• Skip to main content
  • Skip to header right navigation
  • Skip to site footer
Devour.Asia

Devour.Asia

Better Asian recipes for home cooks

  • Recipes
    • Cuisine
      • Chinese
      • Japanese
      • Korean
      • Thai
      • Vietnamese
      • Taiwanese
      • Filipino
      • Indonesian
      • Malaysian
      • South Asian
      • Fusion
      • Street Food
    • Ingredient
      • Poultry
      • Seafood
      • Meat
      • Rice & Grains
      • Noodles
      • Vegetables
      • Tofu
      • Mushrooms
      • Bread
      • Eggs
      • Fruits
    • Course
      • Breakfast
      • Snacks
      • Salads
      • Soups
      • Main Courses
      • Side Dishes
      • Sweets
      • Drinks
  • Kitchen
  • Stories
  • Cuisine
    • Chinese
    • Japanese
    • Korean
    • Thai
    • Taiwanese
    • Filipino
    • Indonesian
    • Malaysian
    • South Asian
    • Fusion
  • Main Ingredient
    • Poultry
    • Seafood
    • Meat
    • Rice & Grains
    • Noodles
      • Noodle Soups
      • Noodles Stir Fry
      • Instant Noodles (Ramen)
    • Vegetables
    • Mushrooms
    • Tofu
    • Bread
    • Eggs
    • Fruits
  • Course
    • Breakfast
    • Snacks
    • Salads
    • Soups
    • Main Courses
    • Side Dishes
    • Sweets
    • Drinks
  • Street Food
  • Kitchen Tales
  • Food Tales
  • About
  • Privacy
You are here: Home / All Recipes / Pork Ribs and Vegetable Soup (Nilagang Baboy)

Pork Ribs and Vegetable Soup (Nilagang Baboy)

Every culture has its version of boiled meat and vegetables. In the Philippines, the generic nilaga (literally, boiled) can refer to boiled beef (baka) and vegetables, boiled chicken (manok) and vegetables or boiled pork (baboy) and vegetables. What the vegetables are vary. But, almost always, there is a combination of leafy and non-leafy vegetables.

Pork ribs and vegetable soup (Filipino nilagang baboy)

This is nilagang baboy, an updated version of three old recipes. What’s new in this version?

Pork spare ribs instead of the more bone-y (and cheaper) cut used for soups. On the dining table, spare ribs are easier to serve in individual bowls, and they are easier to eat with just a spoon and a fork.

Saba bananas (cooking bananas native to the Philippines) are combined with yellow corn to add a lovely sweetness to the salty broth seasoned with patis (fish sauce).

And then, there’s pechay, a variety of Chinese cabbage with dark green leaves and white stalks. It’s a hybrid of bok choy. Unlike the sweetish white cabbage that we often find in nilaga, pechay has a subtle peppery flavor that adds so much richness to the dish.

Pork Ribs and Vegetable Soup (Nilagang Baboy)

Recipe by Connie Veneracion
Like many meat and vegetable soups in the Philippines, nilagang baboy is served as a main course. Serve with a mixture of fish sauce and calamansi juice on the side for drizzling over the meat and vegetables. Best enjoyed with rice.
Prep Time 10 mins
Cook Time 1 hr 30 mins
Total Time 1 hr 40 mins
Course Main Course, Soup
Cuisine Filipino
Servings 4 people
Pork ribs, corn, saba bananas, potatoes and pechay in broth
Print Recipe

Ingredients
  

Pork and broth

  • 1 kilogram pork spare ribs cut between the bones
  • 1 small onion cut into halves
  • 3 cloves garlic
  • ½ teaspoon peppercorns
  • ¼ cup fish sauce

Vegetables

  • 1 to 2 sweet corn peeled and each cut into four portions
  • 2 to 3 potatoes peeled and cut into quarters
  • 4 saba bananas cut into halves
  • 1 bunch pechay

Instructions
 

Cook the pork

  • Place the spare ribs in a pot, cover with water and bring to the boil. Allow to boil for ten minutes until scum has risen to the surface.
    Parboiling and rinsing pork ribs to remove scum
  • Dump the pork into a strainer and rinse to remove all impurities.
  • Put the pork ribs in a clean pot and cover with water.
    Boiling pork ribs with onion, garlic and peppercorns, and pouring in fish sauce
  • Add the onion, garlic, peppercorns and fish sauce.
  • Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for about an hour or until the meat is fork tender.

Cook the vegetables

  • Scoop out the pork and move to a bowl.
  • Discard the onion, garlic and peppercorns.
  • Drop the corn into the broth and cook for ten minutes.
  • Add the potatoes and cook for ten minutes.
  • Add the saba bananas and cook for five minutes.
    Boiling corn, saba bananas, potatoes and pechay in pork broth
  • Lay the pechay on the hot broth and press down lightly to make sure all the leaves and stalks are submerged in the hot liquid. Cook for five minutes.
  • Return the pork ribs to the pot and simmer just until the meat is heated through.
    Pork ribs and vegetable soup (nilagang baboy) in pot
  • Taste the broth and add more fish sauce, if needed.
  • Divide the pork ribs and vegetables among four bowls, ladle in hot broth and serve.
Keyword Pork Ribs, Soup
More Filipino Food
Sesame balls (jiandui) on plate

Sesame Balls

Beef salpicao on a bed of shredded cabbage

Wagyu Beef Salpicao

Filipino molo soup

Molo Soup

Published: November 2, 2021 • Last modified: November 10, 2021 ♥ All Recipes, Filipino, Main Courses, Meat, Soups, Southeast Asian Food
Further Reading
Chinese-style fried rice in white ramekin

How To Cook Chinese-style Fried Rice

Fried and skewered quail eggs. Tamsui Old Street, Taiwan

Quail Eggs in Asian Cuisines

Mandarin oranges

Symbolic Food for the Lunar New Year

Sidebar

Experience Asia

Thai Hot and Sour Soup (Tom Saap) Garnished with Chili

Thai Hot and Sour Soup (Tom Saap)

Thai cucumber salad garnished with peanuts and cilantro

Thai Cucumber Salad with Sweet and Tangy Chili Dressing

Japanese sakura rice bowls

Two Reasons to Go Back to Japan

Sam Veneracion making pottery. Bat Trang Village, Vietnam.

The Authentic Bat Trang Ceramic Village Tour and Pottery Class

Thai meatballs in curry sauce

Thai-style Meatballs in Coconut Curry Sauce

  • About
  • Privacy
  • Archive

Inspiration

“A full belly conquers all.”

From the film Saving Face
Popular Posts
  • A Guide To Ramen Broth: Shio, Shoyu, Miso and Tonkotsu
  • 3 Soy Sauce Braised Pork Belly
  • Steamed Pompano With Ginger Sauce
  • Tofu in Oyster Sauce
  • Slow Cooker Chinese-style Beef Tendon
Not So Fine Print

Devour Asia does NOT work with “brands”.

Devour Asia does NOT accept guest posts.

Devour Asia does NOT outsource recipe development, writing, photography and videography.

Except for the occasional stock photo and blockquote, everything © Devour Asia. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.