Top 10 Best Food in Chiang Mai to Explore Thai Flavor 2025

Chiang Mai is a beautiful city located in the north of Thailand, about 800 km from Bangkok. It is famous for its peaceful scenery, the towering pagodas covered a typical culture for hundreds of years. Not only that, but Chiang Mai also attracts tourists by delicious food, rich identity, and taste of the North.

Chiang Mai's cuisine is so delicious and unique that no visitor can forget its taste. Our article will introduce you to the Top 10 Best Food in Chiang Mai standard Thai flavours that you must try.

1. Khao Soi (Crispy stir-fried noodles)

It is said that going to Chiang Mai without enjoying Khao Soi is not going to Chiang Mai. This is the most typical dish for the cuisine of this beautiful land. In Chiang Mai, you will enjoy Khao Soi everywhere, from 5-star hotel restaurants to simple sidewalk restaurants. Khao Soi is one of the best Thai foods in Chiang Mai that you should not skip.

Khao Soi has a slightly spicy flavor because Chiang Mai people love to eat spicily. This traditional dish consists of fried egg noodles fried with curry, beef or chicken with chutney, pickled cabbage, pepper, and lemon. Khao Soi is regarded as a representative of Chiang Mai's flavor, though rustic but makes any discerning tourist have to be soft-hearted. It can be served with Bai Bua Bok (pennywort) for cooling.

Khao Soi

2. Gaeng Hang Lay (Thai Curry)

Gaeng Hang Lay is a special curry originating from Myanmar. Gaeng Hang Lay is also known as tomato curry, because in addition to the usual ingredients for cooking curry, it always has a sour spice, such as tamarind.

Gaeng Hang Lay is cooked with pork belly or can also be cooked with chicken, beef, or fish. The special sauce consists of sugar, tamarind juice, ginger, garlic, peanuts, and Hang Lay curry powder. Some places also add other spices such as dried chili, pepper, garlic onion, lemongrass, pao chao, pineapple, and shrimp sauce to Gaeng Hang Lay.

Gaeng Hang Lay

3. Nam Prik (Ong /Noom)

Two popular chilli sauces in Thailand are Nam Prik Ong and Nam Prik Noom. Nam Prik Ong sauce is bright red, mixed with bird's eye chilli, pork, and tomatoes. Meanwhile, Nam Prik Noom sauce has the green color of green peppers, onions, and garlic. These two sauces will add flavour to Thai food.

Nam Prik is perhaps the most famous delicacy, which is the king of Thai spicy sauces. It is made with fermented shrimp paste, chili, and lemonade.
This dish is usually eaten with baked goods or boiled vegetables, raw vegetables such as cabbage, bitter melon, okra, cauliflower, broccoli.

Nam Prik

4. Sai Oua

Sai Oua is a dish made of pork marinated with lemongrass, Thai lemon leaves, galangal, and chili, stuffed in a sausage wrap and grilled until golden brown. This dish is quite similar to Laotian sausage.

When eating, the seller will cut Sai Oua into small pieces. You can eat it with a bit of Thai sticky rice - the main food of Northern Thailand, or Sai Oua with Nam Prik - a Thai sauce made from grilled green chilies, garlic, flavors, and salted fish together.

Sai Oua

5. Khanom Jeen Nam Ngeow (Rice Vermicelli with Soybean Curry)

Nam Ngeow can be said to be the typical dish in the homeland of people living in Northern Thailand. Influenced by Burma and Southern Yunnan cuisine, Nam Ngeow is a stew made of beef bones, pork bones, winter blood, tomato sauce, sun-baked grilled peppers and Dok Ngiew - dried forest rice flower.

Nam Ngeow soup is often eaten with Kanom Jeen - fresh Thai rice vermicelli soup with bean sprouts and coriander. In Chiang Mai, Nam Ngeow recipes are also extremely diverse.

Khanom Jeen Nam Ngeow

6. Tam Khanun

This is one of the most popular cuisines in Northern Thailand and also one of the best foods in Chiang Mai. Tam Khanun ingredients include unripe jackfruit, boiled until soft, crushed with spices, chutney, and sauteed with garlic, tomatoes, and kaffir leaves. Tam Khanun is served with fried chilli, fried garlic, coriander, and scallions.

This dish is also very diverse with many different variations. But most often, restaurants, homemade and markets include minced pork or pork skin, peanuts, tomatoes, fried garlic, and fried chilli.

Tam Khanun

7. Larb Kua (Pan-fried Spicy Meat Salad)

This is one of the best foods in Chiang Mai with a very different flavor than other parts of Thailand. This dish includes minced pork, pig’s intestine, fish sauce, kaffir lime leaves, Vietnamese Coriander, and chopped garlic. All will be chopped and quickly stir-fried through hot cooking oil along with some herbs, special spices, dried chilies, and larb curry. This dish is best when served with hot sticky rice.

Larb Kua

8. Khao Kha Moo

Khao Kha Moo is a stewed pork leg, often served with rice, vegetables, and boiled eggs for only about 30 Baht ($ 0.90). In the food of the northern regions of Thailand, there is quite a lot of fat. Khao Kha Moo also has a little fat with stewed meat so soft that it separates from the bones, which is rich and greasy.

If you do not like the meat of the pork leg, you can order a plate of Mai Ow Nang Khao Kha Moo and the owner will choose the lean meat for you. To enjoy this delicious dish, you should go to Khao Kha Moo Chang Phueak Girl Cowboy.

Khao Kha Moo

9. Khao Neow Ma Muang (sticky with mango and greasy coconut milk)

Khao Neow Ma Muang can be found in many other places in Thailand, even in Vietnam. But if you come to Chiang Mai, you should still try this dish. Mango with sticky rice in Chiang Mai is so unique because of the combination of mango, coconut, beans, custard and wrapped in banana leaves.

Glutinous rice is the main food of Northern Thailand when combined with fresh mango and coconut milk will bring you a special experience with the greasy and sweet taste typical of Thai cuisine.

Khao Neow Ma Muang

10. Kai Yang Nung Krob ( grilled chicken with Thai flavor)

Chiang Mai is quite a wild countryside so the chickens here are still naturally raised. From there, Chiang Mai people will process many delicious dishes from chicken including grilled chicken. Regular chicken is marinated with lemongrass, garlic, delicious fish sauce, and Thai soy sauce. Grilled chicken is sold with whole or half chicken. Chiang Mai grilled chicken is fragrant, sweet, crispy chicken skin with rich flavours.

Kai Yang Nung Krob

We have just provided you with details about the Top 10 best food in Chiang Mai. There are still have many delicious dishes waiting for you to enjoy. Hopefully, when you come here, you will have the opportunity to experience more new dishes. Let's look at our best Chiang Mai tours to find the suitable one for you.

Jenny Tran

(Image source: Internet)