Dish guide · 2026-08-20

Chicken Inasal: Why This Filipino Grilled Chicken Turns Orange

Chicken inasal is chicken marinated in calamansi, vinegar, garlic, ginger and lemongrass, then grilled while being basted with annatto oil, which is what makes it orange. On our menu it is the row called Grilled Chicken, Filipino style.

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Chicken inasal is a grilled chicken dish from Bacolod in Negros Occidental, marinated in calamansi juice, cane vinegar, garlic, ginger and lemongrass, then grilled while being repeatedly brushed with annatto oil. The annatto is why it comes off the fire orange rather than brown, and the marinade is why it tastes sour and aromatic rather than smoky-sweet like most grilled chicken. At Pinoy Tambayan in Al Barsha 1, Dubai, it is on the menu as Grilled Chicken, Filipino style, in whole and half portions, and it carries the client's own printed best seller mark.

Inasal is not a synonym for grilled

In Hiligaynon, the language of Western Visayas, inasal simply means roasted or grilled. But when a Filipino says inasal without qualification, they mean the Bacolod version specifically, and the distinction is worth holding onto because it is the reason people search for it by name instead of ordering grilled chicken anywhere. Three things make it inasal rather than barbecue: an acidic marinade built on calamansi and vinegar instead of a sweet soy one, aromatics that lean on lemongrass and ginger, and the annatto oil basting that goes on during the grilling rather than a glaze brushed on at the end. Take any one of those away and you have grilled chicken that happens to be Filipino.

Where the orange comes from, and what it is not

Annatto, atsuete in Filipino, is the seed of the achiote tree. Steeped in warm oil it releases a strong orange pigment and very little flavour, which is exactly what a basting liquid needs to do: colour the skin and keep it from drying over the coals without competing with the marinade underneath. It is a colouring, not a chilli, so the orange tells you nothing about heat. Many kitchens melt margarine or butter into the annatto oil, which adds richness and helps the skin take on colour faster. The leftover basting oil, called chicken oil, is poured over rice at the table, and for a lot of people that spoonful of orange oil on white rice is the point of ordering inasal at all.

The marinade, ingredient by ingredient

• Calamansi: a small, intensely fragrant citrus that is sharper and more floral than lime. It tenderises and perfumes at the same time.
• Cane or coconut vinegar: carries the acidity deeper into the meat than citrus alone and keeps the flesh firm rather than mushy.
• Lemongrass, tanglad: bruised and often stuffed into the cavity or tied to the skewer, so the aroma steams into the meat from the inside as it grills.
• Ginger and garlic: the aromatic base, cutting through what would otherwise read as a plain sour marinade.
• Salt and pepper, and in many versions a little sugar to help the skin colour. Soy sauce is optional and the versions that skip it stay paler and sharper.

Bacolod, Negros and why this dish has a home town

Inasal is associated with Bacolod City so strongly that the city has a district of inasal stalls known as Manokan Country, where the entire trade is grilled chicken, rice and vinegar. Negros Occidental is sugar country, and the food of the island reads accordingly: a marinade that balances a sour base against a touch of sweetness, grilled fast over charcoal rather than slow roasted. The dish went national through chains and migration, and it is now one of the few regional Philippine specialities that a Filipino from any province will order without hesitation. That regional specificity is why it belongs in a guide at all: it is not generic, and people who grew up near it can tell immediately whether the marinade was done properly.

Ordering it here: the menu row to look for

The dish appears on the printed menu as Grilled Chicken, Filipino style, with a note that it is also known as inasal, and it comes in a whole and a half portion. Chicken Pinaputok, the stuffed grilled chicken in the same section, is the other charcoal-adjacent option and a good comparison order if you want to taste what the inasal marinade is actually doing.

The parts have names, and Filipinos order by them

In Bacolod you do not order chicken, you order a part, and each has its own following. Paa is the leg quarter, the default and the most forgiving because dark meat survives a grill. Pecho is the breast, leaner and the one most likely to dry if the basting was lazy. Pakpak is the wing. Baticolon is the gizzard, chewy and skewered in batches. Atay is the liver, soft and quick to overcook. Isol is the tail, the piece with the highest fat content and a cult following that outsiders find hard to believe until they try one. Knowing the vocabulary changes the conversation at the counter, even where the menu is written in English.

Sawsawan, chicken oil and the rice ritual

Inasal is not finished when it reaches the table. Standard practice is to mix your own dip in a small saucer: vinegar, soy sauce, calamansi and crushed chilli, in whatever ratio you like, sometimes with a spoon of the annatto chicken oil stirred in. Then the rice gets a drizzle of that oil, and you eat alternating between the sour dip and the rich rice. It is the same table-finishes-the-seasoning pattern that runs through this cuisine, and it is the reason kare kare arrives tasting mild as well. Garlic rice takes the chicken oil better than plain rice does, which is worth the small upgrade.

Eating it properly

• Use your hands. Grilled chicken on the bone is the clearest case for kamayan there is, and our guide to eating with your hands covers the mechanics.
• Mix the dip before the chicken arrives, so it is ready while the skin is still hot and crisp.
• Pour the chicken oil over the rice, not over the chicken. The chicken already has it.
• Order a half portion if you are one person eating other dishes too, and a whole if the table is sharing.
• For delivery, eat the skin first. Crisp skin is the part that does not travel, and there is no trick that fixes it once it has steamed in a box.
• Finish with something cold. Halo halo after a plate of grilled chicken is the standard order in that sequence, not a novelty pairing.

Inasal for a crowd

Grilled chicken is one of the easiest dishes to scale for a group, because it is portioned by the piece rather than ladled, everyone recognises it, and it needs no explanation to a guest who has never eaten Filipino food. That makes it a common anchor in a catering spread for thirty people and up, usually alongside a noodle dish and something with sauce.

It also sits well next to the shared-platter format: if you are already looking at a boodle fight for a group, grilled chicken is one of the components people reach for first.

If you have never eaten Filipino food

Inasal is close to a risk-free first order. There is nothing structurally unfamiliar about it, the flavours are sour and aromatic rather than pungent, and it comes with rice. The one thing worth knowing in advance is that it is not sweet: anyone expecting the sticky sweetness of Filipino pork barbecue skewers will find this sharper and more savoury. If you would rather plan a whole first order, we set out five things worth ordering on a first visit.

Chicken inasal questions we get asked

We are opposite Dubai International Academy in Al Barsha 1, open 8:00 AM to 1:00 AM every day, rated 4.5 on Google. Ask for the grilled chicken, then ask for the oil over your rice.