Skinless Longganisa with a delicious medley of sweet, savory, and garlicky flavors you’ll love. Serve these Filipino pork sausages with garlic fried rice and sunny side eggs for a hearty and tasty breakfast meal!
My daughter is coming down from Northern California this weekend to visit, so I thought I would prepare her favorite skinless longganisa and have a few packs ready for her to bring back home.
Unfortunately, she didn’t take after me the love for cooking, and now that she lives miles away, she mostly dines out or orders in. I am sure having these Filipino sausages in the freezer will come in handy when she’s craving a quick and easy home-cooked meal.
And since I was making them anyway, I thought I might as well take a few in-process photos and update this post I first published in 2013. I hope you find the tips helpful.
What is Skinless Longganisa?
Skinless longganisa is a version of the native Filipino sausage usually made of ground pork, garlic, and spices. However, instead of stuffing into hog casings, the pork mixture is wrapped in wax paper or plastic film to maintain shape.
Its taste is mostly sweet and garlicky like hamonado but “hot” varieties are also common with added copious amounts of ground pepper.
How Do You Make Skinless Longganisa
Skinless longganisa are so easy to make, you’ll have a big batch ready in a cinch. It’s just a matter of mixing the ground pork, minced garlic, brown sugar, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a bowl until fully incorporated.
- Good sausage needs fat as well as lean meat for flavor and juiciness. You can add 1/2 pound of ground pork fat to 1 1/2 pounds of lean ground pork or you can’t find pork fat, use 2 pounds of ground pork with good fat marbling.
- I don’t usually use extenders or binders such as flour or breadcrumbs, but I recently learned a “magic” ingredient that keeps the longanisa super moist and tender and that is corn starch! Dissolve the 2 tablespoons of corn starch in 3 to 4 tablespoons water and add to the pork. Chill the meat mixture for about 30 minutes before shaping and wrapping. The corn starch slurry will act as a tenderizer, much like in velveting, and will keep the sausages soft and juicy.
- Want variety? Swap ground chicken or ground beef for the pork!
- The most time-consuming part of the preparation, in my opinion, is shaping the pork sausage into thin logs and wrapping in wax paper. Cut the paper in even lengths and use as a guideline when forming the longganisa for uniform sizes.
- If you want to skip the tedious individual wrapping, spread the longanisa mixture into about a 1/2-inch thick layer on a sheet of wax paper, cut into sizes with a knife or a pizza cutter, and then place another wax paper sheet on top of the mixture to cover.
Arrange the wrapped sausages in resealable bags and they should keep in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days or in the freezer for 1 to 2 months. I suggest labeling the bag or container with the packing date so you’ll know until when they’ll be good for.
How to Cook Longganisa
You can thaw the pork longganisa for a few hours or cook frozen.
- Peel the wrapper and in a wide pan, arrange the sausage in a single layer. Add about 1/2 cup of water to cover them halfway.
- Over medium heat, bring to simmer and cover. Cook until most of the liquid is reduced and pork is cooked through.
- Add about 1 to 2 tablespoons of oil and continue to cook, uncovered and stirring regularly, until lightly browned and caramelized.
Serve these sweet sausages with garlic fried rice and sunny side up eggs for a classic Filipino breakfast called Longsilog.
I love this hearty meal with a side of chopped tomatoes for a pop of fresh flavor but spiced vinegar dip is also a traditional accompaniment. My pickled atchara will be delicious here, too!
Ingredients
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 head garlic, peeled and minced
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon vinegar
- 1 tablespoon salt
- 2 teaspoons ground black pepper
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon canola oil
Equipment
Instructions
- In a bowl, combine ground pork, ground pork fat, sugar, garlic, soy sauce, vinegar, salt, and pepper.
- Add cornstarch. Mix until well-distributed.
- On an individual sheet of plastic film or wax paper, spoon about a heaping tablespoon of pork mixture and form into a log. Roll and wrap tightly.
- Repeat until all the mixture is shaped and wrapped. Arrange sausages in a ziplock bag or airtight container and freeze.
- To cook, remove wax paper. In a wide pan over medium heat, arrange skinless longganisa in a single layer and add enough water to cover sausages halfway.
- Bring to a simmer, cover, and cook until most of the water is reduced and sausages are cooked through.
- Add the oil and cook, turning as needed, until longganisa are lightly browned and caramelized.
- Remove from pan and serve hot.
Notes
Video
Nutrition Information
“This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.”
Cleo says
Thank you for sharing this recipe. Very easy to make. My husband really like it and it’s also my best selling! Now I’m okay to have it for our breakfast or even for dinner! Love it!
Lhita says
Evrytime i make this recipe, my family enjoy it, your skinless longganisa is number one in our family. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. God bless.
Elizabeth Sales says
I love your recipes , thanks for sharing them.
Marina Gojkovich says
Easy recipe! Thanks . Living overseas limits our cooking time, with this recipe I can indulge myself with cooking one of our native dish. Thanks again🤗🤗
Lalaine Manalo says
You’re welcome 🙂
Karein says
Best seller sakin to.. 😋🤤 thank you for sharing.
Lalaine Manalo says
You’re3 welcome. 🙂
Kaye Estaris says
Hi Ate Lalaine, the recipe looks delicious! I just want to ask if I can leave out the cornstarch. Or can I use flour or egg white cos that’s the ones I have on hand?
Lalaine Manalo says
You can leave the cornstarch out if you like. Please don’t use eggs or flour, I use the cornstarch in the recipe not as binder but to keep the longganisa juicy and tender.
Edna says
Thank you so much for sharing, was so excited
Edna says
Very good recipe, now I can eat longganisa anytime I want and it’s homemade. So yummy 🥰🥰🥰👍👍👍….. I really can’t believe I made my own longganisa….sssoooo happy 😁😁
Lalaine Manalo says
Yay! I am glad you enjoyed the recipe 🙂
Faith says
Hi! Thank you for sharing this recipe. I already tried some longganisa recipe in other sites and those recipes can’t satisfy my tastes. Hopefully your recipe is the one that i’ve been looking for. I already tried the recipe of your baked macaroons and it was so delicious, i’m sure that this recipe is also 100% delicious. I’ll give it a try soon and hopefully i could post it here.
Lalaine Manalo says
Oh my, the pressure 🙂 I hope you like it!
LuiGurl says
Taste is just perfect. Thank you so much for sharing! ❤️
Lalaine says
Thank you for the feedback. I am glad you liked the recipe 🙂
Elenor says
My kids love it. Simple and easy to make recipe. Thank u.
Lalaine Manalo says
I’m glad your kids liked it, Elenor!
Luzviminda says
Hi Lalaine this is a very good recipe. But lately I haven’t receive any recipe from you .what happened? Hope to hear from you again. Minda O
Lalaine says
Hello Luzviminda,
Thank you so much for checking in. I really appreciate it. 🙂
I am sorry I haven’t been posting regularly. I was in the middle of launching another blog and I was kind of over my head with the work involved. I do have a few recipes I will be posting so I hope you check them out 🙂
Thanks again!
Girlie says
Hi Lalaine,
Thanks a lot for sharing your recipe. My kids love it so much.
Regards, Girlie
Lalaine says
You’re welcome. The kids are the best critics, I am glad they like them 🙂
Marnelli Dizon says
Hello po gumawa po ako ng longganisa pero bakit po hilaw po yong garlic sa loob niluto ko naman ng maayos.nilagyan ko ng tubig at pirito ko..hilaw talaga yong garlic?anong dapat gawin?
Lalaine Manalo says
Hindi po hilaw ang garlic, dahil maluluto naman pag pinakuluan. Hindi lang magbro-brown yung mga nasa loob nang longganisa dahil they come in contact sa oil or pan. Para hindi niyo po mapansin, make sure to minced yung garlic para talagang maliit sila.
erica says
yung measurement ng brown sugar – kelangan ba packed (like in baking) or not necessarily? thanks.
Lalaine says
Hi Erica,
No, hindi packed 🙂
Alka Talwar says
Mmmmmm…..yum. This looks totally amazing. I’m just starring at the screen looking at how delicious they look.
Lalaine says
Thank you! I hope you give the recipe a try 🙂