hello! hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to Filipino comfort food classics with a shot at a chicken and rice plate dish known as chicken tocino. For those unfamiliar, chicken tocino is made using a braised, then seared chicken thigh (specifically in that order), to create its simultaneously tender, crispy, and saucey texture. Perhaps most notable about this dish is its sugar-forward marinade, iconically made using pineapple juice for acidity, as well as ketchup, to give it its iconic, red color. While the dish is commonly made using bacon or pork belly (“tocino” translating to bacon, in Spanish), the use of chicken or beef is also fairly common, and is often served with a side of rice and fried eggs, as we often do with Filipino dishes. Maybe most interesting to me, though, is this dish’s use of the marinade liquid itself as its mode for braising, which makes it a wildly simple and easy dish to throw together for weeknight meals. Hope you try it. [**Follow the full video on youtube**](https://youtu.be/5G0IGAfeMEU) for the whole story too!
**Woo Can Cook** is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.
**Homebase** (Recipes, Livestream Schedule, Music and more): [Woo Can Cook](https://WooCanCook.com)
**INGREDIENTS** – 4 cloves garlic – 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) fine minced ginger – 3 green onions – 1lb chicken thigh – 2 eggs – furikake – peanut oil
**INGREDIENTS (marinade)** – 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce) – 1/2 tsp white pepper – 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce – 1 tbsp brown sugar – 1/2 cup pineapple juice – 2 tbsp ketchup
**PREP** – CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside – FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside – SLICE the whites of the green onions, set aside – SLICE the greens of the green onions on a bias, set aside – COMBINE all marinade ingredients with the chicken thighs, garlic, ginger, and whites of green onions in a ziplock bag, then toss and let marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours
**ON THE STOVE** – HEAT a wok over medium low heat, add the chicken and marinade to the wok plus an additional 1 cup water, then let simmer for 1 hour adding additional water as needed – REDUCE the marinade until a thickened sauce forms, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and let the chicken thigh sear undisturbed for 2 minutes before tossing for wok hei – REMOVE the chicken, then reheat the wok over high heat, add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao – ADD the egg to the center of the wok, and spoon oil over top for a sunnyside up egg – SERVE with rice and furikake, and finish with the greens of the green onions
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Made a version of this and loved it. There’s some stuff in your recipe that I want to try.
Also fuck the haters who enforce that this HAS to be pork. Yes it’s in the name, but that’s what inspiration recipes are for
2 Comments
hello! hi everyone, Wesley here. Today we’re diving back into our series dedicated to Filipino comfort food classics with a shot at a chicken and rice plate dish known as chicken tocino. For those unfamiliar, chicken tocino is made using a braised, then seared chicken thigh (specifically in that order), to create its simultaneously tender, crispy, and saucey texture. Perhaps most notable about this dish is its sugar-forward marinade, iconically made using pineapple juice for acidity, as well as ketchup, to give it its iconic, red color. While the dish is commonly made using bacon or pork belly (“tocino” translating to bacon, in Spanish), the use of chicken or beef is also fairly common, and is often served with a side of rice and fried eggs, as we often do with Filipino dishes. Maybe most interesting to me, though, is this dish’s use of the marinade liquid itself as its mode for braising, which makes it a wildly simple and easy dish to throw together for weeknight meals. Hope you try it. [**Follow the full video on youtube**](https://youtu.be/5G0IGAfeMEU) for the whole story too!
**Woo Can Cook** is a series where we reproduce fun foods and recipes from my childhood. Some of them are authentically Chinese and/or pan-Asian, but a lot of them are odd Americanized versions that I inherited from my parents and grandparents while growing up in the Bay Area/California.
**Homebase** (Recipes, Livestream Schedule, Music and more): [Woo Can Cook](https://WooCanCook.com)
**Recipes**: [Woo Can Cook (Youtube)](https://youtube.com/woocancook?sub_confirmation=1)
**Music**: [Woo Cooks Beats (Lofi Beats to Cook to)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJjFjTkH7xM&list=PL72dM3fKnbHupDC0cIOHxaHBvjZLY3TdT&index=21)
**Woo Can Cook Fried Rice Pop Up (Sundays @ The West Oakland Farmers Market!)**: https://WooCanCook.com/eats
**TikTok** (short recipes and Woo Cooks Beats): [Woo Can Cook](https://www.tiktok.com/@woocancook)
**Instagram** (pop-up schedule, music, and random Taki cameos): [@woocancook](https://instagram.com/WooCanCook)
**RECIPE**
https://woocancook.com/chicken-tocino
**INGREDIENTS**
– 4 cloves garlic
– 1 inch (about 1 tbsp) fine minced ginger
– 3 green onions
– 1lb chicken thigh
– 2 eggs
– furikake
– peanut oil
**INGREDIENTS (marinade)**
– 4 tbsp low sodium soy sauce (or 2 tbsp full sodium soy sauce)
– 1/2 tsp white pepper
– 2 tbsp sweet chili sauce
– 1 tbsp brown sugar
– 1/2 cup pineapple juice
– 2 tbsp ketchup
**PREP**
– CRUSH and mince the garlic, set aside
– FINE MINCE the ginger, set aside
– SLICE the whites of the green onions, set aside
– SLICE the greens of the green onions on a bias, set aside
– COMBINE all marinade ingredients with the chicken thighs, garlic, ginger, and whites of green onions in a ziplock bag, then toss and let marinate for a minimum of 30 minutes, or up to 4 hours
**ON THE STOVE**
– HEAT a wok over medium low heat, add the chicken and marinade to the wok plus an additional 1 cup water, then let simmer for 1 hour adding additional water as needed
– REDUCE the marinade until a thickened sauce forms, then add 4 tbsp peanut oil and let the chicken thigh sear undisturbed for 2 minutes before tossing for wok hei
– REMOVE the chicken, then reheat the wok over high heat, add 4 tbsp peanut oil and long yao
– ADD the egg to the center of the wok, and spoon oil over top for a sunnyside up egg
– SERVE with rice and furikake, and finish with the greens of the green onions
Made a version of this and loved it. There’s some stuff in your recipe that I want to try.
Also fuck the haters who enforce that this HAS to be pork. Yes it’s in the name, but that’s what inspiration recipes are for