Halo-halo, also spelled haluhalo, Tagalog for "mixed", is a popular cold dessert in the Philippines made up of crushed ice, evaporated milk or coconut milk, and various ingredients including side dishes such as ube jam (ube halaya), sweetened kidney beans or garbanzo beans, coconut strips, sago, gulaman (agar), pinipig, boiled taro or soft yams in cubes, flan, slices or portions of fruit preserves and other root crop preserves.

In the mid-19th century, the United States imported ice from Wenham Lake to different countries, including India, Australia, and the Philippines.

[7] There is no standard sized set of ingredients for halo-halo as the ingredients can vary widely, but the dessert usually includes sugar palm fruit (kaong), coconut sport (macapuno), saba plantains cooked in syrup (minatamis na saging), jackfruit (langkâ), agar jellies (gulaman), tapioca pearls, nata de coco, sweet potato (kamote), sweetened beans, cheese, pounded toasted young rice (pinipig), and ice cream.

[13] Halo-halo was also featured as a Quickfire Challenge dish season 4, episode 7 of the American reality television series Top Chef.

American contestant Dale Talde prepared the dessert, which featured avocado, mango, kiwifruit, and nuts.

Talde was named one of the top three Quick fire Challenge dishes by guest judge Johnny Iuzzinni of Jean Georges.