I have eaten Asian desserts on the ground across Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia, and more — and as someone who bakes for living, I have spent years perfecting the ones worth making at home. This is that list. From Japanese mochi and matcha to Thai mango sticky rice, Filipino halo-halo, Chinese egg tarts, and everything in between.
Plus, I am always on the lookout for new recipes to add to this list, and so I regularly update this article. I hope you enjoy making these Asian desserts as much as I do.
Katalin's key takeaways on the key flavors and ingredients in Asian desserts
Eating food from different countries and cultures is one of my favorite things to do. The flavor profile, ingredients, and cooking methods are entirely different, so you can learn a great deal about a culture simply by eating.
Asia is a vast continent, and the flavors of Asian desserts vary as you move east. Miso and matcha desserts are popular, as are ingredients such as black sesame, red beans, and sticky rice. You'll find lots of soy-based recipes and desserts, as well as dairy-based sweet treats.
Tropical fruits feature prominently, including mangoes, coconuts, lychees, and ube. While some Asian desserts are often very sweet, some others are quite the opposite, think Japanese cheesecake.
Texture is also a key player, with chewy desserts like mochi being hugely popular! However, there is also a creaminess in the form of custards, sweet soups, ice creams, and puddings.
Whether you have been to Asia or are still planning some trips, try some of these Asian dessert recipes and get a real taste of what's in store!
The Best Asian Desserts
Japanese desserts
1. Jiggly Japanese Cheesecake
If you haven't experienced a Japanese fluffy cheesecake, you're missing out. Often called a Japanese cotton cheesecake, it boasts a unique texture that is unbelievably fluffy, airy, and soufflé-like. While the ingredients are simple, mastering the technique is crucial for this traditional Japanese dessert.
2. Mochi Donuts
Japanese Pon-de-ring, or bubble-shaped ring donuts, are celebrated for their unique, bouncy, and chewy texture, as well as their vibrant appearance. In my mochi donut recipe, tapioca flour creates a super fluffy, light texture. I highly recommend doubling the batch, as these delightful treats tend to disappear quickly! Mochi donuts work equally well as a dessert, a grab-and-go snack, or a sweet breakfast idea.
3. Matcha Brownies
Matcha dessert enthusiasts will certainly fall in love with this Japanese dessert. Imagine fudgy, gooey brownies with the iconic crinkly, crispy top infused with the finest Japanese green tea flavor. For those unfamiliar with matcha, it's a finely ground powder made from specially processed green tea leaves, offering a slight bitterness that pairs incredibly well with white chocolate.
4. Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tarts
These Japanese cheese tarts are a perfect blend of richness, sweetness, and savory notes. Encased in a pâte sablée (sweet shortcrust pastry) tart shell, these tarts contain an incredibly smooth and special fusion of dairy and cheese products, creating a uniquely delicious Japanese treat that will surely leave you wanting one more.
5. White Chocolate Matcha Cookies
You will love the heavenly pairing of matcha and white chocolate in this dessert, where the slight bitterness of matcha perfectly complements the sweetness of the cookie dough and white chocolate. These matcha or green tea cookies boast a vivid green hue from the matcha powder as well as a delicious taste. If you are new to matcha, these cookies serve as an excellent introduction to this flavor.
6. Black Sesame Tart With Yuzu Curd
Undoubtedly my current favorite tartlet, this dessert features a sweet shortcrust tart shell enriched with black sesame seeds and filled with tangy, creamy yuzu curd. Top it off with an elegantly crafted chocolate shard decoration that makes it look like you bought it in a fancy Japanese bakery. Moreover, these delicate Asian desserts are surprisingly easy to prepare.
7. Matcha Tiramisu
Fluffy homemade ladyfingers layered with a luscious mascarpone filling infused with green tea, topped with a sprinkle of matcha tea powder. This soft and creamy creation is a delightful showstopper sure to impress your guests.
8. Sesame Miso Cookies
Miso is the ultimate in umami flavor, and adding it to desserts gives an unmistakable, undeniably delicious taste. This cookie recipe was inspired by traditional Asian cookies, and each bite offers a savory, sweet crunch with hints of caramel and sesame, pure heaven.
9. Japanese Honeydew Bread
Try this delicious Japanese treat, filled with a rich melon flavor that will leave you amazed. It's a sweet yeasted bread dough wrapped around melon custard, then topped with a different dough infused with melon syrup. The whole thing is baked together in a disk, resulting in a soft interior with a crunchy crust. Simply put, it's a must-try.
10. Black Sesame Chocolate Chip Cookies
You will love the smoky, earthy flavor of black sesame seeds in this cookie recipe. It gives them such an edge and certainly makes them stand out on a dessert table! Melted chocolate chips ooze into the chewy sesame cookies and certainly make every bite a piece of pure heaven.
11. Black Sesame Pudding
Roasted black sesame seeds make the best Asian desserts! If you love the flavor of black sesame, you will love this recipe. It’s creamy, lightly sweet, and rich, and only uses five ingredients. It's incredibly simple yet impressively effective. I enjoy eating it chilled with a dollop of whipped cream.
12. Mochi Brownies
Chocolatey, fudgy, chewy mochi brownies. These are a perfect blend of chocolate brownies and butter mochi cake. They look just like traditional brownies, but they have a chewy texture when you bite in. They are also gluten-free.
13. Matcha Mochi Cake
Both savory and sweet, chewy and crunchy, you won’t want to miss this one! A sticky mochi butter cake is topped with crispy shredded coconut topping and a pinch of salt to bring out all the flavors. Matcha adds a vibrant green color, and the texture is out of this world.
Chinese & Hong Kong Desserts
14. Hong Kong Banana Mochi Rolls
These Hong Kong-style mochi rolls are soft, chewy, and flavored with real bananas. They're incredibly easy to make, boasting a delightful texture and just the right amount of sweetness. What's more, they are a great way to use up leftover overripe bananas.
15. Chocolate Fudge Mooncakes
If you've been to a Chinese bakery during harvest time, you will have seen mooncakes. These traditional Chinese pastries are often offered as gifts to friends and family, and it's easy to see why they're such a popular delicacy. This chocolate fudge mooncake is a non-traditional twist on a classic Asian dessert, and kids will especially love it.
16. Hong Kong Style Milk Tea and Coffee Cream Puffs
Here's another fun twist on a famous Hong Kong drink, turning yuenyeung (Hong Kong-style milk tea and coffee) into cream puffs! Crispy choux pastry is filled with tea and coffee-infused pastry cream to make a delicious Asian dessert. It's rich, creamy, irresistible, and full of surprises.
17. Taiwanese Milk Butter Buns
Discover a Taiwanese bakery favorite: pillowy milk buns filled with sweet, creamy milk butter. Follow this step-by-step recipe to make deliciously twisted buns with a crumb topping, where every bite combines the richness of milk butter with the crispy contrast of the crunchy crumb topping. These Taiwanese buns are so irresistible, you might find it nearly impossible to stop at just one.
18. Fa Gao (Chinese Prosperity Cake)
You have to try this dessert, traditionally served around the Lunar New Year and at other holidays and special occasions like ceremonial events and weddings. Prosperity cake or fortune cake recipes differ from region to region, but this version is made from rice, which gives it a very nice, chewy texture.
19. Glutinous Rice Ball with Crushed Peanuts
Tang Bu Shuai is a famous dessert from Hong Kong with the most amazing texture. The glutinous rice balls are chewy and delicious, and traditionally served around the Chinese New Year in a bowl of fragrant ginger brown sugar syrup and topped with crushed peanuts, sesame seeds, and coconut. I would definitely want to eat the whole bowl!
20. Purple Sweet Potato Cakes
Try a bite of this popular Chinese sweet treat, and you'll surely be hooked. They are naturally sweet, crispy, and toasty on the outside yet soft and glutinous on the inside. Certainly irresistible! The vibrant purple color is truly beautiful.
21. Chocolate Dumplings with Strawberry Dipping Sauce
I love strawberry and chocolate together, and these chocolate lava dumplings are a luxurious Asian dessert that promises an instant, velvety, melt-in-your-mouth experience. Each bite has a sensational melted chocolate explosion that is perfectly complemented by a fruity strawberry sauce. Simply put, it's an ideal flavor combination.
22. Sticky Rice Cake with Red Bean Paste
Whilst this Chinese dessert might not be that common, you certainly shouldn't skip it. A sticky and sweet rice cake with red bean paste has become one of my personal favorite Asian dessert recipes! The combination of red bean paste and sticky rice, both commonly used in other Chinese and Asian desserts, makes perfect sense in this unique treat, and the sesame seed coating gives a great nutty flavor and crunch to each bite.
23. Ci Ba-Sticky Rice Cake
Try this classic Sichuan-style sweet treat, often found on dessert menus. You’ll soon understand why it is one of the most famous Sichuan-style desserts! The crispy, aromatic shell is flavored with soybean flour and brown sugar syrup, and the texture is irresistible.
24. Chinese Steamed Custard Buns
I love bao buns, and this dessert version is so tasty. The steamed buns are filled with custard and are fragrant and sweet with a melt-in-your-mouth texture. You could even serve them as a sweet breakfast recipe! What’s more, the dough is super easy to put together and only uses basic pantry items
25. Hong Kong Egg Tarts
You won’t believe how good this smooth, silky, and lightly sweet custard tart filling tastes in a melt-in-your-mouth, flaky pastry shell. Hong Kong-style egg tarts, or dan tat in Cantonese, are often served in dim sum restaurants or found in Chinese bakeries, and I seriously recommend trying to make them.
26. Chinese Almond Cookies
Here is a delicious Asian dessert for Chinese New Year. Why not try them instead of the usual fortune cookies? Chinese Almond Cookies are crisp yet have an amazing, melt-in-your-mouth buttery texture and a subtle almond flavor.
Korean Desserts
27. Fluffy Korean Twisted Donuts (Kkwabaegi)
Kkwabaegi, also known as a Korean twisted donut, is a highly popular pastry in Korea. It's crafted by twisting dough into a spiral shape and deep-frying it until golden brown. Sounds amazing, right? These tasty Asian desserts can be enjoyed plain or with sweet coatings, such as sugar, cinnamon, or other toppings. Honestly, you simply won't believe how fluffy they are!
Love donuts? Check out my donut recipe collection!
28. Korean Honey-Glazed Rice Cakes
If you love the combination of sweet and savory, you will surely love this Korean dessert. Garae Tteok are thick, traditional rice cakes coated in a sticky honey syrup, boasting an amazingly soft and chewy texture. Furthermore, it's also one of those easy Asian desserts that don't require many ingredients, so you can make it quickly using pantry essentials.
29. Matcha Bingsu (Green Tea Shaved Ice Dessert)
If you need to cool down on a hot day, try Matcha Bingsu, a refreshing Korean treat made from light and fluffy shaved ice flavored with matcha green tea. Shaved ice desserts are hugely popular across Asia, and Korean Bingsu is just one of the varieties enjoyed. It's traditionally paired with red beans and chewy mochi and sweetened with condensed milk for a delightful combination of flavors and textures.
Thai Desserts
30. Thai Tea Crème Brûlée
If you love the authentic Thai tea served in Thai restaurants, you simply have to make this dessert. It's a silky smooth custard version of Thai tea in a beautiful rust orange that is super aromatic with hints of vanilla. In conclusion, you have all the flavors of Thai tea enveloped in a rich, silky, and smooth custard.
31. Mango Sticky Rice
Mango sticky rice is a very popular dessert often found on Thai restaurant menus, featuring sweet and sticky rice served with coconut sauce and fresh mango. It's easy to prepare and makes a healthier dessert, so it's definitely one to make during mango season.
32. Thai Fried Bananas (Kluai Khaek)
Fried bananas are a popular dessert and snack food in Thailand and throughout Southeast Asia. The dish is also known as goreng pisang in Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and surrounding countries.
33. Thai Tea Cookies
The great flavor of Thai Tea makes these cookies irresistible!
Vietnamese desserts
34. Vietnamese Avocado Mousse Ice Cream (Kem Bo)
Make a homemade version of Kem bo, a popular street food snack from Danang, a city in Vietnam. You'll love the rich and creamy flavors in this dessert made from avocado, coconut milk ice cream, and crunchy coconut flakes. What's more, it's so easy to put together, too.
35. Bánh Tiêu Vietnamese Donut
You simply must try Banh Tieu. Slightly sweet, puffy donuts that are deep-fried to golden perfection and then sprinkled with a generous amount of nutty sesame seeds? Simply put, they sound too good to be true! What's more, they taste even better on the side of strong Vietnamese coffee with an extra dish of sweetened condensed milk for dipping.
36. Banh Bo Nuong (Vietnamese Honeycomb Cake)
Banh Bo Nuong, or Vietnamese honeycomb cake, is one of the most popular cakes in Vietnamese cuisine. It is characterized by a beautiful honeycomb appearance and a yummy pandan, coconut flavor.
Filipino Desserts
37. Ube Ice Cream
Have you tried Ube or purple yam? Ube is a popular tropical flavor with a hint of vanilla and nutty undertones, and Ube ice cream is an especially delicious treat loved in the Philippines. This no-churn ice cream is so easy to make, and you don't need an ice cream machine or any fancy equipment at all.
38. Taho (Filipino Sweet Tofu Dessert)
If you're ever in the Philippines and hear street vendors shouting 'taho!', grab your money and buy this delicious Asian dessert made from silken tofu, simple syrup, and tapioca pearls. In fact, several Asian countries also have their own version of this sweet tofu snack, including Malaysia, Indonesia, and Thailand. And I'd love to try them all! But try this recipe now to see for yourself how delicious it is.
39. Mango Sago
Try this sweet and refreshing Filippono dessert made from tapioca pearls, it is super creamy and tropical. Made from fresh, juicy mangoes, Nata de Coco, and Tapioca pearls (sago), it is traditionally served with sweet condensed milk.
Indonesia
40. Klepon – Indonesian Sweet Rice Cakes
Klepon is a sweet rice cake treat you’ll want to make again and again. Bite into hot, bursting gula melaka, surrounded by chewy pandan and soft coconut in this awesome Indonesian dessert.
41. Kuih Dadar (Coconut Pandan Rolled Crepes)
These beautifully rolled crepes get their natural green color from Pandan leaves, rolled with grated coconut, and cooked with palm sugar (Gula Melaka). Kuih Dadar is a traditional sweet treat commonly found across Indonesia. You can often find these selling as one of the many delicious sweet treats at street vendors or marketplaces.
Southeast Asia - not country specific
42. Pandan Creme Brulee
Pandan is a tropical plant native to parts of Southeast Asia that is used frequently in cuisine. Its flavor profile is similar to vanilla but with grassy undertones and is also reminiscent of coconut, so it works well in desserts. Try using it in a French crème brûlée and take an Asian twist on this classic.
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