Growing up in Vietnam, one of my happiest little moments was waiting for Mom to come back from the market with a tiny plastic bag of Chè. I’d hold it in my hands, feeling the warmth (or sometimes the coolness) seep through, and my heart would do a little happy dance.
Chè wasn’t just dessert — it was a hug in edible form. Sweet, comforting, and so cheap that it never felt like a luxury, yet it somehow carried a whole world of memories.
In Vietnam, chè comes in every style you can imagine — hundreds of varieties, from the North to the South. Hot or cold, it fits every season: cooling you down in the sticky summer heat, or warming your soul on a rainy winter day.
You can spot it everywhere — at crowded street corners, in fancy restaurants, or bubbling away in a small pot in a family kitchen. If you love Vietnamese food or ever find yourself in Vietnam, don’t skip chè. It’s more than just a sweet treat — it’s a taste of our culture, our childhood, and our everyday joy.
What Exactly Is Chè?
If you grew up in Vietnam, chances are Chè has been part of your life for as long as you can remember. It’s our version of the Cantonese Tong Sui (糖水), sweet dessert soups from Southern China. We share so much culinary DNA that these dishes feel like they’ve always belonged here.
In Vietnam, chè comes in two main moods. There’s chè nóng — warm, creamy, and comforting — the kind of dessert you want on a drizzly afternoon or a cool evening. Then there’s chè đá — light, chilled, and refreshing, made for those sticky summer days when the sun feels like it’s hugging you a little too tightly.
Vietnam happily adopts sweet soups from abroad too. “Pomelo Mango Sago” (chè xoài bột báng) from Hong Kong? Welcome. “Bubur Cha Cha” (chè bô bô cha cha) from Malaysia? We’ll make space for you on the dessert table. As long as it’s sweet, soupy and comforting, it can be chè.
While most chè is served as a soup, there are fun curveballs: chè lam, a chewy rice cake, or chè con ong, sticky rice cooked with ginger and caramel-like sugar. The beauty of chè is that it’s everywhere — in a plastic cup from a street vendor, in a bowl at a family table, or dressed up in a high-end restaurant.
In Huế, once the imperial capital, you’ll find chè cung đình — royal-style chè — alongside other local delicacies like bún bò Huế, cà phê muối, and dainty dumplings (bánh nậm, bánh bèo…). The most famous is chè bột lọc heo quay, where chewy tapioca dumplings hide crispy pork belly inside. Sounds unusual? Trust me, you’ll be hooked.
Hanoi’s chè is gentler — lighter sweetness, clean flavors. After a steaming bowl of phở or a plate of bún chả, I love ending the day with chè đậu đen (black bean dessert soup) — humble, earthy, and quietly satisfying.
Saigon, on the other hand, gives you both Vietnamese-style chè rich in coconut sauce and Chinese-style chè người Hoa, usually without coconut. In Chợ Lớn, Saigon’s Chinatown, you’ll taste that cultural blend everywhere — in bò bía, bánh bao, cơm gà Hải Nam, and of course, in the chè.
Wherever you go in Vietnam, chè is there — a little bowl of sweetness that holds the flavors of our culture, our history, and for many of us, our childhood.
Popular Ingredients for Chè
One of the joys of chè is that no two bowls are ever quite the same. With so many varieties across Vietnam, the ingredients are as colorful and diverse as the stalls in a local market.
Legumes & Seeds – Mung beans, black beans, red beans, black-eyed peas, lotus seeds, and even fragrant black sesame seeds. Each one brings its own texture and quiet charm.
Grains & Cereals – Sticky rice for that comforting chew, and sweet corn that pops with sunshine in every bite.
Tubers – Sweet potatoes that melt softly, earthy taro, purple yams with their jewel-like hue, and cassava that soaks up every bit of sweetness.
Vegetables & Seaweed – Cooling aloe vera, slippery kelp, crunchy lotus root, refreshing water chestnut, tender coconut meat, and tiny hột é (Thai basil seeds) that turn into jelly-like pearls.
Jellies & Sweet Dumplings – Grass jelly, aiyu jelly, agar-agar, coffee jelly, sago pearls, boba pearls, and pastel taro balls that look almost too pretty to eat.
Pudding – Creamy Vietnamese flan, silky panna cotta, or soft egg custard pudding that melts on your tongue.
Fruits – Banana, jackfruit, durian, lychee… each one adding its own sweetness and fragrance.
The best part? You can build your own bowl. Pick your favorites, pour over some nước cốt dừa (sweetened coconut milk), top with crushed ice, and suddenly you’ve got a chè that’s entirely yours — the kind you’ll want to linger over, spoonful by spoonful.
1. Chè Đậu Xanh (Mungbean Dessert Soup)
Chè Đậu Xanh can be made with whole beans for a gentle bite, or with split mung beans for a smoother, creamier spoonful. Served warm, it wraps you in comfort on a drizzly day; served chilled, it’s like a cool sigh on a hot afternoon.
There are a few beloved variations, too. Chè Đậu Xanh Đánh is made with mung bean paste for a silky, pudding-like feel, while Chè Bưởi pairs mung beans with tender pomelo rind in a sweet, floral-scented soup — a combination that’s as refreshing as it is comforting.
2. Chè Chuối (Banana & Sago Dessert Soup)
In Chè Chuối, ripe Lady Finger bananas are gently simmered with coconut milk and sago pearls until everything melds into a warm, creamy sweetness.
For something even more indulgent, there’s Chè Chuối Nướng — grilled bananas wrapped in sticky rice, drenched in coconut sauce, then baked until the edges turn golden and caramelized. One bite, and you’ll understand exactly why it’s impossible to stop at just one serving.
3. Chè Ba Màu (Three Color Dessert Soup)
Chè Ba Màu is the kind of dessert that instantly makes you smile — bright, playful, and almost too pretty to eat. In the glass, you’ll see three cheerful layers: ruby-red water chestnut pearls (like Thailand’s tub tim grob), soft green pandan jelly or cendol, and golden mung bean paste.
Once the coconut sauce is poured over and the crushed ice begins to melt, the colors swirl together into a sweet, creamy, icy mix that’s as refreshing as it is fun.
4. Chè Đậu Trắng (Black-eyed Pea Dessert Soup)
In Vietnam, we call black-eyed peas đậu trắng — “white beans” — a little name that feels almost as humble as the ingredient itself. But don’t let the simplicity fool you. In Chè Đậu Trắng, these tender beans are slow-cooked with sticky rice until everything softens into a cozy, pudding-like mix, then topped with rich coconut milk for that extra layer of comfort.
5. Chè Thái (Vietnamese Fruit Cocktail)
Vietnam has this funny habit of naming a few dishes after Thailand — lẩu Thái, bún Thái, and of course chè Thái — even though you probably won’t spot these exact versions in Thailand. They’re really our own Vietnamese spins on Thai-inspired flavors.
Chè Thái is actually a cousin of the Thai dessert ruam mit, but here it’s more like a tropical fruit party in a glass.
You get a mix of fresh Vietnamese fruits, colorful jellies, and creamy coconut sauce — and if you’re in Vietnam, there’s a good chance durian (sầu riêng) will make a star appearance. Outside of Vietnam, though, durian sometimes goes missing… maybe because it’s a little pricey, or maybe because not everyone’s ready for that bold, unforgettable aroma.
You’ll often see Chè Thái sharing the menu with other fruity favorites like Sinh Tố Bơ (avocado smoothie) and Hoa Quả Dầm (fruit salad) — the kind of sweet, refreshing treats that make hot afternoons feel instantly better.
6. Chè Bà Ba (Sweet Soup with Sweet Potato, Taro, and Cassava)
Chè Bà Ba is like a little bowl of the Mekong Delta — colorful, comforting, and full of surprises. You’ve got sweet potato, taro, and cassava mingling together in a creamy coconut broth, each bite offering something different: a little chew here, a soft melt there, and just enough sweetness to keep you going back for more.
7. Chè Trôi Nước (Sweet Rice Ball Soup)
Chè Trôi Nước is the kind of dessert that feels like it’s wrapping you in a blanket. Soft, chewy rice balls with a sweet mung bean filling drift in a golden ginger syrup, sending up a fragrance that warms you before you even take a bite. A swirl of coconut milk on top makes it rich and silky — perfect for lingering over on a cool night.
It’s our Vietnamese spin on Chinese Tangyuan, though in the North, you’ll also find its simpler cousin, bánh trôi. Served without syrup, it’s a festival favorite for Tết Hàn Thực (Cold Food Festival), as much about tradition as it is about taste.
8. Chè Bắp (Sweet Corn Pudding)
There’s something about Chè Bắp that takes me straight back to slow afternoons in Vietnam — the air warm, the kitchen filled with the scent of simmering corn and coconut. This sweet corn pudding is simple, cozy, and just sweet enough, with sticky rice giving it that soft, clingy texture that lingers on the spoon.
In Vietnam, we’d make it with waxy corn, chewy and fragrant. Here overseas, I make do with sweet corn, and while it’s different, the first warm spoonful still tastes like home.
Corn might not be our everyday grain, but it always finds its way into the snacks we love: Xôi Bắp (corn sticky rice) for breakfast, Sữa Bắp (corn milk) for sipping, Bắp Xào for street-side munching, and Bắp Nướng Mỡ Hành (grilled corn with scallion oil) for those smoky nights by the grill.
9. Chè Khoai Môn (Taro Pudding)
Chè Khoai Môn is all about comfort in shades of purple. The taro is tender and earthy, simmered until it melts into a creamy pudding that feels like it was made to be eaten slowly.
In Vietnam, the version I grew up with is rich with coconut milk and a bit of sticky rice — thick, fragrant, and filling. The Chinese-style version skips the coconut and adds sago pearls instead, making it lighter but still just as soothing.
10. Chè Khúc Bạch (Panna Cotta Dessert Soup)
Chè Khúc Bạch is like the elegant cousin in the chè family — light, silky, and a little fancy. It’s a Vietnamese twist on the Chinese almond tofu pudding, but here we serve it in a sweet, fragrant syrup with juicy lychees and a scattering of almonds.
The panna cotta itself melts the moment it hits your tongue, while the lychee brings a burst of floral sweetness that feels like summer in every bite. It’s the kind of dessert that somehow manages to be refreshing and indulgent at the same time.
11. Sâm Bổ Lượng (Ching Bo Leung)
If chè were medicine for the soul, Sâm Bổ Lượng would be the gentle tonic you reach for on a sweltering day. The name, borrowed from Cantonese Ching Bo Leung, promises exactly what it delivers — something cool, refreshing, and quietly nourishing.
It’s a chilled sweet soup filled with all sorts of little surprises: pearl barley that pops softly between your teeth, crisp slices of lotus root, juicy water chestnuts, and the honeyed scent of dried longan. Every bite feels like it’s balancing you out, inside and out.
In Saigon’s Chợ Lớn, you’ll find it everywhere — in humble street stalls and old family-run shops — each bowl carrying decades of tradition and a touch of home.
Chè isn’t just dessert — it’s Vietnam in a bowl. From bustling street corners to cozy family kitchens, each serving carries a story of tradition, creativity, and the kind of simple sweetness that lingers long after the last spoonful.
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