Pork Estofado Recipe

Pork Estofado is a stewed pork dish served with fried plantains. This pork recipe is comparable to pork adobo but, the use of carrots and fried plantains provide distinction to this dish. Filipinos, love to have our share of meaty pork with a thick, hot stew filled with a variety of vegetables and seasonings. Menudo…

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By: Vanjo Merano 11 Comments Updated: 9/13/23

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Pork Estofado is a stewed pork dish served with fried plantains. This pork recipe is comparable to pork adobo but, the use of carrots and fried plantains provide distinction to this dish.

Filipinos, love to have our share of meaty pork with a thick, hot stew filled with a variety of vegetables and seasonings. Menudo and afritada are just two examples out of many recipes like this. But what sets Pork Estofado apart is its mix of not just saltiness and sourness from vinegar and soy sauce. After all, we have the likes of adobo for recipes like that. It also bears an appetizing sweetness from perfectly fried plantains.

Now if you think it’s a bit strange to integrate fruit into your viand, you may want to try out this estofado first. Not only are the plantains great for flavor, but the softness of this ingredient also bears a nice contrast to our carrots and pork texture-wise. Some people like to compare this Caldereta, but despite how it may look, our estofado is actually not a tomato-based stew. However, both have a similar richness to them. Meanwhile, the slight sourness is comparable to a Pinoy favorite— adobo! And so if you enjoy such dishes, you truly need to dive into this one!

Recreate this Pork Estofado recipe by following the steps below!

How to Make Pork Estofado

Heating up the oil. First things first, grab your frying pan. Then pour ¾ cup of cooking oil inside. Apply some heat.
Frying the plantains. Once your oil gets hot, you can place 4 plantains you’ve sliced diagonally to be 1 inch thick inside. Cook these until each side becomes medium to dark brown. Once you are done frying, you can set these aside for now.
Sauteeing the garlic. Get a clean cooking pot, and pour ¼ cup of cooking oil inside. Let the oil get hot, and then add 5 tablespoons of minced garlic. We will sauté these until they become light brown.
Cooking the pork. You will now want to put your 3 lbs. of cubed pork inside. Just keep this cooking for a good 7 to 10 minutes. We will also pour ¾ cup of soy sauce and 1 cup of water inside. Add 1 tablespoon of whole peppercorn alongside 3 pieces of dried bay leaves. Bring the mixture to a boil, and then just let it simmer. Continue this until the pork tenderizes.
Adding the seasoning. We can now get some vinegar involved for that slight sourness. Pour ½ cup of this into your pot, and then just wait for the liquid to boil again. Once it does, just let the stew simmer for 5 minutes. Then put 3 tablespoons of brown sugar, and 1 ½ cup of sliced carrots inside. Stir everything together, and proceed to simmer everything for 10 minutes.
Plating the dish. You can now turn the heat off, and place your dish in a serving plate of choice. This is where our plantains from earlier come in. Garnish your Pork Estofado with this, and then go ahead, and serve! But if you’re wondering what else you could cook up with this, I’ve listed some suggestions below.

I like the idea of having plantains in pork and beef dishes. Plantains (or an alternative ingredient, saging na saba) helps improve the flavor of a dish and adds a little sweetness to it. Take the beef pochero as an example: the sweetness of the plantains blends well with the other ingredients producing a great tasting dish. Sometimes, I also use plantains in Beef Nilaga to add more life to it.

What to Have with Pork Estofado

Rice

Much like adobo, which is a dish pretty similar to our Pork Estofado, this goes perfectly with some newly cooked rice. You may think you already have a pretty good idea of how to cook your rice. But you may want to take a look at my guide to doing this the right way so our rice is perfectly fluffy.

Chicken And Baby Corn Stir Fry

Adding some greens and other veggies to our meal can make it a lot more satisfying. That’s why I’m recommending serving estofado with Chicken and Baby Corn Stir Fry. Unlike our pork dish, this stir fry has a very mild taste that will complement the richness of your stew.

There are other kinds of Estofado that hold its sweet and sour appeal too. Take a look!

More Estofado Recipes

Estofado (Probinsya Style)

Want something a bit more flavorful? This Probinsya Style Estofado has a greater variety of seasonings and spices than the classic. We’ve even got pineapple juice to marinate the pork! The result is a uniquely delicious meat dish that you will want to cook up again and again. This can also be a great family meal as it serves 4 people. Just adjust the ratio as needed if ever you need to lessen or add portions!

Liempo Estofado

Juicy pork belly is always quite hard to resist. And so to make our estofado even more irresistible, I crafted this recipe making use of the delicious meat cut! Liempo Estofado is a lot like our main recipe, except it has a few different components, one of which is red wine vinegar. This helps enhance the dish, and bring in a lot more depth.

What were your thoughts on this Pork Estofado recipe? Your feedback would help a lot for our next recipes here on Panlasang Pinoy. Kindly leave them in the comments below, along with any questions you may have!

Vanjo Merano

Vanjo Merano is the creator of PanlasangPinoy.com. His goal is to introduce Filipino Food and Filipino Cuisine to the rest of the world. This blog was the first step that he took.