Bicol Express (Filipino Pork in Coconut Chile Sauce)

About This Recipe

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.

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 800 gpork belly, cut into 2.5 cm cubes (keep some fat — essential)
• 400 mlfresh coconut milk (kakang gata if available)
• 400 mlsecond-press coconut milk (or regular canned)
• 8long green finger chiles (siling haba), sliced on the bias
• 4Thai bird chiles (siling labuyo), sliced (more for heat lovers)
• 6garlic cloves, minced
• 1 mediumyellow onion, diced
• 4 cmginger, julienned
• 3 tbspbagoong alamang (Filipino fermented shrimp paste)
• 1 tbspfish sauce (patis) — optional, for adjustment
• 1 tbspvegetable oil
• steamed jasmine rice, to serve

Instructions

1. 1

   Render the pork

   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.

2. 2

   Sauté aromatics

   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.

3. 3

   Add shrimp paste and toast

   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.

4. 4

   Add the second-press coconut milk

   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.

5. 5

   Add the chiles

   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.

6. 6

   Add the thick coconut cream

   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.

7. 7

   Final adjustment and serve

   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.

Variations

• •

  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.

Storage

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.

Frequently Asked Questions