Ube halaya (or ube jam) is a thick, sweet Filipino dessert made from boiled, mashed purple yam cooked with coconut milk, condensed milk, and butter until smooth and glossy. It can be eaten on its own, spread on bread, or used as a base for other desserts like ube ice cream.
A short history
Ube halaya has been part of Filipino home cooking for generations, traditionally prepared for fiestas, Christmas, and special family gatherings. The word "halaya" is derived from the Spanish jalea (jam), a legacy of the Philippines' colonial-era food vocabulary, even though the dish itself is distinctly Filipino.
What goes into it
- Boiled and mashed ube (fresh, frozen, or from ube powder)
- Coconut milk — see why the pairing matters on our ube and coconut page
- Condensed milk and/or evaporated milk
- Butter, and sometimes a bit of vanilla
The mixture is cooked slowly in a wide pan, stirred continuously until it pulls away from the sides — a process similar to making a fruit curd. The result should taste like the sensory profile described in our ube taste and flavor guide: sweet, nutty, and faintly vanilla.
How to serve ube halaya
It's traditionally served chilled, topped with a bit of extra coconut cream or cheese (a popular local combination), or used as the purple layer in halo-halo, a Filipino shaved-ice dessert. It's also the classic base ingredient for ube ice cream and countless cakes.
Making it yourself
If you're starting from the raw root rather than a jar, begin with our how to cook ube guide to get the boiling and mashing steps right before adding the coconut milk and sugar.
