13 Must-Try Thai Street Food Dishes
Thai street food is among the best in the world. There are few countries where you can pull up a chair at a small outdoor table by the side of the road and have your mind-blown by the quality of food you eat. Thailand is one of those countries. If you plan on visiting the Land of Smiles one day, I want to highlight 13 Thai street food dishes you simply must try while there.
The Best Thai Street Food Dishes
I always feel a little bit despaired when I see someone writing a comment about street food not being sanitary. I’ve eaten from street food stalls probably well over 250 times in Thailand and I never experienced so much as an upset stomach.
Bad things can happen and maybe some countries pay less attention to hygiene, but I can say from experience you’d be very unlucky to get food poisoning or anything like that. In fact, tasting the local food from a cart at the side of the road is one of the many joys of visiting Thailand. Here are some dishes to look out for.
Moo Ping (หมูปิ้ง)
Thais don’t really do specific breakfast dishes, but if you ask me the one dish that comes to mind when I think of breakfast in Thailand, it’s moo ping. These sweet grilled pork skewers pair wonderfully with sticky rice. Moo ping is a very approachable dish (if you eat meat) because there’s not much heat in it (unlike many other Thai dishes).
Savory and peppery notes come from a marinade featuring soy sauce, garlic, and peppercorns. Moo ping is not just a breakfast dish; you can find it at all hours. However, it is very common to see vendors selling this dish for a quick on-the-go breakfast in the early hours of the day. You’ll smell its wholesome goodness before you see it. And there’s not many better ways to start a day of temple exploring!
Som Tam (ส้มตำ)
Few salads get spoken about as much as som tam. This delicious combination of unripe papaya, lime juice, fish sauce, and chilis regularly features on lists highlighting the world’s tastiest dishes. Its fresh crunch, pungent aroma, and funky flavor is unrivaled in the salad world.
The best som tams you’ll eat in Thailand are often served from unremarkable-looking street-side stalls. Restaurants typically water the salad down for the Western palette. But you want that smack in the face with Thai food’s four fundamental flavors of heat, sour, spicy, and salty. If you really don’t like heat, ask for 1 chili or none at all.
Pad Thai
A somewhat predictable entry but an essential one nonetheless. Pad Thai is definitely a must-eat Thai street food dish. In my opinion, you’ll actually find the best Pad Thai in the Banglamphu area, which is home to the infamous backpacker mecca that is Khao San Road.
Sadly, Khao San is somewhat more gentrified now compared to what it used to be. It’s still good for a night of partying or people-watching with a cold Chang, but it has definitely lost some of its character. Venture to the area and grab a Pad Thai from one of the several vendors that cook there. The stir-fried noodles taste even better after a few beers! Yum.
Khao Kha Moo
This stewed pork leg dish has a heavy Chinese influence. It tastes absolutely amazing. It’s one of those street food dishes that’s very accessible to Western palates because it’s not spicy (unless you make it spicy by loading it with bird eye chilis from the side plate)!
What’s also great about it is that it’s usually incredibly cheap. You’re talking 50 baht for pretty much a full meal. One of the most famous street food stalls selling khao kha moo is the cowboy girl in Chaing Mai.
Sai Grok Isaan (ส้กรอกอีสาน)
Does the thought of a sour sausage with raw chilis and crispy lettuce sound good to you? If so, we’d probably get on well. Sai Krok Isaan is one of my absolute favourite underrated Thai street food snacks.
The sausage is a unique type of fermented pork that tastes very similar to naem, which is a fermented pork that is one of the more unusual Thai ingredients. One of the really exciting parts of eating this cheap snack is seeing how spicy your chilis are. I find the heat level varies from chili to chili. Some mouthfuls will set your tongue alight, while others the chili’s heat barely registers.
Fret not if you get a really hot chili, though. Sai grok Isaan always comes with some crisp raw cabbage to munch on, which helps tone down the heat.
Gai Tod (ไก่ทอด)
Gai Tod translates into English fried chicken. If there’s one food that gets pretty much universal love, it’s a good ol’ moist bird deep-fried to perfection. In Thailand, it’s extremely common to see street food vendors selling fried chicken, and boy do they do a good job of it.
If you really want to see how Thais take their fried chicken game to the next level, look out for Gai Tod Hat Yai. This is a special recipe originating in the southern Thai city of Hat Yai. Thankfully, the recipe has made it as far as the North and you can find several vendors in most major cities selling this amazing, addictive, and naughty street food.
Guay Jab (ก๋วยจั๊บ)
Guay Jab is a delicious peppery noodle soup dish that is well worth seeking out. I used to see an old lady selling it in the Chiang Mai Saturday market and I typically walked past her stall. She was stooped sitting down on almost unbelievably low chairs, and the tables surrounding her boiling saucepans weren’t much higher!
A good sign of a great street food vendor is when you see locals regularly stopping by to grab a bite to eat. This happened a lot at the old lady’s stall. One day I sat down at the Guay Jab stall, pointed, and ordered without knowing what it was.
What arrived at my table was a delicious bowl of peppery pork noodle broth with a boiled egg, slivers of pork belly, some chopped spring onion, and luscious soft rolled rice noodles. Seek this dish out and be surprised at how truly tasty it is.
Satay
Satay is another classic street food dish in Thailand. When you get good satay, it’s almost a challenge to stop yourself from ordering an extra portion. Typically, you’ll get served five to ten skewers of perfectly grilled pork or chicken.
What makes Thai satay so truly next-level for me is the peanut dipping sauce and the pickled vegetables you get with it. The dipping sauce when properly balanced is out of this world. The pickled cucumber and chilis add a lovely sharpness which contrasts with the richness of the peanut sauce.
I’m practically salivating as I type this: when in Thailand, you simply have to seek out some satay.
Guay Tiew Nam Tok
A little bit tricky to find as a foreigner, but well worth the reward, guay tiew nam tok is a seriously tasty bowl of noodle soup. The broth gets its uniquely rich, meaty, and intense flavor from the addition of blood (don’t worry, it’s cooked).
Mixed with the broth are pieces of meat (pork or beef), some green onions, fried garlic, and spices. You typically order the soup with rice vermicelli noodles sen-mee (เส้นหมี่) or flat rice noodles sen-lek (เส้นเล็ก). It’s a classic Thai street food dish that locals adore. And when it’s good, it’s up there with the tastiest food on this list.
Kai Jeow
Bit of a simple one this, but definitely an important Thai street food dish. When Thai people want something plain to eat, often in the morning time, they’ll order Kai Jeow, which means omelet.
The Thais like to eat their omelettes with some sweet chili dip and steamed rice, and the combination works a treat. I actually posted a recipe for a Thai omelet on this blog.
Kanom Krok
Kanom krok are little sweet Thai coconut treats that are like a hybrid of custard and pancakes. Typically made to order and at their best when hot off the pan, eating kanom krok is the type of experience that is guaranteed to put a smile on your face and simply make you happy that they exist.
You’ll typically get served kanom krok in a banana leaf, which is always a nice touch that adds an exotic factor. The snacks are made in a special indented pan, and the theatre of watching a local street vendor frying them to order adds to the experience. Expect to be able to choose a variety of interesting fillings for kanom krok, ranging from taro to sweetcorn to green onions.
Thai Coconut Ice Cream
It’s interesting that desserts are typically not something that Thai cuisine is known for. I think this comes from a misunderstanding. It’s not that Thais don’t eat desserts; it’s that in a typical sit-down restaurant, desserts aren’t really eaten. Instead, Thais like to munch on sweet treats from street food carts and night market vendors.
Thai coconut ice cream is a delicious and much-welcome respite from the searing heat of the country. The mixture of coconut milk, palm sugar, and white sugar makes for a yummy sweet street treat (that’s a mouthful) that all the family can enjoy. You can top coconut ice cream with a range of goodies including roasted nuts and sauces.
Mango Sticky Rice
Last but definitely not least is the third sweet thing on this list. Mango and sticky rice is a quintessential and much exported Thai dish that only ever tastes at its best in Thailand due to the freshness of the mangos.
The hot season through to the midpoint of the wet season (late March to July) is when you’ll get the finest, ripest, sweetest mangos in the country. You’ll see vendors everywhere selling mango with sticky rice and it’s one Thai street food dish you don’t want to miss.
Closing Thoughts
I hope this post inspires you to book your own trip to the Land of Smiles. And I hope one of your main motivators is to eat the country’s incredible street food. If you want to cook Thai food from the comfort of your own home, make sure you check out my list of essential Thai cookware.
I lived in Thailand for a few years during my 20s during which time I fell in love with Thai food. Along with my Thai partner, I cook and eat tasty Thai dishes 3 or 4 times per week. I’m here to bring you recipes, Thai food tips, and suggested cookware for making Thai food.
