Eating Vegan at Chiang Mai’s Night Markets

I flew from Bangkok to Chiang Mai on a Sunday afternoon. It was April – all the guides will tell you April is the worst time to visit Thailand, and they’re probably right – and people had promised me that in Chiang Mai, which is not as humid as Bangkok, I wouldn’t feel the heat that much. They lied. Stepping outside the airport was like stepping right into a blazing furnace.

Exhausted, I arrived at my hotel and contemplated just spending a night in. But it was just a few minutes away from Tha Phae Gate, the starting point of Chiang Mai’s famous Sunday Night Market, and I wasn’t going to have another chance to be in Chiang Mai on a Sunday night.

Not expecting much from a typical night market in terms of vegan food, I figured I’d take a stroll, maybe grab a fresh fruit juice (extra ice please), go back to my hotel, take yet another icy cold shower, and call it a night.

But once I got to the market, I quickly forgot all about the heat. I discovered stall after stall with clearly labeled vegan options. What was meant to be a quick look around turned into one of the best nights – and best meals – of my trip.

Vegan street food at Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market

First, I walked past a durian stall. I hadn’t mustered up the courage to try durian yet, and the “NO DURIANS” sign in my hotel room didn’t exactly make it more appealing. I started thinking maybe tonight would be the night, if I couldn’t find anything better. (Spoiler alert: It wasn’t the night. I actually haven’t tried durian to this day, but someday I will. Maybe.)

Then, I spotted a spring roll stall, with a wide range of fillings. “Is anything here vegan?” I asked.

The woman working at the stall clearly understood what I meant, and pointed to four out of the ten different types of spring rolls. I tried three: vermicelli, mushroom, and vegetable. The spring rolls were freshly fried up on the spot, and served with crisp lettuce, pickles, and sweet chili sauce. Already, this was more than I’d hoped for, and I couldn’t wait to see what else was out there.

Next, I walked by a stall selling beautiful, bright green pandan coconut pancakes, with the word ‘Vegan’ in big red letters. Of course, I had to try one. It was the perfect combination of fluffy and crispy and sweet.

While there were several other stalls selling a range of vegan items, from summer rolls to Indian dishes, by this point I was kind of in dessert mode. It was then that I spotted the coconut ice cream stall. Strolling around with my cone, wondering why I always feel the need to ask “This is vegan, right?” when the sign clearly says that it is, I sat down for a rest by a local dragon.

As a dessert to my other desserts, I had some mango sticky rice – because whenever there is mango sticky rice around, I must have it. Mango sticky rice is actually my favorite dessert in the world. I mean, present me with a choice between the most decadent chocolate fudge cake and a serving of mango sticky rice, and I will always choose the rice.

Fortunately, mango sticky rice is almost always vegan in Thailand, so it’s a safe food you can find just about anywhere.

After all that, I really couldn’t eat anymore, but that was when I walked by – or maybe I should say roped into – the gac stall. What is gac, you ask? Well, let me tell you, because I listened to a short speech about it (I was a captive audience, too full to run away). Gac is a kind of fruit, native to Southeast Asia. On the outside, it looks like a small, bright orange durian, and on the inside, it looks like… well, something decidedly non-vegan. And it’s said to give you all kinds of superpowers.

Another thing about gac is that it doesn’t taste good on its own – they made me try it – so at the Sunday Night Market, it’s served mixed with passion fruit juice. Ice cold passion fruit juice does taste good on a hot night in Thailand. Really, really good. I may not have walked away with any superpowers, but the gac made me happy.

What else does the Chiang Mai Sunday Night Market have to offer?

Besides all the food, the Sunday Night Market in Chiang Mai is an exciting experience, full of color, live music, and lots and lots of handicrafts and souvenirs. You can find everything from clothing to jewelry to dishes to stuffed toys to Barbie-ish dolls in traditional Thai attire, if that’s your thing. Expect just about every item in the market to have elephants on it.

You can also spot a few of Chiang Mai’s beautiful golden temples, gleaming in the dark.

Vegan food at other night markets in Chiang Mai

While I found the most vegan variety at the Sunday Night Market, it was easy to find options at the other night markets as well. It was actually like a fun treasure hunt, and I went to a different night market almost every night during my stay in Chiang Mai.

One common Thai dessert is Nam Kang Sai, shaved ice with coconut milk and weird and wonderful toppings. It’s usually vegan, but it can be served with condensed milk, so if there’s no sign that says ‘Vegan,’ you’ll want to ask to make sure. Or if you’re like me, you’ll ask anyway, for no explainable reason.

If you’re visiting Phaploen Night Market (previously named Ploen Ruedee), you’ll definitely want to stop by V-Secret, and you should definitely not fill up on mango sticky rice beforehand! This 100% vegan stall offers a whole menu of delicious vegan Thai dishes. I had the pomelo salad, another one of my favorites, and the corn fritters. Both servings were quite large, making a most excellent meal on my last night.

Map of Chiang Mai night markets

FAQs: Vegan food at the night markets in Chiang Mai