Filipino Pancit Recipe

Juliana

Thank you for sharing your family recipe. I am half Filipina, and I grew up on pancit, lumpia, and chicken adobo. When I watched my mom make pancit, there were no measurements. My mom was an artist in the kitchen. It was all done by what looks like the right amount. (You make what you have; if we didn’t have green onions, we just used yellow onions or sweet onions. The meal has to look balanced in meat/vegetables/noodles. Think of making spaghetti and meatballs; you have to have enough meatballs/pasta/sauce so that every bite gives you the right taste.) My mom always had plenty of pancit noodles in the pantry. She soaked the noodles in a big pot of water; the amount varied depending on how many people she was expecting and did we want left overs!
Then, she would cut up all her meat: pork chop with the bone!, skinless chicken legs/thighs with the bones!, believe it or not, she even added a couple of beef hot dogs! If she added shrimp, then she didn’t add the hot dogs. (Yes, the hot dogs added a nice flavor to the dish.) Then my mom started chopping all her vegetables: cabbage, yellow onion, green onion, garlic, green beans (or frozen french cut green beans), and carrots. She didn’t use broth because she already had chicken. She put just enough oil in her dutch oven to cover the bottom, and allowed it to heat. Then added the pork and added some salt and pepper. She kept an eye on the meat and stirred it occasionally until it just start started to brown. Then, she add the chicken and added a little more salt and pepper. Then added the hot dog and vegetables. She continued to saute everything in the pot until the vegetables were soft. Then she added Kikkoman soy sauce to a cup and added it to the meat and vegetables. Then she added water to the cup she used with the soy sauce, and she poured it over the meat and vegetables. She stirred everything well. The added the soft pancit noodles. She covered the pot with the lid, and lowered her heat. This is the hard part, you want to steam the contents in the pot, but you don’t want to dry out the pancit. After a few minutes, she would taste the noodles. Some people below were commenting about the blandness of the recipe. Well, everyone has different taste preferences and some people have medical conditions where you have to monitor the salt. Soy sauce can be very salty. If my mom thought that the “batch” needed more soy sauce because the noodles weren’t completely coated with the soy sauce (just a little darker than the noodles originally were), she added more. If she felt that it needed more water because the noodles were not soft enough, she added it. If she thought it needed more pepper, she added it. If she thought it needed more salt but not soy sauce, she added more salt. You are done cooking when the noodles have the texture that you want and it tastes good; we like soft noodles. My mom would check about every 10-15 minutes just to make sure there was plenty of moisture in the pot. The water should be absorbed into the noodles when you are done. Think about how white rice looks when it is done… the rice is soft not hard, and the rice is moist not soggy or sticky.

My mom didn’t use oyster sauce, because her Filipina friends didn’t use it. I guess it depends where in the Philippines the recipe came from. My mother is Mexican, and she made tamales the same way with no measurements. She just knew: did she want to make 6 dozen tamales or did she want to make 12 dozen? I can tell you that tamales in Cancun taste so different from tamales in Guadalajara. My mom also made amazing lumpia which she learned from her friends. She also learned how to make her own wrapper! Unfortunately, I still have to learn how to make Lumpia.

Arlie

Turned out as good as what I would order from the filipino restraunt/grocery store. Ex wife got me addicted to this lol. Now I can finally make it when I want. Saw the bad reviews and had to say something. This taste like the real deal.

Sascha Bowlin

Lacks flavor. Where did all of these bogus reviews come from? It’s missing so much!

Marie

Soooo Good The best I used chicken yummmm

ReNay

I just made this and used pork, fresh green beans, carrot, zucchini, and yellow squash and it is just like I remember when my Filipino coworkers would bring it to work and share; effin amazinggg. Don’t forget the Oyster sauce!!!

darren

too much noodle not enough umami.

I would recommend using double the portions of everything and only use 1 8.8 oz package of rice vermicelli.

As it is, this recipe is nothing but bland noodle. Salt/pepper to taste shouldn’t even be an option as it means it was designed to be bland from the start.

Cristy

I remember eating this growing up with my Filipino aunt and Lola. They were always in the kitchen making some kind of Filipino dish and weren’t shy about sharing their recipes and teaching me how to cook with love. My other aunt is Hispanic and she shared many of her family recipes with me also. Being the only “gringa” in the family I am thankful for the culture my family taught me. Now as an adult when I make something other than “traditional American” people are always shocked at the fact that I know how to make so many other authentic foods that bring back childhood memories. Those precious moments I spent in the kitchen with my aunts will forever be cherished. Thank you for sharing your family recipe. Ours is a little different and I’m making it for dinner tonight. I hope it’s still as good as I remember, it’s been years since I have made it.

Gina R. Williamss

There are so many different variations of Pancit depending on the region. My husbands step-mother was Filipina & she taught me how to make Pancit & Lumpia. We (the family) serve it at every family occasion, baby shower, birthdays, weddings, funerals, holidays, basically anytime the entire 64 family members are gathered together. I always get asked to bring the pancit & it goes FAST!
This recipe is a basis to get started making pancit, but you can individualize it anyway that suits your palet. I use this basic recipe. However, I’ve got my own variations. I’ve included a few tips & notations on my mother-in-laws recipe. Hope this helps & may you enjoy your own spin on a Filipino table staple.

1) You can sub the pork for shrimp or chicken they cook much faster & really soak up the flavor of the broth.
2) For those of you whom are vegetarian. Just leave out the meats & sub out the chicken stock for vegetable broth instead.
3) Highly recommend Mai-Fun Rice Noodles (rice sticks). You can usually pick these up at your local walmart. But suggest a local Asian Food Store as they will more likely be in stock.
4) If you’re concerned about bland noodles, then I recommend not pre-soaking. Just add them in when you add the broth. I also recommend 1-2 teaspoons of “Oyster Sauce” or “Fish Sauce” into the broth mixture just before adding in your noodles, as the noodles will really soak up the flavor.
Filipino food can be very salty. I suggest using a low sodium soy sauce.
5) As far as Rice Noodles go, Mai-Fun are the best to use. You’ll notice when removing from the packaging that the noodles are “folded” into three sections. You can just take a pair of scissors and cut them into individual sections. I promise 1 section will feed 4 people + a little left over. 2 sections will feed a family of 5-6 and the entire package will feed 8-10 people. Just make sure you have a large enough pan/wok. You can also save the extra uncooked noodles in a ziplock for next time.
6) To save some vegetable prep time, you can buy pre-cut “matchstick carrots”, pre-bagged snow peas, cabbage or broccoli slaw & one other thing definitely add frozen french-style green beans to make it more Filipino Authentic.

Kathy

Easy to make. I used fried tofu in place of pork and added the side of roasted Brocolli. All was delicious.

Donna

I have tried this recipe before, and I’m ready to make it again. My Filipino friend first made this for us years ago, and she used fresh ground pork. I make it with ground pork because it’s easy and delicious.

Cherie

Easy to follow recipe & packed full of flavour. Will be my go to puncit recipe

Stan Quick

I am on a low carb, low sodium diet. All recipes are possible. Part of my fun is changing up the ingredients to create the flavours and textures I like. There are many recipes available that cut both carbs and salt for pancit. I do love the original though. I consider my daily carb limit more than the one meal. This recipe is very similar to the one my neighbor tempts me with. Thumbs up!

barbara

looks delicious, but 73 carbs, I can’t do that. I am I on a low carb diet

Joselito

The best way to make any meat soft and tender is you can put some baking soda on your meat. You can put one teaspoon of baking soda in one pound of meat. Wash your meat first then squeeze the water out from the meat then mix it with baking soda and then let it aside for at least 15 minutes. You can then do whatever you want with the meat. You can marinate or grill it. Just don’t mix the baking soda with your marinated sauce. Please try it then you will see the difference.

Felix

I tried this with a veggie recipe I tweaked for my friends and we all loved it! Thank you for sharing

Karen

Thanks for sharing this awesome recipe. It looks so good I can’t wait to try it.

ChoosyGrandma

Spot on delicious! I have a Filipino relative that made pancit and lumpia when we were with her. Always delicious but never tried it til now. I tweaked a little, but this version is just as I remember from my childhood. Now I just need to make lumpia! 😁

jwel

good taste but the soaked noodles turned to mush when added to wok.
the mush tasted good though

Andrea

Love this recipe! So simple and looks so tasty! Can’t wait to make it. Thank you!

Sheila

This was the best! I made one change from pork to shrimp. The noodles were a first for the family & we all enjoyed it very much. It’s definitely a keeper:

Raquel

This looks delicious – my family will love it!

Raquel

This looks amazing and I am going to try to make this! Drooling!

leslie

It was great……I love it it came out pretty good and it was the first time that I cook something different…..
thanks!!!!!