If you're looking for some delicious desserts to make at home, we've got some of the Best Asian Dessert Recipes in this special recipe collection. Try one (or two!) today as the perfect complement to your Asian-inspired meal!
If you love cooking Asian food at home like we do, you'll want to have some Asian dessert recipes to complement those delicious main courses.
Being Filipino-American, I make a lot of Filipino food. And Filipino desserts like Flan, Peach Mango Pie, Ube White Chocolate Chip Cookies, and Turon to complete those flavorful Filipino meals.
But we also cook a lot of Japanese food, Chinese food, Vietnamese food, and Thai food at home. So I decided to compile a list of what I think are some of the best Asian dessert recipes out there.
Any one of these would be a delicious complement to an Asian-inspired dinner!
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🌟 About these recipes
This recipe collection includes 30+ dessert recipes that spans a wide variety of cuisine from different Asian countries. You'll find some of the most popular desserts from our site as well as fellow food blogger sites from around the globe.
🇵🇭 Filipino desserts
Filipino desserts are known for their sweet, creamy, and tropical flavors. They often include ingredients like coconut, condensed milk, and various tropical fruits such as mangoes, bananas, and jackfruit.
Popular Filipino desserts include:
- Halo-halo, a colorful mix of shaved ice, sweet beans, jellies, fruits, and evaporated milk
- Leche Flan, a rich caramel custard made with egg yolks and condensed milk;
- Biko, a sweet and sticky rice cake typically served during the Christmas season.
Be sure to check out our complete Filipino recipe collection for more delicious dinner ideas!
🇹🇭 Thai desserts
Thai desserts are known for their delightful combination of sweet, salty, and sometimes floral flavors. They often use ingredients such as coconut, palm sugar, sticky rice, and tropical fruits like mangoes and bananas. Coconut milk is a staple ingredient in Thai cooking and baking.
Some popular Thai desserts include:
- Mango Sticky Rice (Khao Niew Mamuang), a heavenly combination of ripe mangoes, sticky rice, and coconut milk. A simple yet satisfying dessert highlighting the natural sweetness of mangoes and glutinous rice.
- Tub Tim Grob, a refreshing dessert consisting of water chestnuts coated in vibrant red syrup and served with coconut milk and crushed ice.
If you're looking for some delicious Thai food recipes to make at home, check out our complete Thai recipe collection.
🇯🇵 Japanese desserts
Japanese desserts are known for their delicate and subtle flavors. They often include ingredients like matcha (green tea), red bean paste (anko), and mochi (glutinous rice cakes).
Traditional Japanese desserts tend to be less sweet compared to Western desserts, with a focus on elegant presentation and seasonal ingredients. Popular Japanese desserts include:
- Wagashi, intricately designed sweets made from ingredients like sweet bean paste, agar-agar, and rice flour
- Dorayaki, soft pancake-like cakes filled with sweet red bean paste
- Taiyaki, a popular, favorite dessert of fish-shaped cakes filled with sweet fillings like red bean paste or custard.
🇨🇳 Chinese desserts
Chinese desserts often balancing sweetness with ingredients like fruits, beans, and grains. More than just fortune cookies you'll find at Chinese restaurants, many Chinese desserts are served warm and incorporate ingredients with symbolic meanings, such as longevity noodles and lotus seeds.
Popular Chinese desserts include:
- Tangyuan, sweet glutinous rice balls filled with black sesame paste or sweet red bean paste, often served in a sweet soup
- Mango Pudding, a creamy dessert made with fresh mangoes and gelatin
- Egg Tarts, flaky pastry shells filled with a smooth custard filling.
We've got a lot of Chinese recipes on the blog, so be sure to check out our full Chinese recipes collection.
🇻🇳 Vietnamese desserts
Vietnamese desserts feature a blend of sweet, salty, sour, and sometimes savory flavors. They usually include ingredients like coconut milk, tropical fruits, and mung beans. Many Vietnamese desserts also incorporate elements of French cuisine due to Vietnam's colonial history.
Popular Vietnamese desserts include:
- Che, a colorful and sweet dessert soup made with various ingredients like beans, tapioca pearls, fruits, and coconut milk
- Banh Flan, a Vietnamese version of crème caramel made with eggs, condensed milk, and caramel syrup
- Banh Chuoi, a Vietnamese banana cake made with ripe bananas and coconut milk.
🇰🇷 Korean desserts
Korean desserts often highlight ingredients like rice, beans, and fruits, with flavors ranging from mildly sweet to refreshingly tart. Traditional Korean desserts, like Korean tea cookies and Korean sweet rice cake, are often enjoyed alongside tea and are known for their simplicity and healthfulness.
Other popular Korean desserts include:
- Patbingsu, a shaved ice dessert topped with sweetened red beans, fruits, condensed milk, and sometimes ice cream
- Yakgwa, deep-fried honey cookies made with wheat flour, sesame oil, and honey
- Hotteok, a sweet filled pancake typically stuffed with a mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, and nuts.
💜 Common ingredients in Asian dessert
To help you make these desserts, we've got food guides like our Filipino food guide to help you stock your pantry. Here are some ingredients you may commonly find in popular Asian desserts.
- Ube - A purple yam that is native to the Philippines, Ube is often used in Filipino desserts. It gives a beautiful bright purple color to any sweet treat, and has a vanilla flavor.
- Coconut milk - A staple that is used across the board in most Asian cuisine, in both sweet and savory recipes.
- Condensed milk - Often used in Filipino, Korean, and Vietnamese desserts.
- Jackfruit - A popular ingredient in Filipino food, such as our Turon (Filipino Banana Lumpia) recipe.
- Mango - You will often see fresh mango used in many Asian dessert recipes. We use it in our Jollibee Copycat Peach and Mango Hand Pies. Silky mango pudding and mango with sticky rice are also popular Asian desserts.
- Plantains - Plantains are starchy fruits that belong to the banana family, but they are larger, firmer, and less sweet than ripe bananas. In Asian desserts, they add a natural sweetness and creamy texture. You can often substitute plantains for bananas, such as in our Turon recipe.
- Red bean paste or sweet red beans - A popular ingredient you'll find in many traditional Japanese desserts and traditional Chinese dessert recipes.
- Soy milk - Often used as a dairy milk replacement, but cannot always be used as a coconut milk substitute, as it's thinner and has a different flavor.
- Tapioca pearls - Used often in Vietnamese desserts and to make Taiwanese bubble tea.
🍮 Asian Dessert Recipe Collection
Best Asian Dessert Recipes
This classic Filiino dessert takes some time and attention, but is easier to make than you might think. And it's so luscious and creamy - 100% worth the effort!
Turon is a sweet version of the savory Filipino lumpia. It's easy to make at home with just 5 ingredients!
One of our favorite ube cookie recipes, this Ube White Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe is a bright, colorful, rich flavorful elevated version of the classic chocolate chip cookie.
If you're looking for a simple and easy Filipino dessert, this Taisan cake is a great recipe to try! Perfect to make for brunches or afternoon tea.
Filipino Biko is a sweet sticky rice that is often made for holidays, but easy enough and delicious enough to enjoy year round!
These Ube Bars are a popular Filipino bakery item. Fluffy cake bars coated with vibrant ube condensed milk and coconut flakes.
Ube ice cream is the perfect summertime treat!
Mashed purple yam is cooked slowly with butter, evaporated milk and condensed milk which give this colorful dessert such a luscious buttery, creamy and sweet flavor.
This beautiful ube cheesecake combines creamy coconut with stunning purple ube. And it's no bake so no need to turn on the oven.
This sweet Peach Mango Pie recipe with flaky crusts is a copycat recipe of the famous Jollibee peach mango hand pies. Easy to make, and perfect for summer picnics, barbecues, and more.
Matcha powder gives these Matcha Crinkle Cookies their bright green color and subtle tea flavor. Soft and chewy, these are tasty cookies to enjoy with a cup of tea,
Looking for a refreshing dessert on a hot summer day? Try this buko pandan recipe! It's a sweet and refreshing Filipino dessert made of coconut, pandan-infused gelatine and sweetened cream.
Originating from Japan, castella cake is known for its softness and comforting vanilla flavor. This sponge cake is a delicious treat you can easily recreate at home and enjoy it on its own, with whipped cream, fresh fruit and berries, or your favorite jam.
Chinese Egg tarts are a classic dessert that are perfect after any Asian meal. Rich they are but small enough that you can eat the whole thing!
With a soft and spongy texture, flavored with coconut and condensed milk and then topped with a creamy vanilla custard sauce – your taste buds will dance with joy with each bite of this favorite Filipino delicacy.
Mango Sticky Rice stands as the most cherished Thai dessert. This delightful treat is prepared using steamed glutinous sweet rice, rich sweetened coconut cream, and ripe seasonal mango. Discover the simplicity of creating khao niaow ma muang at home with this straightforward and easy-to-follow recipe.
Thai pumpkin custard recipe (Sankaya Faktong) is a traditional Thai dessert with a harmonious blend of sweet and savory, featuring the rich flavors of kabocha squash, pandan leaves, and sweet coconut custard. You'll only need 6 ingredients to make this delightful dessert!
Taiyaki is a beloved and iconic street food from Japan. Now, it has become popular around the world. This delicious treat consists of a crispy, waffle or pancake-like exterior enveloping a warm and indulgent sweet filling.
If you're looking for a classic Chinese dessert, these Creamy Red Bean Popsicles are a frozen treat made with lightly sweetened, creamy blended adzuki red beans and milk. So refreshing!
Whip up festive magic with Chocolate Truffle Mochi! These easy-to-make Japanese treats combine the richness of chocolate truffles with the chewy sweetness of mochi.
This Fruit Jelly Mooncakes recipe is a delicious and easy way to enjoy mooncakes and celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival.
This Coconut Matcha Panna Cotta is based on a traditional creamy panna cotta but uses coconut milk and cream to replace the dairy. The addition of matcha gives this dessert a delicious Japanese twist.
This ube mochi is irresistibly chewy, delicious with a hint of nutty sweet ube flavor. All you’ll need to do is to mix everything in one bowl and bake!
This matcha pudding is an easy no-bake dessert that you can whip up anytime! It is silky, smooth and the bitter sweetness of matcha is just so addictive.
A classic Taiwanese dessert that is light and refreshing. This recipe is easy to follow so you can make it just like how it’s served it Taiwan.
This delightfully sweet dessert, made with tapioca pearls, coconut cream, and bananas, is traditionally served warm. Easy to make to-make and ready in under an hour.
A sweet and satisfying bubble tea infused with fresh Wintermelon, fragrant jasmine tea, rich brown sugar, and chewy tapioca pearls!
Che Thai, also known as Vietnamese Fruit Cocktail, is a vibrant, versatile, refreshing Vietnamese dessert. It's typically made with fresh fruits, jelly, tapioca pearls, and creamy coconut milk.
Coconut Jelly is a refreshing Asian dessert that is perfect for summer. You can find a creamy pudding-like version at Melo Melo, a silky smooth, tofu-like version at Dim Sum restaurants or coconut boba in Bubble Tea!
Mochi cookies blend the best of both worlds—a buttery cookie exterior with a delightful, soft mochi center. Perfect accompaniment to mochi ice cream, too!
Discover a unique twist on traditional Thai coconut ice cream with this fun and delicious recipe! This homemade Thai coconut ice cream (in hot dog buns!) is served in hot dog buns, creating a delightful and unexpected treat. These Thai ice cream sandwiches are the perfect dessert anytime of year!
🍳 Kitchen tools and equipment
Ready to make these recipes? Here are some common kitchen tools and equipment you might need to make some of these Asian dessert recipes. These are links to some of my personal favorite baking tools that I use to make these recipes in my own kitchen!
- Saucepan
- Square baking pan
- Blender
- Stand mixer
- Hand mixer
- Food processor
- Mixing bowls
- Whisk
- Silicone spatula
- Liquid measuring cups
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Wooden spoon
- Cooling rack
- Baking sheets
- Ice cream maker
More dessert recipes
Did you make any of these recipes? Don't forget to leave a 5-Star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 rating and comment below letting us know which one you made and how it turned out. Thank you!
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