The Best Thai Dishes You Need to Try Right Now

Look, I’m gonna be straight with you. Most people have no clue what real Thai food tastes like. They think it’s all sweet and mild, or they’ve only had that weird orange-colored Pad Thai from the mall food court. 

The best Thai dishes aren’t the ones you see on every menu. They’re the ones that make you sweat, make you cry a little, and then make you order three more plates.

Pad Thai Dishes 

Takes about 25 minutes total

Real Pad Thai should be tangy, a little salty, and have this perfect chewy texture that comes from not overcooking the noodles.

What you actually need:

• 8 oz rice noodles (get the flat ones, not the skinny ones)
• 3 tablespoons tamarind paste (this is crucial – no substitutes)
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons palm sugar (brown sugar works if you can’t find it)
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup bean sprouts
• 3 green onions, chopped
• Crushed peanuts
• Lime wedges

How to not mess it up: Soak the noodles in warm water until they’re bendy but still firm. Don’t make them mushy. Mix your sauce ingredients in a bowl and taste it. It should make your face scrunch up a little from the sourness.

Get your wok or biggest pan smoking hot. Scramble the eggs first, then add the drained noodles and sauce. Toss everything quickly, we’re talking 2-3 minutes max. Add the bean sprouts at the very end so they stay crunchy.

The whole thing should have this slightly charred taste from the high heat. If it doesn’t, your pan wasn’t hot enough.

Green Curry 

About 45 minutes if you make the paste, 20 if you buy it

Green curry should make you question your life choices while you’re eating it, but in the best way possible.

For the paste:

• 10 green Thai chilies
• 2 lemongrass stalks, tender parts only
• 1 inch piece of galangal
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2 shallots
• 1 teaspoon shrimp paste

For the curry:

• 1 can coconut milk
• 1 pound chicken thighs, cut up
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• Thai eggplant
• Thai basil leaves

The method that works: If you’re making the paste, throw everything in a food processor and blend until smooth. Don’t use a blender as it won’t work right.

Heat up the thick part of the coconut milk (it separates naturally) in your pan. Add the curry paste and fry it until it smells incredible and the oil starts to separate. This takes longer than you think – maybe 5-7 minutes.

Add the chicken and cook it through, then add the rest of the coconut milk. The eggplant goes in last because it cooks fast. Stir in the basil leaves right before serving. If you’re not sweating by the third bite, you did something wrong.

Tom Yum Soup 

15 minutes tops

Tom Yum is what happens when someone decides to put all the best Thai flavors in one bowl. It’s hot, sour, salty, and somehow refreshing all at once. 

What goes in:

• 4 cups good chicken stock
• 1 pound shrimp, peeled
• 3 lemongrass stalks, smashed up
• 4 kaffir lime leaves
• 3-4 Thai chilies, crushed
• 2 inches galangal, sliced
• 3 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Cilantro

How to make it right: Bring the stock to a boil with the lemongrass, galangal, and lime leaves. Let it simmer for 10 minutes to get all those flavors out. Add the chilies and shrimp, cook until the shrimp turn pink.

Turn off the heat before adding the fish sauce, lime juice, and sugar. Taste it and adjust. It should be sour first, then salty, then hot. The sugar just balances everything out.

If it doesn’t make your sinuses clear, add more chilies next time.

Som Tam

20 minutes of pounding

Som Tam is probably the most misunderstood Thai dish. People think it’s just a regular salad, but it’s actually this intense flavor bomb that’s supposed to be eaten with sticky rice to cool your mouth down.

You need:

• 2 cups green papaya, shredded (use a mandoline if you have one)
• 2 tomatoes, cut in wedges
• 1/4 cup green beans, cut in pieces
• 3 garlic cloves
• 3-5 Thai chilies (start with 3 if you’re not used to heat)
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1 tablespoon palm sugar
• Crushed peanuts

The only way to make it: You need a mortar and pestle. I know it seems old-fashioned, but there’s no other way to get the texture right. Pound the garlic and chilies first until they’re paste-like. Add the sugar and pound until it dissolves.

Add the green beans and tomatoes, and pound them lightly to bruise them. Finally, add the papaya and toss everything with the fish sauce and lime juice.

The pounding releases all these flavors and oils that you can’t get any other way. The papaya should be slightly bruised but still crunchy.

Thai Noodle Dishes Beyond Pad Thai

Thai noodle dishes are way more diverse than just Pad Thai. Pad See Ew uses these wide, flat noodles with dark soy sauce, which gives everything a slightly sweet, caramelized flavor. It’s completely different from Pad Thai but just as good.

Then there’s Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao), which got its name because it’s supposedly good for hangovers. The holy basil is what makes this dish special; it has this peppery bite that regular basil doesn’t have.

Thai Chicken Dishes 

Thai chicken dishes are where you can really see the difference between authentic and Americanized Thai food. Gai Yang (grilled chicken) is marinated in lemongrass and galangal, then grilled over charcoal. The skin gets crispy and the meat stays juicy.

Pad Kra Pao Gai (Thai Basil Chicken) is probably the most popular dish in Thailand that nobody in America knows about. It’s ground chicken stir-fried with holy basil and served over rice with a fried egg on top. Simple but perfect.

Best Thai Vegetable Dishes 

Most Thai vegetable dishes are way better than what you’d expect. Morning glory stir-fried with garlic and chilies is the perfect balance of crispy and tender. The trick is cooking it fast over really high heat.

Eggplant in curry is another one that surprises people. Thai eggplant is different from the big purple ones you see in American supermarkets; they’re smaller and absorb flavors better.

Getting the Ingredients Right

Ingredient	Where to Get It	What to Look For
Fish sauce	Any Asian grocery store	Three Crabs or Red Boat brands
Tamarind paste	Asian markets	Should be dark and thick
Thai chilies	Asian stores or grow them	Small, hot, and bright green/red
Palm sugar	Thai grocery stores	Comes in round discs

Don’t try to substitute everything with regular grocery store ingredients. Thai food tastes different because it uses different ingredients. It’s worth the trip to an Asian market.

Why Most Thai Restaurants Get It Wrong

The problem with most Thai restaurants in America is that they’re trying to make food that appeals to everyone. Real Thai food is supposed to be intense. It should make you sweat, it should be sour enough to make you pucker, and it should have this funky undertone from the fish sauce.

When restaurants tone everything down to make it “approachable,” they’re not serving Thai food anymore. They’re serving some weird fusion thing that doesn’t represent the actual cuisine.

Why We Have the Best Thai Dishes

At Basil & Co., we’re not trying to make Thai food for people who don’t like Thai food. We’re making it for people who want to taste what Thai food actually tastes like. Our must-try dishes are the real deal.

We get our ingredients from the same suppliers that Thai restaurants in Thailand use. We make our curry pastes in-house. We don’t tone down the heat or add extra sugar to make things “American-friendly.”

Thai Dishes Come Taste the Difference

If you’ve never had real Thai food, you’re missing out. And if you think you have, you might be wrong. These dishes represent what Thai cuisine is actually about – bold flavors, fresh ingredients, and combinations that shouldn’t work but somehow do.

We’re bringing a taste of Thailand in Diamond Bar, and we’re not compromising on authenticity. Come try these dishes the way they’re supposed to be made. 

Want to try authentic Thai food? Stop by Basil & Co. and let us show you what you’ve been missing. Fair warning, though, after you taste the real thing, you’ll never be able to go back to mall food court Thai again.

For More:

1. A Taste of Thailand in Diamond Bar
2. Ari’s Catering and Private Parties Inquiry