41 Best Things to Buy at an Asian Grocery Store (2023)

Know what to buy at an Asian grocery store and what to buy at the local market.

If you feel intimidated walking into an Asian grocery store for the first time, don't. What awaits you at your neighborhood Asian grocery store is not just the same things you would find at your local supermarket, but a greater variety of products with a wide range of brands to choose from, as well as affordable prices.

In our house, we cook American, Thai, Vietnamese and Lao food. I have been frequenting Asian supermarkets in Chinatown since I immigrated to the United States in 1982. I have taken my children, now adults, to the supermarket since they were young and I am writing this post to share my favorite Grandma with them. brands for when they get old, when they get nostalgic and want to recreate one of my childhood dishes, do it with the right ingredients!

Before your first visit to an Asian grocery store

For your first visit, you want to make sure you know what to expect. Going in blindly will only cause you more anguish. Read my ultimate list of what to buy at an Asian grocery store before heading to the store. Otherwise, you might pick up products only to realize they're not in English (or even with misspelled labels), overwhelmed with the myriad of product options, and not knowing where everything is.

Once you know what to look for, you can save a lot of money and also know which brands and products are tried and true.

I'm here to walk you through an Asian supermarket, aisle by aisle, and share with you my favorite products that I use for my family.

Are you ready to tour the market with me and let me share my recommended brands with you?

Products are generally less cost-effective, along with a greater variety of exotic foods.

You can also get some of the things on your regular shopping list at the Asian grocery store. That doesn't mean you only have to serve Asian cuisine if you stop there!

To allay your worst fears, I just want you to know that there is no crazy vegetable smuggling or black market conspiracy going around. Asian grocers don't follow the middle-of-the-road business model like most American grocery chains. Order directly from the manufacturer.

From a freshness perspective, customers at these Asian supermarkets shop and cook differently than most Westerners. They tend to go to the stores several times a week instead of buying in bulk once a week. Often the delivery time for the product is quite fast and this means that the food you buy is usually fresh.

Snacks to buy at Asian Grocer

i wrote aboutpopular asian snacksthat you should learn about first, but I'd also like to highlight some of my favorites below.

jelly cups

Jelly cups are delicious and your kids will love it. They come in different types of boats, including cute little animals.

Pocky

These snacks are delicious and your kids will love them. You'll find these at your local store, but there's a wider range at the Asian store (and cheaper too).

shrimp chips

The shrimp chips are absolutely addictive. They are a great alternative to a regular chip.

cookie sticks

The sheer number of wafer sticks dwarfs what you'll find in any local grocery store.

flour cake

There are delicious, individually wrapped, sweet and chewy sour flour cakes that your kids will love to eat.

Seasonings, flavorings and spices to buy in an Asian grocery store

Spices are much cheaper at the Asian grocery store and come in large quantities that you can refill at home. I would recommend purchasing roasted rice powder, which is not normally found in your local store.

pure sesame oil

You'll find pure sesame oil for ⅓ the price you'd pay at a regular grocery store.

Sesame seeds

You won't go wrong picking this up.

spices

Soy sauce, fish sauce, and oyster sauces can be found aisle after aisle, variety after variety. They'll be cheaper at half the price (and taste better, too).

Mountain brand (green top) is my favorite brand of soy sauce because it's light:

Here are the filtered fish sauces:

My favorite brand of fish sauce is the squid brand:

Unfiltered fish sauce is calledpadaek en laosiano, but you might want to avoid this because it's a little scary.

The oyster sauces I love are the Red Panda version.

pepper sauce

Forget sriracha (okay, don't forget that), but explore other alternatives:

curry paste

Curry paste comes in huge varieties that are absolutely amazing to look at. I personally love the red curry that comes in the red tin.

anise stars

If you want to make pho, you're going to need these sparklers.

Pho spice pack

Instead of getting all the individual spices for pho, you can also get a bundle:

Dry goods to buy in Asian supermarket

dry noodles

The noodle is endless. There are a ton of noodles like rice noodles, vermicelli noodles, bean string, glass noodles and more.

packaged pasta

If you like eating ramen, Asian markets have BETTER ramen noodles than the usual Maruchan and Top Ramen found in local supermarkets.

This is my second favorite ramen:

spring roll wrappers

Spring roll wrappers are an amazing find here. I have a great recipe you can follow using these rice roll wrappers that is absolutely delicious.

Migas is on Panko

If you like panko instead of regular breadcrumbs, you'll find it much cheaper at the Asian supermarket.

flours

There are so many flours you can buy including rice flour, potato starch, sweet rice flour, the list goes on. Flour is much cheaper at an Asian grocery store than a regular grocery store.

Tapioca flour, rice flour and sweet rice flour are amazing ground ingredients that can make absolutely wonderful dishes:

Here is a pre-made mixture forbanh xeo, a vietnamese crepe:

Rice

Rice is a great product to buy at the supermarket and has an incredible variety. Try getting Thai sticky rice, Thai black rice or jasmine rice. If you buy 25-pound bags in bulk, you can save a lot of money if your family eats a lot of rice.

These stores will also sell smaller packaged versions of this rice:

mushrooms

Dried mushrooms come in a huge range of varieties at an Asian grocery store. The most popular are wood ear mushrooms, which are used inegg rolls.

Canned and preserved to buy in an Asian supermarket

Fried shallots, fried garlic and fried onions

Big bottles are cheap. They are absolutely delicious.

beans

There are so many types of Asian beans including mung beans.

thai black rice(also known as purple sticky rice) is delicious and a great alternative to sticky rice.

Coconut cream

The variety of coconut cream is so wide that you might get confused about what to buy. All these are normally creams and whole milks. The blue and brown cans are typically the ones I would recommend.

Prefect sauces

There are also pre-made sauces available for some of your favorite dishes, saving you a lot of hassle finding all the other ingredients:

canned fruit

Canned fruits such as longan can be found in these aisles.

There are other fruits you can pick as well. Be sure to refrigerate before serving, because refrigerated longan is the absolute best:

Try the rambutan too, it's so good!

Products to buy in Asian supermarket

fresh vegetables

Fresh vegetables are a great find at your local Asian grocery store. You can buy a wider variety than your local grocery store, including lemongrass, peas, bok choy, mushrooms, bean sprouts and more. Note: You will find a wider variety of mushrooms at the Asian store than anywhere else. Eat Chinese broccoli and bok choy.

fresh herbs

Herbs are plentiful. You'll find aromatic herbs like Thai Basil Lemongrass, Kaffir Lime Leaves, Banana Flower, Arrow Mint and more here (on the cheap).

Fresh fruit

The fruit is cheaper in Asian markets. You can find things like persimmons, lychees and mangoes. Korean pears are something you must have the next time you stop by.

seeds

Even if you think you've found an awesome gardening store locally, your Asian grocery store will have seeds for some specialty items:

Here's my favorite food: Chinese cabbage (also known as Chinese broccoli) is often used in stir-fries and tastes somewhere between broccoli and cauliflower.

Refrigerated section of an Asian grocery store

chinese sausage

This is the most popular of the Chinese sausages sold because it is oily and is used in a lot of fried rice for flavor.

Pasta and Fresh Rice Sticks

Fresh rice noodles come in bags and are often used in dishes, for example.hot photo.

You can also get fresh rice noodle sticks:

wonton wrappers

You get a lot more wonton wrappers than you get at your local grocery store. In addition, there is a variety that you can choose from:

Pork Ham Roll (Cha Lua)

These are great forbanh uotyshe was.

Salchicha Nam

These nam sausages are very popular. If you're not a fan of weird textures, this might not be the right snack for you.

Fresh Rice Leaves

If you are short on time and cannot make fresh rice leaves forbanh uotoshe was, you can buy them fresh for ashabby banh uot food!

tofu

Tofu is a great thing to buy at the Asian grocery store!

Pork Ham Roll

pork ham rollsthey are delicious, especially in the aforementioned banh uot.

asian breadsticks

They only take about 5 minutes in the oven, but they are delicious and chewy!

Asian grocery store frozen section

Frozen Appetizers

The frozen foods you buy in Asian supermarkets are just as good as the ones you buy at your local grocery store, but at a lower cost! You can get things like empanadas, egg rolls, edamame, and steamed buns.

Here's banh bao, which is hard to make on your own, but when it's frozen, all you do is heat it up!

mochi

Mochi is an absolutely delicious type of ice cream. It's a chewy pastry on the inside with ice cream on the outside. It has so many different flavors.

Wonton Wrappers and Egg Rolls

If you want to make your own dumplings and egg rolls, get some frozen wrappers where they are already cut and ready to peel for you to roll up!

Drinks to buy at Asian grocery store

Tea

You will be amazed at the wide variety of tea available in both loose and bagged varieties.

The most famous of these teas is jasmine tea, especially the one in this container:

Cafeteria

Forget overpaying for coffee, there are so many varieties available in the Asian market!

Alcohol

You can find Asian beers and spirits easily available and cheap!

flavored drinks

There are canned milk teas, aloe vera drinks, sweet drinks, coconut juice - there is such a variety of drinks that you can stand in the hallway, mesmerized, wondering what all the drinks are. My grandchildren love this one:

Soda Creamers - Pandan Hale's

The green bottle is by far the BEST and most delicious cream soda I've ever had.

Meat and seafood in Asian supermarket

carne

You'll find many different cuts, including pork belly, which is used in many Southeast Asian foods. They also have specialty products like oxtail, intestines, tripe, pork skin, duck wing, frog legs if you are more adventurous.

Seafood

Seafood is great to buy from Asian supermarkets because it is the cheapest place to buy super fresh seafood such as fish, lobster, crab, octopus and squid.

frozen dumplings

These are the best dumplings to use with pho if you're making pho dumplings!

Household items to buy at an Asian grocery store

Kitchen utensils

There are plenty of cookware you can get for half the price of your regular store. Large spatulas, chopsticks and slotted spoon, there's plenty to choose from if you spend a lot of time in the kitchen.

Woks e vaporeras

Bamboo steamers are great for making dumplings.

Have you ever wondered how to cook glutinous rice? Buy one of these and have a look.my tutorial on cooking steamed sticky rice at home.

Mortar and pestles are commonly used in many Thai and Lao cuisines. For example,papaya saladIt's one of the best-known recipes for having a mortar and pestle handy. learn thedifferences between thai and lao papaya saladhere.

Near the departure hall

inside the plants

Bamboo plants can also be found for sale:

prepared foods

Roasted pork belly and whole duck are usually at the integrated Asian restaurant. Be sure to get the pork belly if it's available, it's absolutely delicious (and will be your calorie count for the day).

Near the cashier aisle, there might be ready-made fresh foods such as spring rolls, banh uot, banh cuon, banh Tet that are already ready if you want to take them home.

pre-made snacks

Pre-made food and snacks can also be found near the checkout aisle.

Chilled Desserts

This is my absolute impulse buy because frozen desserts are simply my favorite way to end a successful Asian market shopping trip.

Conclusion of what to buy at the Asian grocery store

If you've developed a taste for Southeast Asian cuisine (perhaps because of my blog) through restaurant visits, friends and foodie Instagram accounts, you might now want to start making your own homemade version on House. Rather than forcing you to search a single shelf at your local international food store, an Asian supermarket will allow you to explore a variety of products and brands you never knew existed.

With the rise in popularity of Asian food across the country, Asian supermarkets have become a fairly prominent food staple in most major cities. I hope this list guides you on your next purchases as you explore what the local Asian market has to offer.

If you're planning to launch your first shipment to your local Asian store, check out my other post on howbrowsing an asian grocery store for the first time.

Check out my favorite pantry items as well as kitchen gadgets.

Other posts you might like

• Browsing an Asian grocery store for the first time
• Asian grocery tour
• Popular Asian snacks to buy at an Asian grocery store