I’ve been using Clara Olé products since 2009 or 2010. For nearly two decades now, whenever I’m choosing products in the market, they’ve always been the most affordable option for dips, pasta sauces, and yes, my favorite holy grails: their Pesto Sauce and Bechamel Sauce.
Their Bechamel has been a staple in our household because it’s just so good and, like all of their products, doesn’t feel overly commercial at all. I can easily make my own bechamel sauce from scratch. However, for some reason, whenever I do, like when I make sautéed salmon in cream or broccoli in cream sauce, my mom gets cloyed (masum-ol) after just a few bites. My sister loves my homemade version, so maybe I just don’t balance the milk or heavy cream properly for my mother’s taste. But I am not kidding you at all: when I use Clara Olé’s Bechamel sauce instead, my mom eats the dish with full gusto! It hits that exact sweet spot for cream dishes that heavy scratch cooking just can’t duplicate.
So when I attended Clara Olé’s media event a while ago at The Fat Cow Restaurant right here in Davao, I was genuinely excited to see what else they had up their sleeves.
Clara Olé officially introduced eitght new products, their four new Cake Spreads: Cinnamon Cream Cheese, Black Forest, Peach Mango, and Strawberries & Cream. New Sauces: Aligue Sauce, Paella Sauce, Ginger & Garlic Sauce, and Tomato Guisado Sauce.
What’s great about Clara Olé is that the team behind it is deeply passionate about food, health, and creating practical solutions for Filipinos. Me and Jas from eatsmejax got to interview them for a bit. Ms. Sandy Cu, Clara Olé’s Product & Business Development Head, explained that that they really research consumer pain points. People always want good, real food, but they also want convenience and a way to shorten cooking tim, especially busy people who still want to maintain real food quality.
Time saved is money saved, especially when you don’t have to build complex bases from scratch anymore. Their sauces are made from real food where you can actually sense the chunks, and even the simple inclusion of oil inside the sauce jar helps home cooks save up on extra cooking oil.
Plus, Ms. Hazel Mamisay, Clara Olé’s Innovation and Renovation Manager, said that they wanted to introduce something truly innovative with their four new cake spreads. Black Forest, for instance, is a classic cake flavor present in almost every cake shop imaginable, yet no one had ever created a dedicated Black Forest spread. Putting that flavor conveniently in a jar allows everyday home cooks and bakers to effortlessly level up their menu.
Chef Patrick Co’s Demo:
We were treated to a live cooking demo by Chef Patrick Co, who showed us how to make four fast, incredible dishes using the new releases alongside Clara Olé new sauces and staples like their Bechamel, Asian Dips & Dressings, and Crab Flavor Pasta Sauce.
Chef Patrick made it clear from the start: he cannot, and will not just promote any product he isn’t 100% confident in, or else he’d ruin his reputation as a chef and damage his three restaurants. He revealed that long before Clara Olé approached him for this demo, he was already using their products in his kitchens.
He also emphasized how crucial it is to save money in today’s economy with rising inflation. And that hit me. I’ll admit it: I tend to waste a lot of condiments, especially garlic and onions. Not because I throw them away, but because I use a lot of then out of an insecure fear that my food won’t taste good if I don’t overload it. But seeing Chef Patrick work with these sauces, especially the Ginger & Garlic Sauce, gave me full confidence that I can streamline my prep, stop wasting produce, and get even better flavor.
Here is the exact menu Chef Patrick created for us:
Seafood Paella Davao Style Arborio rice, seafood-rich stock, shrimp, squid, and white clams sautéed in butter and Clara Olé Ginger & Garlic Sauce.
I’ve tried cooking paella before, specifically Paella Negra, and it took me forever. Chef Patrick cooked his Davao-style seafood paella in a fraction of the time. His technique? Cook the Arborio rice directly with the Clara Olé Paella Sauce mixed with water (one part rice). That’s it! What’s awesome is that you don’t need a mountain of condiments: no chopped garlic, no onions, salt, pepper, or extra sugar. He simply used the Paella Sauce, Ginger & Garlic Sauce, Aligue Sauce, threw in the fresh seafood, and it turned out insanely delicious.
Grilled Big Eye Tuna Panga Marinated and glazed with Ginger & Garlic Sauce, served with papaya atsara.
Again, zero extra condiments were added. Chef Patrick grilled the tuna panga using only the Ginger & Garlic Sauce, balancing the rich taste with just a splash of soy sauce and fresh lemon.
Grilled Sweet Soy Chicken Barbecue & Garlic Fried Rice Chicken marinated in Clara Olé Tomato Guisado Sauce, served with fried rice tossed in Ginger & Garlic Sauce and topped with fresh spring onions.
No complex spice rubs or heavy aromatics needed. The Tomato Guisado gave the barbecue a rich, caramelized glaze.
Creamy Aligue Pasta with Crispy Tuna & Garlic Pasta coated in Clara Olé Aligue Sauce, Clara Olé Bechamel, and Ginger & Garlic Sauce.
Along with the Paella, this dish was my favorite! Chef Patrick shared a golden rule that I’m taking straight to my own kitchen: always sauté your jarred or canned sauces first to bring out their oils and aromatics before tossing everything together.
Endless Possibilities for the Filipino Pocket
I’m truly thankful for Clara Olé. As a home cook, their line of affordable sauces and dips has allowed me to experiment with dishes fused with Filipino, along with European and other Asian influences without breaking the bank. Without a homegrown brand making these essentials accessible, I’d probably have to pass on buying expensive imported alternatives altogether.
Their new products undergo rigorous testing to ensure consistent quality and taste, making them also helpful for commercial restaurateurs managing kitchen costs as they are for everyday home cooks.
As Chef Patrick Co put it, the possibilities are endless with Clara Olé. They’ve already promised to release even more new products by next year, and I can hardly wait!
This article was written for NePushii and was originally published on November 10, 2026. A canonical link is used in this post to avoid duplicate content issues with Google indexing.
NeP-C Ledesma is a millennial writer and entrepreneur full of curiosity about our abstract world. She devours Psychology, food, Philosophy, and prefer cats as her all-time company. Pop Culture is her kryptonite.