30 Southeast Asian Recipes

Greg DuPree

These incredible Southeast Asian recipes include soothing Cambodian chicken-and-rice soup, spicy Vietnamese sandwiches, tender Penang beef curry and more.

Start Slideshow

1 of 30

Filipino Grilled Chicken

Go to Recipe

Filipino food is having a moment, thanks to flavors like adobo, a salty-tangy soy-vinegar blend that’s excellent with chicken.

Global Recipe Guide

2 of 30

Fried Forbidden Rice

Go to Recipe

For a robust take on the Indonesian fried rice dish nasi goreng, chef Sang Yoon stir-fries black rice, sometimes called forbidden rice, with bacon and roasted garlic. "You can make it with short-grain brown rice, but you'd miss a lot of the fun," Yoon says.

Sang Yoon: Asian Food Tips

3 of 30

Cambodian Chicken-and-Rice Soup with Shrimp

Go to Recipe

For this spicy, soothing and restorative chicken-and-rice soup, Ratha Chau prepares his own delectable chicken stock and roasts a chicken, which is then cut into large pieces and added to it. Using prepared stock and preroasted chicken significantly cuts back on prep time.

More Chicken Soups

4 of 30

Southeast Asian Rib Eye Steaks

Go to Recipe

The anchovies and dry mustard in the marinade for these steaks add a salty, almost umami-like flavor to the meat.

Great Steak Recipes

5 of 30

Vermicelli with Chicken Skewers and Nuoc Cham

Go to Recipe

In this version of a Vietnamese dish, individual piles of cucumber, fresh herbs, and grilled chicken are arranged on a platter of vermicelli and bean sprouts. Tangy nuoc cham sauce is poured over all. As each diner takes a portion, the components intermingle.

More Chicken Recipes

6 of 30

Penang Beef Curry

Go to Recipe

Hanger steak gets braised in an aromatic broth until melt-in-your-mouth tender, then simmered in spicy coconut curry sauce.

Curry Recipes

7 of 30

Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Sandwiches

Go to Recipe

The Vietnamese accents here come from Sriracha (Southeast Asian chile sauce) and sweet-salty pickled onions.

Delicious Vietnamese

8 of 30

Thai Chicken and Coconut Soup with Noodles

Go to Recipe

With its seductive flavors of coconut, lime, ginger, and cilantro, this Thai soup is quickly becoming a favorite across the country. Our version includes enough chicken and noodles to make it a main course. If you like, turn up the heat with more cayenne.

Asian Soups

9 of 30

Lao Mixed Salad with Peanuts and Fried Shallots

Go to Recipe

A specialty of Luang Prabang, chef Sebastien Rubis's refreshing salad is made with an array of delicious ingredients—greens, shallot, hard-cooked egg, salted peanuts, tomatoes and cucumber.

Fast Asian Dishes

10 of 30

Silky Burmese-Style Eggplant

Go to Recipe

Naomi Duguid came across this dish at a guest house in Mrauk U, a beautiful ancient capital in far western Burma. The custardy eggplant was served as part of a meal alongside rice, salads and curries.

Incredible Eggplant Dishes

11 of 30

Stir-Fried Red Rice with Sliced Sirloin Steak and Peas

Go to Recipe

"Red rice is slightly sweet and packed with nutrients that both nurture the body and calm the mind," Su-Mei Yu says. Rice is also considered perfectly balanced among all the elements. Here, Yu stir-fries it with thin slices of lean steak, dark leafy greens and zingy cilantro. The dish is also good with salmon or shrimp in place of the steak.

Healthy Thai Recipes

12 of 30

Drunken Noodles

Go to Recipe

This fast (and almost vegetarian) Thai rice noodle dish is dressed with a deliciously savory, spicy sauce and tossed with crispy tofu.

Terrific Thai

13 of 30

Coconut-Rice Crêpes Filled with Pork

Go to Recipe

Ratha Chau serves his classic Cambodian crêpes with a variation on tuk trey (fish sauce)—in this instance, fish sauce doctored overnight with sugar, carrots, ginger and other ingredients. We've streamlined the list of ingredients for the vibrant sauce, and opted not to let it sit overnight so it can be mixed and eaten right away.

Delicious Pork Dishes

14 of 30

Joyce's Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs in Lettuce Wraps

Go to Recipe

Small Bites by Jennifer Joyce takes the popular restaurant trend of small plates and turns it into a fresh style of entertaining. 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.

More Meatballs

15 of 30

Thai One-Pot

Go to Recipe

Ground pork, rice, bell peppers, and shiitake mushrooms are cooked in a single pan and flavored with soy sauce, lime juice, and cayenne. Quick, delicious, and easy to clean up after—what more could you want in a dish?

One-Pot Meals

16 of 30

Thai Chicken with Hot-Sour-Salty-Sweet Sauce

Go to Recipe

"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.

5 Essential Thai Ingredients

17 of 30

Butter-Braised Corn with Dried Shrimp

Go to Recipe

This Asian take on buttered summer corn gets marvelous flavor from dried shrimp, Thai chile, scallions and fish sauce.

More Great Corn

18 of 30

Thai Crab-and-Green-Mango Salad

Go to Recipe

To create completely satisfying dishes, Thai cooks aim for a mix of sweet, salty, sour and bitter flavors. In his salad, chef Laurent Tourondel achieves that alluring combination by tossing tart green mango with cucumbers, a myriad of fresh herbs, a vibrant Thai dressing and plenty of delicate, sweet crabmeat.

Fantastic Crab Recipes

19 of 30

Lemongrass Chicken

Go to Recipe

Eric and Sophie Banh marinate the chicken in a mixture of curry and fish sauce for up to 2 hours before stir-frying. A five-minute marinade allows the curry flavor to develop quickly.

Fast Asian Dishes

20 of 30

Pad See Yew

Go to Recipe

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.

Fast, Cheap and Delicious Asian Noodles

21 of 30

Spiced Beef Pho with Sesame-Chile Oil

Go to Recipe

The rice vermicelli soup pho is a staple all over Vietnam and this spicy beef version is the specialty of Hanoi. At home in Connecticut, Marcia Kiesel often eats it for breakfast, as the Vietnamese do. "It's a perfect meal and an invigorating way to start the day," she says. She's tried innumerable phos but considers the recipe from Binh Duong, her co-author on Simple Art of Vietnamese Cooking, to be the best. Inspired by the pho served at Ana Mandara and the Hideaway, she tweaks Duong's recipe by adding an escarole garnish.

How to Make Pho

22 of 30

Sweet Sticky Rice with Mangoes and Sesame Seeds

Go to Recipe

Most Thai dishes are best served at room temperature, including this creamy dessert: "If you chill it, it becomes rock-hard, but if you heat it up, it turns to mush," Andy Ricker explains. Many traditional recipes for sticky rice require steaming the grains for up to an hour, but for the supereasy adaptation here, Ricker cleverly suggests microwaving the rice for only about 15 minutes instead.

More Thai Dishes

23 of 30

Balinese Grilled Chicken

Go to Recipe

On a surfing trip to Indonesia, Pete Evans tried a version of this chicken roasted over an open fire. The turmeric, chiles and ginger in the marinade are popular flavors in Indonesian cooking.

Great Grilled Chicken

24 of 30

Grilled Beef Rolls with Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce

Go to Recipe

For these Vietnamese-style grilled-beef rolls (bo la lot), Andrew Zimmern wraps flavorful ground sirloin in briny grape leaves and serves them with a sweet, spicy, tangy dipping sauce. Traditionally, they are made with the betel leaf, which is also delicious and can be found at some Asian markets.

Andrew Zimmern's Kitchen Adventures

25 of 30

Singaporean Sautéed Asparagus with Ginger

Go to Recipe

Chef Bryant Ng uses a salted duck egg yolk in his sauce for grilled asparagus. Home cooks can get the same delicious effect with a creamy sauce made with hard-cooked egg yolk, cream, ginger, garlic and chiles.

More Tasty Asparagus

26 of 30

Asian Noodles with Roast Pork

Go to Recipe

This traditional Singaporean dish is a savory mix of tasty noodles, Chinese broccoli and pork.

Pork Recipes

27 of 30

Steamed Snapper with Tangy Peanut Sauce

Go to Recipe

To make this deeply nut-flavored sauce, Andrew Carmellini cooks peanut butter with garlic, ginger and lemongrass, then punches it up with Sriracha hot sauce. It's not the only accompaniment to the snapper, though: He also serves the fillets with the cooking juices, flavored with lime juice, peanut oil and a little pungent fish sauce.

Fish and Seafood Cooking Guide

28 of 30

Crispy Pork, Shrimp and Cabbage Imperial Rolls

Go to Recipe

To make the perfect roll, Valerie Luu and Katie Kwan cook the filling ahead of time and wet the rice paper with their palms. The results: “Crispy, chewy and snowy white rolls!”

Appetizer Recipes

29 of 30

Thai Catfish Salad (Laap Pla Duk)

Go to Recipe

This vibrant catfish salad with mint, dill, cilantro and a spicy lime dressing is served with a bowl of raw vegetables to balance the searing heat. “You want a really deep char on the catfish skin,” says Johnny Monis, who recommends wild salmon as an alternative. “It’s one of my favorite dishes year-round, but it’s best once the weather lets you get the charcoal grill going.”

Healthy Thai

30 of 30

Filipino Beef Shank Soup

Greg DuPree

Go to Recipe

Bulalo, a brothy stew from the Philippines, is enriched by the marrow and collagen from meaty beef shanks. Corn, green beans, and cabbage added near the end of cooking deliver a contrasting fresh crunch.

Great Salads with Meat

Replay gallery

Your Profile

30 Southeast Asian Recipes

1 of 30

Filipino Grilled Chicken

1 of 30

2 of 30

Fried Forbidden Rice

2 of 30

3 of 30

Cambodian Chicken-and-Rice Soup with Shrimp

3 of 30

4 of 30

Southeast Asian Rib Eye Steaks

4 of 30

5 of 30

Vermicelli with Chicken Skewers and Nuoc Cham

5 of 30

6 of 30

Penang Beef Curry

6 of 30

7 of 30

Spicy Vietnamese Chicken Sandwiches

7 of 30

8 of 30

Thai Chicken and Coconut Soup with Noodles

8 of 30

9 of 30

Lao Mixed Salad with Peanuts and Fried Shallots

9 of 30

10 of 30

Silky Burmese-Style Eggplant

10 of 30

11 of 30

Stir-Fried Red Rice with Sliced Sirloin Steak and Peas

11 of 30

12 of 30

Drunken Noodles

12 of 30

13 of 30

Coconut-Rice Crêpes Filled with Pork

13 of 30

14 of 30

Joyce's Vietnamese Chicken Meatballs in Lettuce Wraps

14 of 30

15 of 30

Thai One-Pot

15 of 30

16 of 30

Thai Chicken with Hot-Sour-Salty-Sweet Sauce

16 of 30

17 of 30

Butter-Braised Corn with Dried Shrimp

17 of 30

18 of 30

Thai Crab-and-Green-Mango Salad

18 of 30

19 of 30

Lemongrass Chicken

19 of 30

20 of 30

Pad See Yew

20 of 30

21 of 30

Spiced Beef Pho with Sesame-Chile Oil

21 of 30

22 of 30

Sweet Sticky Rice with Mangoes and Sesame Seeds

22 of 30

23 of 30

Balinese Grilled Chicken

23 of 30

24 of 30

Grilled Beef Rolls with Nuoc Cham Dipping Sauce

24 of 30

25 of 30

Singaporean Sautéed Asparagus with Ginger

25 of 30

26 of 30

Asian Noodles with Roast Pork

26 of 30