Get cozy with our Vegan Arroz Caldo (Filipino Rice Porridge)! This savory rice porridge is Filipino comfort food at its best.
Arroz caldo is the Filipino equivalent to American chicken noodle soup. Growing up, Val’s mom prepared a piping hot bowl of this nourishing porridge as an antidote to the sniffles. Arroz Caldo is traditionally made with chicken, but we use tofu as the protein in our vegan version. In addition, my mom’s receipe uses a combination of jasmine and glutinous rice. Eat it for breakfast, lunch or dinner, and sniffles begone!
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🇵🇭 WHAT IS ARROZ CALDO?
Arroz caldo is a type of lugaw. Lugaw is a Tagalog umbrella term for glutinous rice-based porridges. There are both savory and sweet porridges in Filipino cuisine, and arroz caldo is probably the most popular of the savory variety. Try our champorado (Filipino chocolate rice porridge) recipe if you’re interested in sampling a sweet lugaw.
What’s in arroz caldo? You’ll find chicken as well as aromatics like onion, garlic, and a ton of ginger in arroz caldo. The rice is cooked down in liquid to the point that the individual rice grains break down, resulting in a porridge-like consistency. Toppings include fried garlic, green onions, hard-boiled egg, and even chicharron. However, a squeeze of citrus is mandatory! Calamansi (Filipino lemon) is the citrus of choice, but you can also use ordinary lemons instead.
Chinese roots with a Spanish name. Arroz caldo (and lugaw in general) likely came to the Philippines by way of Chinese migrants. In essence, Filipino rice porridges are an offshoot of congee (Chinese rice porridge)—a dish enjoyed throughout Asia. So what’s the deal with the Spanish-sounding name? Well, the Philippines spent over three centuries under Spanish colonial rule. But apparently, 300+ years wasn’t enough time for the Spanish to learn culinary terminology, so they made up their own name for their favorite of lugaw. Hence, arroz caldo literally translates to “hot rice” in Spanish.
💛WHAT MAKES ARROZ CALDO YELLOW?
You can spot a bowl of arroz caldo among other bowls of lugaw from its yellow tint. Many believe that the Spanish added a pinch of their saffron to the dish for a hint of flavor and color. But as we all know, saffron is crazy is expensive. Filipinos opted for a cheaper coloring agent: dried safflower petals (known as kasubha in the Philippines), which look a bit like saffron.
We tried adding saffron to our arroz caldo but found its flavor overpowering, to be honest. As for safflower, my mom had trouble finding it when I was growing up, so she uses a pinch of turmeric instead. Not only is turmeric easy to find, it’s cheap, and its earthy flavor complements the ginger-infused arroz caldo broth. Plus, it boasts incredible anti-inflammatory properties. Win win!
📝 INGREDIENTS
- Neutral oil: to cook our tofu and aromatics.
- Fried garlic: a crunchy topping for our arroz caldo.
- Extra firm tofu: a protein-packed substitute for chicken.
- Low sodium soy sauce: to season both the tofu and arroz caldo broth. My mom prefers the low sodium variety because it gives her better control over the salt content in this dish.
- Onion and ginger: the classic aromatics in arroz caldo.
- Glutinous rice and jasmine rice: form the base of our rice porridge.
- Water: to cook down our rice.
- Vegetable bouillon: to add umami to our broth.
- Turmeric: to season and add the characteristic yellow tint to our arroz caldo.
- Salt and freshly cracked black pepper: to season our arroz caldo.
- Green onions and calamansi or lemon wedges: to garnish our arroz caldo.
🔪 STEP-BY-STEP INSTRUCTIONS
***Check out the recipe video we made below!***
- Fry the garlic topping and set aside.
- Pan-fry the tofu.
- Cook the aromatics (onion, ginger, and garlic).
- Cook the rice in water seasoned with vegetable bouillon, turmeric and soy sauce. Bring to a boil and reduce to simmer for 35-40 minutes, or until the rice grains have broken down and the broth has thickened. Stir in tofu and season with salt and pepper.
- Top with green onions, fried garlic and serve with calamansi or lemon wedges. Enjoy!
❤️ YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE BECAUSE IT’S:
- Nourishing
- Aromatic
- Hearty
- A simple one-pot dish
💡RECIPE TIPS
- Storage: Your arroz caldo can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- Reheating: The rice grains will absorb the broth over time, so you will need to reheat your arroz caldo in a sauce pan with extra water and adjust the seasonings accordingly.
- Rice alternatives: Glutinous rice will give your arroz caldo a thicker, silkier texture. But if you don’t have glutinous rice on hand, using just jasmine rice works just fine.
- Yellow coloring agents: To give your arroz caldo its characteristic yellow hue, you can use safflower, saffron or turmeric. Safflower can be tricky to find, and we find saffron overpowering (not to mention expensive 💰), so we use turmeric instead. Not only is turmeric easy to find, it’s cheap, and its earthy flavor complements the ginger-infused arroz caldo broth.
Love,
Val
DID YOU MAKE OUR VEGAN ARROZ CALDO (FILIPINO RICE PORRIDGE)?
Did you make this recipe? We’d love to hear about it! Please comment and leave a 5-star🌟 rating below. Share your dish with us on Instagram and tag us @plantbased.passport. We would love to seeing your delicious creations! Still hungry? Follow us on Instagram, YouTube, TikTok, and Pinterest for more global vegan recipes and travel tips!🍴✈️
💕 MORE FILIPINO RECIPES YOU’LL LOVE
👩🏽🍳 RECIPE
VEGAN ARROZ CALDO (FILIPINO RICE PORRIDGE)
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoon plus 1 tablespoon neutral oil, divided
- 10 garlic cloves sliced thinly, plus 5 garlic cloves (minced), divided
- 1 14-oz package of extra firm tofu
- ¼ cup low sodium soy sauce divided
- 1 medium onion chopped
- 3 tablespoon ginger minced
- ½ cup of glutinous rice
- ½ cup of white jasmine rice
- 9 ½ cups water or as needed
- 2 vegetable bouillon cubes
- ¼ teaspoon turmeric
- 1 teaspoon salt or as needed
- ½ teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper or as needed
To serve:
- Sliced green onions to garnish
- Calamansi (aka Filipino lemon) or lemon wedges
Instructions
- Fry the garlic topping: In a pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add sliced garlic and fry until golden brown and crisp, about 2-3 minutes. Transfer fried garlic to a paper towel to drain.
- Cook the tofu: Add tofu to the pot and pour over 2 tablespoon soy sauce. Pan-fry until golden brown. Set aside.
- Cook the aromatics: Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to pot. Add onion and ginger and cook until onions are golden brown, about 7 minutes. Add minced garlic and cook 1-2 minutes, or until fragrant.
- Cook the rice: Add the glutinous and jasmine rices, water, vegetable bouillon, turmeric and remaining 2 tablespoon soy sauce and stir to combine. Cover and bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook for 35-40 minutes, or until the rice grains have expanded and have begun to break down, the broth has thickened, and a porridge-like texture is achieved. Season with salt and pepper and stir in tofu. The porridge will thicken over time, so adjust water and seasoning as needed.
- Serve the arroz caldo: Top with green onions and fried sliced garlic and serve with calamansi or lemon wedges. Enjoy!
Notes
- Storage: Your arroz caldo can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week.
- Reheating: The rice grains will absorb the broth over time, so you will need to reheat your arroz caldo in a sauce pan with extra water and adjust the seasonings accordingly.
- Rice alternatives: Glutinous rice will give your arroz caldo a thicker, silkier texture. But if you don’t have glutinous rice on hand, using just jasmine rice works just fine.
- Yellow coloring agents: To give your arroz caldo its characteristic yellow hue, you can use safflower, saffron or turmeric. Safflower can be tricky to find, and we find saffron overpowering (not to mention expensive 💰), so we use turmeric instead. Not only is turmeric easy to find, it’s cheap, and its earthy flavor complements the ginger-infused arroz caldo broth.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. I’d been looking for a good vegan arroz caldo recipe!
My first time seeing a vegan arroz caldo. This looks insanely good!
Gimme all that ginger.
Can I use vegetable broth and bypass water and vegetable bouillon? Thanks!
That would work!