COPPERWhat is the national dish of Laos?
The national dish of Laos is generally said to be laap (also spelt larb or laab), a salad of minced meat or fish dressed with lime juice, fish sauce and padaek, then tossed with toasted sticky rice powder, chilli and fresh herbs. It has no official status but is the dish most often cited, always eaten with sticky rice and often with green papaya salad.
What is laap?
Laap is a meat salad served at room temperature. The meat, often pork but also chicken, beef, duck or fish, is minced and cooked just through, then dressed while still warm with sour, salty and hot seasonings and finished with a handful of herbs. In some versions the meat is left raw and "cooked" by lime juice, like a ceviche.
It is never eaten alone. Laap comes with a basket of steamed sticky rice, eaten by hand, and raw vegetables on the side. Lao cooking is often summed up by three things served together: laap, sticky rice and green papaya salad.
What is in laap?
The ingredient that defines Lao laap is khao khua, glutinous rice toasted in a dry pan until deep golden and pounded to a coarse powder. It gives the salad its nutty taste and slightly gritty texture. The rest:
- Minced pork (or chicken, beef, duck or fish), cooked with a splash of water rather than browned.
- Padaek: the chunky Lao fermented fish sauce. It is what gives Lao laap its funk, and Lao laap contains no sugar.
- Lime juice and fish sauce for sourness and salt.
- Dried chilli flakes, galangal and shallots.
- Herbs: mint, sawtooth coriander and green onion, folded in at the end.
How laap is made
Raw glutinous rice is dry-toasted over low heat until deep golden, then pounded; about 3 tablespoons are enough for 500 g of meat. The pork is cooked with a little water, broken up, and left to cool for 5 minutes so it does not wilt the herbs.
The dressing of lime juice, padaek, fish sauce and chilli flakes is poured over the warm meat with grated galangal and sliced shallots. The khao khua goes in last, then the herbs. The balance should be sour, salty and hot. Our laap recipe has every quantity.
How laap is eaten
A Lao meal is shared. Laap sits in the middle of the table with a woven basket of steamed sticky rice, a plate of raw greens and often a soup made from the bones of the meat used in the laap. The sticky rice is eaten by hand, never swapped for jasmine rice.
Khao khua, the toasted rice powder that finishes laap, is used across Lao cooking. It also goes into nam tok, a grilled meat salad, and into jaew, the Lao dipping sauces, where it adds a nutty, smoky aroma and helps thicken the sauce. Its place in formal Lao cooking is documented in the royal palace recipes of Phia Sing, royal chef at the Luang Prabang palace, whose notebooks were published in 1981 as Traditional Recipes of Laos.
Where laap comes from
Laap is of Lao origin. It is also eaten across northeastern Thailand (Isan) and northern Thailand, regions with a large Lao population and long Lao cultural influence, which is why it appears on Thai menus as larb. For the Thai side of the story, see our article on the national dish of Thailand.
The name matters too. In both Lao and Thai, laap sounds like the word for luck, so the dish is considered a food of good fortune. Because meat was traditionally scarce, many Lao families ate laap mainly on special occasions such as weddings, New Year celebrations and festivals.
Other dishes to know from Laos
Sticky rice is the base of every Lao meal. Laos has the highest sticky rice consumption per person in the world, about 171 kg per person per year.
Tam mak hoong is the Lao green papaya salad: shredded green papaya pounded in a tall mortar with garlic, bird's eye chilli, long beans, tomato, lime and padaek. The name says how it is made: tam means to pound, and tossing the same ingredients in a bowl gives a different dish. Unlike Thai som tam it carries no peanuts, and its dressing is dark, sour and funky rather than sweet.
Khao piak sen is the Lao noodle soup: chewy noodles of tapioca starch and rice flour dropped straight into chicken broth, which their starch thickens as they cook. It is often compared to Vietnamese bánh canh.
All three recipes are on our page about the food of Laos. For neighbouring kitchens, see our guide to Southeast Asian food.
The recipes
- Laap🇱🇦 Laos · 35 minutes
Tam mak hoong🇱🇦 Laos · 20 minutes
Khao piak sen🇱🇦 Laos · 1 hour and 30 minutes
Questions people ask
Is laap from Laos or Thailand?
Laap is of Lao origin. It is also widely eaten in northeastern and northern Thailand, where many people are of Lao descent, and is often spelt larb on Thai menus.
Does Laos have an official national dish?
No dish has been officially designated. Laap is the one most often cited, usually alongside sticky rice and green papaya salad (tam mak hoong).
What is khao khua?
Khao khua is glutinous rice toasted in a dry pan until golden and pounded to a coarse powder. It is the essential finishing ingredient in Lao laap.
What is laap served with?
Laap is served with steamed sticky rice, eaten by hand, and raw vegetables. It is often part of a meal with green papaya salad.
Why is laap linked to luck?
In Lao and Thai, the word laap sounds like the word for luck, so the dish is considered a food of good fortune.
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