Guide
What we cook for Noche Buena.
Roast pork, sweet spaghetti, cold salads and rice cakes: the 30 dishes of a Filipino Noche Buena, the Christmas Eve feast, and of the Simbang Gabi mornings before it.
By Roberto Sabanal · Updated
What is Noche Buena?
Noche Buena is the feast Filipinos eat after midnight mass on Christmas Eve, the biggest meal of the year. The name is Spanish for “good night”, and the table is made to impress and to be shared: a centerpiece of roast pork or ham, noodles, rice and sweet spaghetti, a row of cold salads and desserts, and plenty of leftovers for Christmas Day.
Before it comes Simbang Gabi, the nine dawn masses from 16 to 24 December, when people eat bibingka, puto and hot chocolate outside the church. Christmas in the Philippines is the longest season of the year, and the food runs through all of it. Most Noche Buena dishes can be made ahead, which matters when the meal is served at midnight.
What the Christmas table has in common
Every family has its own menu, but the table follows the same pattern.
A rich centerpiece
Lechon, ham, embutido, rellenong manok or morcon: a festive dish that takes time and is only made for special days.
Noodles and rice
Pancit stands for long life, and the sweet spaghetti is the dish the children wait for. Rice dishes such as valenciana make the meal filling.
Cold and creamy
Fruit salad, buko salad, macaroni salad and floats are made with cream, condensed milk and canned fruit, and are served chilled.
Sticky and sweet
Glutinous rice, coconut, ube and sugar turn into the cakes and puddings of Simbang Gabi: bibingka, puto, kutsinta and biko.
Dishes for Noche Buena and Christmas
30 dishes, each linked to a full recipe with ingredients, timed steps and calories per serving.
Noche Buena: the main dishes
Roasts, rolls and things on skewers: the centerpiece of the midnight meal.
Embutido
Steamed pork meatloaf with egg, raisins and pickles, served sliced.
Crispy Pata
Pork hock simmered until tender, then deep-fried until the skin is blistered and crackling, served with a vinegar dip.
Lechon Belly
Oven-roasted pork belly with crackling skin: the lechon for a small table.
Lumpiang Shanghai
Thin, crisp rolls of seasoned ground pork, served with sweet chili sauce.
Morcon
A beef roll filled with sausage, egg, cheese and pickles, braised in tomato sauce.
Rellenong Manok
Chicken stuffed with ground pork, egg, raisins and pickles, roasted and sliced.
Pork Hamonado
Pork cooked in a sweet pineapple sauce. It is a different dish from the Christmas ham.
Kare-Kare
Oxtail and vegetables in a rich peanut sauce, eaten with bagoong.
Lechon Kawali
Pork belly boiled and then deep-fried until the skin blisters, the quick stand-in for lechon.
Pork Barbecue
Skewered pork in a sweet marinade, grilled over charcoal.
Noodles and rice
The filling dishes next to the roasts.
Pancit Palabok
Rice noodles under a golden shrimp sauce, with eggs, chicharon and shrimp on top.
Pancit Bihon
Stir-fried rice noodles with vegetables and meat. Long noodles stand for long life.
Pancit Malabon
Thick rice noodles in a seafood sauce, topped with shrimp, squid and egg.
Pancit Molo
Wonton soup from Molo, Iloilo, in a clear chicken and pork broth.
Filipino Spaghetti
Sweet spaghetti in a banana ketchup sauce with hot dog, the dish for children's parties and Noche Buena.
Valenciana
Glutinous rice cooked yellow with chicken, pork, chorizo, peppers and raisins, a Western Visayas rice dish for feasts.
Arroz Caldo
Hot rice porridge with chicken and ginger, eaten on cool December mornings.
Salads, floats and cold desserts
Made the day before and served chilled at midnight.
Filipino Fruit Salad
Fruit cocktail, cream and condensed milk, chilled until thick.
Buko Salad
Young coconut strips, nata de coco and kaong in sweet cream.
Buko Pandan Salad
Pandan gelatin cubes and young coconut in sweet cream.
Filipino Macaroni Salad
Elbow macaroni with chicken, pineapple, raisins and cheese in a sweet, creamy dressing.
Coffee Jelly
Cubes of coffee gelatin in sweetened milk.
Leche Flan
A steamed egg-yolk custard with a layer of caramel, on every Filipino celebration table.
Maja Blanca
A coconut milk pudding with corn kernels, topped with latik.
Ube Halaya
Purple yam jam, cooked slowly with milk and butter.
Simbang Gabi: after mass
What is sold outside the church at dawn.
When to cook what
A rough calendar for a Noche Buena at home.
From 16 December
Simbang Gabi starts. Bibingka, puto and hot tsokolate are bought or made for the walk home from mass.
Two days before
Make what keeps: polvoron, ube halaya, embutido and the fruit cocktail for the salads. Season the pork and chicken.
The day before
Make the salads, floats and leche flan so they can chill overnight. Roll the lumpiang shanghai and freeze them uncooked.
24 December
Roast the lechon belly or ham, cook the pancit and the spaghetti, and fry the lumpia just before sitting down.
After midnight
Noche Buena is served after midnight mass. Everything that is left is Christmas lunch.
Questions about Noche Buena food
What is Noche Buena?
It is the Christmas Eve feast eaten after midnight mass. The name is Spanish and means “good night”.
What is Simbang Gabi?
Nine dawn masses held from 16 to 24 December. Vendors sell bibingka, puto bumbong, hot chocolate and ginger tea outside the church.
What is the difference between Christmas ham and hamonado?
Christmas ham is a cured ham, glazed with pineapple. Pork hamonado is fresh pork cooked in a sweet pineapple sauce.
What can I make ahead?
Almost all the cold dishes (salads, floats, leche flan), embutido, polvoron and the unfried lumpia. Only the roast and the noodles are best made on the day.
Can I make these outside the Philippines?
Yes. Cream, condensed milk, fruit cocktail, nata de coco and kaong are sold at Asian grocery stores, and the rest are ordinary supermarket ingredients.
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