The Filipino Pork Barbecue skewers are one of the best and most popular native street food dishes in the Philippines. Typically made of pork shoulder/tenderloin and Filipino barbecue marinade with clear soda and banana ketchup. Serve with barbecue sauce, spiced vinegar, or atchara along with the rice.
This Filipino Pork Barbecue Skewer recipe my mom used to make and sell. It was one of her bestsellers with her delicious homemade barbecue sauce made with pineapple juice, tomato sauce, banana ketchup, soy sauce, brown sugar, ground black pepper, garlic, and onion.
The pork is marinated for at least 24 to 48 hours in a Filipino barbecue marinade made of soy sauce, lemon juice or calamansi juice, clear soda, brown sugar, ground black pepper, garlic, and onion.
How to make Filipino Pork Barbecue Skewers
Make the barbecue marinade. Mix all the barbecue marinade in a bowl. Stir until the brown sugar is dissolved or microwave for a few seconds and let it cool before soaking the meat. Save some for basting if you like before pouring the marinade into the meat.
Place the sliced pork in the container and pour the barbecue marinade. Make sure the pork is covered with the barbecue marinade. Cover and place in the refrigerator.
Marinate for at least 4 hours. For the best flavour, more juicy and tender meat, marinate overnight or for 48 hours maximum.
How to make Homemade Filipino Barbecue Sauce? Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan until well blended. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened.
Soak the bamboo skewers for at least 30 minutes to avoid burning on the grill and catching fire.
Thread the pork by curling the thinly sliced meat and compressing it onto the skewers about 3 to 5 slices. Make sure the pork slices have no gap on the BBQ skewers to avoid the meat drying out while grilling.
Grill the pork barbecue skewers on preheated and greased grill grates.
How to Grill the Pork Barbecue on Bamboo Skewers?
To prevent the bamboo skewers from burning or catching fire on the grill. After soaking the bamboo skewers for at least 30 minutes, place an aluminum foil on the grill grate where the exposed bamboo skewers and away from the heat.
For the pork tenderloin or lean meat. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Cooking longer will dry out the meat. Basting halfway the grilling time with the reserved barbecue marinade, or basting with the barbecue sauce when cooked.
For the Pork Shoulder or pork with fats. Grill for 7 to 10 minutes. The fats from pork easily catch fire. flipping often and basting between flipping also helps to prevent the fats from burning and keep them moist.
However, when the meat is marinated for 48 hours, basting is not needed. The meat will release more juice and oil from meat fats as it is cooked when marinated longer. Otherwise, you are brushing off the juice the meat releases while grilling.
What to serve
These Filipino barbecue skewers are best served with plain rice, java rice, and fried rice with barbecue sauce, spiced vinegar, or atchara on the side.
For fried rice recipes:
More Filipino Dishes to try
Stir-fry Vermicelli Noodles ( Pansit Sotanghon Guisado)
Filipino Pork Barbecue Skewers
Watch How to Make It
Equipment
- outdoor grill
Ingredients
- 1 lb pork shoulder or tenderloin cut into ½ inch thin slices and 2 to 3 inches wide.
Filipino Barbecue Marinade
- ¼ cup soy sauce low sodium
- 1½ tbsp lemon juice or calamansi juice
- ⅓ cup ginger ale 7-Up or Sprite
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 2 tbsp onion or scallion finely chopped
Homemade Filipino Barbecue Sauce-Yield: ¾ cup
- ¼ cup tomato sauce
- ¼ cup banana ketchup
- ¼ cup pineapple juice
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- 1 tbs molasses or honey
- 2 tbsp onion finely chopped
- 1 clove garlic minced
- ¼ tsp ground black pepper or to taste
- For spicy version add red chillis
Instructions
- Make the barbecue marinade. Mix all the barbecue marinade in a bowl. Stir until the brown sugar is dissolved. Save some for basting if you like.
- Place the sliced pork in the container and pour the barbecue marinade. Make sure the pork is covered with the barbecue marinade. Cover and place in the refrigerator.
- Marinate for at least 4 hours. For best flavour, more juicy and tender meat. Marinate overnight to 48 hours.
- Soak the bamboo skewers for at least 30 minutes.
- Make the barbecue sauce. Mix all the ingredients in a saucepan until well blended. Over medium-high heat, bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until thickened.
- Thread the pork and compress onto the skewers about 3 to 5 slices. Make sure the pork slices have no gap on the BBQ skewers to avoid the meat drying out while grilling.
How to Grill Pork Barbecue Skewers
- Grill the pork barbecue skewers on preheated and greased grill grates.
- To avoid the bamboo skewers from burning or catching fire on the grill. After soaking the bamboo skewers for at least 30 minutes, place an aluminum foil on the grill grate where the exposed bamboo skewers and away from the heat.
- For the lean meat or pork tenderloin. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes on each side. Baste halfway the grilling time with the reserved barbecue marinade or baste and serve with the barbecue sauce.
- For the Pork Shoulder or pork with fats. Grill for 7 to 10 minutes. The fats from pork easily catch with fire. flipping often and basting between flipping helps to prevent the fats from burning and keep it moist. However, when the meat is marinated for 48 hours, basting is not needed. The meat will release more juice as it cooks. Otherwise, you are brushing off the juice the meat releases while grilling.
- Baste the cooked pork barbecue skewers with the barbecue sauce before serving or serve it on the side.
