100 Best Recipes Ever: Southeast Asian Dishes

By Food & Wine
Updated May 09, 2019
F&W's editors combed through the more than 10,000 recipes we've published in our 35 years of existence to find the very best. We only had room for the 20 Best Ever Recipes in print, but here we present the full 100 greatest dishes of all time.
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1 of 10

Thai Chicken with Hot-Sour-Salty-Sweet Sauce

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“Thailand is condiment heaven, with a gazillion sauces. This northern Thai-style one is extra-sour, because it uses both tamarind and lime,” says Naomi Duguid.

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2 of 10

Massaman-Curry Turkey Osso Buco

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Chef Lulzim Rexhepi cuts turkey legs crosswise before simmering them first in broth, then in a delightful Thai red-curry sauce. This version skips the broth. To simplify the recipe more, have your butcher cut the drumsticks, or just cook them whole.

3 of 10

Spicy Lime Leaf Beer Nuts

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This spiced nut mix gets tossed with kaffir lime leaves, typically used in Thai curry sauces but here fried crisp. The dish is one of many kap klaem (drinking snacks) that Andy Ricker offers at Pok Pok’s Whiskey Soda Lounge. “These nuts are served all over Thailand, usually with some kind of dried fish mixed in,” he says.

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4 of 10

Pad See Yew

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Mai Pham gives a twist to this Thai street-food staple by adding bok choy and replacing the usual pork, chicken or beef with shrimp.

5 of 10

Thai Seafood Noodle Salad

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The classic flavors of Thai cuisine—sweet, salty, spicy, sour—can all be found in the dressing on this salad, a delicious tangle of chewy rice noodles, shrimp, squid and peanuts.

6 of 10

Joyce's Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs in Lettuce Wraps

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Jennifer Joyce’s party recipes are clever but extremely doable: She gives chicken meatballs a heavenly sticky glaze, for instance, by rolling them in sugar before baking.

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7 of 10

Fiery Grilled Beef Salad with Oranges and Crispy Shallots

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Although Charles Phan says you can use any leafy green in this spicy main-course salad, he suggests watercress because it adds another subtle, peppery layer of heat to the dish. He also says it’s fine to partially cook the shallots ahead of time (even the night before) until they are golden, then let them cool; when you refry them before serving, they’ll become extra crispy.

8 of 10

Salmon Rice Bowl with Ginger-Lime Sauce

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In Vietnam, palate-cleansing ginger is typically served with rich foods like duck. Here, a pungent ginger dipping sauce is paired with salmon, which is loaded with omega-3 fatty acids.

9 of 10

Happy Pancakes

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The name says it all for these thin, super-crisp snacks from Vietnamese-food expert and former F&W Test Kitchen supervisor Marcia Kiesel. The pancakes, studded with pork, shrimp and mushrooms and folded around raw bean sprouts, represent everything we love about Southeast Asian cuisine—simultaneously hot and crisp, cold and juicy, and invigoratingly aromatic.

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10 of 10

Vietnamese-Style Iced Coffee

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Cold-brewing involves steeping ground coffee in cold water. RBC NYC coffee bar uses the method here.

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