Belonging to a group of Chinese jiaozi dumplings, guotie, also known as potstickers, are prepared by searing the bottom part while the rest of the dumpling is steamed, thus creating a play on textures. The preparation begins with making the dough for the wrappers from just flour, salt, and warm water.
The dough is then left to rest, and in the meantime, the filling is prepared by mixing minced pork, best if minced by hand using a cleaver, and minced cabbage with, including but not limited to, sesame oil, shrimp, ginger, scallions, peanut oil, soy sauce, and rice wine.
TIME
- Preparation time: 1 h 10 min
- Cooking time: 15 min
- Total time: 1 h 25 min
A close relative to Greek gyros and Turkish döner kebab, shawarma is the ultimate Middle-Eastern version of street food popular both across Lebanon, as well as in other Arabic countries and across the world. Although it may seem simple at first glance, it actually takes up to 2 days to prepare the original Lebanese shawarma.
The first step is to mix up a marinade from garlic, olive oil, vinegar, lemon juice and a whole array of spices — usually a special shawarma mix known as The 7 spices which consists of coriander, black pepper, cinnamon, turmeric, cloves, and nutmeg, to name just some.
TIME
- Preparation time: 15 min
- Cooking time: 20 min
- Total time: 12 h 35 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Carne asada taco is considered the first type of taco to exist. Carne asada or grilled meat is the main ingredient. Skirt steak, flap steak, flank steak, and even chuck steak are the usual choices. They are marinated and slow-cooked over charcoal and then cut into small pieces.
The pieces of meat are added to a tortilla and usually topped with guacamole or salsa verde, chopped onion, and cilantro and drizzled with lime juice. Tacos can be eaten as is or paired with a side dish, such as refried beans, Mexican rice, and grilled onion.
TIME
- Preparation time: 20 min
- Cooking time: 15 min
- Total time: 3 h 35 min
Gringas are a popular Mexican street food dish that is considered a type of quesadilla or a quesadilla-taco hybrid consisting of a flour tortilla filled with cheese, al pastor pork (a type of marinated, spit-roasted pork), and sometimes pineapple, white onions, and coriander.
The filled tortilla is grilled or cooked on a comal (a flat griddle) until the cheese melts and the tortilla gets crispy and golden brown. There are two ways of making it. One is by using a single tortilla, which is folded over the filling, and the other is by placing the filling between two tortillas, kind of like a mulita or a sincronizada.
TIME
- Preparation time: 30 min
- Cooking time: 1 h
- Total time: 2 h
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Roti canai, a traditional Malaysian flatbread that can also be found in other Southeast Asian countries, is made with only a few ingredients, namely flour, water, salt, and, traditionally, ghee (clarified butter). However, nowadays, cooking oil is often substituted for ghee, mainly due to price reasons.
After combining the ingredients, the dough is kneaded until it becomes smooth and elastic, but the prowess of the cook shows itself in the shaping process. The dough is skillfully spun, tossed, and stretched into a thin, almost translucent layer, which is then folded and shaped into a round or a square, creating multiple flaky layers in the process.
TIME
- Preparation time: 45 min
- Cooking time: 30 min
- Total time: 4 h 15 min
Originating from the Yucatán peninsula, cochinita pibil is a dish with Mayan roots, going back hundreds of years. Traditionally, it is made with a whole suckling pig that is marinated in a paste made predominantly with annatto seeds, then wrapped in banana leaves and baked underground on hot stones until the meat is meltingly tender.
However, more practical cuts are preferred for at-home preparation, such as leg and shoulder. These cuts have lots of marbling and connective tissue and cooking them long and slow results in a meltingly tender and juicy meat. The marinade is made by grinding annatto seeds, pepper, Mexican oregano, garlic, onion, cloves, and cinnamon into a powder-like substance that is mixed with sour orange juice and salt.
TIME
- Preparation time: 1 h 30 min
- Cooking time: 4 h 20 min
- Total time: 5 h 50 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Thin, but juicy meat shavings, garnished with aromatic tzatziki sauce and ripe summer vegetables, and stuffed in a pita bread — that, in its essence, is gyros, one of the most popular street foods of Greece. Calling gyros fast food would not do it justice, since the preparation is lengthy and requires special machinery.
The process starts by marinating thin slices of meat — usually pork or lamb, but beef and chicken are also an option — in a blend of olive oil, salt, pepper, vinegar and spices such as thyme, oregano, rosemary and sweet paprika, to name just some.
TIME
- Preparation time: 2 h
- Cooking time: 20 min
- Total time: 5 h 20 min
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Karaage, a staple of Japanese cuisine, is celebrated for its delightful crunch and tender interior. Although primarily made with chicken, it's not uncommon to find variations made with chicken cartilage, fish, seafood, and vegetables such as gobo or burdock roots.
The meat is typically marinated in a mix of soy sauce, sake, and ginger. Still, depending on the recipe, garlic, sesame oil, mirin, oyster sauce, curry powder, egg yolk, and Japanese mayonnaise will also be present. A distinctive feature of karaage is its coating.
TIME
- Preparation time: 10 min
- Cooking time: 20 min
- Total time: 1 h
MAIN INGREDIENTS
Döner kebap, often simply referred to as döner, is a popular Turkish dish made of seasoned meat cooked on a vertical rotisserie. The meat, typically lamb, but nowadays usually a mix of lamb and beef, is stacked in a cone shape and roasted slowly as it rotates on the spit.
As the outer layers of the meat cook, they are sliced off and served while the inner layers continue to cook. Döner kebap is served in a variety of ways. However, the most traditional way is to serve it on a plate with rice or pide bread, tomatoes, and grilled red peppers.
TIME
- Preparation time: 1 h
- Cooking time: 15 min
- Total time: 25 h 15 min
Originating from the state of Michoacán in Mexico, carnitas, which translates to "little meats" in Spanish, is made by cooking pork in copious amounts of lard for hours until achieving a perfect balance between tender, juicy meat and crispy, golden brown outside.
All parts of the pig are used, including the feet, the head, and the entrails. The meat is usually first roasted until crispy and browned on the outside, then simmered low and slow so it turns fork-tender. Traditionally, the meat is seasoned only with salt, although frequently, recipes will include additional seasonings such as bay leaves, onions, garlic, and orange juice, for example, which all cook in the lard together with meat.
TIME
- Preparation time: 30 min
- Cooking time: 4 h
- Total time: 4 h 30 min
TasteAtlas food rankings are based on the ratings of the TasteAtlas audience, with a series of mechanisms that recognize real users and that ignore bot, nationalist or local patriotic ratings, and give additional value to the ratings of users that the system recognizes as knowledgeable. For the “Top 67 Street Food Recipes” list until March 20, 2025, 73,509 ratings were recorded, of which 47,919 were recognized by the system as legitimate. TasteAtlas Rankings should not be seen as the final global conclusion about food. Their purpose is to promote excellent local foods, instill pride in traditional dishes, and arouse curiosity about dishes you haven’t tried.