Who would've thought that one day an adorable Thai baby hippo named Moo Deng would become a global sensation? But here we are. As you may know, moo deng is actually the name of a Thai food, so I thought I'd share my moo deng recipe because it's an easy, tasty and versatile pork meatballs that you can add to so many dishes.

a bowl of moo deng meatballs with 2 chilies and a plant in the background

What is moo deng?

Moo means pork, and deng means bouncy, and it refers to a kind of pork bouncy pork meatballs that we put in various dishes, typically noodle soups, including the viral tom yum instant noodles, pictured below. Sometimes, the pork is formed into patties instead of balls.

Some non-Thai news outlets have been incorrectly reporting that moo deng means "bouncing pig," which I suppose is correct on paper, but not in practice. It's a classic case of "lost in translation" because in Thai, moo means both pork and pig (the same way that "chicken" refers to both the animal and the meat). But moo deng is a food!

Ingredients and Notes

Here are ingredients you'll need for moo deng and some important notes about them. It's super simple! For amounts, see the full recipe card below

White peppercorns
Garlic
Ground pork, preferably not lean for the best texture.
Soy sauce, use Thai soy sauce for the authentic flavour, but without it, other kinds of soy sauce is also fine.
Fish sauce. See this post on choosing good quality fish sauce.
Sugar
A small ice cube, optional.
Food processor. Ideally, you'll also need a food processor for the right texture and to get that bounciness, though a small one is fine. If you don't have one, you can still make it and it'll be tasty, but the texture will be more coarse and it won't be bouncy.

How to Make Moo Deng

Here's a bird's eye view of how to make moo deng. Like any other meatballs, you can make these ahead of time and freeze!

Pound the garlic and pepper into a paste (not shown). Add the pork, the garlic paste, soy sauce, fish sauce, sugar and a small ice cube into a food processor.
Process the pork into a smooth-ish paste - the smoother it is the bouncier the meatballs will be. Without a food processor just knead all ingredients well together well with your hand.
Roll them into little balls with gloved hands. Without gloves, wetting your hands will prevent the pork from sticking to your hands.
Cook them in boiling water for about 2 minutes or until cooked through. Fish them out, and they're now ready to be added to any noodle soup or any dish you want, or you can freeze them for another day.

Pro Tip: Save the Cooking Water.

After cooking the meatballs, the cooking water is also going to have lots of flavour in it, and it can be used as a base for many Thai soups, especially noodle soups. So if you're making moo deng for noodle soups, definitely keep this water for your soup. And for more ideas, here are my Thai soup recipes.

Storage and Advance Prep

Moo deng is a great thing to have in your fridge/freezer as they make for easy and delicious protein for a weeknight meal. Here are a few options for prepping moo deng ahead of time.

Cook the moo deng off and then freeze them fully cooked. Then simply boil them for a few minutes to reheat and add to your meal.
Make the pork mixture, roll them into balls, and then freeze them raw. If you don't have time to cook them before freezing, you can freeze them raw, but this is a little more work as you'll need to freeze them on a tray without them touching, then consolidated the frozen meatballs into a container. When ready to cook, you can thaw them first or boil them directly from frozen.
Make the pork mixture in advance and keep in the fridge for a few days. If you don't have time to roll and cook them, but you want to get ahead a little, you can just mix the meat mixture and keep it in the fridge up to 2 days ahead of time (assuming your ground pork is fresh!). You can freeze the meat mixture, but freeze it in a flat disc so it won't take much time to thaw.

What Dishes Can You Put Moo Deng In?

Moo deng is not a standalone dish, as you can probably tell, though to be honest if you cook them up and serve them with nam jim seafood or sweet chili sauce, it would make a fantastic appetizer! But here are a few dishes you can serve moo deng in.

As per the photo, you can make the viral mama tom yum instant noodles.
They're great in gaeng jued, a staple comforting Thai soup that most families make regularly, especially families with kids!
Any clear broth noodle soup, such as this classic Thai street style noodle soup.
Easy congee, the ultimate breakfast in Asia.
You can go rogue and add them to non-Thai dishes - they'd be great in a pasta!

Explore my Thai soup recipes for more ideas, and really, add them to anything you can imagine!