Chicken Tocino

Chicken Tocino is a version of tocino made with chicken instead of pork. This Filipino breakfast favourite is made with meat marinated in brown sugar and anise wine, pan fried and usually served with garlic fried rice and sunny side up eggs.

I am back from camping, it was nice relaxing weekend and had a nice two days of online detox, yes there was no internet or rather too slow, its unusable. We went to Shelly Beach in Coromandel with lots of our friends and since we are all offline, it was a nice couple of days to catch up with them. Definitely one of the best spots to go camping when you ever visit New Zealand, it’s by the beach side, surrounded by lush nature with trails for those who loves tramping. It’s also good for kids specially at night as they have open air movies by the beach side. For foodies it will be a good day out too since Coromandel is quite popular for its mussels and oysters so make sure to grab some when you visit the place.

There were lots of food during this time, as we gather during breakfast, lunch and dinner serving our own food to share with everyone. I was in a food coma, everyone showcased their specialties so everything was a must try, from sinigang, laing and barbecues, you name a Filipino food, it was present apart from one which I was looking forward for, the tocino for breakfast.

Tocino basically is a popular breakfast item in the Philippines, made with pork marinated in brown sugar and anise wine, it is then pan fried and served with garlic fried rice and sunny side up eggs. I just wondered why someone did not make them, anyways to cure that craving, I made some at home but instead of pork, I used chicken and based on my diners at home they are as equally as amazing, they did not even realized it was chicken. I used chicken thighs to it has the same dark meat texture, when it caramelizes with the sugar its barely noticeable that indeed it was chicken.

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Chicken Tocino

  • Author: Raymund
  • Prep Time: 15 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Total Time: 35 mins
  • Yield: 6 1x
  • Category: Main Course
  • Cuisine: Filipino

Description

Chicken Tocino is a version of tocino made with chicken instead of pork. This Filipino breakfast favourite is made with meat marinated in brown sugar and anise wine, pan fried and usually served with garlic fried rice and sunny side up eggs.


Ingredients

Scale
  • 1 kg boneless chicken thighs, sliced in 1/4 in thick cuts
  • 3 tbsp anise wine
  • 3 tbsp annatto powder
  • 2 tbsp salt
  • 1 cup brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup soy sauce
  • 6 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp baking soda
  • oil

Instructions

  1. Mix all ingredients in a shallow bowl except for the chicken.
  2. Sprinkle the mixture into the chicken pieces.
  3. Leave in a covered container in room temperature for 1 hour
  4. Place the container in the refrigerator for one day.
  5. In a heavy pan add enough water to cover half of the chicken pieces, bring to a boil then turn once.
  6. Once water has evaporated add a small amount of oil and quickly fry chicken pieces until sugar has caramelized.

Recommended

18 Responses

  1. It looks saucy, flavourful and so yummy too.

  2. suituapui says:

    Looks good, great with pork too, that’s for sure.

  3. Sounds incredible — I’ve never had it before. The addition of the garlic fried rice and egg makes it so homey and delicious! đŸ™‚

  4. I know I’ve heard of tocino before, but never really understood what it was. I can’t believe it’s so simple! I’ve gotta try this treatment on some meatless proteins; for some reason, I feel like tofu puffs would be clutch here.

  5. This tocino looks fantastic. Never thought to make them from chicken instead of pork.

  6. I’ve never heard of Chicken Tocino, and the cooking method is quite new to me, too. But these chicken pieces looks fantastic! Loving this caramelized situation; it makes the dish so inviting.

  7. sherry says:

    hubby and i don’t eat pork so this sounds like a winner with the chicken. your weekend break sounds delightful too.

  8. That sounds like a fun camping getaway – and not having internet for a couple days actually sounds great! I’m not familiar with tocino, but this recipe sounds right up my alley for sure. What a great idea to use chicken thighs here! Now to see if I can find anise wine here…

  9. I haven’t been camping in ages! And gosh, New Zealand has some fabulous beaches — sounds like a fun time. And this sounds like a fun — and tasty! — dish. Really nice — thanks.

  10. Eva Taylor says:

    What an interesting dish to have for breakfast, I bet it’s delicious! I am so jealous of New Zealand, your country really handled the pandemic well. Toronto and some surrounding areas are still in lockdown, since November, it’s been a total shit show (pardon my language). So many businesses have gone under, it’s horrible.

  11. Sounds like a wonderful getaway! I’m jealous. This sounds really good but I would never had thought of it fir breakfast! Why not?

  12. Bryn says:

    What can replace anise wine?

    • Raymund says:

      Hi sorry for the late reply anyways what you can do is soak 1 piece of star anise in 1/4 cup of hot water then let it stay there overnight. Use this liquid instead.

  13. Eva Taylor says:

    I’m surprised that many of your savoury Filipino recipes have a lot of sugar, is that common? I can imagine how tasty it is, especially for breakfast. I’m not much of a camper, but I admire people who enjoy it. Roughing it to me is slow room service!

    • Raymund says:

      Yup most of our dishes there is sweet element to it, like barbecues, adobo and even some stews. Most if not all of our dishes are usually paired with rice so the viands tend to be tasty (very sweet, salty, sour) as the rice balances out everything

  14. Carlotta says:

    This looks delicious. Can I use Anise extract instead of wine? If can be substituted, how much I need. Thank you for sharing this recipe.

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