Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork

This Vietnamese Vermicelli Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork is a traditional Vietnamese dish that combines tender, juicy, and caramelized Vietnamese grilled pork, vermicelli rice noodles, fresh herbs and vegetable, tossed in a tangy fish sauce based sauce called nuoc cham.

Vietnamese Noodle Bowl is one of my favorite Vietnamese dish of all time. It combines so many complex and complementary flavors and textures together to create a satisfying explosion of happiness in one’s mouth.

What is Vietnamese Vermicelli Noodle Bowl?

Vermicelli Noodle Bowl is a popular noodle dish from Vietnam that is served dry with lots of fresh veggies, grilled meats or seafood, and drizzled with a bold flavored fish-sauce-based sauce.

The noodles used are thin rice vermicelli noodles that are white in color when cooked, similar to noodles used in Pho.

Today, you can find this rice vermicelli noodle bowl in almost any Vietnamese restaurants across the United States. It is light, fresh and loaded with amazing flavors and textures.

I wanted to create a version of this Vietnamese noodle bowl that is simple enough for everyday people to make (i.e. most of us who are not professional chefs but still want to make/eat good food at home), yet complex enough to capture the beauty, authenticity and complexity of the traditional dish. And to do it justice.

Because this Vietnamese vermicelli noodle dish is a GORGEOUS blending of flavors and textures. One of the absolute best.

So fire up that grill (or pan fry it because that works too), grab some Vietnamese Egg Rolls should you choose to (talk about a pairing made in foodie heaven), and get ready to put together this delicious Vermicelli Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork, or also called bun thit nuong.

Kitchen Tools

Besides basic kitchenware, you will also need:

• Food processor – to blend up the delicious pork marinade. A blender can be used as well!
• Grill or Griddle (used to cook it indoor if you prefer) – to cook pork in said delicious marinade
• Meat thermometer – to ensure the pork is well cooked

Ingredients

There are a number of components to the vermicelli bowl, but don’t let it intimidate you! I’m going to break it down by section and hopefully you’ll find it fairly straightforward!

Grilled Pork

• pork shoulder – pork provides the best flavor for this dish; pork shoulder is traditionally used but you can use other cuts such as pork loin, pork butt etc. Alternatively, you can also use chicken or beef or leaner cuts of meat. For vegan/vegetarian option, use firm tofu.
• soy sauce – an Asian staple!
• fish sauce – a little goes a long way. THIS is what takes the dish from good to GLAMOROUS.
• brown sugar – the sweetness needed to balance out the flavors
• garlic – use fresh garlic and avoid substituting with garlic powder for best flavor.
• shallots – if you can’t find shallots, white or yellow onion will work in a pinch.
• lemongrass – feel free to omit it if you cannot find it. Alternately, grate a bit of ginger to enhance the dish.

Noodle Bowl

• Noodles – we’re using thin vermicelli rice noodles for this recipe. You should be able to find this at Asian grocery stores, and some mainstream stores in the Asian section.
• Veggies – I typically use a combination of shredded carrots, shredded cucumbers, bean sprouts, chopped lettuce, cabbage, radishes. Use one, two or as much as you like! Pick your favorites!
• Fresh herbs – Use fresh! Dried herbs do not taste the same. This brings a very distinct flavor to the noodle bowl. Mint, Thai Basil and cilantro are some common varieties.
• Garnishes – other fresh garnishes commonly add to the bowl are peanuts, lime wedges etc.

Sauce

The sauce, also known as “nuoc cham” in Vietnamese, it is a simple sauce with a punch made out of

• fish sauce – this bring saltiness as well as a lot of amazing umami flavors
• lime juice – contributes to the tangy flavors of the bowl
• sugar – sweetness to balance out the salty and the tangy
• water – used to dilute the sauce.
• red pepper flakes – adjust according to preferred level of spiciness

How to make Vietnamese Rice Vermicelli Noodle Bowl?

Grilled Pork

Grilled pork is marinated in a ridiculously flavorful sauce. My husband calls this the star of the dish; I say every component is just as crucial.

Throw all the marinade ingredients into a food processor or blender, and blend them up.

If you don’t have a food processor or blender, chop up the shallots, garlic and lemongrass and mix everything together with a whisk.

I typically marinade the pork first as it takes about an hour for the flavor to really sink into the meat.

Grill pork on a grill pan, griddle or outdoor grill. If you don’t have a grill, pork can be pan-fried on a skillet as well.

Grill under indirect heat (if using charcoal grill), or medium/low heat (if using grill pan, electric grill, or skillet) to make sure the insides of the pork is completely cooked.

There is sugar in the marinate, so pork will brown/burn quickly on the outside. So check on it every now and then, and lower heat as needed!

Vegetables and Garnishes

Once the meat is on the grill, go ahead and chop/prep the rest of the veggies and garnishes, then pickle the carrots and cucumber.

The trickiest part of this Vietnamese vermicelli noodle recipe is the prep work, especially if you are dealing with a large variety of vegetables. But remember, prep time can be saved by buying pre-cut veggies.

Pickling the carrots and cucumber gives them an extra oomph, and that tangy vinegary flavor goes perfectly with the noodles, pork and the rest of the garnish.

It doesn’t have to be pickled for a long time – about 30-60 minutes is sufficient.

Vermicelli Rice Noodles

As for the noodles, we will be using thin vermicelli rice noodles.

I typically buy them dry, but you can also find refrigerated ones in the Asian grocery stores.

Some will require boiling noodles in water briefly, and some just requires soaking noodles in boiled, hot water briefly. My recommendation is to follow package instructions. All we are trying to do is soften the noodles.

Sauce

If you think we are just eating the noodles plain, you are very much mistaken. Plain is not the word to describe this dish! In fact, I will argue it’s quite the opposite.

We are about to make a sweet, tangy, salty sauce which comprises of fish sauce, lime juice (squeezed from fresh limes), brown sugar, water and red pepper flakes. And you betcha we are going to smother the noodles with that yum sauce.

Substitutions and Variations

If you cannot find these ingredients, here’s what you can do!

• Rice vinegar – use white vinegar instead!
• Shallots – use white, yellow or sweet onions instead!
• Lemongrass – simply omit this.
• Brown sugar – granulated sugar works fine too.
• Veggies – a variety of vegetables can be used to assemble your Vietnamese rice noodle bowl. Here are other good options: radishes, cabbage, bean sprouts, spinach.
• Herbs – other herbs such as Thai basil, cilantro.
• Other protein – chicken, shrimp, beef, or even crispy tofu are good protein in place of pork.

Make Ahead and Storage

To make ahead, store the sauce separately and pour onto Vietnamese noodle bowl only when you are ready to eat.

This can be eaten cold, at room temperature or warm. I’ve eaten it all three ways and love them all.

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