• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Dinner By Dennis

  • Home
  • About
  • Breakfast
  • Appetizers
  • Dinner
  • Dessert

Halo-Halo: The Colorful Filipino Dessert Perfect for Your Instagram

June 26, 2021 by Dennis Leave a Comment

Some of you may be familiar with halo-halo thanks to a nearby Jollibee. For those of us not as lucky, I tried to do it justice. Put simply, it is the perfect dessert for to beat the summer heat.

The essential ingredients are some fruit on the bottom, followed by shaved ice, evaporated or condensed milk, then ube ice cream. Past that, and you can customize it however you want. You want flan and tapioca pearls? Sure! Want something crazy like sour gummi worms and frozen Mountain Dew? I mean, you could…

Jump to Recipe
A bowl of halo-halo with pocky, banana slices, ube ice cream, gummy bears, and corn

History of Halo-Halo

Most scholars trace the origin of halo-halo to pre-WW2 Japanese-Filipinos, living in the Philippines. Back then, sweetened mung beans were served over ice. It satisfied the urge to have something sweet, and the ice would cool you down in those hot, tropical summers.

Over time the more Japanese mung beans gave way to more local Filipino ingredients, such as jackfruit, ube (purple yam), and leche flan to name a few. Now, the name translates roughly to “mixed”, an homage to all the different ingredients you can use to make it.

Possible ingredients laid out before making the dessert
An idea of different ingredients you could use for your halo-halo.

How To Make Halo-Halo

One thing I love about this dish is that anyone can make it. Yes, even you, the guy who burns pasta water somehow. This isn’t really cooking, it’s more of an assembly. The ingredients are all tasty on their own, so it’s more about how you arrange it. If it appeals to the eyes, it will appeal to the tongue more too.

Halo-Halo

Tips I Learned

I ended up making halo-halo 3 times for this recipe and visiting a Filipino food truck in an old trainyard twice (that part was for fun). The main pitfall I found was choosing the wrong kind of milk. Apparently, evaporated filled milk is a thing. You can theoretically use it, but it will taste off. They add soybean oil to the milk to cut down on the price. Not as noticeable in baked goods, but if you’re drinking it straight from the can, you’ll notice.

I tried with coconut milk out of curiosity. It isn’t as good, simply because it isn’t nearly as sweet. So, if you need to watch your sugar intake this is a viable option. Otherwise, evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk (even sweeter) are the best options.

A food truck version of halo-halo in a tall cup
The food truck version. Notice how the verticality allows you to keep most ingredients below the ice.

Assemble Your Version

The preferred way to serve halo-halo is in a tall glass, but a bowl will work too. First, put your fruits on the bottom. Other stuff you might put here includes: jellies, tapioca pearls, yam, boiled taro, pinipig rice, and red beans. Next, add the evaporated milk. Add a big scoop of shaved ice. Finally, a scoop or two of ube ice cream with any extras you might want to make it pop visually. I used gummy bears, but the food truck used Fruity Pebbles and flan!

I like to eat it with a spoon and a straw at the same time. This lets you alternate eating from different layers of the dessert, so each bite is something new.

A different take on the dish with less traditional Filipino ingredients like Oreos and Twizzlers
Here’s another version where I added whatever I felt like. Highly recommend the Oreos!

Other Dessert Recipes

  • No bake key lime pie
  • Apple Fries
  • Lemon bars
  • Putu piring

Halo-Halo

Dennis
My personal take on a colorful Filipino dessert, perfect to beat the summer heat.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 5 mins
Total Time 5 mins
Course Dessert
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 1
Calories 865 kcal

Ingredients
  

  • ¼ cup mango sliced
  • ¼ cup bobas
  • 2 tbsp passionfruit optional
  • ¾ cup evaporated milk or condensed milk
  • ½ cup shaved ice
  • 1 scoop ube ice cream
  • 3 tbsp flan optional
  • 2 tbsp gummy bears
  • 1 tbsp shredded coconut
  • ½ tbsp pecans optional
  • 1 tbsp sweet corn kernels

Instructions
 

  • Get a tall glass and add mango, bobas, and passionfruit to the bottom.
  • Add a large scoop of shaved ice on top of the fruit. Pour evaporated milk over the ice.
  • Put your ube ice cream on top of the ice, lay flan next to it if desired. Sprinkle toppings to finish and make it your own. I used coconut, gummy bears, pecans, and corn. Enjoy!

Video

Notes

Add a couple extra minutes for every extra bowl you want to make. Feel free to experiment with your own ingredients!

Nutrition

Calories: 865kcalCarbohydrates: 92gProtein: 21gFat: 36gSaturated Fat: 21gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gCholesterol: 136mgSodium: 437mgPotassium: 1050mgFiber: 5gSugar: 89gVitamin A: 1284IUVitamin C: 28mgCalcium: 514mgIron: 1mg
Keyword dessert, easy dessert, Filipino, halo-halo, Philippines, ube ice cream
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

fb-share-icon
Follow Me
Tweet
Reddit

Filed Under: Dessert Tagged With: cold, dessert, easy dessert, Filipino, flan, halo-halo, Philippines, ube ice cream

About Dennis

When I'm not experimenting in the kitchen, I enjoy rock climbing and acting. Meme expert. Anime connoisseur.

Previous Post: « Choripan: Argentine Chorizo Hot Dog Smothered in Chimichurri Sauce
Next Post: Blackberry Guava OR Honeydew Passion Fruit Agua Fresca »

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Footer

Archives

  • March 2022
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019

Copyright © 2023 Dinner By Dennis on the Foodie Pro Theme

0 SHARE