Kare-kare
Kare-kare
A peanut stew, usually oxtail — thick, yellow-orange, and unfinished without bagoong on the side.
Recipe by I Want Some Food · Reviewed by the editorial kitchen. Native name preserved: Kare-kare.
0 people cooked this in the public kitchen yet. Kitchen-tested by I Want Some Food. Not a purchased rating.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 3 hr
- Rest
- None
- Total
- 3 hr 25 min
- Difficulty
- A bit of work
- Spice
- No chilli
- Cost
- A bit special$16–28 USD · indicative, not a store price
About
Kare-kare is oxtail (or beef) and vegetables in a peanut sauce coloured with annatto. It is mild. The salt and funk live in the shrimp paste you put on the side. If you skip the bagoong, the pot tastes unfinished. Peanut butter is how homes thicken it. Oxtail wants time or a pressure cooker; a short simmer leaves gluey yet tough meat. Annatto colours without much flavour, so do not expect it to season the pot. Peanut butter should be unsweetened if you can find it — a child's spread makes a dessert stew. Vegetables (eggplant, beans, cabbage) go in late so they are not mush. The bagoong stays on the side so each person salts to taste; stirring the whole jar in can overwhelm. If the sauce is oily on top, you can skim, but some fat is the mouthfeel. Thin with stock if it sets like cement.
Ingredients
- Beef, oxtail or stewing beef1.2 kg
- Peanut butter120 g
- Green Beans (optional)150 g
- Garlic5 clove
- Rice, toasted and ground, optional thickener30 ml
- Achiote, annatto, for colour (optional)4.9 ml
- Fish sauce, plus bagoong to serve15 ml
- Rice, uncooked, to serve400 g
Scaling multiplies the written quantities. Baking still prefers a scale.
Steps
Step 1
Simmer oxtail 2.5–3 hours until the meat slips. Keep the broth.
180 minStep 2
Fry onion and garlic. Add peanut butter loosened with broth, annatto, a little fish sauce. Return meat. Simmer. Add eggplant and beans at the end.
20 minStep 3
Rice. Bagoong on the side. The stew stays mild on purpose.
Adapt this recipe
The canonical recipe stays intact. Personal versions are labelled. Serving changes are maths, not AI.
Adaptations · 0 / 15 used. Resets 10 October.
Substitutions
Oxtail → Beef shin
Less gelatin, still a peanut stew.
Tips
- A pressure cooker does the oxtail in about 45 minutes.
- Unsweetened peanut butter. A sweet jar makes a dessert.
History & culture
Fiesta and Sunday. Also a restaurant plate that takes hours. A pressure cooker is allowed. Fiesta cooking still means a huge pot and a crowd that knows to reach for the shrimp paste. It is mild on purpose. The funk is the condiment, a Filipino logic that confuses people who want the stew itself to be salty. Homes argue about oxtail versus cheaper beef, and about whether peanut butter is allowed (it is, in actual kitchens). Rice is mandatory. A vegetable-only version exists for fasting days and should still get the bagoong conversation.
Peanut stews have African and Pampanga stories. The oxtail-and-bagoong plate is the one people mean. Peanut sauces in the archipelago have tangled stories — trade, Pampanga kitchens, possible links to other peanut stews — and none of them need a single founder. Oxtail as the showpiece is a plenty version of a pulse-and-peanut idea. Annatto came through colonial colouring habits. The plate people mean at a party is this one: brown-orange sauce, long-cooked meat, vegetables, bagoong on the side. That ensemble is the history that arrived at the table.
Traditional
Provenance: Editorial adaptation.
Questions about this recipe
Answers taken from this dish's times, amounts, swaps and tips — not a chatbot.
How long does Kare-kare take?
3 hr 25 min all in — 25 min prep, 3 hr cook. Cook and rest follow the method. Leftover storage and optional extra waits are not included.
How many does it serve?
The recipe is written for 6 pots. Scale the ingredient list on the page if you are cooking for a different number.
How hard is it?
A bit of work.
How spicy is it?
No chilli.
What allergens should I watch?
This recipe is labelled for Peanuts, Fish. Labels are informational — check the packets in your kitchen. This is not medical advice.
Does it fit a diet?
The published recipe is labelled Gluten-free, Dairy-free.
What does it cost to cook?
A bit special — about $16–28 USD, as a grocery budget for this recipe, not a restaurant price.
What equipment do I need?
Dutch oven.
How much salt do I put in?
This recipe does not list salt as its own ingredient. Saltiness comes from Fish sauce — 1 tbsp (plus bagoong to serve). Taste at the end rather than adding a number we did not write.
How much fish sauce?
1 tbsp (plus bagoong to serve) of Fish sauce.
What can I use instead?
Oxtail → Beef shin. Less gelatin, still a peanut stew.
Any tips from this recipe?
A pressure cooker does the oxtail in about 45 minutes. Unsweetened peanut butter. A sweet jar makes a dessert.
Can I use an air fryer?
This method is not written for an air fryer. The core technique on the page still applies.
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