Getting a taste of the amazing food from the streets of Thailand doesn't require a plane ticket, vacation days, or a language barrier. Get it right here with my 15 Thai street food recipes that you can make right at home!
Many people go to Thailand, fall in love with the amazing street food, and then come home craving those flavours. While many Thai street food dishes are not easy to replicate at home as they require unusual tools, hard-to-find ingredients, or special skills, so many others absolutely doable!
All you need are the right instructions, and that's what I'm here for. Enjoy!
1. Thai Fried Chicken - Hat Yai Style
In Thailand, fried chicken is street food, not something you order in a restaurant. The best ones comes from unassuming carts. My goal for this recipe is to prove to you that Thai fried chicken is the best in the world, no exaggeration 😉. Specifically, Hat Yai style fried chicken; Hat Yai being my hometown in southern Thailand.
I’ve had fried chicken from all over the world, and I still haven't experienced one better than ours. Read on, then try the recipe (it's really quite easy) and see if you agree!
Get the Thai fried chicken recipe here
2. Authentic Thai Drunken Noodles - Pad Kee Mao
Pad kee mao ผัดขี้เมา or drunken noodles is stir fried noodles with holy basil and lots of chilies. It's a cult-favourite Thai street food. The combination of chewy fresh rice noodles, the epic savoury sauce, and the fragrance of holy basil ... there is nothing quite like it and it never gets old.
Get the Pad Kee Mao recipe here
3. Easy Hainanese Chicken Rice - Khao Mun Gai
Khao mun gai is a serious contender for a last meat for me. This street food is ubiquitous in Thailand, and you can find it at just about any food court in any mall.
For this at-home recipe, I use chicken pieces instead of whole chickens that street food vendors use, so cooking time is greatly reduced without compromising the flavour at all. After discovering this weeknight-friendly method, I have not gone back to the whole-chicken method yet!
Get the Khao Mun Gai recipe here
Classic pad thai with rice noodles is not an easy dish - definitely not something that I would recommend beginners start with. First timers often end up with mushy, clumpy, broken, or undercooked noodles. But here's a variation of pad thai that uses a noodle that is easier to work with and healthier: glass noodles. It's a different texture, but I promise the taste is just like the classic pad thai!
Get the Pad Thai with glass noodles recipe here
Thai satays can be found all over the streets of Thailand, and they're almost always made from pork. The peanut sauce in this recipe is so good you can put it on anything you like, however, few people know that in Thailand, this peanut sauce is only used on satays, and we do NOT put peanut butter in it (or in anything else for that matter!)
If you don't eat pork, I also have a recipe for beef satay, and for a weeknight friendly version, try my no-skewer chicken satay.
6. Authentic Thai Pad See Ew
Pad thai may have all the fame, but Thai food lovers know thatpad see ewis where real noodle bliss is at. This pad see ew recipe is tried and true, and I promise it'll rival anything you've had at Thai restaurants! It's a quick and simple dish, but you need to know some tricks to achieve perfectly seasoned, not-broken rice noodles with that smokey wok char.
Get the Pad See Ew recipe here
7. Thai Chicken Noodle Soup
The ultimate love child of street food and comfort food. If you like pho, this is very close to it but with Thai flavours! Well balanced flavours with lots of textures going on...topped with crispy garlic...this ain't your mama's chicken noodle soup! Haha, that is definitely true for my mama, although my GRANDmama would make something like this often. This is probably the easiest noodle soup you could make at home, especially once you've mastered the art of Thai style chicken stock.
Get the Thai chicken noodle soup here
8: Tom Yum Noodle Soup
When you go to Thailand, sitting at a noodle shop on the street somewhere, please order yourself a tom yum noodle soup if they have it. This is not the famous "tom yum soup" that you might know…the one with lemongrass, galangal, and shrimp. Nope, this is something else that's equally delicious.
Get the Tom Yum Noodle Soup Recipe Here
9. Holy Basil Chicken Stir-Fry - Pad Gaprao (Pad Kra Pao)
This popular Thai dish has many English spellings: Pad Kra Pao, Pad Ka Prao, Pad Ka Pow, Pad Krapow...etc. No matter how you spell it, they all point to this same delicious, rustic, spicy stir-fry featuring the aroma of holy basil. For a truly classic way to serve this dish, pour it over rice and top with a fried egg!
If you want to make pad gaprao using different kinds of protein, check out my formula for turning anything into pad gaprao!
Get the Pad Gaprao recipe here
10. Sukiyaki Stir Fry - Suki Hang
Sukiyaki is obviously a Japanese dish, but this particular recipe is very much unique to Thai cuisine. Here's the story. Sukiyaki is a Japanese hot pot, and Thai people took the inspiration and started making our own sukiyaki hot pot served with a spicy, flavourful red sauce that's more suited to the Thai palate.
Over the years, people realized that the sauce for the hot pot would also make a great stir fry, and suki hang or "dry suki" was born!
Get the Suki Hang recipe here
11. Khao Soi: Thai Curry Noodle Soup
Regional Thai food isn't very well known, but khao soi, egg noodles in aromatic curry broth, is an exception. Because Northern Thailand is such a popular tourist destination, this Northern Thai curry noodle soup has become popular amongst foreigners.
Some might even say if you visit the North of Thailand and didn't eat khao soi, you didn't really make it there! It's a truly unique dish, and with this recipe you can recreate the experience of Northern Thailand at home.
Get the Khao Soi recipe here
12. Chinese BBQ Pork Rice - Kao Moo Dang
This dish is the epitome of "Thai street food". If you wanted kao moo dang you can walk into any food court and you're guaranteed to find a vendor. At the basic level it's just Chinese BBQ pork (char siu) on rice, but what makes this dish unique to Thailand is the savoury-sweet gravy studded with roasted sesame seeds.
Get the Kao Moo Dang recipe here
13. Thai Banana Pancakes (Banana Roti)
Thai roti is one of THE most popular snacks/desserts amongst visitors to Thailand! You can see roti carts at many tourist attractions around the country, and nowadays, vendors offer so many different filling options like bananas, chocolate sauce, nutella, apples, etc. which, by the way, were not available when I was a kid. If you go to non-touristy parts of Thailand you may still see some old-school roti vendors that still don't offer many fancy fillings.
With this recipe, you can recreate this popular snack at home. It does require some technique, so I highly recommend you watching the video tutorial to ensure success!
Get the Banana Roti recipe here
14. Thai Coconut Pancakes - Kanom Krok
These famous little Thai coconut pancakes are one of the most popular street foods in Thailand. So much so that even Trader Joe's now sells frozen kanom krok, and Thai people all over the US are going crazy over them!!
They're so incredibly tasty that I seek them out every single time I go to Thailand...it's an absolute must-have for me. You do need to get a special pan for it, but it's not expensice, and the treat will be well worth it, I promise!
Get the Kanom Krok recipe here
15. Thai Iced Tea
Thailand has one famous (non-alcoholic) drink, and this is it: Thai iced tea. The orange coloured sweet concoction is so good it feels like it should be dessert. A lot of times I find restaurants make it too sweet, so I actually prefer making my own so I can make it exactly how I want it. If you love Thai tea and you're a coffee drinker, you're also going to love this easy Thai iced coffee!
Get the Thai iced tea recipe here
