Chili leaves (sili leaves) substitutes

The most available option and a respectable one. Use flat-leaf or baby spinach, stir it into the finished soup off the heat, and it will wilt in about thirty seconds.

Best for

tinola, chicken binakol, monggo, clear soups, sauteed dishes

Wilts to the same soft silky texture, which is right, but it is milder and distinctly sweeter with none of the faint bitterness chili leaves provide, so the soup tastes rounder and slightly flat where it should have a green edge. A squeeze of calamansi or a few watercress leaves alongside restores some of that lift. Spinach also releases more water and a slight mineral tang.

The closest substitute in role, because malunggay and chili leaves are the two standard greens Filipino cooks reach for in exactly these dishes, often interchangeably. Fresh, or frozen in blocks at Filipino and Indian groceries.

Best for

tinola, monggo, chicken binakol, clear chicken soups, vegetable stews

Similar small tender leaves and a comparable gentle bitterness, so a tinola made with malunggay tastes correct to anyone who grew up with either. It is slightly more mineral and greener-tasting, closer to a young kale in character, and the leaves are smaller so they scatter through the broth rather than forming visible clusters. It cooks even faster than chili leaves, so add it last.

The best flavour match for the bitterness, and worth seeking out if the green edge is what you liked about the original. Add it at the very end and let the residual heat wilt it.

Best for

tinola, clear soups, chicken soups, monggo, sinigang

Gets the mild bitterness right in a way nothing else on this list does, but its pungency is mustard-like and horseradishy rather than the faint pepper-plant aroma of chili leaves, so it reads as sharper and more aggressive. It is also strong enough to dominate, which is why you use about half as much. The stems stay pleasantly crunchy while the leaves collapse.

Already a Filipino soup staple, cheap and stocked everywhere. Use only the leafy green parts, since the white ribs need much longer cooking and belong in a different kind of soup.

Best for

tinola, monggo, misua soup, clear soups, sauteed vegetable dishes

Mild, juicy and clean tasting, with no bitterness at all, so it fills the same space in the bowl without contributing any of the green complexity. The leaves are much larger, so tear them into pieces or the soup looks like it has cabbage in it. A good honest filler that most Filipino households would recognise as a legitimate swap.

Another genuine Filipino cooking green, often sold in bunches at the same shops that would carry chili leaves, and used in the same soups and sours.

Best for

tinola, sinigang, monggo, clear soups, boiled vegetable sides

Similar tenderness and a comparable mild vegetal bitterness, and it holds shape a little better than spinach. The main difference is a faint slipperiness, since the leaves are slightly mucilaginous, which thickens the broth a touch. Some people find that pleasant and some do not, but it is subtle in a soup with rice.

For when the bitterness is the whole reason you wanted chili leaves and spinach feels too tame. Both are widely available and both wilt fast.

Best for

tinola, clear soups, monggo, when you want a pronounced bitter edge

Considerably more pungent and bitter than chili leaves, which are quite gentle, so used in equal quantity they take over the bowl and make a delicate ginger broth taste harsh and peppery. Use half as much, add it off the heat, and taste. Mustard greens in particular develop a sinus-clearing sharpness that has nothing to do with the original.