Recipes for Giniling

These easy recipes for giniling are excellent additions to your collection of regular weeknight dinners! With kitchen staple ingredients, there is no need to go to a special store to prepare these giniling dishes — so start preparing!

What is giniling?

Giniling means ground meat in Filipino.

You will often hear ‘pork giniling,’ which refers to ground pork, and ‘beef giniling,’ which refers to ground beef.

Ground lamb or ground chicken are less common in the Philippines.

Growing up, I remember we always asked the butcher to grind the meat for us in a wet market. But nowadays, you can also buy prepared (and packed) ground meat in any big supermarket in the country.

Giniling is a big part of Filipino cuisine because it’s easy to add vegetables to it as an extender — be it a stew, soup, or omelet.

Giniling Recipes

Filipino Picadillo

Filipino style picadillo is a stew that traditionally uses ground beef, then carrots, peas, and potatoes are added.

For an extra layer of sweetness, raisins are commonly used as well. Trust me, the salt and sweet contrast is yummy! 🙂

So, if you hear the question, what is the difference between picadillo and giniling? Well, giniling is not a dish; it’s an ingredient, and Filipino picadillo is one of those dishes that uses a type of giniling — beef giniling, to be exact.

Pork Giniling (with Eggs)

Overhead shot of a pan of ground pork with eggs, ready for serving.

Pork giniling is also a tomato-based stew but uses ground pork.

Carrots, peas, and potatoes are added, but so is bell pepper — and the main difference is boiled quail eggs.

It is excellent with steamed white rice, and its sauce is typically poured into the rice — which explains why some locals add a lot of liquid to their pork giniling stew. 😉

Tortang Giniling

A stack of omelette of ground pork, served with catsup.

Tortang giniling is a Filipino-style omelet using ground pork with bits of potatoes.

The ground pork is first sauteed with garlic and onions, then combined with eggs and spring onions before being fried lightly as an omelet.

Tortang giniling was one of my favorites growing up, and I remember my mom packing it for my lunch at least twice a week — with ketchup and sinangag. Yum!

So, I have these for now, but rest assured, meatballs and lumpiang Shanghai will be out soon.

But in the meantime, try one (or all) of these recipes for giniling, and let me know which one is your favorite!

FOR MORE FILIPINO RECIPES, CHECK OUT THESE POSTS!