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This tupig recipe gets you the smoky, chewy rice cakes that Ilocano and Pangasinense cooks char over coals, using just 7 ingredients and no charcoal required. Sweet rice flour, coconut milk, and young coconut strings get rolled up in banana leaves and cooked until the leaves blacken and the inside turns sticky and caramelized. It's naturally vegan, gluten-free, and works in your oven, a skillet, or on the grill.
Recipe tips tailored to what matters most to you:
Glutinous rice flour has no gluten in it, the name is just about texture. You are fine here.
Use the oven, not the skillet. 400F for 30 to 35 minutes bakes the whole batch at once, while the stovetop is 15 to 17 minutes per side in batches.
Banana leaves pricey where you are? Soaked corn husks (like for making tamales) or lightly oiled parchment paper do the job. Stick with cheaper brown sugar over palm or coconut sugar.
If your jar of young coconut is super sweet, cut back on the sugar in the batter. Coconut sugar or palm sugar are less refined swaps for the brown sugar.
Use parchment paper in place of the banana leaves. But don't try using regular rice flour instead of glutinous rice flour. You can leave out the coconut if you can't get it.
The coconut milk and young coconut strings are the heart of Tupig's flavor. Use quality, full-fat canned coconut milk for a rich taste.
When wrapping the mixture in banana leaves, ensure they're pliable enough to fold easily without tearing. If they do tear, it's fine to double-wrap them.
Make sure your Tupig have achieved a dark brown exterior, and then allow them to cool slightly before unwrapping and serving.
Oodles more tips, step-by-step recipe photos, info on weird ingredients, and FAQs are all still here. I just tucked 'em out of the way so you can start cooking sooner.
Tupig smells like Christmas in northern Luzon. Around the holidays, the roads through Pangasinan and Ilocos get lined with vendors fanning grills full of these little banana leaf logs, and people buy them by the bundle.
If you've made my lontong, picture this as its sweet, smoky dessert cousin. It's right at home on a holiday dessert spread with bibingka, kuih dadar, and che khoai mon.
Grab a pack of banana leaves and your biggest skillet. Let's make tupig.
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Why you'll adore this tupig recipe
✊Vegan AF & GF: Tupig is traditionally vegan and gluten-free, so nothing got swapped, faked, or apologized for. Like all my vegan Filipino recipes, it's the real deal.
🔥No Charcoal Required: The classic way is over hot coals, but your oven or a skillet gets you the same charred leaves and chewy center. Got a grill? Fire it up.
🛒7 Ingredients, 1 Bowl: Sweet rice flour, coconut milk, coconut strings, sugar, salt, vanilla, and banana leaves. That's the whole shopping list.
Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all my vegan recipes, this one went through over 1,000 recipe testers, and more than a few of them now keep an emergency stash of banana leaves in the freezer. As they should.
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Tupig ingredients & substitutions
Glutinous Rice Flour
Unlike the whole glutinous rice used for making suman, tupig is made with sweet rice flour. The stuff is crazy versatile to keep around for making everything from klepon to chee cheong fun. There is no worthy substitute for glutinous rice flour in this recipe. Nothing else will work as well.
Young Coconut Strings
Young coconut strings are also called buko or macapuno, and sometimes, I have no idea why, they label it as "coconut sport". You can make your own if you have plenty of fresh young coconuts lying about, but otherwise, it's widely available in Asian grocery stores in jars. Different brands vary greatly in sweetness, and I personally always opt for a brand that doesn't use preservatives and food additives, but any will work for this recipe. If you think the jar you picked up is insanely sweet, just cut back on the other sweetener in the recipe so that the final result isn't like pure freaking sugar.
Banana Leaves
Banana leaves (dahon ng saging in Tagalog) do double duty here: they are the cooking vessel, and they give tupig its toasty, tea-like aroma as they char. Sometimes coconut leaves are used in place of banana leaf. If you absolutely can't get any, corn husks which you might use for wrapping tamales can be used as an alternative for the wrapping step. The distinct aroma of banana leaves will be missed, and you may need to double-wrap them as corn husks are thinner.
Brown sugar
Brown sugar, also known as "pulot na asukal" in the Philippines, brings a nice mineral-rich, molasses flavor that complements the coconut and rice flour. A few other sugars you can use in this recipe instead are muscovado, palm sugar, sucanat, or coconut sugar (which I use for making martabak).
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
Variations
Here are a couple of fun ways to tweak this recipe to make some other regional treats.
One variation of this dessert is known as "Binalay." Similar to Tupig, Binalay is made from glutinous rice flour, coconut, and sugar. However, Binalay often takes things a step further by incorporating crushed peanuts into the mixture. If you add those, make sure to use dry roasted peanuts, and maybe even briefly toast them before incorporating them into the filling mix so they keep their crunchiness.
There is a Vietnamese dish similar to Tupig called "Bánh Chưng." Bánh Chưng is a traditional sticky rice cake that's often made during the Lunar New Year (Tết) celebrations. It is very much like binalay, in that it has peanuts, but also gets served with thick sweetened coconut milk. The first time I had it was in Manila, of all places, when I was cooking at the World Street Food Congress in the Philippines, representing America. A group of Vietnamese street food cooks made that dish at the event, and I was psyched because it was one of the only vegan things being served that I could eat.
Another variation is called "Inutak," which comes from the Bicol Region. Inutak stands out with its unique layered appearance, resembling the texture of slightly burned rice at the bottom of a pot. To make Inutak, a mixture of glutinous rice, coconut milk, and sugar is combined. What makes it truly special is the inclusion of mashed ube (purple yam).
How to make this tupig recipe
Nail this perfectly by following these step-by-step instructions with important tips. Or you can follow along with the easy-to-print recipe card towards the bottom of this page.
Step One
Do You Be Leaf in Life After Love?:
Cut the banana leaves into 6x12-inch (15 x30 cm.) rectangles. Gently wash them, and briefly pass over a flame or stovetop burner to soften them. Pat them dry between two clean kitchen towels.
Step Two
Rice to Meet You:
Mix the glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract in a mixing bowl until thoroughly combined.
Step Three
I'm In Love With The Coco:
Mix the drained young coconut strings into the batter by hand.
Step Four
Leaf Erikson:
Lay out a banana leaf piece and spoon a generous amount of batter (3-4 tablespoons) in the center.
Step Five
Gangster Wrap:
Roll the leaf around the batter to create a neat tube with open ends. Fold the ends inward, pinch the sides of the ends together, and secure with toothpicks to prevent unwrapping while cooking.
Step Six
Bake Me Up Before You Go-Go:
How to make tupig in an oven: Preheat the oven to 400°F (205°C). Place the wrapped Tupig on a baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes until the leaves turn slightly brown and the texture is firm.
Step Seven
Skillet Me Softly:
How to make tupig on the stovetop: Heat a skillet over medium heat. After 90 seconds, add Tupig and cook for 15-17 minutes on each side until they're firm and dark brown.
Step Eight
Cool Runnings:
Allow your Tupig to cool slightly before unwrapping them from the charred banana leaves and serving.
Serving Ideas
Tupig is a merienda snack and a holiday dessert, so put it wherever the coffee is. Pile it on a platter for Christmas morning with bibingka and a big bowl of buko pandan salad, and watch it disappear faster than your cousin's patience during karaoke.
For a full Filipino feast, serve it for dessert after tofu sisig, ginataang kalabasa, and ensaladang talong. On a cold morning, it's also a killer sidekick to a bowl of champorado.
Top tips
- Drain the Coconut Strings Well: Extra syrup makes the batter loose and way too sweet. Drain them in a strainer, and if your jar tastes like pure candy, cut back on the brown sugar.
- Soften the Leaves First: Pass each banana leaf over a burner until it turns bright green and floppy, so it folds without cracking. If one tears anyway, just double-wrap it.
- Line the Pan for the Oven: Bake them on a parchment-lined baking pan, so any batter that oozes out doesn't weld itself to your pan.
- Cook Them Darker Than You Think: Wait until the leaves are dark brown and charred, then let the tupig cool for a few minutes so they firm up before you unwrap them.
FAQ
Tupig (also called kangkanen or intemtem) is a sweet sticky rice cake from northwestern Luzon, especially Ilocos, Pangasinan, and Tarlac. A batter of glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, sugar, and young coconut gets wrapped in banana leaves and traditionally grilled right over charcoal.
Nope. Glutinous (sweet) rice flour is what gives tupig its sticky, chewy texture. Regular rice flour makes something closer to a dry, crumbly brick.
I wouldn't. Dried coconut loses most of its flavor and has more of the texture of sawdust than you want in your life. Jarred young coconut strings (buko or macapuno) are the move.
Yes, in a pinch. Lightly oiled parchment paper or soaked corn husks will hold the batter, but you'll miss the toasty aroma that banana leaves give off as they char.
🏠 At Room Temperature: Keep them in an airtight container for up to 2 days.
🧊 In the Fridge: Up to 1 week, though they firm up a bit.
❄️ In the Freezer: Freezing changes the texture, so tupig is best fresh. If you do freeze them, keep them in an airtight container for up to 1 month.
🔥 Reheating: Steam them gently for a few minutes, still in their leaves, until soft and warm.
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Ultimate Homemade Tupig Recipe
Equipment
- Grill (for outdoor grill method)
- Toothpicks or kitchen twine (for wrapping)
- Flame or hot stovetop burner (for banana leaf preparation)
Ingredients
- 3 ¾ cups Glutinous rice flour 400 g.
- 13.5 oz. Coconut milk 400 ml.
- 1 cup Young coconut strings buko, drained
- 1 cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 12 banana leaf sections 6x12 inches ( 15x30 cm.) each
Instructions
- Gently wash the banana leaves and pat them dry. Cut them into 6x12-inch (15x30 cm.) rectangles and briefly pass them over a flame or hot stovetop burner to make them more pliable.
- In a mixing bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour, coconut milk, brown sugar, salt, and vanilla extract. Stir well until the ingredients are thoroughly blended.
- Mix in the drained young coconut strings, ensuring an even distribution.
- Take a piece of the prepared banana leaf and place a generous spoonful of the batter onto the center. Roll the banana leaf around the batter, creating a neat tube with open ends. Secure the ends by folding them inwards towards each other, pinching the sides of the open ends together, and then skewing each side with a toothpick to prevent it from unfurling as the tupig cooks.
- Reheat a large skillet over medium heat. After 90 seconds when the pan is hot, place as many tupig into the pan as you can fit.
- Cook the tupig for 15-17 minutes on each side. The outside should look dark brown before you flip them, and the Tupig becomes firm and cooked through.
- Allow the tupig to cool and firm up slightly before unwrapping and serving.
Notes
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Jenny says
This is my late father’s absolute favorite! I can’t wait to try rounding up ingredients and try it in a western kitchen. Thanks for sharing the recipe that’s bringing very fond memories of my dad.
Adam Sobel says
That's fantastic! Let me know how you like it ❤️