumpal
Luis Azcona- Sharlene’s Menu is a channel by an engaged couple – Maude band vocalist Luis Azcona and designer-photographer Sharlene Gumpal. Luis does the voiceovers while Sharlene cooks.
Their cooking tutorials first became a hit on Facebook for Luis’ endless food puns and rhymes. From their videos, you’ll learn cooking puns such as Whisk Khalifa in reference to the US rapper and mushroomantic, a wordplay on mushroom and the Filipino phrase “mas romantic”, meaning “more romantic”.
Their videos also have funny titles inspired by pop culture such as “Peach Mango Pie na BelieBer” in reference to the Justin Bieber song Peaches and “Bulgogi Noodles at Kimbap na Kinain na ng K-Drama”. In Filipino, “kinain na ng K-drama” is a term used to refer to people who are addicted to K-dramas. “Kinain” literally translates to “eaten.”
The entertaining cooking videos are less than 5 minutes long, unlike many other Filipino cooking channels’, making them perfect for when you’re just browsing for food ideas.
Follow Luis Azcona – Sharlene’s Menu on YouTube
Image adapted from: otakoyakisoba
Olly and his mom, Mama Lulu, are California-based content creators famous for their skits on TikTok. On YouTube, they have just started sharing Filipino recipes that Mama Lulu carried with her from the Philippines to the States.
You can binge Otakoyakisoba’s cooking videos if you miss cooking with your mom or your lola (grandmother). With Olly and Mama Lulu, you can expect laughter and just the right amount of motherly sermon (scolding). Like a true Filipino mom, Mama Lulu also eyes the amounts of her ingredients.
The mother and son tandem have cooked dishes such as Filipino-style oven barbecue pork ribs for people who cannot use a grill as well as their family recipes of well-loved Filipino food such as pork menudo (tomato sauce-based stew with pork meat and liver) and kare-kare (beef and tripe in peanut sauce stew).
Follow Otakoyakisoba on YouTube
Green kutsinta rice cakes
Image credit: @chefrvmanabat
Chef RV Manabat is best known for his easy pastry recipes such as his chocolate chip cookie and moist chocolate cake. But while he is a baker, he also cooks dishes from different cuisines from laing (spicy Filipino dish with taro leaves and coconut milk) to laksa (a Southeast Asian spicy noodle dish with coconut milk-based broth).
Besides pastries, the chef is also an expert on traditional Filipino desserts. In particular, he makes videos on how to make Filipino rice cakes such as kutsinta (small, gelatinous rice cakes) and sapin-sapin (rice cake with multi-colored layers).
Viewers love Chef RV for the encouraging atmosphere he maintains in his videos. He tells his audience about alternatives for ingredients they may not have and urges stay-at-home individuals to build their own home-based food businesses.
Follow Chef RV Manabat on YouTube
Image adapted from: Chef JP Anglo
Chef JP Anglo is the owner and chef of the Filipino restaurant chain Sarsa which has multiple branches in Metro Manila. He was also given the title Champion For Philippine cuisine by Tatler Dining in 2020.
He’s more popular as Chef Jayps, one of the judges from Junior Masterchef Philippines, so home cooks who want to improve their cooking techniques may want to learn from him.
However, in his videos, Chef JP cooks in his humble home kitchen. He often cooks for his wife’s cravings from binakol (fish in coconut soup) to a 10-minute Korean meal.
The chef also makes videos on what to do with leftovers you have from celebrations such as lechon baka (roast beef) and lechon manok (roast chicken), saving you money and making the most of your ingredients.
Follow Chef JP Anglo on YouTube
Image adapted from: Judy Ann’s Kitchen
Judy Ann’s Kitchen is actress and chef Judy Ann Santos’ cooking channel where she teaches everything from basic knife skills to fusion dishes. For cooking noobs, the channel has videos on cooking basics like knife skills and different pots and pans and their uses.
If you’re already confident about your cooking knowledge, though, Chef Juday also makes food from different cuisines and leveled-up Filipino dishes. Some of these are balsamic adobong langka (jackfruit marinated and cooked in soy sauce and balsamic vinegar) and tinapa adlai fried rice (stir-fried native grains with bits of smoked fish)
What viewers love about Chef Juday is that she doesn’t edit out her cooking fails. Instead, she lets viewers see how she works around them as seen in her beef gyudon with onsen egg (beef strips simmered in savory sweet sauce with a soft-boiled egg) video.
Follow Judy Ann’s Kitchen on YouTube
Our ulam options shouldn’t be limited to 5, with an array of food selections from the different regions of the Philippines.
Thankfully, with Filipino cooking channels on YouTube, we can discover and try unfamiliar Filipino dishes – or even rediscover our old favorites – even while we are stuck in the safety of our homes for the meantime.
Also check out:
Cover image adapted from: @judyannskitchen and @chefrvmanabat
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