Must-Try Budget-Friendly Thai Dishes When Visiting Thailand

Thailand is celebrated for its vibrant culture, stunning landscapes, and most notably, its exceptional cuisine. One of the greatest things about traveling in Thailand is the incredible variety of budget-friendly foods available at every turn. Whether you’re navigating the bustling streets of Bangkok or exploring the beaches of Phuket, you’ll find an array of affordable and tasty dishes at extremely reasonable prices.

Khao Man Gai (ข้าวมันไก่)

Khao Man Gai comes in at the top of the list for me, it is essentially rice and chicken with chicken fat / oil to give the rice a slightly richer flavor that normal rice. In my mind this is the classic Thai breakfast food. When ordering this dish almost always it comes with a bowl of chicken broth and a sauce. The sauce is usually a dark colored sauce for Khao Man Gai Dtom (ข้าวมันไก่ต้ม)  and a sweet chili sauce for the fried rice version known as Khao Man Gai Tord ข้าวมันไก่ทอด. 

Khao Man Gai is a great option for those that aren't quite in to spicy food, but still want to try some authentic Thai food during their time in Thailand. 

I went to one called Dan Chicken Rice in the Nimman area Chiang mai shown below, you can click on the map below to open in Google Maps if you would like to visit the same one. 

You will find though matter where you are in Thailand the set up and the price will be fairly similar to the images shown below. Expect to pay no more than 50 baht anywhere in Thailand for a standard portion of Khao Man Gai

I decided to go for an 'extra' portion of Khao Man Gai with boiled chicken, it really was excellent along with the sauce and soup it kept me going until well after lunch time. In some places they will add some sort of chicken liver or something like that, which I am definitely not a fan of, thankfully here they didn't and no food went to waste. 

The menu with the prices is shown below, for the food I ordered it was a total of 45 THB , which really is incredibly cheap for the standard of food. 

If you want to find the nearest place to eat Khao Man Gai you can use the following phrases with a taxi driver or a member of staff at your hotel 

ไปกินข้าวมันไก่ที่ไหนดีครับ/คะ

For males: ไปกินข้าวมันไก่ที่ไหนดีครับ (Bpai Gin Khao Man Gai Tee Nai Dee Khrub) For females: ไปกินข้าวมันไก่ที่ไหนดีคะ (Bpai Gin Khao Man Gai Tee Nai Dee Ka)