Vietnam
Chè Cốm Recipe: Green Rice Flakes Sweet Soup

Chè Cốm Recipe: Green Rice Flakes Sweet Soup

Hanna Tran Hanna Tran | Updated October 16, 2026

Chè cốm is a sweet soup made with green rice flakes, a specialty of autumn in Hanoi. The flakes are boiled in sugar water thickened with tapioca starch, and grapefruit water goes in at the end, so the sweetness of the rice flakes comes together with the grapefruit fragrance. Vietnamese people also eat it as an afternoon dessert.

Chè Cốm Recipe: Green Rice Flakes Sweet Soup

Ingredients

  • 100 g dry green rice flakes
  • 300 g sugar
  • 50 g tapioca starch
  • 1 liter of cold water
  • Grapefruit water

How to make chè cốm

1. Make the sugar water

Put the sugar in a saucepan with 1 liter of cold water and bring it to the boil. Let the sugar dissolve, and skim off the foam.

2. Thicken it with tapioca starch

Dissolve the tapioca starch in a little cold water, then pour it into the saucepan of sugar water (the original says “decanting water in saucepan sugar”; the exact step is unclear) and stir well. Put the pan on the stove and keep stirring while it heats so the starch doesn’t clot (the original says “to avoid cradle and clotted”; “cradle” is unclear).

3. Cook the green rice flakes and finish

Soak the green rice flakes in cold water for 10 minutes, then lift them out and drain them.

When the sugar water is boiling, sprinkle the green rice flakes over it and boil for 5 minutes. Take the pan off, let it cool, then add the grapefruit water and stir well. Ladle the chè into bowls.

Depending on your taste, you can eat it hot or cold.

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