I found this recipe on Filipino Food Lovers and I’m in love. While trying to come up with a good recipe to make for the BBQ Brethren Forum dinner we hosted at Memphis in May, Dad came up with the idea to do a Filipino inspired dish because “The Philipines” was the country theme at the festival this year. I found this recipe on the internet, made it for Scott the first time, and knew I had a winner on my hands. I made it the second time in large scale for about 50 people at the BBQ Brethren dinner, and it was an overwhelming thumbs up. So now I’m sharing it with you!! Thanks to Robert Colinares from Filipino Food Lovers for this great recipe!
Pinoy Pork Skewers AKA Filipino Street Food
Ingredients
- 2 Lbs. of Pork butt or belly (if using pork belly remove the skin)
- 1 Cup of soy sauce
- 1 Whole garlic peeled & smashed
- 1 Small onion minced
- 2 Lemons
- ½ Cup of 7UP
- 1 Tsp. Ground black pepper
- 5 Tbs. Dark brown sugar
- 1 Cup of Banana sauce (ketchup) (REGULAR Ketchup is fine)
Instructions
Soak bamboo skewers in water for at least 30 minutes before putting meat on. Cut pork into ½ thick x 1 inch wide x 1 ½ inch long pieces. Slide pork onto skewers and set aside.
In a large bowl combine soy sauce, garlic, onion, juice of 2 lemons, 7-UP, ground black pepper, dark brown sugar and ketchup. Using a whisk mix and dissolve ingredients really well and pour marinade mixture onto the pork. Cover and set in the fridge at overnight or at least a 4 hours before grilling. Grill on direct heat until pork is done (I recommend using the Thermapen to check internal temps as a full-proof method for measuring temperature), flipping as necessary to obtain char marks on both sides.
Notes
These skewers are even better if you take the remaining marinade as a basting sauce. Because this was the original marinade, make sure you remember to give the marinade time to cook off and get to temp on the grill. Another option is to put the leftover marinade in a pot and place it on the grill to get hot while basting the meat.
I paired this with a grilled romaine salad, texas toast and grilled pound cake and peaches for dessert.
These skewers are going to make you a hit at your next cook out!
This sounds great. Can you use regular old American ketchup? Is there a significant difference when you use banana sauce? Where do you get the banana ketchup in South Florida?
I agree. This recipe is awesome!!
John- regular ketchup is just fine. That is what I used and it turned out great!
Is it true banana sauce is made from banana slugs? (ha ha)
These sound awesome, Robyn and perfect for the MIM theme this year. Now all I have to do is figure out a good way to make lumpia on the grill to go with it. Yum.
This is Filipino food at its best! Anyway, banana ketchup is sweeter than the old American type.
Sounds like a great recipe. Can’t wait to try it. True Philipinos of course would serve this with rice.
Rod- you’re right! I’m sure this would be great paired with rice!
Hey!
As Rod said, the recipe seems nice. But I’m not sure about that LEMON thing. Is it really good for this kind of meat?
grilling
Please, visit this site for even more, great recipes for grilling 😉
Hey!
As Rod said, the recipe seems nice. But I’m not sure about that LEMON thing. Is it really good for this kind of meat?
grilling
Please, visit this site for even more, great recipes for grilling 😉
Alan,
The lemon juice helps cut the sweetness of the ketchup. You can’t taste it in the marinade. I’m sure it also helps as a tenderizing agent. Pork Butt is really tough when not done Low and slow!
Beside adding sweetness, the banana ketchup makes the meat reddish, obviously bananas are not red so the meat absorbed the dye from the banana ketchup. Yes the Pinoy BBQ is always a constant winner, thanks for sharing.
Hey Robyn, I read your ingredients to filipino skewers, and would like to share you my recipe that even blows away other filipinos BBQ pork skewer recipe….lol
hi
I like this recipe
My wife is Filipino, and her and her family make these all the time. They are the first thing to go at barbeques. You can’t beat the marinade, and they let it marinate for a few days so it really gets into the meat. If you can’ find pork butt you can use chicken thighs as well.
tried it, WAY too sweet. too much ketchup. trying to make like my wife used too…….
I made this tonight and my whole family loved it! I marinated for 5 hours and grilled on the Green Egg. Yummy!!!!
Mary, so glad you enjoyed! I made this recipe for Memphis in May when the year the theme country was the Phillipines. Great flavors in here! It takes a while to cut up all the meat but it feeds a lot and the meat is inexpensive…
That seems to be a yummy Filipino dish. I have niece from the Philippines who is also a good cook. I am thinking of buying her a grilling equipment that can help her cook during special occasions. I am still checking http://gasgrillreviews.net/ for that.
its beautiful that i read an article about this because i am a filipino myself, and we love barbeque, just to share, I usually pre heat the grill 15-25 mins.A properly heated grill sears foods on contact, keeps the insides moist and helps prevent sticking
Street food is some of the best kind of food! The little amount of preparation time, combined with the deliciousness of the food is exactly why! This recipe fits in my likings perfectly, consider it copied. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for this awesome recipe. I wanted to impress my friends with a different kind of grilled meat and this turned out to be a big hit. Everyone was raving about it.
Greetings from Germany!
I’m so glad it was a hit! Thanks for dropping me a line!!
You can find banana ketchup in any oriental, Filipino stores, if not available in your local grocery stores.