Filipino Halo-Halo

History

Halo-halo, whose name literally means “mix-mix” in Tagalog, is an iced dessert made of shaved ice topped with evaporated milk, in which many colorful ingredients are layered: sweet beans, multicolored jellies, candied fruit, sweet corn, flan, and coconut shavings. Its roots trace back to Japanese kakigori (sweetened shaved ice), introduced to the Philippines during the period of Japanese influence in the early 20th century, then gradually enriched with local ingredients.

Halo-halo has become an iconic Filipino dessert, especially popular during the hot season and at family celebrations, where it’s traditionally prepared in large quantities to be shared among several people. Every family and street stall has its own combination of ingredients, so there’s no strictly fixed recipe: the very principle of the dish rests on this generous, personalized accumulation of textures and colors.

Ingredients — for 4 people

• 4 large glasses of shaved ice
• 200 ml (¾ cup) evaporated milk, 100 ml (⅓ cup) sweetened condensed milk
• 100 g (½ cup) sweet red beans (azuki beans)
• Multicolored jellies, sweet corn kernels
• Fruit (jackfruit, candied plantain, mango)
• 1 scoop of ube (purple yam) or vanilla ice cream

Step-by-step Filipino halo-halo recipe

1. Layer a portion of sweet beans, jellies, and sweet corn into each tall glass.
2. Add a layer of fruit (jackfruit, candied plantain, mango pieces).
3. Fill the glass three-quarters full with freshly shaved ice.
4. Pour the evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk generously over the ice.
5. Top with a scoop of ube or vanilla ice cream.
6. Serve immediately with a long spoon, mixing everything together just before eating.

Cooking Method

Technique: no cooking involved — layered assembly of shaved ice and pre-prepared ingredients (sweet beans, jellies, candied fruit).

Traditional equipment: a manual ice shaver or shaved-ice machine, tall clear glasses to show off the layers.

Signs to watch for: mix everything only right before serving, never before, so the shaved ice doesn’t melt prematurely.

Nutrition, per serving

Calculated from the raw ingredient quantities above, divided across four servings.

Most of the calories come from the dairy and sugar layered in, not from the shaved ice itself — evaporated and condensed milk together supply most of the fat and a large share of the carbohydrate, alongside the sweet beans, jellies and ice cream. A bowl assembled with less condensed milk and more plain fresh fruit would sit meaningfully lower on both counts.

Economic context

Halo-halo scales up and down easily with whatever’s on hand — sweet beans, jellies, seasonal fruit, a scoop of ice cream — which is exactly why it works both as an affordable everyday treat during the hot season and as a more generously loaded version for a family celebration, with no fixed, expensive core ingredient dictating its cost.

Source: World Bank / FAO, Food Prices for Nutrition database (Cost and Affordability of a Healthy Diet) v4.0, 2024 data, CC BY 4.0, DOI 10.57966/41AN-KY81. Retrieved 29 July 2026. This figure describes the cost of a healthy diet in the Philippines generally — it is not a costing of this specific recipe.

Who this dish suits

What About You?

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