Slow-simmered pork belly in coconut milk, shrimp paste and an arsenal of long green chiles — the Bicol region's fierce, creamy national dish.
Bicol Express is the signature dish of the Bicol region in southeastern Luzon, an area known across the Philippines for two things: active volcanoes and an extreme love of chile. The dish is a slow braise of pork belly in fresh coconut milk, fortified with shrimp paste (bagoong alamang), garlic, ginger and a generous handful of long green chiles (siling haba or siling labuyo) that perfume the sauce without dissolving into it. The result is a glossy, snow-white-and-red curry where the pork is meltingly tender, the coconut milk reduced to a clinging sauce, and the chile heat builds slowly across multiple bites until your scalp sweats. Despite its modern fame, Bicol Express is a relatively young dish — created in the 1970s by a Manila-based Bicolano cook named Cely Kalaw, who named it after the Bicol-bound train as a culinary tribute to her home region. The dish caught on quickly because it captured the essence of Bicolano cooking (gata na may sili — coconut milk with chiles) in a single accessible recipe. Today it is served at every Filipino family gathering, often alongside steamed rice that diners use to temper the heat between bites.
Serves 4
Heat the oil in a heavy pot or Dutch oven over medium-high. Add the pork belly cubes in a single layer and sear 8 minutes, tossing occasionally, until golden brown on most sides and a good amount of fat has rendered. Don't drain the fat — it carries the flavor.
Push the pork to the side and add onion, garlic and ginger to the rendered fat. Sauté 4 minutes until soft and translucent. The kitchen should smell like a Filipino grandmother's house at this point.
Add the bagoong alamang and stir for 2 minutes — it should bubble and turn from pink to brick-red, losing its sharp raw smell and developing a deep funky-savory aroma. This blooming step is critical; raw bagoong tastes harsh.
Bagoong varies in saltiness by brand (Barrio Fiesta is moderate, Pampanga's brand is intense) — start with 2 tbsp and add more later if needed.
Pour in the lighter coconut milk along with 1/2 cup water and stir. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low, cover loosely and cook 35–40 minutes until the pork is fork-tender. Stir every 10 minutes so the bottom doesn't scorch.
Add all the sliced chiles and stir gently. Simmer uncovered 5 minutes — the chiles should soften but stay bright green, not turn mushy. The heat infuses the sauce while the chile pieces remain visible and edible.
Pour in the rich first-press coconut milk and simmer 8–10 minutes uncovered over medium heat. The sauce will thicken visibly and the surface will release a beautiful red-orange oil from the rendered pork fat and chile. This split oil is the signature of authentic Bicol Express.
Taste and adjust — add fish sauce if it needs salt, more chile if you want more heat, or a tablespoon of coconut milk if too rich. The sauce should coat the pork heavily but not drown it. Serve in deep bowls over a mound of steamed jasmine rice, with extra rice on the side.
Use real fresh coconut milk if you can find it (refrigerated, not canned) — the difference is dramatic. Otherwise, full-fat canned coconut milk works.
Pork belly with skin on is the most authentic cut — Bicolanos consider the skin essential for texture. Bone-in pork shoulder is the second-best choice.
Don't seed the long green chiles — the seeds add complexity, not just heat. If you're heat-sensitive, use fewer bird chiles instead.
The sauce should split slightly at the end — that red-orange oil floating on top is correct and beautiful. Don't try to re-emulsify it.
Bicol Express with squid (pusit) — replace half the pork with squid rings added in the last 5 minutes.
Vegetarian Bicol Express — use cubed tofu and king oyster mushrooms, with miso paste instead of bagoong.
Laing-style Bicol Express — add 2 cups dried taro leaves with the second coconut milk addition for a hybrid Bicolano stew.
Mild kid-friendly version — use only deseeded long green chiles and double the coconut cream to mellow the heat.
Refrigerate up to 4 days in a sealed container — the flavors actually deepen overnight. Freeze up to 2 months. Reheat gently over low heat, never boiling, or the coconut milk will split (a splash of fresh coconut cream whisked off the heat will re-emulsify it). Best served the day after cooking.
Bicol Express was invented in the 1970s by Cely Kalaw, a Bicolano cook at the Manila Hotel who named the dish after the Manila-to-Bicol passenger train. She codified a traditional Bicolano peasant preparation — pork in coconut milk with chiles, locally called gata na may sili — into a restaurant-friendly recipe that quickly spread across the Philippines and is now a fixture of every Filipino restaurant worldwide.
Authentically Bicolano: sweat-inducing but not burning. Start with 8 long chiles and 2 bird chiles, taste after step 5, then adjust. You can always add more heat; you can't remove it.
Yes — full-fat canned (Aroy-D, Chaokoh) works well. Use one can for the second-press stage and a small can of coconut cream for the final addition.
Vietnamese mam tom or Thai kapi (shrimp paste) work — both are similar fermented shrimp products. Korean saeu-jeot is a closer substitute. Plain fish sauce gives saltiness but lacks the funk.
Either you simmered with the lid on (traps moisture) or didn't reduce long enough. Cook uncovered another 5–10 minutes — Bicol Express should be thickly sauced, not soupy.
Per serving (420g / 14.8 oz) · 4 servings total
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