This recipe is taken from Lalaine Manalo of Kawaling Pinoy, a site she describes as home to “hundreds of delicious Filipino and Asian recipes.” Her Chicken Inasal recipe on kawalingpinoy.com comes with a personal note: she developed a taste for the dish while eating “Mang Inasal pecho with unli rice” during a stretch of time in the Philippines, then had to recreate it herself once she was back home in Texas.
A Bacolod Specialty From Western Visayas
Manalo places the dish squarely in one region: “Chicken Inasal is a popular grilled dish from the Western Visayas region,” associated with Bacolod City in particular, where it’s sold as a specialty by chains like Mang Inasal. What sets it apart from other Filipino grilled chicken is the marinade — a mix of vinegar, calamansi, lemongrass, garlic, ginger, brown sugar, and atsuete (annatto) oil, with “no soy sauce,” notes Manalo, “used.” She adds that some versions swap in Sprite or 7-Up “to add flavor and act as a tenderizer,” though her own recipe sticks to the vinegar-and-citrus base.
The Marinade and the Annatto Oil
The marinade itself is straightforward: 2 stalks of chopped lemongrass, a full head of minced garlic, grated ginger, ½ cup palm vinegar, ¼ cup calamansi juice, ¼ cup brown sugar, 1½ teaspoons salt, and ½ teaspoon pepper, whisked together and poured over two whole quartered chickens. What takes more work is the annatto oil that gives the dish its signature orange color: chicken skin, fat, and trimmings are rendered in a pan, then annatto (atsuete) seeds, crushed garlic, and a bay leaf are cooked in the rendered fat until the oil turns deep orange, then steeped for about an hour and strained. Manalo is careful to note a food-safety point here: “divide the atsuete oil and use half for basting and the other half for serving,” so the portion that touched raw or partially cooked chicken during basting is never served raw over the finished dish.
Skewering and Grilling
The chicken marinates for 2 to 4 hours in the refrigerator — Manalo warns against going past 8 hours, since the vinegar and citrus acid will “denature the proteins and turn the meat mushy” if left too long. Traditionally the quarters are skewered on bamboo sticks for easier handling on the grill. Manalo’s method has the chicken going skin-side up over hot coals, basted regularly with the reserved annatto oil, and grilled for 30 to 40 minutes total, turning once or twice.
A Note on Safe Cooking Temperature
Here the source is worth reading carefully, because it states two different numbers in two places. In her general cooking tips, Manalo writes that “165 F is the safe internal temperature for both dark and white meat” when checked in the thickest part of the chicken away from the bone. But the recipe’s own grilling instructions say to pull the chicken once “a thermometer inserted in the thickest part of chicken registers 160 F.” USDA’s Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart is unambiguous on this point: all poultry, including whole birds and parts, must reach 165°F (73.9°C), with no rest-time allowance the way there is for beef, pork, and lamb. If you’re following this recipe, grill to 165°F/74°C rather than the 160°F given in the method — the extra few degrees is a real safety margin, not a matter of taste.
Serving
Manalo serves the chicken hot with steamed rice, the remaining (unused-for-basting) annatto oil, and either a calamansi-soy dipping sauce or sinamak, a spiced palm vinegar. Before cutting into it, she recommends letting the grilled chicken rest for three to five minutes, writing that this step is “the secret to juicy meat,” since it gives the juices time to redistribute through the meat rather than running out onto the cutting board. Leftovers keep well: refrigerated for up to three days, or frozen for up to two months, then reheated covered in foil in a 350°F oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or on a microwaveable plate under a damp paper towel for 2 to 3 minutes.
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