Cheesy Pork Caldereta

Tomato and cheese make a perfect pairing. The likes of pizza and spaghetti show us that the salty quality of cheese contrasts nicely with the slight sweetness and savor of tomato sauce. What if we applied this to a Filipino favorite? This Cheesy Pork Caldereta is just the dish to whip up if you are looking to serve a meaty, savory stew for lunch or dinner.

What is Cheesy Pork Caldereta?

I would say that this recipe is basically your classic caldereta but with somewhat of an upgrade, especially for people who love cheese. Our Cheesy Pork Caldereta has plenty of grated cheddar cheese to really add some thickness and of course, cheesiness to the stew. But another thing that really sets this apart is the use of pork ribs. These make our dish even more filling and meaty.

Aside from pork, caldereta is commonly made using beef. One of my favorites is the pulutan style.

But if you are unfamiliar with caldereta in general, this is essentially a tomato-based stew that has meat, in this case, our pork ribs. It is also known for its distinct saltiness from liver spread. Find out everything we will be mixing into our Cheesy Pork Caldereta!

What are the Ingredients?

The first ingredient on our list is, of course, 3 lbs. of pork ribs. Then you will also need some seasonings such as 1 Knorr Pork Cube, 1 teaspoon of Knorr Liquid Seasoning, 3 tablespoons of soy sauce, and some salt and ground black pepper. And this won’t be cheesy caldereta without ½ cup of grated cheddar cheese, ¼ cup of liver spread, 8 ounces of tomato sauce, and 2 tablespoons of tomato paste.

Let’s move on to our vegetables! Prepare 1 red bell pepper, 1 green bell pepper, and ¾ cup of green peas. Also dice 2 potatoes and 2 carrots. And have 1 onion you’ve chopped alongside 4 cloves of garlic you’ve minced ready too. 

We will need just a few more components for the cooking process. These include 4 cups of water, and 3 tablespoons of cooking oil.

How to Cook Cheesy Pork Caldereta

Kick things off by putting your potatoes and carrots in a container, and sprinkling in some salt. Toss these together to distribute the salt evenly. Afterwards, air fry the potatoes and carrots at 350 °F for 12 minutes. 

As you are waiting, you can already start boiling 2 cups of water in a cooking pot. Then place your pork ribs inside. Keep this boiling for 3 minutes, and then discard your water. Set the pork aside.

Let’s pour our cooking oil into a clean cooking pot, and apply some heat. Once the oil gets hot, you can add your garlic. Sauté this until it browns, and then put your onion inside as well. Keep cooking these until the onion softens. 

Now we can integrate our pork ribs from earlier. Just sauté the meat until it becomes light brown. Then pour your soy sauce inside, and cook everything up for just 1 minute. Finally, let’s add our tomato sauce as well, along with 2 cups of water. Wait for this to boil. 

When the liquid begins boiling, you can toss in your Knorr Pork Cube. Then cover your cooking pot, and adjust your heat to a simmer. We will just keep this cooking until the pork is nice and tender. In my experience, this would take around 45 to 60 minutes.

Let’s get a bit more flavor involved by adding liver spread. Stir this into the mixture. Also integrate some tomato paste. Afterwards, you can place your bell peppers, carrots, potatoes, and green peas inside. Cook everything for 2 minutes. Then you can also put your cheese and Knorr Liquid Seasoning inside the pot. Let’s keep cooking for 2 minutes. Just sprinkle in your salt and ground black pepper afterwards, and that’s it!

How to Serve Cheesy Pork Caldereta

You are now welcome to serve your delicious Cheesy Pork Caldereta! Simply transfer your stew to a serving bowl of choice. Since this is quite a flavorful dish in itself, I would mostly recommend having it with one of the simplest side dishes, which is white rice. This perfectly complements the meat, as well as tomato stew and vegetables.

How to Store Cheesy Pork Caldereta

Wasn’t able to finish your caldereta in one go? No problem since you can store this easily. In fact, the proper method for storage is similar to most Filipino meat stews. Simply let your caldereta cool down to room temperature. And then put this in an airtight container, which we will then refrigerate. You can expect this to remain good for consumption for around 4 days.

That pretty much covers this savory and meaty Cheesy Pork Caldereta recipe! But if you have any questions about this dish, don’t hesitate to comment below.