It is generally made from a base of stewed oxtail, beef tripe, pork hocks, calves' feet, pig's feet or trotters, various cuts of pork, beef stew meat, and occasionally offal.

[1][2] Variations of kare-kare can be made with seafood, such as prawns, squid, and mussels, or exclusively from vegetables.

[6] The Kapampangan people often have a reputation for cooking to their hearts’ content and coming up with deliciously rich fare.

Its key ingredient, the mani or peanut, was widely transported in it just like corn, also from the Aztec Empire and from a distant land.

Mexico's Costa Pacifica provinces of Jalisco and Guerrero continue to serve Lomo Encacahuatado, practically the same dish.

[7] The fourth story is from Indian sepoys from Southern India that settled in Philippines during the British occupation of Manila.

The vegetables used for kare-kare include young banana flower bud or "heart" (puso ng saging), eggplant, string beans, and Chinese cabbage (pechay).

[9] Kare-kare is often served hot with special bagoong alamang (sauteed salted shrimp paste).