It’s impossible to describe Thai food in one word. For one, Thai cuisine combines the most delicious parts of several cultures, including Indian, Chinese, Malay, and Indonesian.
Here’s our ultimate list of the best Thai dishes to try during your next trip to Thailand so you can start your own culinary adventure!
Tom yum is a fragrant, hot, and sour soup that’s beloved all over Thailand. It’s made with fresh herbs like lemongrass, galangal, kaffir lime leaves, and chili peppers, and it’s usually cooked with shrimp, pork, or chicken.
The name of this dish literally means “stir-fried with basil.” If we didn’t know that pad thai was the country’s national dish, we would have guessed it was pad kra pao. Everyone orders it all the time for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and everything in between!
Som tam is a spicy green papaya salad that originates from the northeastern region of Thailand called Isan.
Tom kha gai is a Thai coconut soup that’s well-known for its heady blend of flavors. The soup is made with chicken, galangal, lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, and fresh chili peppers simmered in a coconut milk-based broth.
We can’t talk about Thai noodle dishes (or even Thai food) without mentioning pad thai, the country’s national dish! This world-famous stir-fry is made with rice noodles, chicken or tofu, eggs, tamarind sauce, and peanuts.
Khao pad sapparod, or pineapple fried rice, is unlike any fried rice dish we’ve ever tasted. It starts off just like any other fried rice recipe: with Thai jasmine rice that’s cooked in a piping hot wok with aromatics like garlic and shallots, plus vegetables and protein like diced chicken or shrimp.