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Ginataang Bilo Bilo is a super-fun coconut-laced jubilee of a Filipino dessert. It's got a serious unicorn energy with easy-to-make ube rice balls, tender sweet potatoes, saba banana, sago (or tapioca pearls), and jackfruit. I mean, if you hate puppies, unicorns, and rainbows, you could eat dried-up day-old porridge instead. You do you, I guess.
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In Tagalog, "ginataang" means cooked in coconut milk, a cooking method used in countless Filipino preparations like ginataang langka (jackfruit in coconut milk), ginataang kalabasa (squash and sitaw in coconut milk), and ginataang gulay (vegetables in coconut milk). Here, that creamy base becomes a dessert canvas, suspending smooth, bouncy rice balls, tapioca pearls, tender sweet potatoes, and perfumed jackfruit in a rich, velvety broth.
This dish is sometimes also called ginataang halo-halo, especially when served cold with add-ons like ube ice cream. Because it all comes together in one pot, you keep the cleanup light and the focus on flavor. Serve warm for merienda, as a dinner party finale, or chilled for a refreshing dessert for a summer block party.
Super easy and delicious both warm and cold. Wish I had shopped for 2x this recipe because It didn't last long.
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🥰Why you'll adore this bilo bilo recipe
✊ Vegan AF & GF: Like all of my vegan Filipino recipes, this one is naturally free from cow's milk, eggs, and all forms of animal-based nonsense. Plus, there's zero wheat anywhere in sight. So, go ahead and add it to your Rolodex of favey gluten-free vegan recipes STAT.
📆 Anytime Treat: Dessert, snack, breakfast-this Filipino classic doesn't judge you.
🚀 One-Pot Wonder: Less cleanup means more time to hug your kids and less time scrubbing stuff until your hands fall off.
✅ Tested and Approved Worldwide: Like all my vegan recipes, this one's been tested by a massive team of hundreds of recipe testers from all around the gosh darn globe.
🤫 Learn the secrets for perfect vegan Filipino meals
This guide to my most popular plant-based recipes from the Philippines is 100% FREE, & you'll love the actual heck out of it 🥰
🥥Ginataang bilo bilo ingredients
Glutinous Rice Flour
Glutinous rice flour (malagkit) is the main substance we are making the chewy bilo bilo dumplings out of. Like when using it to make klepon, you really can't substitute regular rice flour, which just doesn't work the same way. Sorry about that…
Ube Extract
A few drops of ube extract tint half of the glutinous rice flour dough a pretty purple and add a not-so-subtle floral-vanilla flavor. You can 100% do without it, or sub in pandan extract if you prefer some of your dumplings to be green instead.
The Bananas
I recommend making this with Saba bananas, or Thai bananas if you can get them. Otherwise, a single medium-ripe plantain (like just starting to darken a little, but not all the way mushy inside) will also bring results in the custard-like density that holds its shape during cooking (regular bananas will turn to mush on ya).
If you get saba or Thai bananas to make this with, get some extra and make pisang goreng or cekodok pisang with them, because nothing makes those better!
Ripe Jackfruit
Fresh ripe jackfruit strips add honeyed sweetness and a slightly chewy bite. I'm not talking about the canned young green jackfruit you'd use for vegan carnitas or vegan tamales-that's a whole different vibe and flavor.
For this dessert, fresh ripe jackfruit is best for flavor and texture. Frozen or canned jackfruit (again, the ripe kind) can work too as long as it's thoroughly drained and rinsed to remove excess syrup.
Tapioca or Sago Pearls
Small-medium tapioca or sago pearls cook into translucent, bouncy spheres that add another layer of chew. Sago pearls are the more traditional choice in the Philippines-used in classics like sago't gulaman and taho-but tapioca pearls are easier to find internationally. Both work perfectly here, and I even prefer tapioca in some Filipino sweets like buko pandan salad.
*See the recipe card at the bottom of the page for exact quantities, nutritional info, and detailed cooking directions.
🤯Variations
Bubur Cha Cha
A beloved dessert in Singapore and Malaysia, bubur cha cha features a similar coconut milk base with sweet potatoes, taro, and chewy tapioca or sago pearls, often tinted in pastel colors.
Cold Ginataang Bilo Bilo
Let the cooked bilo bilo cool completely, then refrigerate and serve refreshingly cold like a pudding.
50+ of my own family's fave recipes. Carefully concocted to win over even your most anti-vegan friends.
📖 How to make bilo bilo
You could scroll straight to the printable recipe card, but if you want the play-by-play, here's how to nail it without turning your sweet rice balls into chewy boulders.
For the Tapioca or Sago Pearls:
Step One
Pearl Jam:
Bring 5 cups (1.2 L) of water to a boil over medium-high heat.
Add tapioca or sago pearls and cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking.
✅ Tapioca and sago pearls vary in size and density. So if your bag has instructions on cook time, go with those. You are looking for them to become just barely translucent.
Step Two
Shower Rangers:
Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 5 minutes. Drain through a fine-mesh strainer, rinse under cold water, and set aside.
For the Rice Flour Dumpling Dough:
Step Three
Austin Flours:
In a medium mixing bowl, combine glutinous rice flour, sugar, and salt.
Step Four
Dough Jones Industrial Average:
Pour in the water and mix until a smooth dough forms.
✅ It may look a little dry at first, but keep kneading until the rice flour hydrates and becomes workable. Any more wet, and the dumplings are really hard to form neatly.
Step Five
Ube-by, I Love Your Way:
If using ube extract, divide the dough in half and mix the extract thoroughly into one half until evenly colored.
Step Six
They See Me Rollin':
Portion about 1-1 ½ teaspoon of dough per ball and roll into 1 cm. rounds. Arrange in a single layer on a rice flour-dusted tray until ready to cook.
To Cook the Bilo Bilo:
Step Seven
Sweet Child O' Mine:
In a medium pot, bring 3 cups (720 ml) of water to a boil over high heat. Add diced sweet potatoes and cook for 5-6 minutes until just barely tender.
Step Eight
Bad Boy Tronald Dumplings:
Add rice flour balls to the pot and cook for 5 minutes, or until tender and translucent in the center.
Step Nine
Banana Rama:
Add diced saba bananas or plantains and jackfruit strips. Stir in sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
✅ If using canned ripe jackfruit, rinse and drain it in a colander first to get rid of the extra syrup.
Step Ten
CocoNutty by Nature:
Pour in coconut milk and stir gently to combine. Add the drained tapioca pearls, remove from heat.
Step Eleven
Pack the Bowl:
Ladel out portions of the bilo bilo and either serve warm, or chill for at least 2 hours and serve it topped with vegan ube ice cream.
👉Top tips
- Coconut Milk Quality: Use freshly opened full-fat canned coconut milk for the best flavor and creamiest texture ( I mean, unless you have access to freshly made coconut milk where you live, then carry on).
- Rice Ball Timing: Keep a close eye and avoid overcooking the rice balls; they should stay tender and bouncy, not tough or waterlogged.
🤷♀️ Recipe FAQs
Absolutely! Though purple yams or taro might be even better options, which is why I use them for making che khoai mon. Just peel, dice, and boil the taro a little longer than you cook sweet potatoes for.
Yes, but make sure you don't heat the coconut cream as long because it's fattier and can get a weird curdy/clumpy thing going on with it if it boils. That's why I generally save the stuff for making Vietnamese banana ice cream and other cold stuff like that.
Yes, thaw fully and drain before adding to avoid watering down the dessert.
Rinse 'em immediately under cold water and gently separate with your fingers. Make sure not to let them sit around for ages in your strainer after draining them. If they start to stick to the strainer, you can get them unstuck by massaging a little cold water into them and letting them briefly drain again before adding them to the bilo-bilo.
❄️ Refrigerating:
Store in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 3 days. The tapioca or sago pearl will continue to absorb liquid, so thin it out with additional water or coconut milk before serving.
🔥 Stovetop Reheating:
Low heat, add a wee bit of extra coconut milk if it has thickened up on you.
🇵🇭You'll love these vegan Filipino desserts too:
Learn to make absurdly good vegan food from the Philippines in a super-fun recorded cooking class with Chef Adam Sobel!
Bilo Bilo Recipe
Ingredients
For the Tapioca:
- 6 cups water
- ⅔ cup medium tapioca pearls or sago pearls
For the Rice Flour Dumplings:
- 1 cup glutinous rice flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- ⅓ cup water
- ¼ teaspoon ube extract optional
For the Bilo Bilo:
- 3 cups water
- 2 cups sweet potatoes peeled and 2 cm. diced
- 2 cups saba bananas or medium ripe plantains, 2 cm. diced
- 1 ½ cups ripe jackfruit seeded and cut into strips
- ⅔ cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 3 ⅓ cups coconut milk 2X 400 ml. cans
Instructions
For the Tapioca or Sago Pearls:
- Bring 5 cups (1.2 L) of water to a boil over medium-high heat. Add the tapioca or sago pearls and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent sticking. Remove from heat, cover, and let stand for 10 minutes.
- Drain through a fine-mesh strainer, rinse under cold water, and set aside.
For the Rice Flour Dumpling Dough:
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the glutinous rice flour, water, sugar, and salt. Mix until a smooth, soft dough forms.
- If using ube extract, divide the dough in half and thoroughly mix it into half of the dough until evenly colored.
- Divide the dough into small portions about 1-1 ½ teaspoons in size, and roll each into balls approximately 1 cm in diameter. Place the balls on a tray that has been lightly dusted with rice flour in a single layer until ready to cook.
To Cook the Bilo Bilo:
- In a medium pot, bring 3 cups of water to a boil over high heat. Once boiling, add the sweet potatoes and cook for 5-6 minutes until just barely tender.
- Gently add the rice flour balls and continue cooking for 5 minutes, or until the balls are tender and translucent in the center.
- Add the bananas, jackfruit, then stir in the sugar, vanilla extract, and salt. Reduce to medium heat and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Pour in the coconut milk and stir gently. Add the drained cooked tapioca pearls, remove from the heat, and serve warm.
Notes
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Tim says
Super easy and delicious both warm and cold. Wish I had shopped for 2x this recipe because It didn't last long.