Chicken Tinola Recipe

This is a great recipe. I use three chayote squashes and usually a box + a can of chicken broth (or sometimes I use 3 cans instead). I haven't used spinach before but baby bok choy or regular bok choy both make this delicious. I use a bit extra on the ginger and 1 large onion to make sure it's fragrant. No need for salt if you're using regular chicken broth. Easy, quick and wholesome! I love cooking from whole foods.

My family & I really liked this - alot. Had some chayote to use up so my search brought me here. Never heard of it but had all the ingredients on hand (except bok choy, had to go buy it) & thought "why not"? Increased the recipe to serve 6 - used 6 thighs, homemade chicken stock (I keep in the freezer), 4 chayotes, 4 baby bok choy & omitted the spinach. Followed recipe pretty close except I did season & brown the thighs first (in a separate pan, wanted to keep the flavors in the broth clean) & served with steamed jasmine rice, rooster sauce & soy sauce. Light, delicate & tasty, a surprise hit in my house last night!

I grew up in a Philippine province and I have always cooked tinola using the ingredients mentioned above except for the broth and spinach. I do use variety of veggies like malunggay leaves, pepper leaves, papaya or even chayote leaves. tip: in order to bring out the best taste of tinola, once you have placed the chicken, put a little bit of salt and pepper right away with the patis. Leave it as if you're frying it for few minutes until you start noticing that it's about to lose the liquid. Once the chicken starts to turn slightly brown, that's the time you add water. I guarantee, you're making your own chicken broth out of it. If you want it a little bit more tastier, add a little bit more of patis as you desired. Add your veggies, starting with the ones that cook longer. Put the leaves last because they cook easily. Or better yet, put the leaves as soon as you're ready to serve it.

So flavorful, I’m coming back for more.

It is the fish sauce that gives this dish it's wonderful flavor. If you are going to make this dish, buy a bottle of fish sauce. It lasts forever, and you will eventually get accustomed to the horrific smell. I give the recipe four stars because the addition of bok choy is just silly overkill. You do not need bok choy. My wife is from Mindanao, where malunggay is required for this dish. During the summer we are able to get fresh malunggay from a local Asian store, and we use it instead of the spinach. During the winter, spinach is an acceptable substitute. I have found that the frozen malumggay that I can get all year is just too mushy. Additionally, I think that it is critical to cut the ginger into the smallest slices possible. The ginger needs to complement all of the other flavors, not dominate them. Also, use fatty cuts of chicken. I always use thighs. Breasts will not do it. Finally, do not overcook the chayote. Mushy chayote will ruin the dish.

YUMMY!! Used turnip greens instead of spinach. Added 2 more chayote squash. Used leeks instead of onion. Added 2 TBS rice vinegar to broth, and used unsalted chicken stock. Also cut the thighs into 4 pieces each. Delicious!!

A little variation here.Sauteed , onion, garlic and ginger.Instead of adding chicken to the pan, I boiled bone in chicken breast ahead of time (or bone in thigh or whatever is cheap and on sale).Cut or shred into smaller cubes or pieces, (discard bones )set aside.Add the chicken stock to the pot and add your chayote or Bok Choy.Simmer and add the chicken back to the pot.Add pepper leaves(got tons in the garden) and season with pepper.

Delish, I added wombok cabbage, carrot, green pawpaw and some baby eggplants as I needed to use them up and it was amazing. My Filipino friends and their filo mum loved it. Thank u for ur recipe

I use diced chicken breast, extra ginger and fish sauce but otherwIse the same it’s our go to chicken soup.

This recipe is the same as how I cook tinola. It shouldn't taste bland. You just have to balance the ginger and fish sauce and broth. I would, however, sauté the ginger in garlic, onion and one small tomato. I also sometimes substitute potatoes to chayote, and cabbage to the spinach. Tastes just as great. Thanks for sharing!

Grew up in the PH and am a natural Filipino here. You can use rice wash instead of chicken broth. I will also stick with chayote, or papaya, or zucchini, and chili leaf replacements(moringa, spinach, bokchoy) as mentioned in the recipe, otherwise, the dish won't be called TINOLA. :D

Added a few other ingredients like mushrooms, shrimp, coconut milk, bamboo shoots, and rice. I was loved by the whole family and the added ingredients allowed for everyone to be full and still have plenty for lunch the next day.

I embellished with twice the fresh ginger root, used kale instead of spinach, and doubled all greens. Served with rice noodles instead of rice. Also chicken needed to cook longer than suggested but soup was delicious

Just the right balance of flavors.

All good except it was a bit salty and that’s without adding salt & pepper. I added 4 cups of water and then it tasted very good.

This was great and very easy to make! Thank you for sharing! I didn’t peel the chayote & it was fine! I asked Alexa lol!

Grew up in the PH and am a natural Filipino here. You can use rice wash instead of chicken broth. I will also stick with chayote, or papaya, or zucchini, and chili leaf replacements(moringa, spinach, bokchoy) as mentioned in the recipe, otherwise, the dish won't be called TINOLA. :D

GREAT TASTE, EASY TO MAKE

We like greens 🤭

First time I heard of Tinola was on a NYT podcast re: chicken soup. We loved this recipe. I used spinach and chayote purchased from my H-E-B, and amped up the ginger and garlic. They usually have Bok Choy but it was a busy Sunday. I layered the baby spinach leaves on the bottom of the bowl with a scoop of jasmine rice. Kept the spinach from taking over. Cynthia H.