How to Say “No MSG” in Thai

ไม่ใส่ผงชูรส

mây sày phǒng-chuu-rót

No MSG

ไม่ใส่ผงชูรสนะคะmây sày phǒng-chuu-rót ná kháfemale speakerไม่ใส่ผงชูรสนะครับmây sày phǒng-chuu-rót ná khrápmale speaker

นะ (ná) turns this into a gentle request rather than an order — and after นะ (ná), women say คะ (khá) (high tone), not the plain ค่ะ (khâ).

Word by word

Tone colors:midlowfallinghighrising

ไม่mâyNEGnot

ใส่sàyVto put in, wear

ผงชูรสphǒng-chuu-rótNMSG (monosodium glutamate)

When to use it

Say this when ordering if you want to avoid MSG, which is common in Thai street food and restaurant cooking. ผงชูรส (phǒng-chuu-rót) is built from ผง (phǒng) “powder”, ชู (chuu) “to lift, to enhance” and รส (rót) “flavour, taste”. The pattern is reusable: ไม่ใส่ (mây sày) + [ingredient], as in ไม่ใส่ถั่ว (mây sày thùa) — don't put in peanuts.

Why you've seen it spelled differently

You may have seen ไม่ใส่ผงชูรส written as: mai sai pong chu rot, my sai phong choo rot, mai sai pongchoorod.

There is no single standard for writing Thai in the Roman alphabet — phrasebooks, road signs, and tourist guides each follow a different system, and many just invent their own spellings. The romanization on this page uses a consistent IPA-based system that marks all five tones and distinguishes short from long vowels. The same word always gets the same spelling. Paste any Thai to see it romanized →

Related phrases

I'm allergic to peanuts

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