30+ most popular, must-try & best street foods in Thailand

January 21, 2025

Traveling to Thailand means filling your hungry stomach with “superb” dishes. It is undeniable that the rich Thai street food is a huge plus for the Land of Golden Temples. Now, let’s check out the list of 30+ most popular, must try street food in Thailand and best street foods in Thailand below!

A grilled fish stall on a boat at Taling Chan Floating Market | best street foods in Thailand

Pad Thai, must eat in Thailand | best street foods in Thailand

Thai street food has long become a typical cultural feature of this country. Interestingly, no matter how complicated the recipe is, you can still find it everywhere on the streets, at small carts or street vendors. Thai cuisine in general is famous for its spicy food, but also has a combination of sweet, sour, and salty flavors; and from there, Thai people have created hundreds of street foods that delight food lovers all over the world. Let’s start the journey to discover Thai culinary culture through the most attractive street foods.

Khao Soi | best street foods in Thailand

Jae Oh (Bib Gourmand , thai street food michelin star, michelin star bangkok street food (1) — Tom Yum || best street foods in Thailand

Son Tam – Spicy and Sour Salad Son Tam (#best street foods in Thailand)

Som Tam is a green papaya salad. The dish originated from the Isan region (Laos and Northeastern Thailand). With its crunchy, sweet, spicy, and sour taste, Som Tam is a refreshing dish for summer menus. The sauce mixture from fish sauce, shrimp paste and tomatoes, combined with raw green beans, roasted peanuts, and dried shrimp will add a rich flavor.

Laab – Thai Minced Meat Salad

LARB PLA DUK (CATFISH SALAD ลาบปลาดุก) | best street foods in Thailand

Laab or Larb is a minced meat salad marinated with fresh herbs, a typical dish of Laos and Northern Thailand. The meat can be pork, chicken, duck, buffalo, beef, or fish. The spices, herbs, and meat types may vary depending on the region, but coriander, green onions, and lots of mint are indispensable. This dish is often served with sticky rice, which is very delicious.

Jok

@sbs.com.au | best street foods in Thailand

Jok is a porridge dish that is commonly served in Thai breakfasts. The secret to this delicious dish is the rich broth, adding minced pork, chives, onions, cilantro, fried garlic, ginger and lemon to complete the dish. Starting the day with a bowl of porridge like this is both healthy and delicious.

Pad Thai – Thai Fried Noodles

Pad Thai | credit: klook.com | best street foods in Thailand

Pad Thai is an extremely famous stir-fried dish in Thai cuisine and is suitable for the taste of many people around the world. Pad Thai is a perfect combination of rice noodles or vermicelli, stir-fried with eggs and tofu, seasoned with a sweet and sour sauce made from tamarind, fish sauce, dried shrimp… very rich. This dish is often served with bean sprouts, lemon slices and roasted peanuts. Some places also add fresh shrimp, chicken or pork.

Street Food in Bangkok - Awesome PAD THAI and Instant Noodles on Petchaburi Soi 5! — Street Food in Bangkok – Awesome PAD THAI and Instant Noodles on Petchaburi Soi 5! | best street foods in Thailand

Are you curious about how to prepare the “famous” Pad Thai of the Golden Temple country? Experience it right at the Go Thai cooking class to learn all about the “secret” recipe of this dish.

Pad See Ew

If you don’t like spicy food but still like stir-fried rice noodles, you can try Pad See Ew. Unlike Pad Thai, Pad See Ew is made with a larger rice noodle and has a recipe similar to Chinese stir-fried noodles when using dark soy sauce as the main sauce. This dish is also served with chicken or pork and fried eggs, combined with tofu and broccoli.

Kuay Teow Neua – Beef Noodle Soup

Although beef is not a common ingredient in Thai cuisine, Kuay Teow Neua beef noodle soup is quite impressive. The big secret lies in the broth made from beef bones and vegetables. There are two types of broth: cloudy and clear, you should eat cloudy broth to feel the fat of the meat and the characteristic aroma of herbs.

Ba Mee Kiew – Thai-Style Chinese Noodles

Ba Mee Kiew is one of the five most popular noodle dishes in Thailand, so you’re guaranteed to find it in any street market. You’ll recognize a Ba Mee Kiew vendor when you see the beautiful red strips of pork belly hanging in a glass case next to the golden noodles. The ingredients are quite similar to Chinese wonton noodles, and they also come in two forms: dry noodles and soup noodles.

Satay – Spicy Grilled Skewers

Satay is a grilled meat dish that originated in Indonesia and spread throughout Southeast Asia, but the Thai dish is so famous worldwide that people sometimes mistake it for a Thai specialty. The marinated pork or chicken, skewered and grilled over charcoal, is traditionally served with satay sauce, a fresh peanut sauce.

Khao Niao Mamuang – Mango Sticky Rice

source: klook | best street foods in Thailand

Khao Niao Mamuang is mango sticky rice, including slices of ripe mango served with sticky rice mixed with sweetened coconut milk. Then, you can add a portion of coconut cream and roasted sesame or green beans on top. This is a very popular dessert in Thailand and is loved all over the world because of the fragrant, fatty, sweet, and rich taste coming from simple ingredients but skillfully combined. Besides mango sticky rice, Khao Niaow Tu-rean durian sticky rice and Khao Niao Kanun jackfruit sticky rice are also famous for their deliciousness, not inferior to their “brothers”.

Mango sticky rice | best street foods in Thailand

Mango & Sticky Rice-chatuchak-bangkok-thailand6 — | best street foods in Thailand

Mango sticky rice Thailand street food around the world (1) — Mango sticky rice. | best street foods in Thailand

Gai Yang – Grilled Chicken Gai Yang (#thailand’s best street foods)

@thewoksoflife.com | thailand’s best street foods

Grilled chicken comes in hundreds of varieties, but Gai Yang is unique in its crispy skin, juicy meat, and toppings that make it a real treat! Don’t forget to pair it with some sticky rice and papaya salad. Travel to Thailand (or Laos, where there’s a similar dish called Ping Gai) and enjoy some hot grilled chicken from a street vendor, and you won’t be disappointed.

Pla Pao – Grilled Fish Stuffed with Lemongrass and Salt

Pla Pao is a fish dish stuffed with lemongrass, covered with coarse salt, and grilled over hot coals. Thais often use red tilapia or snakehead fish for this dish. After grilling, the fish looks quite dry on the outside, but you’ll be surprised at how juicy and tender the meat is. Grilled fish with salt and lemongrass is often served with fresh rice noodles, herbs, and a little bit of delicious sauce.

Gai Hor Bai Toey – Pandan-Wrapped Chicken

Here’s chicken wrapped in pandan leaves! A dish with the fragrant smell of pandan leaves, not spicy at all and very easy to eat. The chicken is marinated with rich spices, then rolled in pandan leaves and fried in a pan. The aroma of wild pandan leaves will bring a special flavor to this dish. It is very delicious to eat this dish with white rice.

Sai Oua – Thai Grilled Sausage

Sai Oua is a sausage from northern Thailand, made from minced pork mixed with many spices and herbs to create a very distinctive aroma. Thai sausage is considered a snack, or “snack” with beer. If you eat Sai Oua in the main meal, don’t forget to eat it with sticky rice.

Hor Mok Pla – Steamed Fish in Banana Leaves

Hor Mok Pla is a dish of steamed fish in banana leaves. The combination of fish with ingredients that seem unrelated to each other such as: coconut milk, curry powder, Thai kaffir lime… but brings an extremely impressive flavor. The sweetness of fresh fish fillets mixed with the aroma of curry, herbs and the richness of coconut milk will make your dinner more delicious.

Hoi Tod – Hoi Tod Fried Mussel Omelette

Hoy Tod is a fried egg dish originating from China, but is found everywhere on the streets of Thailand. The main ingredients are oysters, mussels or fresh clams, and of course, eggs, onions, bean sprouts, and chili sauce. This dish is not too complicated or sophisticated, but it is enough to “seduce” those hungry stomachs.

@hungryinthailand.com | thailand’s best street foods

Pad Kra Pao – Stir-fried Meat with Basil

@allrecipes | thailand’s best street foods

Pad Kra Pao is a fragrant and spicy stir-fried meat dish with basil leaves that is very popular with Thai street food enthusiasts. The meat is usually chicken or pork, served with fried golden eggs and white rice. The dish is extremely quick and delicious, making the meal more flavorful.

Khao Kha Moo – Braised Pork Trotters

Khao Kha Moo is a braised pork trotter dish originating from China, but in Thailand, the spices have been cleverly changed to become one of the most attractive street foods. The main ingredient is pork trotters slowly braised in a sweet broth, combined with shiitake mushrooms and boiled eggs. This dish promises to be very delicious with rice.

Image by: best places to eat chiang mai blog. Cowboy Hat Lady at Khao Kha Moo — Vedette of the eatery. | thailand’s best street foods

Khao Kluk Kapi – Rice with Shrimp Paste

Khao Kluk Kapi is a rice dish mixed with shrimp paste, eaten with some other ingredients such as: dried shrimp, green mango, shallots, sweet braised pork, etc. Although Khao Kluk Kapi is less known than Pad Thai, this dish is considered to have a more authentic Thai culinary identity, because Pad Thai is more or less influenced by Chinese cuisine. This is a complete dish and is characteristic in both texture and flavor.

Khao Mok Gai

For those who love spicy food, don’t miss Khao Mok Gai chicken rice. This dish is influenced by Thai Muslims living in the South near Malaysia. The chicken is marinated with turmeric, saffron, cardamom and bay leaves, a combination of local and Indian spices. In particular, the sauce of Kao Mok Gai is very spicy and this dish is almost only sold at lunchtime.

Khao Pad Sapparod – Khao Pad Pineapple Fried Rice

Fried rice is a very familiar dish in Asian countries, but what is special about Thai Khao Pad fried rice? Thai people still keep the familiar ingredients of this dish such as: chicken, shrimp, crab, eggs, onions, garlic, etc. However, the highlight of this dish is that it is served in a pineapple, with the insides taken out and mixed with rice and a few roasted cashews, which is very stimulating to the taste buds.

Phrik Kaeng Phet – Red Curry

Phrik Kaeng Phet is the name of red curry. Although there are many versions, the core ingredients are a combination of garlic, shallots, chili peppers, shrimp paste, coriander, dill, coconut milk, nutmeg, lemongrass, grated lime peel, and some other spices. The meat served with it will be shrimp, pork, chicken, duck, or eel.

Kaeng Kari Kai

Yellow curry has similar ingredients to red curry, but the big difference is the presence of turmeric and potatoes. This dish is usually prepared with chicken but can also be made with duck, tofu, shrimp, fish, or vegetables and is served with white rice or noodles. In addition, Thai people also eat it with a little sweet and sour pickled cucumber to enhance the flavor of the dish.

If you love Thai food, why don’t you try your hand at the House of Taste Thai cooking class at Sukhumvit 22 in Bangkok. This activity promises to give you interesting information about Thai cuisine, as well as “pocket” a few delicious Thai recipes!

Kaeng Khiao Wan – Green Curry

@vnexpress | thailand’s best street foods

Besides red and yellow curry, Kaeng Khiao Wan green curry is considered the spiciest and most delicious. The green mixture comes from green chili and kaffir lime leaves, giving it a wonderfully strong and spicy flavor. This dish usually has chicken, fish, fish balls, with eggplant, Thai bamboo shoots, etc. Thai people often eat green curry with white rice or fresh noodles.

Khao Soi – Chicken Curry

Khao Soi Khun Yai (1) — | thailand’s best street foods

The list of traditional curries does not stop at green, red, yellow curries, but also includes Khao Soi chicken curry noodles. This is a dish influenced by Myanmar, commonly appearing in Northern Thailand as well as Northern Laos. Khao Soi applies the Burmese curry cooking method but the flavor is not too strong, combined with typical Chinese egg noodles and spices completely from Chiang Mai, Thailand.

Chiang Mai Noodles — Khao Soi, must-eat in Chiang Mai

Tom Yum

When mentioning Thai cuisine, Tom Yum is indispensable, a famous and popular hot and sour soup that has become a flavor in many instant noodle products and snacks in many countries in Asia. The main ingredients of this dish are coconut milk, lime juice, chili, lemongrass, and most importantly, kaffir lime leaves, creating a super attractive orange-red color. If cooked with shrimp, this dish will be called Tom Yum Goong.

Tom Kha Gai

Tom Kha Gai is simply a fragrant chicken soup cooked with lemongrass, galangal with the sweet and fatty taste of coconut milk and the slight sour taste of lime juice. This is a dish that balances the flavors of the ingredients. When cooked with seafood, it is called Tom Kha Thale, or with mushrooms, it is called Tom Kha Het, and with pork, it is called Tom Kha Mu and tofu, Tom Kha Taohu.

Kaeng Som – Spicy and Sour Fish Curry

What would a sour curry be like? Try Kaeng Som, this spicy and sour fish curry is very popular in Southern Thailand. The hot soup with the main ingredients being fish, fresh tamarind and shrimp paste. Some regions like to add turmeric to create a yellow sour curry version called Kaeng Lueang.

Kuai Tiao Ruea – Boat Noodles

“Boat noodles” is the cute name of Kuai Tiao Ruea, originating from noodle shops sold in floating markets or on boats passing through the canals of big cities. This noodle dish has a characteristic brown color of the broth due to being mixed with cow’s blood or pig’s blood, eaten with pork belly, especially pork liver. A serving of “boat noodles” has a small portion, so an average Thai person can eat up to 5 – 10 bowls. Young Thai people also have the habit of “competing” to see who can eat the most “boat noodles”, which is very interesting.

A man makes Boat Noodles at Victory Monument

Goong Ten – Dancing Shrimp

It would be a pity to come to Thailand without trying “dancing shrimp”. This is a dish originating from the Isaan region, Northeast Thailand, impressing with its unique preparation and unmistakable flavor. This dish uses live shrimp marinated in sweet and sour sauce. When eating, you will feel the shrimps jumping in your mouth. In addition, some places use frozen shrimp on ice or put them in cold water before processing to make it easier to enjoy.

Pre-cut Tropical Fruits

When it comes to Thai street food, you definitely cannot miss the desserts made from tropical fruits. You can find countless fruit carts all over Thailand such as: mango, guava, papaya, durian, longan, star fruit, etc. You can eat fresh fruit or enjoy it in some extremely attractive desserts, ice cream, and cakes. These tropical fruits are often pre-cut but still retain their plumpness and freshness – combined with spicy and sour dipping sauces, it is even more delicious.

You don’t need to go to fancy restaurants to find the wonderful flavors of Thai cuisine, you just need to stroll through traditional markets, or even wander the streets in Thailand to have the opportunity to immerse yourself in countless delicious dishes. Moreover, most of the dishes in Thailand are very affordable, so you can eat as much as you want without worrying too much about your budget.

The post first appeared on Klook Vietnam and was translated, more compiled and edited by Living Nomads. If you find any images or text that belong to you, please contact us, so we can credit you or give us permission to use them. Thank you very much!

Rachada night market | (c) placesofjuma.com

Some best day tours, trips, activities and transfer services, tickets in, to and from Bangkok you can refer to

royal palace bangkok — Royal palace Bangkok

Are you finding more Thailand travel guide: Tours, activities, attractions and other things? Let’s check it out our Thailand blog — The fullest Thailand travel guide for a budget trip to Thailand for the first-timers. and Bangkok Pattaya itinerary 5 days — The fullest guide for a budget trip on how to spend 5 days in Thailand perfectly.