Top Vietnamese Desserts - A food tour guide

Desserts in Vietnam merge into a sweet combination of timeless recipes, regional peculiarities, and modern tweaks into a true explosion of flavors and textures that delight locals and visitors alike. From tropical fruits and coconut milk to sticky rice and mung beans, Vietnamese desserts speak volumes about the nation's creativity in matters of food and cultural heritage.

Herein below is a selected food guide to desserts one really should taste during a visit to Vietnam.
P.S. If you are diabetic or just want to follow a low sugar diet, we suggest you go light on some of the desserts as some of them are really sweet although there are no added sugar options like Ching bo leung you can try.

Chè – Vietnam’s best Sweet dish

Basically, chè describes a lot of sweet soups and puddings with the addition of beans, jellies, fruits, and tapioca put together. One of the coolest is called Chè Ba Màu—or in English, Three-Color Dessert—just an enormous, amazing affair with mung beans, red beans, green jelly, and coconut milk over the top of the crushed ice. Then there is Chè Chuối, a warm and comforting pudding made from bananas, tapioca pearls, and coconut cream. In fact, this dessert can be found in almost every food street and cafe in Vietnam.

Bánh Flan – it's like Vietnamese Crème Caramel

The name of this French-inspired dessert—when translated into Vietnamese—means super-smooth custard base with caramelized sugar on top, but with the addition of condensed milk or coconut milk, it becomes extremely rich in taste. Almost every local bakery and restaurant sells Bánh Flan.

Bánh Chuối Nướng – Grilled Banana Sticky Rice

This dessert is a very common street-food snack that not only wraps sweet bananas in sticky rice but covers it with banana leaves, then grill-perfects them. It usually gets drizzled with coconut sauce and sprinkled with sesame seeds or peanuts to bring in that smoky, sweet, and creamy flavor.

Xôi Ngọt – That sweet sticky rice!

Sticky rice in Vietnamese desserts can be super versatile. You may have options like Xôi Lá Dứa or Xôi Gấc, the red-colored sticky rice made with gac fruit. They are usually consumed with some shredded coconut or mung bean paste to kick up the texture and sweetness of this food.

Tào Phớ – Tofu Pudding

Tào Phớ is super light and refreshing; it is basically silken tofu swimming in this sweet ginger syrup. It's even nicer when it has been chilled, then topped with cool ingredients like grass jelly, coconut milk, or crunchy toasted peanuts—all perfect for hot days.

Bánh Da Lợn – Steamed Tapioca Layer Cake

You may also know it as "Pig Skin Cake" because of its translucent layers. Made from tapioca, mung beans, and pandan leaves, this kueh has a chewy, layered texture and is lightly sweetened, making it a favorite snack.

Kem Xôi – Ice Cream with Sticky Rice

You get this great combination of creamy coconut ice cream over sticky rice, usually topped off with some roasted coconut flakes. A favorite among tourists who have tried Thai food before is that it is sweet and refreshing.

Fried Banana – Chuối Chiên

Thinly sliced ripe bananas, battered and fried: crunchy on the outside and soft with a caramel interior. Many times, vendors sell these sprinkled with sugar or smothered in coconut sauce for that extra kick.

Mung Bean Cakes – Bánh Đậu Xanh

These include small cakes made with mung bean paste, sugar, and coconut milk, mostly served with tea. They make for very good souvenirs to bring from Vietnam since they can last long and are culturally significant.

Bánh Bò – Honeycomb Cake

This soft, sweetly gentle cake takes its name from the honeycomb interior created by air bubbles during steaming; flavors of coconut milk and pandan give it a distinctively Vietnamese signature.

Chè Trôi Nước – Sticky Rice Balls in Ginger Syrup

Chewy rice balls filled with mung bean paste are boiled in ginger syrup, making for a warm and fragrant dessert, usually served on family reunion occasions or in any festivals.

Pía - Durian pastry

A specialty from South Vietnam, Bánh Pía is a pastry with a flaky crust containing fillings of mung beans, durian, and sometimes even salted egg yolk. This is for those bold lovers of durian's strong, acquired smell.

Kẹo lạc – Peanut and Sesame Candy

This is crunchy, sweet candy made from roasted peanuts and sesame seeds in caramelized sugar. Although it's rather common as a gift, people share it especially during the Lunar New Year festivities.

Banh Tieu - Vietnamese Hollow Doughnuts

These are doughnuts deep-fried from dough made up of rice flour and coconut milk, which later will turn up spongy hollow within. Usually sprinkled with sesame, these are enjoyed hot from street hawkers.

Flan dừa – Coconut Crème Caramel

This is crème caramel, tropical style, for coconut milk has been added to give it that extra-special exotic touch; it is found everywhere in all the coastal towns and city cafes of Vietnam.

Tips to Enjoy Vietnamese Desserts

• Food Adventures in the Streets:
  Busy markets are some of the best places to taste real desserts at very cheap prices.

• Regional Specialties:
  This section covers northern, central, and southern takes of Vietnam on the same desserts.

• Pair with drinks:
  Most of the above desserts were perfectly matched with Vietnamese iced coffee or green tea for a killing combination in flavors.

Various desserts of Vietnam are proof of this culinary genius; from night strolls in the Old Quarter of Hanoi to busy markets in Ho Chi Minh, they should not be missed. Each taste speaks a lot about historical, flavorful, and cultural fusions that just should not be missed.

If you are visiting Vietnam and not trying all the desserts then have you even lived your life fully?