This Filipino Mushroom Tocino is my vegan take on the iconic Filipino Tocino, which is a cured meat (usually pork) dish distinct for its sweetness and bright red colour.
I served this Vegan Mushroom Tocino with some sinangag (garlic fried rice), suka’t sili (vinegar with some chiles and onions), and kamatis (tomatoes) for the perfect hearty Filipino breakfast that can also be enjoyed any time of the day.
WHAT IS FILIPINO TOCINO?
Tocino in Filipino cuisine is cured meat, usually made of pork, with other versions such as chicken tocino. A lot of Filipino dishes are heavily influenced by Spanish cuisine and Tocino is one of them. Tocino is also actually ‘bacon’ in Spanish but in Spanish cuisine, Tocino is prepared very differently.
Filipino Tocino is well known for its bright red colour (lots of recipes and ready-to-eat tocino brands actually use red food colouring) and its sweet-savoury notes. The sugars from the help create the desired glaze that coats the meat (mushrooms, in this case) as it cooks down.
VERSIONS OF TOCINO GROWING UP
Filipino Pork Tocino was one of those staple meat dishes we’d have in the freezer here at home. There’s a famous brand called ‘Pampanga’s Best’ that is most known for their ready-to-cook packs of Tocino that my mom would buy and store in the freezer. Sharing a photo of their packaged tocino below. The image is from their website! 🙂
She’d cook these on certain days, usually for breakfast, to serve for us before heading off to school. We also love to enjoy tocino during any time of the day—whether it be for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
At school there are rice meals often served in the cafeteria and there were ‘tocilog’ days—days when they’d serve a meal of tocino, sinangag (fried garlic rice) with a fried egg. To(cino) + si(nangag) + (it)log. This garlic rice + egg + tocino or other meats are a classic combo in Filipino cuisine.
THIS VEGAN VERSION OF FILIPINO TOCINO
OYSTER MUSHROOMS
For this version, I use fresh white oyster mushrooms. I love the texture of oyster mushrooms—they’re like small fan-shaped mushrooms with beautiful ridges caps and a chewy, chunky stem.
I would highly recommend using oyster mushrooms (white, brown, black, pink, or yellow varieties) if you have access to them. Maitake mushrooms also have a meaty texture, which can be great for this recipe.
WHERE DOES TOCINO GET ITS COLOUR?
For this version, I wanted to use an all-natural colouring so I used some annatto or atsuete powder to give it the nice orange-ish colour. Though most tocino i the market are actually coloured with red food colouring!
Colouring is totally optional and you can opt not too colour your tocino with anything.
What is atsuete or annatto?
Atsuete or Annatto is an orange-ish red seed from the achiote tree. It’s commonly used as colouring in Filipino cuisine. I usually have these both in seed and powder form. The seeds are very small and can easily stain your hands and clothing so it’s best to be careful.
MARINATING LIQUID/SAUCE
The sauce I marinated the mushrooms in is a simple mix of the following:
- 3-4 tbsp brown sugar, adjust according to desired sweetness
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 3 tbsp pineapple juice
- 1/2 tsp annatto powder or atsuete powder, optional for colour (see notes)
- Ground black pepper
Feel free to adjust to your desired sweetness and acidity. Tocino is really very sweet but it’s of course a personal preference. I love the balance off the tocino by dipping it in some vinegar when eating.
You can break apart your large mushroom mushrooms into smaller once if you’d like but I kept them as is. Mix the mushrooms in the marinate to completely soak and coat in the sauce.
Leave the mushrooms to sit for at least 15 minutes. You can also refrigerate these to marinate overnight.
HOW TO COOK TOCINO
Pork tocino is usually cooked by first boiling with some water then once the water evaporates, we’d add some oil and then leave the pork to cook down in the pan until the liquid is fully absorbed and the sauce has turned into a beautiful glaze that coats the pieces.
This vegan version uses mushrooms and since mushrooms cook down very fast and contain mostly water, I skipped the boiling part and went straight to pan-frying the mushrooms with the liquid I soaked these in.
Since the liquid has sugars, these cook down and are absorbed by the mushrooms that eventually turn into these beautifully glazed and lightly charred pieces.
NOTE: be careful not to burn your mushrooms though! The sugars can burn easily so keep an eye out as they cook.
WHAT TO SERVE & ENJOY TOCINO WITH
I served this Vegan Mushroom Tocino with some sinangag (garlic fried rice), suka’t sili (vinegar with some chiles and onions), and kamatis (tomatoes) for the perfect hearty Filipino breakfast that can also be enjoyed any time of the day.
SINANGAG OR FILIPINO FRIED GARLIC RICE
Sinangag or Fiipino Garlic Fried Rice is perfect made with leftover rice. When we’d cook a big batch of rice and have leftovers, we’d usually make sinangag. My mom would always say “i-sangag nailing natin yung kanin”, which means “let’s just use the rice for sinangag”.
It’s really simple—you’ll just need rice, garlic, salt, and oil!
I have a homemade sinangag recipe that you can check out here.
MORE VEGAN FILIPINO RECIPES:
- Kaldereta or ‘Meat’ Stew
- Fried Garlic Rice
- Lumpiang Gulay or Fried Vegetable Spring Rolls
- Filipino “Pork” Barbecue
- Tofu and Mushroom Salpicao
Vegan Oyster Mushroom Tocino (Filipino Cured Meat)
Ingredients
Marinade
- 3-4 tbsp brown sugar , adjust according to desired sweetness (see notes)
- 2 cloves garlic minced
- 1 tbsp soy sauce , sub with tamari for gluten-free
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- 3 tbsp pineapple juice (see notes)
- 1/2 tsp annatto powder or atsuete powder optional for colour (see notes)
- Ground black pepper
Tocino
- 250 g fresh oyster mushrooms
- 1 tbsp neutral oil for cooking
- Pinch salt to taste
To Serve
- Sinangag (Filipino Fried Garlic Rice)
- Vinegar with chopped red onions and chopped bird’s eye chili
- Fresh tomatoes sliced (I like to soak these in vinegar!)
- Curly parsley for garnish
Instructions
Marinade
- Mix together all the ingredients for the marinade in a large bowl until the sugar has dissolved. Feel free to adjust to your desired sweetness and acidity. Tocino is really very sweet but it’s of course a personal preference. I love the balance off the tocino by dipping it in some vinegar when eating.
- You can break apart your large mushroom mushrooms into smaller once if you’d like but I kept them as is. Mix the mushrooms in the marinate to completely soak and coat in the sauce. Leave the mushrooms to sit for at least 15 minutes. You can also refrigerate these to marinate overnight.
Cooking the Tocino
- Note: if cooking some sinangag (garlic fried rice), I suggest to cook this in the same pan before cooking the mushrooms.
- Heat a large pan over medium high heat. Once hot, add in the oil. Place the mushrooms along with the marinating liquid into the pan. Leave the mushrooms to cook over medium to medium high heat until the liquid slowly evaporates. The sugars will slowly cook down and start to beautifully coat the mushrooms.
- You can leave the mushrooms untouched for 3-4 minutes to lightly brown and char at the bottom before mixing to cook the remaining sides. You can add a pinch of salt to season the mushrooms, if you’d like.
- Continue to cook the mushrooms down until all the sauce has been absorbed and the mushrooms have turned shiny and have a thin glaze-like coating from the sugars that have cooked down.
To Serve
- Serve your tocino with some sinangag (garlic fried rice), suka’t sili (vinegar with some chiles and onions), and kamatis (tomatoes) for the perfect hearty Filipino breakfast that can also be enjoyed any time of the day. Enjoy!
WATCH Video
Notes
MUSHROOMS
- For this version, I use fresh white oyster mushrooms. I love the texture of oyster mushrooms—they’re like small fan-shaped mushrooms with beautiful ridges caps and a chewy, chunky stem. I would highly recommend using oyster mushrooms (white, brown, black, pink, or yellow varieties) if you have access to them. Maitake mushrooms also have a meaty texture, which can be great for this recipe.
SUGAR & PINEAPPLE JUICE
- I used ready-to-drink pineapple juice that’s sweetened. If you’re using fresh pineapple juice that has a tart and more sour taste, you can opt to add more sugar, if needed.
COLOURING
- For this version, I wanted to use an all-natural colouring so I used some annatto or atsuete powder to give it the nice orange-ish colour. It’s optional and you can opt not too colour your tocino with anything.
NUTRITIONAL INFO
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Made this many times. Have replaced the pineapple juice for other kinds and works great. Had it inside arepas and sushi. Obsessed!
Such a good idea to put them in sushi!! Def need to try. Thanks so much!! 🙂