Top 10 Traditional Thai Desserts

Thai cuisine is famous for its bold flavors, combining sweet, sour, bitter, and salty tastes in a single dish. When it comes to traditional Thai desserts, there’s a special harmony of sweetness, texture, and aroma. Thai desserts are often made using local ingredients such as coconut milk, rice flour, palm sugar, and exotic fruits. What must-try treats await sweet lovers in Thailand? Here’s our Top 10.

1. Khanom Chan

A Thai jelly dessert made exclusively from natural ingredients. Locals believe that this dessert brings good luck. Khanom Chan is prepared with rice flour, wheat flour, tapioca, coconut milk, sugar, and pandan leaf juice. The colorful layers are achieved by adding butterfly pea tea, Damask rose, and pandan.

2. Coconut Ice Cream

Coconut ice cream in Thai is called Ai Tim Mat Phrao. It is made from coconut milk and is often served in a halved coconut shell. Thais sprinkle the ice cream with various toppings such as caramel, jelly, sweet beans, jam, chocolate, and nuts.

3. Mango Sticky Rice

An unusual dessert consisting of sweet sticky rice cooked in coconut milk and ripe mango. It is mainly sold at street food stalls and night markets. This dessert is sure to please those with a sweet tooth. Mango sticky rice is usually eaten during the mango season, in April and May, but you can generally enjoy it all year round.

4. Roti

Another traditional Thai dessert commonly prepared at street cafes. Roti are pancakes made from flour, water, oil, and salt. The dough is rolled out into a very thin layer and fried on a griddle until golden and crispy. These pancakes originated in India, but there they are not sweet. In Thailand, they are served with a variety of sweet fillings such as mango, banana, Nutella, or condensed milk.

5. Khanom Buang

This dessert consists of thin, crispy pancakes with a filling that can be either sweet or savory. In Thailand, sweet versions are the most common, typically filled with coconut cream, sugar, and eggs. The pancakes are cooked on a special griddle, resulting in a very light and airy texture.

6. Lod Chong

At first glance, this dessert may not look very appetizing — it resembles small green worms in water. But in reality, it’s incredibly delicious! The dessert is a coconut-based drink with noodles. It is made from rice flour, mung bean flour, pandan juice, sugar, coconut cream, and water.

7. Khao Tom Mad

This dessert is traditionally served by Thais during family celebrations. It is made from rice, coconut milk, and sugar, then wrapped in a banana leaf. There’s a legend that Khao Tom Mad symbolizes the life of a couple in love, as it is usually sold in pairs, tied together with a strip of bamboo. Inside this dessert, you’ll find a sweet filling such as banana, mango, coconut, and more.

8. Look Choup

These are candies made from sweet red beans. First, the beans are boiled in coconut milk until they turn into a sticky paste. Then, small figures in the shape of fruits and vegetables are molded from the mixture. Finally, they are painted and dipped in agar-agar.

9. Khanom Tom

This dessert is similar to coconut Raffaello candies. It is made from rice flour, water, grated coconut, and sugar. The candies are then boiled in hot water and rolled in grated coconut.

10. Bean Pie

In Thai, the name of this popular dessert is Khanom Mo Kaeng. Its taste is a delightful combination, reminiscent of sponge cake, cheesecake, and custard all at once. The pie is made from mung beans, coconut sugar, egg yolks, and coconut milk, giving it a creamy and delicate flavor. Thais often enjoy it sprinkled with fried shallots, though this option is definitely an acquired taste.

We recommend not passing by Thai desserts and experiencing new, unique flavors. You can try many of them at night markets — choose the one closest to you from our selection. Also, visit cafes and restaurants in Phuket, where you can order these and other delicious dishes.