Thai cuisine boasts some of the world’s spiciest ingredients. Chili powder and Nam prik pao (spice paste) are commonly served on the side to ratchet up the heat in Thai cuisine. The number of chili peppers in many meals affects the heat. Many spicy Thai recipes come with cucumbers, herbs, and fresh vegetables to cool them down. Hot climate countries are known for their spicy meals, and Thailand may be the most famous. Spicy food cools you off in hot weather because chilies make you sweat, and they’re full of vitamin C. Thai dishes require fresh, dried, fried, and ground chilies. Masterful mixes of spices and ingredients create delightful, aromatic, and – frequently – spicy Thai cuisines. Unless you speak Thai, ordering food at night markets can be like playing Russian roulette. You won’t know what you’re ordering and whether it will burn your mouth. Here’s a list of the 20 spiciest Thai foods for would-be visitors to the Land of Smiles.
1Gaeng Pa Sriyan
This restaurant is known for its Gaeng Pa (Jungle Curry), which is also how it got its name. If you want the best, you should eat here. There are different kinds of meat in this dish, like quail and frog. In addition to it, they serve “regular” meats such as beef and shrimp. Or, if you want to try the “original” Gaeng Pa, you can get the version with boar meat.
2.Pad Prik
Pad Prik King is a famous stir-fried dry curry whose rich dark crimson hue is derived from the fiery red chilies that form the basis of its thick sauce. Adding a handful of crunchy long green beans to this sweet, spicy, and salty Thai dish will make a great side dish. This recipe is sure to stimulate your taste buds and make you break a sweat. Neua Pad prik, a meal with more chili than most people can handle ranks eleventh. Beef, pork, poultry, or fish are braised with peppers, onions, garlic, basil, and, of course, bird’s-eye chilies. Spicy food will have you sweating and reaching for more rice to tame the heat.
3Gaeng Phed Ped Yang
The two most famous Thai curries, without a doubt, are green curry and red curry, so we couldn’t leave out the latter. This meal is superior to the typical red curries found on the street since it is made with roasted duck. And, because the curry sauce has been infused into the duck meat, you’ll be able to experience that creamy, spicy flavor in every bite.
4Tom Klong Pla Grab
Despite its almost-transparent brown color, tom klong pla grab is anything but harmless. Spicy soup containing dried fish, dried chilies, galangal, kaffir leaves, and lemongrass. While many Thais enjoy it, most Westerners will struggle to eat it, which is a shame because it is pretty tasty. Another spicy Thai soup, Tom Klong Pla Grob, seems innocent due to its almost-transparent brown color. Spicy soup containing dried fish, dried chilies, galangal, kaffir leaves, and lemongrass. While many Thais enjoy it, most Westerners will struggle to eat it, which is a shame because it is pretty tasty.
5.Pad Ped Naw Mai Moo Sab
The bamboo shoots are the focal point of this dish so you can anticipate plenty of crispy, golden deliciousness. However, they include chunks of savory meat to counteract the dish’s crispiness. And contrary to its “vegetable” appearance, it does not taste like herbs; instead, it tastes like Aglio Olio, a mixture of chili and garlic.
6.Pad Kra Pow Moo Saap
This dish of spicy minced pork with basil leaves is simple to make yet very satisfying to the stomach. It is both hot and savory at the same time. And when you eat it with a bowl of rice, a fried egg cooked about halfway through, and a dash of fish sauce with chilies, it’s even better.
7.Gaeng Kua Kling
Kua Kling, a dry curry from the south of Thailand, is a dish that spares no expense when it comes to heat. In contrast to many Thai recipes, this one is considerably easier to make: a curry paste made of chili and other spices is mixed with roasted meat while it cooks in a skillet, and then the finished dish is poured over the top. Gaeng Kua Kling can be made with pig, chicken, fish, or beef and served with rice throughout the south of Thailand. Therefore; there’s no foreigner-exclusive variation of the dish.
8.Hoi Malang Pu Pad Horapha
Cooking the mussels in this manner infuses them with an incredible amount of flavor, thanks to the oyster sauce, fish sauce, and shrimp fat in oil that have been added. The chili and the basil leaves give the dish an excellent hot and aromatic kick so much so that you will probably be reaching for seconds of it.
9.Kuay Tiew Mu Tom Yum
If you combine tom yum, a popular spicy soup in Thailand, with guay, a staple of Thai street food, you will create a dish with the perfect balance of sweet, salty, sour, and spicy tastes. When ground pork and roasted peanuts are combined in a noodle dish, the result is brimming with flavor and can only be satisfied by eating a second helping of the plate.
10Leng Saap
Thai people love Leng Sab, which is a simple but spicy dish. It tastes a lot like Tom Yum, but it is tangier and smells different because of the green chilies. The meal is typically served hot, with a substantial portion of tender, well-cooked pork neck in a delicious broth. Lime juice and green chilies are added to give the dish a sour and spicy flavor. It has coriander and spring onions on top. Most of the time, it comes with a side of rice.
11.Gaeng Tai Pla
Gaeng Tai Pla is a steaming, spicy, hot thick soup made with fermented fish innards (pickled fish bladder), vegetables, fresh and dry herbs, and culinary spices from southern Thailand. It includes dried chilies, galangal, turmeric, and kaffir leaves, as well as fermented fish intestines, fish, pumpkin, eggplant, yard-long beans, and bamboo shoots, for a salty and spicy curry. Getting beyond the pain barrier and finishing this curry will undoubtedly bring wry laughs from guests in the restaurant who have gathered to see the farang collapse from the heat and summon his parents for assistance.
12Laab
Salads are often bland and not spicy in the western world. Thailand, on the other hand, missed the memo, as one of the two popular Thai salads on this list is laab. Rice is roasted and pounded before being mixed with pork or chicken, mashed chilies, and onions to produce a deceptively fiery dish in Laos and the Thai area of Isaan. The spice may seem tolerable at first, but it gradually builds to almost excruciating levels, and your “safe” salad option has backfired terribly.
13.Pad Ped Pla Duk
Thai food is more than just that “red sweet and spicy sauce.” Thailand also excels at “quite hot with a tinge of sweetness, particularly with fried, crispy catfish (with tender meat). Pad Ped Pla Duk is great if you like red curry paste, palm sugar, fish sauce, and chili. The sweet basil and kaffir lime leaves give it a nice smells, and the green peppercorns give it a nice crunch. There isn’t much “soup” in it, which is excellent news for people who dislike soupy foods. But there’s still plenty of sauce to pour over your rice.
14.Pad Ka Prao
Although many varieties of pad ka prao may not seem spicy, it is pretty spicy when prepared properly. Pad ka prao is a popular Thai dish made with fish, chicken, and pork. It is known for its spicy and flavorful mix of holy basil and chili peppers, which makes it both tasty and spicy. If you’re courageous enough, ask for it spicy, and you’ll receive the authentic version that existed long before outsiders complained about the heat. One of Thailand’s most popular dishes.
15.Phad Kaphrao – Stir-Fried Meat With Chili And Holy Basil
Phad kaphrao is a Thai classic and a household name. Chicken or pork is often used in the meal, seasoned with chili, garlic, and holy basil. Seafood or crispy pork may be used in some variations of pad kaphrao. Because of this, it is served with an accompanying serving of steaming rice. A fried egg, known as “Khai Dao” in Thai, is also a good match for this dish.
16Mu Phad Phrik Phao
The pork in mu phad phrik phao is stir-fried with roasted chili paste, which adds a sweet and sour taste to the meal. In many recipes, sweet basil is included. Some people substitute it with fish, chicken, or pork that has been fired in a crispy batter. It goes well with a big dish of rice.
17.Som Tam
This delicious meal embodies all of Thai cuisine’s flavors, and the spicier it is, the better it tastes! This tangy hot salad, delicately crushed in a traditional mortar and pestle for your enjoyment, is the perfect companion to sticky rice and Thai grilled chicken. The unripe papaya is served with a pounded mixture of salt, lime juice, fish sauce, coconut sugar, and, of course, a generous amount of fiery spicy chilies. The inclusion of these various components works quite well, and resulting in a flavorfully balanced dish – albeit frequently incredibly intensely spicy.
18Tom Yum Kung
The base of the famous Thai soup dish tom yum Kung, comprised of fried chili and chili paste, ranks eighth on the list. Add galangal and lemongrass for a spicy, aromatic dish that is not for the faint of heart. Its blazing reddish-orange hue should alert you to its high level of spiciness, and it does not disappoint, with the heat radiating to all regions of your body. Tom yum Kung is guaranteed to get you up and moving if you have the flu. Try Tom Yum Kung.
19.Phad Chaa Talay
The dish known as phad chaa Talay is loaded with an assortment of herbs and spices, providing a one-of-a-kind flavor profile and, of course, a spicy kick. This spicy cuisine is prepared by cooking a selection of seafood, such as squid and prawns, with chili, kaffir lime leaves, green peppercorns, and finger roots. The meal can also be prepared with chicken or fish instead of pork. When it is served, rice is typically served alongside it.
20.Gaeng Som
In southern Thailand, gaeng som (yellow curry) is also known as gaeng Leung. This spicy orange curry from Thailand’s southern provinces has a distinct aroma that will tingle your nose hairs. In this soup-like curry, the shrimp paste and bird’s eye chilies add a spicy kick, while the tamarind, which gives it its characteristic color, adds a tart tang. It is often served over white basmati or jasmine rice. Turmeric, garlic, shallots, and lime juice flavor this hot and spicy soup. Krua Apsorn’s spicy gaeng lueng is a great way to see if you can handle the heat.
