Thai Desserts: Your Complete Guide to Traditional Sweet Treats

Ready to discover Thailand’s sweetest secrets? Forget everything you think you know about desserts! From humble street carts to fancy restaurants, Thai desserts are a whole different ball game. In this mouth-watering guide, local writer Stephen Christopher takes us on a sugar-fueled adventure through his favorite treats. Whether you’re a curious foodie or planning your next Thai holiday, get ready to discover desserts that’ll make your taste buds do a happy dance.

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Hear the word dessert, and you conjure up images of puddings, ice cream, banana splits, cakes, pancakes and waffles. Sure, you can get all of those here in Thailand. The Swensens Ice Creamery chain pretty much has all of them.

But, here in Thailand, we have a whole different take on the word dessert. I prefer to think of it as sweet snacking. First-time travellers to Asia may have never seen anything like these before, except maybe on cooking shows. I can guarantee though, that once you try them, you’ll want more.

Come with me on a journey into sweet heaven. I’ve broken this down into the most traditional dessert ingredient—sticky rice—followed by things you’ll find in dessert shops and at street vendors everywhere.

Are you ready? Grab your sweet tooth and jump in.

Sticky Rice Options

Sticky rice is a glutinous, chewy rice that forms the base of many desserts. Funnily enough, I’m not a fan of it on its own, but when mixed with fruits and flavours, it comes alive. There are a ton of variations; here are my favourites.

Mango Sticky Rice (Khao Niew Mamuang)

Let’s start with the most well-known. It may sound simple, but it’s incredibly refreshing and delicious and can be found everywhere, from local street vendors (for around 40 baht) to extravagant restaurants that specialise in it.

It’s what it sounds like: a bed of sticky rice topped with mango slices and drizzled in coconut milk. It’s sweet and sensual and I totally get why it’s everyone’s favourite.

While you can get it year-round, it’s more readily available during mango season, from late March through July.

Banana Leaf Sticky Rice (Khao Tom Mud)

Bring your serviettes with you for this one, as your fingers will get sticky. The sticky rice is mixed with coconut milk, sugar and sweet black beans, moulded into a log shape and wrapped in a banana leaf.

Open the leaf and break off pieces with your fingers. I’m amazed at how something that looks so innocent has so much flavour.

Sticky Rice in Bamboo (Khao Lam)

The first time my husband handed me one of these and asked me to try it, I was hesitant. Thankfully, he persuaded me and I’m glad he did. I love these so much that I’ll pull the car over on the highway if I see a street vendor selling them.

Sticky rice is sweetened with black beans and thick coconut syrup and roasted on bamboo poles over a low fire. Once ready, the bamboo poles are cut into 6-inch pieces. Using a spoon, you scoop the mixture out of the bamboo and eat it. It’s warm, sticky and heavenly.

Coloured Sticky Rice (Khao Neow Moon)

I often see this sold by street vendors and hole-in-the-wall shops that specialise in desserts. The sticky rice is mixed with sugar, coconut milk, a touch of salt and various food colours to give it a rainbow appearance.

I prefer to drizzle some more coconut milk over the top for that extra creaminess.

Dessert Shop Favourites

Most malls in Bangkok have their fair share of dessert shops, next time you pass one stop and try one of these sweet treats.

Glass Noodle Dessert (Salim)

I never quite got the concept of this one, but when I was an English teacher, I had students who’d eat these by the bucket load.

They’re simply glass noodles (the same ones used in Vietnamese noodle salads), they’re steamed and served with coconut milk. I believe the attraction is the flavours and colours of the coconut milk; I’ve seen pink, yellow and orange, so strawberry, banana and oranges?

Mixed Iced Dessert (Nam Kang Sai)

Of all the desserts I’ve covered, this one seems to be the most minimalist, yet I’ve seen shops that purely exist to sell these and the tables are full. So there must be more to this than I can see; it may be the fact that it’s icy cold and perfect heat relief.

All it consists of is various jellies and candied fruits scooped into a bowl, topped with chunks of ice and then doused in sweet syrup and coconut milk.

Sweet Egg Yolk Balls (Tong Yord)

These are for those of you with the sweetest teeth. They’re a little too much for me, but I definitely get the attraction. You’ll find these towered in pyramid style in many dessert shops.

These little bites of sweetness are made from egg yolk, sugar and flower water boiled in sugar syrup and formed into round balls. They’re delicious, but their saccharine taste definitely blows me away.

Foy Tong is a similar dessert where the egg yolk is made into strands.

Street Vendor Specialties

Coconut Rice Dumplings (Khanom Krok)

These used to be my go-to sweet craving fix. Unfortunately, where I live now, nobody is selling them (business idea right there!) These are heavenly and I dare you to stop at one (dozen!).

They’re made in specialised kettle cake pans. Coconut and rice are blended together to form a paste, which is the basis of the dumplings. They can be eaten plain, but I love the ones with either taro, sweet corn or shallots added.

Thai Coconut Custard (Khanom Thuay)

Ok, I’ve listed this here in the street food list, but you can get this in many restaurants, too. It’s often already sitting on the table in little ceramic bowls; you eat as many as you want and they’ll add that to the food bill at the end. There are days when I’ve been so starving I’ve placed my food order and binge-ate a few of those while waiting.

It’s sweet coconut custard layered on top of some jellied pandan. Be warned, it’s very, very moreish.

Tips for First-Time Thai Dessert Adventurers

• Start with mango sticky rice if you’re new to Thai desserts—it’s a gentle introduction that combines familiar ingredients in a new way
• Most desserts cost between 20-80 baht (roughly $0.60-$2.40 USD), so don’t be afraid to try several!
• The best time to find street vendors is usually between 2-6 PM when locals grab their afternoon treats
• If you see something that looks interesting but aren’t sure what it is, just point and smile—vendors are usually happy to explain or demonstrate

Where to Find the Best Desserts

• Local fresh markets (especially in the afternoon)
• Food courts in shopping malls (particularly MBK and Terminal 21 in Bangkok)
• Street food areas like Chinatown (Yaowarat) and Victory Monument
• Specialty dessert cafes in popular areas like Siam, Song Wat /Taled Noi and Thonglor
• Night markets, where you can find multiple vendors in one place

Get Your Sweet On

There you go! Thailand’s take on desserts is pretty out there, but oh so delicious. My favourites are still Khanom Krok and Khanom Thuay. If you don’t try any others, at least give those two a go.

I need to go running now; it’s the only way I’m going to burn off all that sticky rice and coconut milk 😀

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