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Food

Our Best Thai Recipes, from Curries to Noodle Dishes

Bring the signature sour, bitter, sweet, and spicy flavors of Thai cuisine to your kitchen

By SAVEUR Editors

Updated: June 5, 2019

Full of bright, fresh dishes with intense flavors, Thai cuisine is incredibly satisfying to cook at home. Staple ingredients in Thai cooking range from pungent fish sauce and funky shrimp paste to fiery chiles and sweet-and-sour tamarind. Once you've stocked your pantry, dive into this collection of our favorite Thai recipes. From the ubiquitous-for-a-reason pad Thai and papaya salad to regional specialties such as the pounded salads and chile-based dips (nam phriks) of northern Thailand, there's something for everyone.

Springy Pad Thai with Green Garlic, Asparagus, and Peas — Green garlic, asparagus, and peas brighten this classic Thai street dish with springtime flavors. Out of season, you can substitute scallions for the green garlic. Get the recipe for Spring Pad Thai With Green Garlic, Asparagus, and Peas »Matt Taylor-Gross

Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum) — At Seattle's Little Uncle, chefs Poncharee Kounpungchart and Wiley Frank dehydrate Oregon bay shrimp and crush them into a green papaya salad, where the crustaceans amp up the umami flavor. Get the recipe for Thai Green Papaya Salad (Som Tum) »Ingalls Photography

Green Chicken Curry — You can buy the green curry paste to make this Thai classic at any Asian market, but it's so easy to make, and the results are so fragrant and flavorful that it's more than worth making from scratch. Get the recipe for Green Chicken Curry »Maxime Iattoni

Preserved Yu Choy Green Dip — While prepping the greens for this northern Thai dip takes more than a day, most of the time is hands off, and the results are so worth the effort. Get the recipe for Preserved Yu Choy Green Dip (Nam Phrik Nam Phak) »Austin Bush

Thai Tomato-and-Ground-Pork Dip (Nam Phrik Ong) — Tart tomatoes are enriched with fatty pork belly and laced with toasted dried chiles in this addictive dip. Get the recipe for Thai Tomato-and-Ground-Pork Dip (Nam Phrik Ong) »Austin Bush

Grilled-Chile Dip with Shallots and Garlic (Nam Phrik Num) — A mortar and pestle is key to getting the right texture for this beloved northern Thai chile dip. Get the recipe for Grilled-Chile Dip with Shallots and Garlic (Nam Phrik Num) »Austin Bush

Thai Sticky Rice — It's worth investing in a sticky rice steamer pot to make this staple of Thai cuisine. Get the recipe for Thai Sticky Rice »Austin Bush

Thai Pomelo and Crab Paste Salad (Tam Som Oh) — Get the recipe for Thai Pomelo and Crab Paste Salad (Tam Som Oh) »Pascale Grise

Thai Pounded Jackfruit Salad (Tam Khanun) — Tam khanun, a dish of unripe jackfruit, boiled until tender, pounded with seasonings, and briefly stir-fried, is one of the most common dishes in Northern Thailand. It is also one of the more diverse: in restaurants, homes, and markets, versions include peanuts, minced pork or pork rinds, tomato, or deep-fried garlic and chile. Get the Recipe for Thai Pounded Jackfruit Salad (Tam Khanun) »Katherine Whittaker

Thai Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts — This dish substitutes Brussels sprouts in place of the Thai khanaeng, a hybrid of a Brussels sprouts and bok choy. It's been adapted from Andy Ricker's cookbook pokpok to serve a larger group. Get the recipe for Thai Stir-Fried Brussels Sprouts »Rachel Dolfi

Thai Minced Pork Salad (Laab) — In northeast Thailand and Laos, laab is made of minced meat lightly poached in broth, dressed with chiles, fresh herbs, and roasted rice powder, and eaten with sticky rice. Get the Thai Minced Pork Salad (Laab) recipe »Penny De Los Santos

Thai Red Curry with Roasted Duck — For the best results when you're making this sweet and spicy dish, ask the counterperson at your local Chinese market to cut the roasted duck into pieces. We recommend using the Mae Ploy brand of canned coconut milk; its high fat content makes for a rich and luxurious curry. Get the recipe for Thai Red Curry with Roasted Duck »Thomas Payne

Spicy Peanuts — Toss cashews and peanuts in caramelized sugar, fish sauce, garlic, and chile for a powerful, can't-stop-eating bar snack. Add the lime, shallot, and basil right before serving so the nuts stay crispy. Get the recipe for Spicy Cashew-Peanuts »Matt Taylor-Gross

Cashew Chicken Stirfry — This spicy, easy stir-fry is all about the sticky, slightly sweet sauce that coats the chicken and cashews. But, like all good stirfries, this can be catered to your taste—add in whatever mix-ins you have in your fridge or pantry. Get the recipe for Stir-Fried Chicken With Cashew Nuts »Farideh Sadeghin

Yellow Curry with Beef and Potatoes (Kaeng Karii) — The dried spices in this complex, coconut-enriched Thai curry form the South East Asian backbone for tender beef and potatoes. Get the recipe for Yellow Curry with Beef and Potatoes (Kaeng Karii) »Penny De Los Santos

Sardine Salad — Combining sardines with Thai spices moves the flavor away from purely fishy in this sweet and spicy salad. Get the recipe for Sardine and Lemongrass Salad »Farideh Sadeghin

Sour Curry Soup with Shrimp — A little tart, a little sweet, a little pungent, a lot of shrimp. Get the recipe for Sour Curry Soup with Shrimp »Joseph De Leo

Pandan-Coconut Ice Cream — Often used in southeast Asian curries and Indian rice dishes, pandan leaf lends a subtly savory but undeniably fragrant note to this coconut ice cream. Get the recipe for Pandan-Coconut Ice Cream »Laura Sant

Red Curry with Pork Belly and Green Beans (Phat Phrik Khing Muu) — This dish belongs to a category of curries called phat phrik khing, or "dry curry." It's caramelized in pork fat rather than cracked coconut cream, and there's no coconut milk for gravy, making the flavors of the paste—citrusy lemongrass, gingery krachai, briny shrimp—more pronounced. Get the recipe for Red Curry with Pork Belly and Green Beans (Phat Phrik Khing Muu) »Penny De Los Santos

Thai Grilled Chicken with Sweet Chile Sauce (Gai Yahng) — Though the chicken is normally spatchcocked for this smoky Thai specialty, cutting it into pieces works just as well. Get the recipe for Thai Grilled Chicken with Sweet Chile Sauce (Gai Yahng) »Austin Bush

Thai Pomelo Salad (Dtam Som Oo) — Sweet pomelo pairs beautifully with chiles, peanuts, and mint in this recipe for a classic Thai salad from Talde in Brooklyn, New York. Get the recipe for Thai Pomelo Salad (Dtam Som Oo) »Ingalls Photography

Thai Charred Squid (Pla Muek Yang) — This grilled squid dish, covered in a tangy sauce and topped with peanuts and cilantro, is a Thai roadside treat. Get the recipe for Thai Charred Squid (Pla Muek Yang) »Matt Taylor-Gross

Green Curry with Fish and Eggplant (Kaeng Khiaw Waan) — Thai-style dumplings add a nice bouncy texture to this green curry. Get the recipe for Green Curry with Fish and Eggplant (Kaeng Khiaw Waan) »Joseph De Leo

Thai Fish Burger — Make an incredibly flavorful patty from a mild fish like cod with store-bought curry paste, cilantro, and kaffir lime leaves. Serve this juicy patty on a bun with toppings of thinly sliced cucumbers, red onion, and cilantro tossed with nuoc cham for the ideal hand-held Thai Summer meal. Get the recipe for Thai Fish Burger »Farideh Sadeghin

Thai Boat Noodle Soup (Kuaytiaw Reua) — This spicy, delicious Thai noodle soup is enhanced with a touch of crimson pig's blood. Get the recipe for Thai Boat Noodle Soup (Kuaytiaw Reua) »Ingalls Photography

Sticky rice — Black sticky rice, which like wild rice is unhulled, makes a rustic rice pudding loaded with far more flavor and texture than usual. This version from chef Peerasri Montreeprasat at Sugar Club, a Thai grocery and cafe in New York, adds in cubes of nutty taro and is sweetened with palm sugar. Get the recipe for Thai Black Sticky Rice Pudding »Matt Taylor-Gross

Mussels with Coconut Sweet Chili Broth — Sinéad Roche and Thomas Ashe of Ashe's Bar and Restaurant have incorporated flavors from their culinary travels through Thailand into this dish, marrying Southeast Asian ingredients with local Glenbeigh mussels, foraged from the rocky coast along Dingle Bay. At Ashe's, they serve the mussels with homemade bread or twice-fried chunky potato chips for sopping up the gently spicy coconut broth. Get the recipe for Mussels with Coconut Sweet Chili Broth »Michelle Heimerman

khanom chan — Think of these silky, chewy, coconutty gummies as richer, more flavorful Jello jigglers, made with a steamed batter of coconut milk with sticky rice flour and tapioca and arrowroot starches. It's a labor of love: to form the neat layers, you have to let the previous layer steam enough until set but still a little tacky before adding the next. The cake also benefits enormously from making your own pandan extract; though you can buy pre-made extract in Thai groceries, it won't compare to the unique sweet herbal fragrance of the fresh leaves. (You can buy fresh or frozen pandan leaves online or in well-stocked Thai groceries.) Get the recipe for Khanom Chan »Matt Taylor-Gross

Spicy Thai Wings — A specialty of the cart Nong's in Portland, Oregon, these sweet-spicy wings are bathed in a ketchup-soy hot sauce. Get the recipe for Spicy Thai Chicken Wings »Todd Coleman

recipe-pandan-wrapped-chicken-400x400-i166 — Pandan, the aromatic leaves of a perennial grass, are wrapped around chunks of coconut-milk-marinated chicken, steamed, and finally deep-fried in this sweet-savory Thai recipe. Steaming the chicken in pandan leaves imparts a floral fragrance, while deep-frying caramelizes the sugary marinade and browns the leaves, imbuing the meat with a nutty flavor. Get the recipe for Gai Hor Bai Toey (Thai Pandan-Wrapped Chicken) »James Oseland

Sweet Chile Sauce — An easy Thai chile sauce. Use it as a dipping sauce for wings or as a dressing in salads. Get the recipe for Thai Sweet Chile Sauce »Farideh Sadeghin

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