Exploring different desserts of the world is like learning love languages. After all, dessert is a language that everyone understands, as it is never restricted by cultural or societal boundaries. No matter which part of the world you are in, desserts will never disappoint you with their sweetness and interesting flavors.
And since craving desserts after a hearty meal is a universal rule, you will find every country and culture in the world taking their sweet treats seriously, especially popular tourist destinations like Vietnam. Here are the best Vietnamese desserts that you should try out because – well do you even need a reason to get a dessert? Life is short, go take a big bite out of those sweet delicacies before the day ends.
1. Chè Khúc Bạch (White Chunks Dessert Soup)
Che in Vietnamese refers to any desserts that are in liquid form, which includes puddings, sweet soups, and drinks. The Chè Khúc Bạch is an iconic Vietnamese dessert that is a blend of panna cotta, coconut cream, tropical fruits, and a generous amount of shaved ice which adds a burst of flavor and color. While the previous ingredients add to the sweetness, the basil seeds create a crunchy and well-balanced texture. The unique combination is why Chè Khúc Bach is a dessert that makes your taste buds dance with joy.
2. Bánh Tiêu (Vietnamese Hollow Donut)
Desserts in Vietnam are the sweetest escape from reality, which brings us to this hollow donut fried until it is deliciously golden and crisp. One thing that makes Bánh Tiêu so unique from other desserts is the soft and airy interior. The sesame seeds crust is extremely crunchy and fragrant, which is why it is a dessert that is both easy on the eyes and the taste buds. In Vietnam, you will find this dessert being sold as a street food, particularly with sweet sticky rice.
3. Chè Đậu Xanh (Sweet Mung Bean Vietnamese dessert)
Soupy desserts are a love language of Vietnamese people, and this specific one including Mung beans is a refreshing and sweet pudding that also features coconut milk and tapioca pearls. Even though you can easily find this dessert throughout Vietnam, it is also very easy to make it yourself using only a few ingredients. You can top it with coconut milk, serve it with ice cream, or just eat it just as it is.
4. Bánh Chuối (Vietnamese Bread Pudding)
A sweet journey deserves a sweet ending, which means that the next time you are wondering what to eat in Vietnam, go for this sweet banana bread pudding. The ingredients for these Vietnamese desserts may vary from place to place, but the basic ones are plantains or ripe bananas, coconut milk, rice flour, white bread, sugar, shredded coconut, butter, egg, and condensed milk. It is a delicious and nutritious dessert that looks like a baked cheesecake with caramelized bananas on top. Sometimes you will also find it topped with sesame seeds.
5. Bánh Trung Thu Nhân Thập Cẩm (Mooncakes)
Bánh Trung Thu is one of those desserts in Vietnam to try if you not only want to explore the culinary scene but also the culture of the region. The mooncakes, also used during the Mid-Autumn festivals, come in a variety of shapes from square to round. They have beautiful patterns on top and are filled with delicious items like watermelon seeds, salted egg yolks, sausages, etc. If the mooncakes are sweet, you will find lotus seed paste, mung beans, coconut, and other such fillings.
6. Sua Chua Nep Cam (Yogurt Black Sticky Rice Pudding)
Vietnam’s desserts are a piece of art, and this next one is made for you if you are always on the lookout for aesthetic dishes. The Yogurt black sticky rice pudding is a delicious combination of tarty yogurt and sweet sticky rice, which makes it a go-to recipe to eat or make on a hot summer day. Sua Chua Nep Cam is a nutritious dessert. As soon as you mix the black sticky rice pudding with the yogurt, you end up with a heavenly and creamy rich dessert that looks like it came straight from your fantasies.
7. Chè Thái (Fruit Cocktail)
This Vietnamese dessert is a balanced and harmonious blend of sweet fruit bites and cold coconut milk. Enjoy a spoonful of jackfruit slices, lychee bites, and other chewy jellies that offer a range of flavors in a single bite. Most of the time canned tropical fruits are used to make this dessert, but many people around Vietnam like to make variations using different fruits as well. The coconut milk is ice cold and adds the final flavor punch to the fruit cocktail.
8. Chuối Nếp Nướng (Grilled Banana Sticky Rice)
desserts in Vietnam are a paradise for those with a sweet tooth and include special recipes for those having specific dietary requirements as well. If you are looking for gluten-free, vegan, and dairy-free Vietnamese desserts, then you can try out this grilled banana sticky rice. The recipe consists of simple ingredients like coconut milk, ripe bananas, banana leaves, glutinous rice, and sesame seeds. You can easily find it across Vietnam or make it yourself at home.
9. Kem Xôi (Ice Cream With Sticky Rice)
Sticky rice hits differently and the Vietnamese surely know how to use this delicious ingredient in their recipes. This Vietnamese dessert is popular throughout the country as a refreshing summer snack, and in terms of flavor, color, fragrance, and texture, it checks all boxes. The ingredients, such as sticky rice, coconut ice cream, and coconut milk, complement each other so well that you will find yourself addicted to this dessert.
10. Chè Chuối (Coconut, Vietnamese Banana & Tapioca Dessert)
As a tourist, desserts in Vietnam are only acceptable to us when they make us forget every other sweet dish we have tried in our lifetime. And this Vietnamese coconut, banana, and tapioca dessert meets our expectations in every way possible. This delicious pudding-like dessert has rich coconut cream and bananas, not to mention tapioca pearls. This dessert is best served warm so that the tapioca doesn’t make it too starchy.
11. Banh Dau Xanh (Baked Mung Bean Cakes)
Whenever in doubt, go for Banh Dau Xanh as your choice of Vietnam’s dessert without any hesitation. These mung bean cubes represent the flavors and cultures of the city and are popular among tourists and locals as well. The Banh Dau Xanh is taken as souvenirs back home by tourists, or gifted to loved ones. The main ingredients are sugar, vegetable oil, and mung bean powder, and authentic vendors in Vietnam will serve you these fresh desserts without any added flavorings or preservatives.
12. Khoai Mi Nuoc Cot Dua (Cassava And Coconut Milk Vietnamese Dessert)
These scrumptious little snack-like desserts are an instant mood booster. Filled with delicious textures and flavors, this dessert is satisfying with its creamy coconut milk, heart cassava, and shredded coconut. On top of the dessert, you will find a nut medley, adding a sweet and salty aftertaste to the dessert. This combination of crunchy and sweet makes it a go-to snack for tourists and locals in Vietnam.
13. Tau Hu Nuoc Duong (Tofu Pudding in Ginger Syrup)
Though we love indulging in hearty and creamy sweet delights time and again, light and delicate desserts in Vietnam are our favorite! Tau Hu Nuoc Duong or tofu pudding has a mixture of Vietnamese and Chinese flavors. This dessert is most commonly sold as street food, or offered at Dim Sum. The recipe uses coagulated soybean milk that makes the silken tofu, and sweet ginger syrup on top of the pudding. Homemade tofu also gives an incredible taste to this dessert if you want to try it out yourself.
14. Banh Duc La Dua (Pandan Rice Cake)
Pandan rice cakes are delicious Vietnamese desserts made with purely native ingredients – pandan leaves and rice flour. They give a slightly jiggly and chewy texture to the dessert, and when combined with the pandan leaves fragrance, this dessert becomes an unforgettable sweet delight that is a must-try whenever you visit Vietnam. It is the pandan leaves that also give the green color to the rice cakes. The unique flavor and color are what make it a preferred choice of dessert on special occasions and festivals.
15. Chè Bắp (Vietnamese Sweet Corn Pudding)
As Westerners, we always look forward to trying out sweet corn in summer recipes throughout the world. This Vietnamese dessert is a treat for our taste buds as it showcases the refreshing summer corn but with a unique Vietnamese twist. At a glance, it is just sweet corn soup that has more of a pudding-like consistency, but the special ingredient is the glutinous rice which is responsible for adding texture and thickness to this dessert.
16. Chè Trôi Nước (Glutinous Rice Balls With Warm Ginger Syrup)
Talk about pretty Vietnamese desserts! It has glutinous rice balls that are filled with mung beans, and then the rice balls are served in warm ginger syrup. The ginger syrup is even more delicious than what you would have imagined as it has toasted sesame seeds and coconut sauce as well. The glutinous rice balls float up to the surface as soon as they are cooked, and as you break into them you will find the warm mung bean filling oozing out of it.
17. Bánh Cam (Fried Sesame Balls Vietnam’s Dessert)
The fried sesame balls are crispy and hearty, and just what you need to satisfy your sweet cravings. The crispiness comes from the outer shell of glutinous rice, and the Bánh Cam is filled with mung beans that are sweet in flavor and covered in sesame seeds. The outer surface might be crispy but on the other side, you will be met with the chewiness of the glutinous rice dough and the sweetness of mung bean filling. Those tourists and locals who are very fond of this dessert are also picky and extremely specific about this balance of textures.
18. Bánh Bò (Vietnamese Pandan Honeycomb Cake)
Bánh Bò is one of those desserts in Vietnam that manages to surprise you even though you were prepared to find the most unique desserts in this region. The honeycomb cake is light and fluffy and full of pandan aroma and coconut flavors. The slightly chewy texture makes it different from a regular sponge cake – a real contribution made by the tapioca flour. The honeycomb-like appearance of the cake is what attracts people to try it out, and coconut milk imparts a different sort of flavor to this dish.
19. Chè Bà Ba (Sweet Potato And Cassava Dessert)
This Vietnamese dessert with a soup base of coconut milk is most delicious when it is warm, but you can also eat it cold. The dessert has pieces of tapioca, taro, cassava, and Khoai lang bi which is a long sweet potato. The sweet potato has yellow flesh and red skin and makes up a large portion of the ingredient’s quantity. The perfect mix of all these flavors has made Chè Bà Ba a favorite among sweet dish lovers in Vietnam as it has the right quantities of sticky, crunch, buttery, sweet, and chewy textures.
20. Chè Ba Màu (The Three Colored Vietnamese Desserts)
Chè Ba Màu is one of a kind and among the most popular desserts in Vietnam that every tourist wants to try. It is a refreshing combination of ice slush, bouncy jellies, and soft beans that are layered with coconut sauce. There are three layers in this dessert. The yellow one is made from mung beans, the green one consists of pandan jelly and the red layer is created using boiled sweetened red bean paste. The coconut sauce goes on top of the layers, preferably with shaved ice as well.
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