Kitchen

What Makes The Perfect Halo-Halo?

by Kevyn Gohu
April 14, 2025

As the heat worsens, an ice-cold Halo-Halo doesn’t sound like a bad idea at all!

Ever want something sweet but not entirely sure what it is? That’s what the Halo-Halo is: a mix of different textures and the perfect answer to our family’s (or even our own) undecided sweet tooth! But not everyone likes the beloved Filipino classic chiller for being a mix of everything. Some like it for the leche flan, the milk, the ube, the gulaman, the langka, and some even like it for the crispy pinipig.

So, if we’re planning to make one to beat the Philippines’ heat at home, here are some tips that can make a halo-halo more enjoyable:

As the heat worsens, an ice-cold Halo-Halo doesn't sound like a bad idea at all!

Ube Jam

Unfortunately, not all of us can take in dairy. So, ube jam may just be the way to go! Ube, despite not being milky, offers a creamy and mildly sweet texture. The best part is that diabetics can enjoy it because ube doesn’t spike blood sugar too badly. Some people even make the ube jam from scratch, removing condensed milk and evaporated milk while adding more coconut milk and stevia instead.

Plus, there’s no need to leave it out for it to defrost. No halo-halo is worth wrestling with a rock-hard tub of ice cream.

Thinly shaved ice

The biggest frustration of eating halo-halo is finding out that the ice is still solid and big that we have to chip it away with those long, skinny teaspoons. Not only does it take too much effort, but when we do wait for it to melt, it becomes a drink. Which, let’s be honest, kind of defeats the purpose of it being a cooler.

What some parents do is they get a grater or a zester and they shave the ice against it. That way, it doesn’t offer so much resistance when we start mixing our halo-halo.

A tall, wide-mouthed glass

Eating halo-halo can be a messy affair, especially in the hands of the kids or when the glasses are too narrow. Plus, we won’t get all the good ingredients inside since the ice will take up all the space! At least with a wide-mouthed glass, it won’t spill as much when we grind or mix the halo-halo.

Play around with the ratios

Usually, halo-halo is just a cooler wherein we dump everything in. But no halo-halo experience is the same, especially when we don’t have exact ratios. Some people just like more ube in their halo-halo. Others would load more coconut milk and meat inside. Then, there are those with an extreme sweet tooth who would put a whole leche flan in it. At the end of the day, the beauty of the classic Filipino cooler lies in how we mix it.

Try different ingredients

Usually, a halo-halo is made of the following ingredients: coconut meat, gulaman or a variety of flavored jellies, sweetened beans, langka, pinipig, and leche-flan. It perfectly describes what it means: halo-halo, which means “to mix.”

Because of the concept of halo-halo, we have other coolers like Buko Pandan, Mais Con Yielo, and others. While the classic will always have its charm, some stores that sell halo-halo have actually tried to work around how other provinces in the Philippines would enjoy it. They would add beans, change the langka into banana, or even add cheese to add a contrasting saltiness!

If gulaman took too long to make, then some kids would just cut up some jellyace. It’s cheaper, sold in bulk, and comes in different flavors, too!

Halo-Halo: The Philippines’ Signature Cooler

We may have a lot of cold drinks, but halo-halo hits differently with its multiple textures and sweetness levels. The best part is, most Filipino restaurants have it. They’ll have different interpretations, however. Some will add ube ice cream instead of the typical ube halaya, others will use cornflakes instead of pinipig. But the most important part of any halo-halo is that the ingredients should be mixed and it’s cold enough to beat the heat!

Or, if we can’t make it at home, Filipino restaurants like Kuya-J’s has a new selection of Halo-Halo concoctions we can try.