Sayote or Papaya? What do you put into your Chicken Tinola? Come on, tell us, we are not going to judge you. This debate has been going on for honestly we have no idea how long already and to be frank, we don’t really care what you put into yours because either way, Chicken Tinola will always be delicious. This afterall was even mentioned in Noli Me Tangere, a piece of literature known to a lot of Filipinos.



Indeed, Chicken Tinola has been part of the Filipino culture for generations that people have even tweaked it to their own versions and personal preferences. Although, traditionally, Chicken Tinola is said to be cooked with chicken, wedges of green papaya, and chili leaves while its broth is made flavorful with ginger, onions, and fish sauce.

With that, we have decided to make ours with a nod to tradition all the while considering how we like our food aromatic with a bit of kick in it. Do you see now where we are going with this? Yes, you got it! Today, we are showing you how we make our Chicken Tinola!



As we have mentioned, we tweaked our Chicken Tinola according to how we want our food to taste but also we made sure to not lose touch to its roots as Filipino food has always played a huge part in Philippine history and culture, and of course, we always want to be able to highlight what we have, as Filipinos.

That said, we made sure that our Chicken Tinola will have even our noses teased as well as a tad bit spiced as we love a good spicy dish! To do this, we grabbed the ingredients that are needed to make the traditional Chicken Tinola but also we incorporated lemon grass stalks, tomatoes, and green chilies into our dish. The lemon grass stalks are the reason why our Chicken Tinola is aromatic, the tomatoes are for added flavor, and the green chilis are present so as to satisfy our want for some heat in our food. By putting all of them into the mix, we sure got ourselves the Chicken Tinola we want without totally stepping away from how it really is.

Wondering when you can have Chicken Tinola? You can have it whenever you want, to be honest. However, being it is a chicken soup dish, it is often times seen as a food for someone with cold, but believe us, you can have this even though you are not sick. Chicken Tinola is just one of those dishes that relaxes and refreshes even the soul to the point that it can even shoo away your worries for a while. If you relate to that, then we suggest you make yourself some Chickem Tinola right now!

You can read more about how we make ours below as we have listed the equipment, ingredients, and step-by-step process for you to easily follow; or you can also watch below our recipe video on it if you are more of a visual kind of person. Enjoy your Chicken Tinola!
Saute' ginger, garlic, onion and tomatoes. Add chicken and mix well.
Add lemongrass stalks, ground black pepper and salt.
Add water and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
Add papaya, fish sauce and let it simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
Add green chillies and chili leaves. Serve hot in a bowl and enjoy!
Ingredients
Directions
Saute' ginger, garlic, onion and tomatoes. Add chicken and mix well.
Add lemongrass stalks, ground black pepper and salt.
Add water and let it simmer for 15-20 minutes or until the chicken is tender.
Add papaya, fish sauce and let it simmer for another 10-15 minutes.
Add green chillies and chili leaves. Serve hot in a bowl and enjoy!