✔ Updated · 65 three-letter foods, grouped by type
Short on letters but not on flavor: here are 65 real foods with 3 letters, from fig and yam to pho, dal and uni, and I’m a pho person myself. Need a longer word? See our 4-letter foods, foods with 5 letters and foods with 7 letters lists.
Common foods with 3 letters include egg, ham, pie, pea, yam, fig, jam, oat, rye, cod, eel, roe, lox and nut. Dishes and breads include pho, dal, bao, bun, sub and dip, and Japanese menus add ahi, uni, ebi and ika. Popular three-letter drinks are tea, ale, rum and gin.
- Fruits and vegetables: fig, yam, pea, oca, ume, cos.
- Seafood: cod, eel, roe, lox, ahi, uni, ebi.
- Dishes: pie, pho, dal, bao, poi, sub, ful.
Three-Letter Fruits and Vegetables
Short names, big flavor: these are the three-letter fruits, vegetables and fungi you will find at markets and on menus.
Fig
Soft, jammy fruit with tiny crunchy seeds and honey-like sweetness. Eat fresh, roast with goat cheese or simmer into jam.
Yam
True yams are starchy tropical tubers with rough bark-like skin, boiled, pounded or stewed across West Africa and the Caribbean.
Get the recipe →Pea
Small sweet green legume eaten fresh, frozen or dried and split. Great in risotto, soup, fried rice and pasta.
Oca
Andean tuber with waxy, colorful skin and a tangy, lemony flavor. Cook it like a small potato or eat it raw.
Ume
Sour Japanese apricot-plum, best known pickled as umeboshi and tucked into rice balls or steeped into umeshu.
Cos
Another name for romaine lettuce, the crisp long-leaf lettuce used in Caesar salad. Common on UK menus.
Cep
The UK and French name for the porcini mushroom, prized for its nutty, meaty flavor in risotto and sauces.
Haw
Small red fruit of the hawthorn tree, tart and mealy, used for jelly, syrup and Chinese haw flakes.
Three-Letter Meat and Poultry
Three-letter cuts and meats, from holiday staples to game. Ham is the one I cook most.
Ham
Cured or smoked pork leg, served sliced in sandwiches or glazed and baked whole for holidays. Reheat cooked ham to 165°F.
Get the recipe →Elk
Lean, rich game meat with a mild, slightly sweet flavor. Ground elk makes juicy burgers; cook ground meat to 160°F.
Get the recipe →Emu
Lean red meat from the Australian bird, closer to beef than chicken in flavor and color. Best cooked medium.
Yak
Rich, lean meat from Himalayan cattle, eaten in Tibet and Nepal in dumplings, stews and dried strips.
Hen
A mature female chicken. Stewing hens make deep-flavored broth, and Cornish game hens roast whole in about an hour.
Kid
Meat from a young goat, tender and mild, popular in curries, Caribbean stews and Mediterranean roasts.
Rib
A bone-in cut of pork or beef, slow-smoked, braised or grilled until tender, as in spare ribs and short ribs.
Three-Letter Fish and Seafood
Many three-letter seafood names come from Japanese and Hawaiian cooking, so they turn up on sushi and poke menus.
Cod
Mild, flaky white fish that is the classic choice for fish and chips, chowder and salt cod. Cook to 145°F.
Get the recipe →Eel
Rich, oily fish served grilled and glazed as unagi in Japan, or smoked and jellied in Europe.
Roe
Fish eggs, from salmon roe and flying fish roe on sushi to caviar from sturgeon. Salty, briny and popping.
Lox
Thin slices of salt-cured salmon, a classic on a bagel with cream cheese, capers and red onion.
Ahi
Hawaiian name for yellowfin or bigeye tuna, served raw in poke and sashimi or seared rare.
Ono
Hawaiian name for wahoo, a firm, mild fish great grilled or in fish tacos. Its name means delicious.
Gar
Long-snouted freshwater fish from the American South with firm white meat, often fried or made into fish balls.
Uni
Japanese word for sea urchin roe, creamy and briny with a sweet, ocean flavor. Served as sushi or over pasta.
Ika
Japanese word for squid, eaten raw as sashimi, grilled whole or battered and fried as tempura.
Ebi
Japanese word for shrimp, as in ebi nigiri and ebi tempura. Cooked shrimp should be pink and opaque.
Tai
Japanese sea bream, a delicate white fish served as sashimi and as a whole grilled fish for celebrations.
Ray
Also sold as skate, a fish with sweet, ribbed wing meat often pan-fried with brown butter and capers.
Three-Letter Dishes, Breads and Dumplings
From Vietnamese noodle soup to Nigerian swallows, these are real three-letter dishes from around the world.
Pie
Pastry crust with a sweet or savory filling, from apple and pumpkin to chicken pot pie.
Get the recipe →Bun
A small, soft bread roll, plain for burgers or filled and sweet like cinnamon buns and Japanese curry buns.
Get the recipe →Bao
Fluffy Chinese steamed bun, either filled like char siu bao or folded around pork belly as gua bao.
Bap
A soft, floury British bread roll, the classic for a bacon bap. Also the Korean word for cooked rice.
Cob
A round, crusty loaf or roll in the UK, and the core of an ear of corn in the US.
Pav
Soft Indian bread roll served with spicy mashed vegetable curry in pav bhaji and with potato fritters in vada pav.
Pho
Vietnamese noodle soup of rice noodles in a clear, spiced beef or chicken broth with fresh herbs and lime.
Get the recipe →Dal
Indian dish of lentils or split peas simmered with turmeric and finished with a sizzling spiced oil. Also spelled dhal.
Poi
Hawaiian staple of cooked taro root pounded into a smooth paste, eaten fresh and sweet or fermented and tangy.
Sub
A long sandwich on a split roll, layered with deli meats, cheese and salad. Also called a hoagie or hero.
Dip
Any thick sauce for dunking chips, crackers or vegetables, from salsa and hummus to hot spinach dip.
Get the recipe →Nan
Alternative spelling of naan, the soft, blistered Indian flatbread baked in a tandoor oven.
Che
Vietnamese sweet dessert soup or pudding made with beans, fruit, jelly and coconut milk, served hot or iced.
Com
Vietnamese word for cooked rice, as in com tam, broken rice with grilled pork and a fried egg.
Ful
Egyptian breakfast of slow-cooked fava beans mashed with olive oil, lemon, garlic and cumin. Also called ful medames.
Pap
Southern African porridge of finely ground white maize, served stiff with stews or soft for breakfast.
Eba
Nigerian swallow made by stirring garri, toasted cassava granules, into hot water. Eaten with soups like egusi.
Ogi
Fermented corn, millet or sorghum pudding from West Africa, smooth and slightly sour. Also called akamu.
Sev
Crunchy, thin chickpea-flour noodles from India, sprinkled over chaat, bhel puri and sev puri.
Mee
Malay and Indonesian word for noodles, as in mee goreng, spicy stir-fried noodles with vegetables and egg.
Ash
Thick Persian soup of herbs, beans and noodles, as in ash reshteh, topped with fried onion and tangy whey.
Three-Letter Pantry Staples, Herbs and Sweets
Everyday ingredients with three-letter names.
Egg
The most versatile kitchen staple: boiled, fried, scrambled, poached or baked into almost everything. Cook egg dishes to 160°F.
Get the recipe →Oil
Fat that is liquid at room temperature, from olive and canola to sesame and coconut. Essential for frying and dressings.
Oat
Whole grain rolled or cut into oatmeal, granola, cookies and overnight oats. Naturally gluten-free unless cross-contaminated.
Get the recipe →Rye
Hardy grain with an earthy, slightly sour flavor, used in dark rye bread, pumpernickel and rye whiskey.
Soy
The soybean and the salty, savory sauce brewed from it, a base of Chinese, Japanese and Korean cooking.
Jam
Fruit cooked with sugar until thick and spreadable. Classic on toast, scones and in thumbprint cookies.
Jus
A light pan sauce made from meat drippings and stock, served with roast beef and French dip sandwiches.
Nut
Hard-shelled seed or fruit such as walnuts, pecans and hazelnuts, eaten as snacks or baked into desserts.
Bay
Bay leaves add a subtle herbal depth to soups, stews and braises. Remove the leaves before serving.
Rue
A bitter, strongly scented herb used sparingly in Ethiopian coffee, grappa and some old European recipes.
Aji
Peruvian chili pepper, as in aji amarillo, and the bright green sauce made from it with cilantro and lime.
Gum
Chewing gum, plus natural thickeners such as xanthan gum and guar gum used in gluten-free baking.
Three-Letter Drinks
Three-letter drinks round out the list. The alcoholic ones are for adults of legal drinking age.
Tea
Brewed leaves of the tea plant, from green and black to oolong. Served hot or as iced sweet tea.
Get the recipe →Ale
Beer brewed with top-fermenting yeast at warmer temperatures, giving fruity, full flavors. Includes pale ale and stout.
Get the recipe →Rum
Spirit distilled from sugarcane or molasses, the base of the mojito, daiquiri and pina colada cocktails.
Get the recipe →Gin
Clear spirit flavored with juniper and botanicals, best known in a gin and tonic or a martini.
Kir
French aperitif of white wine with a splash of blackcurrant liqueur. With sparkling wine it becomes a kir royale.
Common 3-Letter Food Words for Puzzles
Crossword and word-game setters lean on a small set of three-letter food answers. I see these come up again and again:
- Most common: egg, ham, pie, pea, yam, fig, jam, oat, tea, cod, eel, roe.
- Ending in E: pie, roe, rye, ale, ume, rue.
- Japanese menu words: uni, ika, ebi, tai, ume.
- Hawaiian menu words: ahi, ono, poi.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some 3 letter foods?
Egg, ham, pie, pea, yam, fig, jam, oat, cod, eel, roe, lox, nut and rye are the most common foods with 3 letters. Dishes such as pho, dal, bao, bun and sub, and seafood words like ahi, uni and ebi, also fit.
What fruit has 3 letters?
Fig is the best-known three-letter fruit, and my favorite with a little cheese. Ume, a sour Japanese plum, and haw, the berry of the hawthorn tree, also have three letters. Most other short fruit names, such as kiwi, lime and date, have four.
What 3 letter food ends with E?
Pie, roe and rye are the most common three-letter foods that end in E. Ale, ume and rue also end in E. For a crossword, check the crossing letters, since pie, roe and rye all share the same E ending.
What vegetable has 3 letters?
Pea and yam are the classic three-letter vegetables. Oca, an Andean tuber, cos, another name for romaine lettuce, and cep, the porcini mushroom, also have three letters.
What seafood has 3 letters?
Cod, eel, roe and lox are the most familiar. Sushi and poke menus add ahi (tuna), uni (sea urchin), ebi (shrimp), ika (squid) and tai (sea bream), and ono is the Hawaiian name for wahoo.
