Quarantine Merienda Ideas: Easy Pinoy Recipes To Try At Home

Don't dismiss the importance of the merienda or afternoon meal! Hunger can strike at any time so when it's during those hours in between breakfast, lunch, or dinner, you can turn to these easy merienda recipes that you can make in minutes.

Also read: 5 Pinoy Merienda Recipes to Try Today

Photo by Riell Santos

1 Maruya Recipe

If you love bananas, you know this recipe is a favorite. These easy bananas fritters are saba dipped in a batter, simply fried, and served with a dusting of sugar. The best bananas to use are the saba that are slightly underripe so it emerges tender and naturally sweet.

Bananas aren't the only things you can make into fritters! Try also a coconut version that you can find in the streets of Bacolod. 

Photo by Majoy Siason

2 Banana Turon in Rum Recipe

Turon is a generic word for dessert spring rolls, usually made of bananas rolled in brown sugar and fried until the sugar has caramelized. You can make it the standard way, stuffed with cheese, or make it this way, with a rum syrup that transforms this merienda into the realm of sweet addictiveness.     

Photo by Majoy Siason

3 Corned Beef Potato Balls Recipe 

Potatoes are a classic snack. Potato chips and french fries are just two merienda ideas you may occasionally indulge in. If you are at home, these potato balls should be on your list of favorites. If you have a can of corned beef and some potatoes in the house, these balls are as good as made! 

Photo by Bianca LaxamanaP

4 Patatas Bravas Recipe 

This may be the most flavorful two-ingredient recipe you will ever make! These potatoes are made extra delicious by the chorizo slices oil that it fries it. That's because chorizo and other sausages like it are made extra flavorful from both the different spices and seasonings and the time it takes to cure the links. That garlic mayonnaise on top should also be tripled in volume because you'll want to dip those chunks in it with every bite! 

5 Palitaw Recipe 

Rice flour is a common staple in palengkes since easy kakanin recipes are a popular snack. If you have the chance, grab a bag and make these boiled slips of rice. Known as "palitaw" since these will first sink, then float to the top of the simmering water, or makes "palitaw". That's how you know the pieces are almost ready to be removed from the water and tossed with niyog and dusted with the sugar-sesame seed mix. 

Also read: What's The Difference: Rice Flour Vs. Glutinous Rice Flour Vs. Galapong

Photo by Patrick Martires

6 Ginataang Mais Recipe 

This is one ginataang recipe that you might have missed! If you love ginataang anything, know that this version, using mais or corn kernels, is the easier, simpler version of that loaded halo-halo version. Instead of the soupy mixture that the ginataaang halo-halo is, this version is more like biko but more fluid in that the thickened mixture is made of both rice and sweet corn kernels. The mixture is more like a sweet version of risotto. You can even make this with monggo instead of corn! 

Photo by Toto Labrador

7 Cheese Puto Recipe 

When it comes to merienda, you can't go wrong with puto. This classic kakanin is exactly what you need with merienda. It's a fantastic companion to a bowl of dinuguan or a pancit malabon or eaten on its own with sikwate. You can even make flavored puto recipes easily with the range of extracts and other ingredients available!   

Photo by Riell Santos

8 Minatamis na Saging Recipe 

There are many ways to use this sweetened banana recipe. Minatamis is a classic preparation of saba. Once you learn how to make this, you can make anything that has this as an ingredient, including a tall glass of halo-halo or an icy bowl of the saba and sago. 

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