How to Cook Up an Easy Thai Dinner Party

Planning a Thai Dinner Party

When it comes to creating a dinner party, nothing achieves the "wow factor" like Thai food. In this Thai party menu planner, you'll find a choice of recipes in each course—from simple to complicated, depending on your cooking experience and how much time you're prepared to invest. The great thing about preparing a Thai meal is that so much of it can be prepared in advance, then quickly put together when guests arrive, allowing you to enjoy the evening as much as your guests.

Thai Party Appetizers

When your guests arrive, you'll want to serve an appetizer or Thai finger foods they can enjoy while greeting other guests, grabbing a drink, and relaxing. One easy crowd-pleaser is Thai chicken satay sticks. You can prepare them in the oven or on the grill, so they are a go-to choice whether your party will be indoors or outdoors.

Another beautiful appetizer that will welcome your guests to the table is a "bouquet" of Thai fresh spring rolls. These fresh rolls not only look gorgeous, but they are also incredibly wonderful to eat too. They are also gluten-free and can be made vegetarian.

You could also start with miang kum. This simple but incredible appetizer is difficult to describe—you have to taste it for yourself to believe the interesting mix of flavors and textures with each mouthful-sized "pop" of this special Thai treat.

Thai Curry - Main Course

Nothing could be more Thai for the main course than a good curry or noodle dish.

Make-Ahead Tip for Curry

Curries taste even better the next day, so if you want to be extra organized, cook a curry up a day or two ahead of time. Then heat up, add fresh toppings (such as fresh basil or coriander), and serve.

Thai Noodle Dishes - Main Course

If you're not a curry person, check out some fabulous noodle dishes, which can also be served as the main course:

• Easy Pad Thai
• Classic Chicken Pad Thai
• Vegetarian Pad Thai

Make-Ahead Noodle Tips

Soak the noodles the day before, then drain and rinse well with cold water. Cover the noodles and store in the refrigerator until you're ready to cook them. Also, prepare the Pad Thai sauce ahead of time and refrigerate. If you want to be super-ready, you can even get all your fresh ingredients ready and store in the refrigerator ahead of time.

Thai Salad

Thai food can be spicy, and you may want to cool things down a bit with refreshing side salads to accompany the main course.

Thai Desserts

Finish the meal with a tropical dessert. The beauty of these three recipes is that they are all vegan, and two of them are gluten-free as well.

• Classic Thai Sticky Mango Dessert: it's vegan and gluten-free.
• Fantastic Thai Fried Bananas: It's vegan, and you can get your guests involved in rolling their own.
• Quick & Easy Thai Creme Caramel: vegan and gluten-free, you can make it the day before and keep in the refrigerator until you're ready to serve it.

Drinks for Your Thai Party

If your guests enjoy beer, there are few greater pleasures in life than a nice cold lager with a spicy Thai meal. If you want to be authentic, look for imported Thai beers, such as Singha or Chang.

If they prefer wine, a good Shiraz or Syrah pairs nicely with Thai food, or include vodka with a splash of wine in a festive and tropical  ​Mango Passion Cocktail.​