12 Must-Try Canned Foods You'll Find At An Asian Grocery Store

Shopping at an Asian grocery store can be very exciting for foodies and home cooks in general. There are so many specialty foods and value ingredients you can't find in mainstream supermarkets. Plus, even if there are certain things you could find elsewhere, you can find more variety of these specialty items and not just one stand-alone brand or product. While some stores have fresh and frozen sections, the canned goods aisle is especially good for food shopping and pretty much always guaranteed to be well stocked. Canned foods are a great solution to preserving foods for longer periods of time, for changing seasons, and, in this case, for eating across borders with ease. So, if you're unable to find specific foods that may not be growing or on offer anywhere near you, you can often find them in canned food form.

If you don't know your way around some of these foods, it's always a good idea to ask around for advice and give things a try yourself. As a recipe developer, I'm always looking to try things unknown to me and ask people for advice if I don't know what something is or how to prepare and eat it. There is plenty of opportunity for good eating in the canned foods aisle, and even more in terms of convenience. From ingredients to use in your cooking to prepared foods you can eat straight out of the can or easily incorporate into your meals, here are some of the best canned foods to try at an Asian grocery store.

Tinned fish seems to be having a major comeback in the past few years with a whole bunch of buzz and articles in various food media. But for many people, perhaps even the majority, tinned fish has always been a pantry staple. It's filling, cheap, packed with protein, and makes for a super quick meal at any time of the day. You can have some on toast, a bowl of rice, or even straight out of the tin.

I find that the tinned fish selection in Asian grocery stores is plentiful, varied, and a lot more flavor-focused. Rather than just bland fish in oil or water or the occasional seasoning like tomato sauce, you can find all sorts of seasoned sardines, like the Japanese sardines in soy sauce, that are ready to eat. This makes sense since Japan's canned seafood industry has been going strong since 1871. In my opinion, these cans of sardines in soy sauce are one of the tastiest canned food lunches you could have. These sardines are often perfectly seasoned with salty or even sweet soy sauce, requiring no extra sauces.

You can eat them cold or warm them up a little and notice how their texture melts in your mouth. The soy sauce works as a nifty sauce to pour over your rice, noodles, or whatever base you're eating it with.

If you're familiar with Korean food, kimchi is nothing new to you. This spicy fermented cabbage is a staple in Korean cooking, and makes every meal taste even better and more complex. There are great homemade kimchi recipes that help you make your own, but if you're a little nervous about fermenting your own foods, it's always a better idea to buy some instead. Kimchi is something that is definitely best when prepared fresh and fermented in small batches. Unfortunately, not everyone has access to that luxury! When I travelled somewhere I just couldn't find any, canned kimchi became my best bet. It's crunchy and spicy and does the trick when you have a craving for kimchi but can't get some of the fresh stuff.

You can find different brands with different levels of spice, so if you're not into very hot foods, you'll still be able to find canned kimchi at your spice tolerance. Keep in mind that not all canned kimchi is made equal, and some are definitely superior to others. For this, it's a good idea to ask for a recommendation from the store owner or friends in the know.

One of the common things people look for in the canned food aisle is soup. Soup is great to can, as it keeps its flavors, and the textures are usually cooked until soft anyway. The best part is you can simply heat it up and instantly enjoy a ready-made meal. There's usually a decent selection of canned soups in an Asian grocery store, but when I think of the best flavor, I come back to tom yum soup time and time again. Compared to something like miso soup which can be rather bland in the canned version, this spicy Thai soup is packed full of flavor — even the lackluster ones I've tried have been tasty.

Tom yum soup is usually quite sour, yet also salty and sweet at the same time and intensely fragrant. It's usually great on its own, and perhaps a squeeze of lime juice or some fresh herbs can take it to the next level. I also like to have some on hand if I want to inject some more flavor into a boring vegetable soup I might be making at home. One can instantly brighten another homemade soup — or even a pot of sauce that you're having with some noodles or pasta.

One of the things I love to buy canned is grass jelly. Canned food isn't limited to just savory foods, and I often use the canned food aisle in Asian grocery stores to enjoy the dessert options, too. Many Asian desserts are beloved for being not overly sweet, and grass jelly is an herbal dessert that will refresh any time of the year. It's super light, and the way you eat it (or drink it) is totally customizable. Don't worry, it's not made of grass, but of a mint-like plant called Platostoma palustre. The canned version has a mild, herbal flavor that's really pleasant with some syrup or in a drink.

Fresh grass jelly isn't easy to find, and the canned version makes it really accessible. Out of the can will plop out a can-shaped block of jelly that you can cut up and add to all sorts of things. Different countries in Asia serve grass jelly in different ways, and it's worth trying in as many ways as possible. I like to serve little blocks of it in a bowl with some condensed milk or perhaps coconut milk, syrup, and some fresh fruit.

Staying with the sweet side, canned fruit is another great choice for things to buy at an Asian grocery store. This is where you can really explore the fruits that you can't get in the U.S. at all, or at least rarely can get. Asia has a multitude of delicious fruits that don't grow in the U.S., and sometimes, canned fruit is the only way to have them. There are also certain fruits that are really good to have in canned form, and for me, that's lychees. I love buying canned lychees because they're the fruit that, in my experience, is as close to the fresh stuff as canned fruit goes. They're usually plump, juicy, and, especially if canned in a light syrup, aren't overly sweetened.

There's perhaps little as delicious as lychees in the height of their season. But alas, this is very rare to experience if you don't live somewhere that lychees grow. Fruit canning usually happens at the peak of the fruit's ripeness so canned lychees allow us to have a glimpse of that, anytime of the year. Not to mention the extra convenience that they're already peeled and have had the stone removed. I love them straight out of the can, in a fruit salad, or served over some ice cream.

Perhaps one of the most common foods we buy canned (or jarred) is pickles. They're another way to preserve certain fruits and vegetables, and they also keep a pleasant crunch in the canning process. Pickles exist in many forms in Asian cuisine, and you can find some of these in the canned food aisle. One of my favorites is canned Chinese pickled cucumbers. They come in different seasonings, but the canned cucumbers in soy sauce are a really moreish type of pickle. They're as tangy as you'd expect a pickle to be, but the added saltiness and umami from the soy sauce give them something extra special.

These pickled cucumbers are so versatile and add so much to different foods. Firstly, for canned food, they freshen a plate really well with some added crunch and moisture. They also give the plate extra umami, which can season a bland plate of rice instantly. Try them on some hot dogs or even your next burger for a flavor explosion.

Canned mackerel might be nothing new to many people who enjoy this salty fish. It's a favorite for lovers of tinned fish, who perhaps prefer something a little milder than the strong "fishiness" of anchovies and sardines. But perhaps you haven't tried mackerel seasoned with miso — and that would be a real shame. Canned mackerel with miso is one of the tastiest forms of mackerel I've ever had, and the miso enhances the natural sweetness and umami of the fish in the best way. It's something you can make yourself but buying the canned version lets you get this tasty meal with no effort at all. Plus, they're usually perfectly balanced, not too salty, and don't need much else.

In these cans, you can often find large chunks of mackerel that can easily be eaten straight out of the can. And just like the canned sardines in soy sauce, you can warm them up and serve them with some rice and veggies to create a fuller meal. Or, turn your can of mackerel into the star of your next pasta dish. They're also really good with some canned pickled cucumbers, which cut through the strong flavors beautifully.

Canned coconut milk and cream are popular items people buy from Asian grocery stores, and that makes perfect sense. Those can be used in curries, sauces, baking, and more. But an often overlooked coconut product is canned young coconut meat. Young coconuts are extremely rare in the U.S. and they're quite a different experience from eating mature coconut meat. Whereas mature coconut meat is dry and hard, young coconut meat is softer, juicy, and has a sweet, jelly-like consistency. Sure, mature coconuts have a stronger coconut flavor, but they're not the most pleasurable to chew when you compare them to the soft, young coconut meat. Young coconut meat is a real treat to eat and can feel like nature's dessert completely on its own.

Fortunately, you can easily find canned young coconut meat in Asian grocery stores. These cans offer you the pleasure of this delicate flesh in your own home. Spoon it over your oatmeal, yogurt, or fruit salad, and enjoy the fun texture and mild coconut taste.

Water chestnuts are a great way to introduce more texture into your cooking. Whether it's for adding a little more crunch to your creamy dips or in your stir fries, canned water chestnuts do the job perfectly. Of course, the canned version is the most accessible way for people to have water chestnuts in the U.S., as they are really hard to get fresh. Luckily, their texture holds up really well canned, and their mild flavor is unchanged. You can buy them whole or sliced and eat them as is in your salads or use them in your cooking.

Because water chestnuts are pretty neutral tasting, they really are used for how they feel in your mouth rather than their taste. Therefore, there's a tip for cooking with canned water chestnuts and preserving their crunch: Always add them to your pan or pot near the end of cooking so that they don't overcook and become too soft.

Similar to the canned sardines and mackerels, you can also shop for another tin fish staple at an Asian grocery store. Canned tuna is the perfect affordable and filling meal that many people around the world rely on in their week. Most people add their own lemon juice and seasonings to canned tuna to make it taste just how they like it, but at an Asian grocery store, you can find deliciously seasoned tuna, and best of all, for people who love a little kick in their food; cans of spicy tuna.

With tuna, you've got a variety of options to choose from since you can usually find Thai, Indonesian, Malaysian, Korean brands, and more. They're a completely different experience of tuna than eating your standard tuna chunks in oil or water. Trust me, they'll turn your tuna salad into something incredible. If you don't know where to start, this Dongwon tuna with hot pepper sauce is a great introduction.

Canned jackfruit has become a savior for vegans, vegetarians, or anyone looking to cut down on meat. Its stringy texture mimics meat, and it can be sauced and seasoned to absorb all sorts of flavors. However because of this demand for jackfruit as a meat substitute, much of the canned jackfruit we find in supermarkets are for savory applications. This typically uses young or green jackfruits as they're not sweet and neutral tasting. Yellow or ripened jackfruit is actually a delicious, sweet fruit and worth eating for that purpose, too.

However, yellow jackfruit is even harder to find unless you get the canned version in Asian grocery stores. Here, you can sometimes even find fresh yellow jackfruit, but what's guaranteed is that you'll find canned yellow jackfruit segments in syrup. These are really delicious and ready to eat. I like spooning some over desserts or eating them in a fruit salad. They retain a certain level of stringy texture, which is super pleasant to chew while bursting full of fruity flavor that you won't get in green jackfruit.

Bamboo shoots are another rare ingredient that you'll need to track down in an Asian grocery store. Plus, it's actually dangerous to consume raw bamboo shoots, so canned bamboo is the perfect solution. The raw stuff needs to be boiled for a while to make it safe to eat and soft enough to chew and digest.

I love canned bamboo shoots because they are so effortless. They're sliced up, and ready to be used in your stir fries, soups, curries, egg scramble, or however you use them. I give them a little rinse out of the can to get rid of any brine and throw them in my dish. They also don't need long cooking times, and in fact, they're mostly ready to eat as is and need only be added in near the end of cooking for the best results.

As a recipe developer and food writer, I've relied on my personal research and the advice given to me by my chef colleagues of Asian heritage over the years. The items chosen on this list are based on my personal preferences and the ease with which one can use the item. Many of these canned foods can be eaten as is or easily used in your cooking. I've also chosen these foods based on how they match up to their freshly prepared counterparts or based on their accessibility compared to buying fresh. Many of these items can only be found in an Asian grocery store, making them unique to these stores and worth a trip outside of your mainstream supermarkets. Price is the final factor. If you find them in your local supermarket, they'll be considered a specialty food item and likely have an inflated price.