Chicken tocino is Filipino sweet cured chicken: thin pieces of chicken thigh marinated in pineapple juice, brown sugar, banana ketchup and garlic, then simmered and fried until the glaze turns sticky and dark at the edges. It is a breakfast dish, eaten with garlic fried rice and a fried egg.
It tastes sweet first, then salty, with a little tang from the pineapple and vinegar. This version makes 4 servings from 1 pound of chicken, needs at least 4 hours in the fridge, and cooks in about 15 minutes.
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Recipe
Chicken Tocino (Filipino Sweet Cured Chicken)
Ingredients
For the marinade
For the chicken
Method
- Slice the chicken into thin, bite-sized pieces. Thin pieces cook through before the sugar has a chance to burn.
- In a bowl, whisk the pineapple juice, brown sugar, banana ketchup, soy sauce, vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper and annatto until the sugar dissolves.
- Add the chicken and turn it until every piece is coated. Cover and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or overnight.
- Put the chicken and all its marinade in a wide pan with the water. Bring to a boil over medium heat, then simmer, turning the pieces now and then, until the liquid has almost gone and the chicken is cooked through (165°F / 74°C).
- Add the oil and fry, turning often, until the glaze is sticky and the edges are dark and caramelised. Lower the heat if the sugar darkens too fast.
- Serve hot with garlic fried rice, a fried egg and atchara or a vinegar dip on the side.
What is chicken tocino?
Chicken tocino is the chicken version of tocino, the Filipino sweet cured meat usually made with pork. The chicken sits in a sweet, salty marinade for hours, then goes into a pan with a little water. The water cooks the chicken through, boils away, and leaves the sugar behind to caramelise in a spoon of oil.
“Cured” here means marinated. None of the five chicken tocino recipes this card is built from uses curing salt, so this is fresh chicken with a lot of flavour, not a preserved meat. Treat it like raw chicken until it is cooked.
Chicken tocino vs pork tocino
Chicken tocino uses a wet marinade with fruit juice and ketchup; the pork tocino recipe on this site uses a dry cure of sugar, salt and garlic powder rubbed into pork shoulder. That is the real difference, more than the meat.
- Meat: boneless chicken thigh or breast here; pork shoulder in the pork version.
- Marinade: pineapple juice, brown sugar, banana ketchup and soy sauce here; granulated sugar and salt there.
- Fat: chicken has very little, so it needs oil to caramelise. Pork shoulder renders some of its own.
- Cooking time: thin chicken is done in about 15 minutes.
If you want the classic, make the pork. If you want something lighter, or you do not eat pork, chicken tocino gives you the same sticky, sweet breakfast.
Is tocino Filipino or Spanish?
The word is Spanish and the dish is Filipino. In Spanish, tocino means bacon. In the Philippines, the word came to mean sweetened, cured pork, which is how Wikipedia defines it. Chicken tocino takes that Filipino meaning and applies it to chicken.
What goes in a chicken tocino marinade?
A chicken tocino marinade is sugar, something sour, something salty and garlic. Pineapple juice and brown sugar are in nearly every version. The rest changes from cook to cook:
- Sweet: brown sugar, plus pineapple juice. Banana ketchup adds more sweetness and a red colour.
- Salty: salt, soy sauce, or both.
- Sour: pineapple juice and a little white vinegar. The sour is what keeps the sweet from being flat.
- Garlic: fresh and minced, or garlic powder.
- Colour: annatto (atsuete) powder or a few drops of red food colouring. Both are optional and change the look, not the taste.
The sugar is where recipes disagree most. For 1 pound of chicken, the five recipes behind this card use anywhere from 3 to almost 11 tablespoons of brown sugar. The card uses 6, the amount The Unlikely Baker and Mae Serves You Food both land on. It is sweet, but it is still chicken.
Soy sauce is a choice, not a rule. Only two of the five use it. The card follows Mae Serves You Food: 1 tablespoon of soy sauce with 3/4 teaspoon of salt. If you leave the soy out, use 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, which is what The Unlikely Baker and I’m Hungry For That both use.
Chicken thigh or breast?
Use thigh if you can. Every one of the five recipes uses or recommends boneless thigh, and three of them say breast works too. Thigh stays juicy through the simmer and the fry. Breast is leaner and goes dry faster, so slice it thinner and pull it as soon as the glaze has set.
How long to marinate chicken tocino
Marinate chicken tocino for at least 4 hours, and overnight if you can. Most of the recipes behind this card marinate overnight; the shortest minimum given is 3 to 4 hours. Keep it covered in the fridge the whole time, never on the counter.
Thin slices take the marinade faster. If the pieces are thick, give them the full night.
Why simmer first, then fry?
The water cooks the chicken; the oil makes the glaze. If you put sugary chicken straight into hot oil, the outside burns before the middle is done. Simmering in the marinade and a splash of water gives the chicken time to cook through while the liquid reduces. When the pan is almost dry, the oil goes in and the sugar caramelises in minutes. Wikipedia describes traditional Filipino tocino being boiled in just enough water to cover, then fried, so this is the classic method, not a shortcut.
Watch the last stage. Once the water is gone, sugar goes from glossy to burnt quickly. Turn the heat down and keep the pieces moving. A few dark edges are right; black and bitter is too far.
Chicken is done at 165°F (74°C) inside, the USDA safe minimum for poultry. Thin pieces get there during the simmer, but if you sliced thick, check one.
Chicken tocino, step by step
Slice the chicken thin.- Whisk the marinade until the sugar dissolves.
- Cover and refrigerate at least 4 hours.
- Simmer in the marinade and water.
- Add oil and caramelise.
- Serve with rice and a fried egg.
Can you make chicken tocino in an air fryer?
You can, but this card does not give an air fryer time or temperature. None of the recipes it is built from cooks chicken tocino that way, and a number nobody has sourced is a guess. The pan method also does something an air fryer cannot: it reduces the marinade into the glaze. If you try the air fryer, shake off the extra marinade first so the sugar does not burn, and check that the thickest piece reaches 165°F (74°C).
Make ahead, freezing and storage
Chicken tocino is made to be made ahead. That is the point of tocino: the marinated meat waits in the fridge or freezer until breakfast.
- Raw, in the fridge: cook it within a day or two. The USDA gives raw poultry 1 to 2 days refrigerated, and the marinade does not change that.
- Raw, in the freezer: pack the marinated chicken flat in freezer bags with the marinade, in breakfast-sized portions. Thaw in the fridge overnight, then cook as usual.
- Cooked: keep leftovers covered in the fridge and eat them within 3 to 4 days, the USDA window for leftovers. Reheat in a pan with a splash of water so the glaze loosens instead of burning.
This is a dish worth doubling. Cook one pound, freeze the second one raw.
What to serve with chicken tocino
Serve chicken tocino the Filipino breakfast way: with garlic fried rice (sinangag) and a fried egg. Together that plate is called tosilog, from tocino, sinangag and itlog, the word for egg. A spoon of atchara, pickled green papaya, cuts through the sweetness, and so does a small dish of vinegar with chopped garlic for dipping. Sliced tomato on the side does the same job.
For a bigger breakfast spread, put it next to longganisa, the sweet garlicky Filipino sausage, or beef tapa, the salty cured beef. All three take the same rice and the same egg.
Questions people ask
What are the ingredients in a chicken tocino marinade?
Pineapple juice, brown sugar, banana ketchup, soy sauce or salt, a little vinegar, garlic and black pepper. Annatto powder is optional and only adds colour.
What is in tocino seasoning?
Store-bought tocino mixes vary by brand, so read the packet. Homemade tocino seasoning is sugar, salt and garlic, with pepper and a colouring like annatto; the chicken version adds pineapple juice and ketchup.
Is tocino Filipino or Spanish?
The word is Spanish, where it means bacon. Sweet cured tocino as a dish is Filipino.
Why is my chicken tocino burning before it is cooked?
The pan is too hot or there is not enough liquid. Simmer the chicken in its marinade and water first, and only add oil once the liquid is almost gone.
Can I use chicken breast for tocino?
Yes. Thigh stays juicier, but breast works if you slice it thin and take it off the heat as soon as the glaze sets.
