Pharyngeal and laryngeal lipoma are uncommon mesenchymal tumors. This report discusses the clinical and pathological features of five cases and a review of the literature. Symptoms included dysphagia, throat discomfort and airway obstruction in three patients. These complaints occurred over several years. One patient had a recurrent fibrolipoma and had experienced several surgical procedures. Surgery is the treatment of choice including conservative procedures but for large tumors open surgical approaches rather than endoscopic techniques should be employed. Recurrent tumor may be a sign of incomplete excision but also of a well-differentiated liposarcoma.