These Banh Mi Bowls are packed with seasoned ground pork, quick veggie slaw, and the best sauce. These bowls are easy to make, packed with nutrition, and delicious!
Banh Mi Bowls
First things first, I claim no authenticity to Vietnamese food with these Banh Mi bowls. But in creating this dish, I was inspired by a Banh mi sandwich. And these bowls have some of the components and flavors of a banh mi sandwich so banh mi bowls it is!
And these bowls are so good. So good in fact, that my husband (who rarely enjoys eating the same meals over and over again) asked if I could make this often for our weekly meal prepping 🙂
These bowls are quick & easy to make. Although there are a few different steps to making these Banh Mi bowls: the base, meat, toppings, and sauce — each element is simple and comes together quickly.
How to make Banh Mi Bowls
- First up: the base which I’m using regular white rice here. You can use really whatever you’d like: brown rice or white rice, quinoa, farro, barley, etc.
- Next: the “meat.” Banh Mi’s are typically made with sliced pork or pork belly, so I’m using ground pork for these bowls. Browning the pork takes mere minutes and there aren’t too many added ingredients: salt + pepper, garlic, green onions, basil, Sriracha, a little white sugar, and fish sauce.
- If you don’t eat pork (or the smell of the pork cooking bothers you) feel free to use ground beef or ground chicken. While I haven’t tried either, I imagine they’d be delicious in the place of pork. The pork base in this recipe is adapted from these pork meatballs from Epicurious. We are obsessed with them!
How to make Banh Mi Bowls cont.
- Third: the bowl additions: cilantro, lime, jalapeños, cucumber sticks, and pickled carrots + radishes. The first four additions require very little prep: coarsely chop or pull off cilantro leaves, slice the limes to wedges, thinly slice the jalapeños, and matchstick the cucumber. Add any or all of these to the bowls. The pickled carrots + radishes take a couple extra minutes to throw together, but the flavor they add to these Banh Mi Bowls is well worth the effort!
- I’m using regular red radishes in these photos, but if you’re hoping for something more authentic I’d recommend daikon radishes.
- Last: the sauce. Truly what ties everything together; this sauce is unbeatable! Again, super simple to prepare and just a few ingredients: lime zest + juice, Sriracha, and mayo!
Assemble the Banh Mi bowls: base – meat – toppings – sauce and enjoy!
More Easy Bowl Dinners:
Banh Mi Bowls
Equipment
- Large pan
Ingredients
Meat
Base
- 1 cup uncooked white rice or brown rice
- 2 cups matchstick carrots
- 2 cups matchstick radishes or daikon, Japanese white radish
- 1/4 cup unseasoned rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 English cucumber cut into matchsticks
Sauce
- 1/2 cup mayo
- 2 limes
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha sauce
Toppings
- Fresh cilantro optional
- Jalapeños optional
- Green onions optional
Instructions
- To prepare the base, combine the matchstick carrots, matchstick radishes, rice vinegar, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Let stand at room temperature for one hour, gently stirring the mixture every 15–20 minutes. Follow package directions to cook the rice. Set aside when finished.
- Zest limes with a zester to get 1/4 teaspoon zest. Juice the limes using a citrus juicer to get 3 tablespoons lime juice. To make the sauce, whisk mayo, lime juice, lime zest, and sriracha in a bowl until smooth. Cover and chill in the fridge.
- Add the sesame oil to a large pan. Heat to medium-high and then add in the pork, salt, and pepper. Break the pork into small pieces with a spoon until cooked through, about 7–9 minutes. Stir in the green onions and cook for another 2–3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the garlic and stir for 1 minute. Stir in the fish sauce, sriracha, and sugar. Remove from heat and stir in the chopped basil.
- Divide the cooked rice evenly among 4 bowls. Top rice in each bowl with pork. Using a slotted spoon, add pickled veggies to each bowl, then add even amounts of matchstick cucumber to the bowls. Finish off the bowls with desired amounts of sauce and optional toppings.
Video
Recipe Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Recipe adapted from Epicurious
This was a hit in our house! Followed the recipe completely and wouldn’t change a thing!
Everyone loved this! So delicious and fresh tasting. Will definitely be adding this to our meal rotation. Thank you for this, it is different so it woke up our tastebuds for sure.
I am so happy to hear this! Thanks so much Ann! 🙂
Is there a sub for fish sauce? I hate the smell of it. Should I just leave it out or use soy sauce?
You can totally just leave it out! Thanks Ellen! 🙂
Worcestersire sauce is basically the same thing
These were to die for! I saw the recipe and was so excited to try it and it did not disappoint. The pickled carrots were amazing! I decided to pickle some cucumbers and jalapenos along with them and they were delicious! And the seasoning for the meat was just perfect 👌
Yummy! I’m so happy you loved these Banh Mi Bowls! 🙂
I added ginger and cinnamon to the meat sauce, left out the sugar. Really tasty!
So happy you enjoyed! Thanks for your comment! 🙂
OMG, delicious. I added ginger and used soy sauce instead of fish sauce just because I didn’t have it in my cupboard and with the sesame sauce it was a hit! Thank you!
I’m so happy to hear that Gabs! I’m so glad you were able to work with what you had! Thanks for your comment! 🙂
Very Very delicious!!! Will definitely make again, however the prep time should be adjusted to reflect the hour that the slaw sits in total while you toss every 15-20 min. Other than that, no complaints!
These were so delicious! They are unique and fresh. I am trying to find healthy, flavor-packed meals my family will enjoy and Chelsea has really helped. Thank you!!
Yay!! I’m so glad you enjoyed these! Thank you so much Stacy! 🙂
This recipe was to die for. I served it on cauliflower rice and it was seriously amazing. cant wait to eat the left overs today.
Oooh it sounds awesome on cauliflower rice! I’m so glad you enjoyed it!! 🙂
This was delicious! Didn’t necessarily taste like a banh mi, but the spiciness was spot on, and the crunch with the vegetables was perfect. Loved it!
Yes, not totally authentic, but delicious right?! 🙂 Thanks so much for the comment Cindy!