Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork
BEHOLD. Vermicelli noodles topped with chargrilled pork, crunchy veggies, lime and peanuts. A healthy and light meal bursting with freshness and packed with so much yum! Vietnamese Noodle Bowl is the epitome of great flavor and texture.
What is Vietnamese Vermicelli Noodle Bowl?
This is a popular noodle dish originated 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. 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 dish in almost any Vietnamese restaurants across the United States. It is light, fresh and loaded with amazing flavors and textures.
I wanted to create something 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 this beautiful concoction. And to do it justice.
Because this 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.
What type of noodles to use?
Thin vermicelli rice noodles are used for this recipe. You should be able to find this at Asian grocery stores, and some mainstream stores in the Asian section. Here is an affiliate link for it if you want to get it online.
These are noodles used for Pho (Vietnamese noodle soup). They are also similar to noodles used for Pad Thai and Pad See Ew, but are thinner in shape. Pad Thai and Pad See Ew use thicker rice noodles.
Do note that they are different from mung bean thread noodles (they look very similar!). Bean Thread noodles are usually clear and transparent when cooked.
How to make Vietnamese Rice Vermicelli Noodle Bowl?
There are a few components to this dish, but don’t let it intimidate you because once you break it down it’s fairly straight forward!
- Grilled Pork
- Noodles
- Veggies + Garnishes
- Sauce
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.
The pork marinate is made with:
- soy sauce
- fish sauce
- brown sugar
- garlic – fresh, avoid substituting with garlic powder
- shallots
- lemongrass – feel free to omit it if you cannot find it.
Throw everything into a food processor or blender, and blend it 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 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 cook.
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 carrots and cucumber.
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 quite the opposite.
We are about to make a sweet, tangy, salty sauce which comprise 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.
How do you eat Vietnamese Noodle Bowl?
So many components!! How do we serve and eat them?
I asked myself the same question when I had this for the very first time!
Pile everything onto the rice vermicelli noodles – grilled pork, veggies, garnishes. Then splash that yum sauce all over it.
Then you decide how you want to proceed. Mix it all up; Or, mix some portion of it up, eat, and mix more of it up. I suggest pouring lots of sauce to it because that flavorful liquid is GOLD.
Optional, but highly recommended for your pleasure: Savor every bite.
Close your eyes and shut the rest of your senses so you get the full impact of the taste and texture of this heavenly Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork.
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.
Frequently Asked Questions
Store each component separately, and only combine rice vermicelli noodles, veggies and garnishes, meat and sauce, when ready to eat. Store each item individually in a sealed container for up to 1 week in the refrigerator.
I love adding some Vietnamese Egg Rolls or fried egg to it as well! Yum!
And that’s all, folks. Vietnamese Vermicelli Noodle Bowl. Just like the ones you get at restaurants. ENJOY!!
If you make this recipe please comment below and let me know how it goes! It would also make me SO HAPPY if you’d take a picture of your creation and tag me on Instagram. Because I WANNA SEE!
DID YOU ENJOY THIS RECIPE? Please comment below and give us a 5-star rating! This will help others find this recipe on Google and Pinterest. We very much appreciate your help! 🤍
More Asian Recipes!
- Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad
- Pad Thai Noodles (Video Included!!)
- Thai Red Curry with Chicken
- Malaysian Curry Puff
- Mee Goreng Mamak (Malaysian Fried Noodles)
- Chinese Braised Pork Belly
- Chinese Barbecue Pork (Char Siu) and Bok Choy Rice Bowl
- Air Fryer Korean Fried Chicken (by my friend Christie at Christie at Home!)
Vietnamese Noodle Bowl with Grilled Pork
Ingredients
Grilled Pork
- 2 lbs pork shoulder
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 1/2 tbsp soy sauce
- 3-4 cloves garlic
- 1 tbsp shallots
- ~2 inch lemongrass bottom white part
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
Noodles
- 7-8 oz dried rice vermicelli noodles
Vegetables and Garnishes
- 1 1/2 cups cucumber shredded
- 1 1/2 cups carrots shredded
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 1/4 cup sugar
- A few leaves lettuce
- A handful cilantro
- A handful mint leaves
- 1/2 cup peanuts chopped
- 1 fresh lime
Sauce (Nuoc Cham)
- 1/2 cup hot water
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
- 2-3 tbsp freshly squeezed lime juice or to taste
- 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes or to taste
Instructions
Grilled Pork
- Remove some of the fat from pork shoulders (but it is not necessary to remove all the fat), and slice pork into thin slices. Bring them into a large ziplock bag.
- Combine and blend the rest of the ingredients listed under "Grilled Pork" in food processor/blender to create marinate, and add to zip lock bag. Make sure pork is evenly coated with marinate. Marinade pork for at least 1 hour, or up to a few hours.
- Grill pork on a grill pan or outdoor 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 cook. Note that because there is sugar in the marinate, pork will brown/burn quickly on the outside.
Pickled Vegetables
- Bring hot water and sugar (see ingredients under "Vegtables and Garnishes") together in a bowl to dissolve sugar. Add rice vinegar. Stir to combine.
- Add shredded cucumber and shredded carrots to bowl with vinegar miture. Or, if desire, separate vinegar mixture into two bowls and separately pickle cucumber and carrots.
- Press the carrots and cucmber down so that they are completely submerged in the mixture. Pickle for 30-60 minutes.
- Drain vienegar mixture.
Other Vegetables and Garnishes
- Prep/chop the rest of the vegetables and garnishes – lettuce, cilantro, mint leaves, and peanuts. Slice lime into a few wedges.
Noodles
- Cook noodles base on package insutrctions. It's usually cooks quickly! If noodles needs to sit for a while before combining with the other ingredients, rinse them in cold water to prevent them from sticking to each other, continuing to cook and turning mushy.
Sauce (Nuoc Cham)
- Combine hot water and sugar to completely dissolve sugar. Then add the other sauce ingredients. Stir to combine.
Combine
- Bring noodles to bowl, and top with grilled pork, vegetables, and garnishes. Serve with sauce, and enjoy!
This recipe is delicious! I’m planning on making the pork and picked cucumbers and carrots to put on a bahn mi too. I’ll definitely be making this again.
I’m so glad you like it, Sam! Bahn mi sounds delicious!!!
So delicious and so easy! LOVE this recipe. Thank you!
I’m so glad you like it! 🙂
If I could give it ten stars I would, my husband and I both LOVED this. I subbed coconut sugar for the sugar in it, and still, absolutely delicious! Will be keeping this one on deck next time I don’t know what to make for dinner!
It makes me so happy to hear that, Lauren!! Thank you so much! We love this recipe as well! 🙂
THE BEST vermicelli bowl we’ve made..and we have made many over the years. Definitely a new favourite in the house!!
Yay! It makes me SO happy to hear that! 🙂
This recipe is incredible. It is easy to make and spot-on like I would get at a restaurant. Thanks for sharing it. I can’t wait to try your other recipes! I posted a pic on Instagram – I’m mrc_rex. I made the pickle with carrot and daikon, and put some cucumber separately.
That’s awesome! Thank you for sharing on Instagram! So glad you enjoyed it and can’t wait for you to try the other recipes!
I am very excited to try this can I use a white vinegar to pickle if I don’t have rice vinegar on hand?
Yes! That would be just fine! Let me know what you think of the dish when you try it! 🙂
I ended up at a store so got the rice vinegar. Recipe was delicious!!! This is one of my favourite dishes eating out and used to eat it all the time in Vancouver. Well we moved back to Ontario and haven’t been able to find a restaurant in last 6 years that really makes it the way I liked. Anyways now I don’t need one cause this was perfect!
Yay!! That makes me so happy to hear that! So glad 🙂
Since most restaurants have closed down and we couldn’t get our weekly fix, I decided to try this recipe. It is amazing! My husband has requested that instead of us going out, that I start to make our weekly meal. This is such a tasty meal. There is a lot of prep work involved but the end result is completely worth it every single time!
That’s awesome! So happy to hear that! Thanks for leaving the kind review! 🙂
I made this last night and it was amazing. The only thing I had to add a tip of oil to the noodles to keep it separate. Will definitely make this again. :)) Thanks for this recipe
That’s great! So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks for sharing the tip about the noodles! 🙂
This recipe is AMAZING and LEGIT! My husband doesn’t get excited about this dish at Vietnamese restaurants like I do, but he loved this. Seriously people…no need to to risk your health going to a restaurant. Make this at home. It’s even better!
That’s wonderful! Thank you so much for the rave review! Makes me so thrilled to hear that you both enjoyed it so much!
Hi! I’m going to make this recipe tonight and I’m really worried about burning the pork to a crisp because of the sugar in the marinade like you mentioned. If I were cooking this without a grill, would you suggest roasting it in the oven instead of a skillet?
You can roast it in the oven or cook it on the skillet too, either way is fine. For the oven, flip it halfway through and reapply marinade. If you want the golden brown texture (which is yummy!), try broiling it for 2-3 minutes at the end. If you are grilling, slow cook it so that the outsides don’t burn before the insides are cooked by cooking it under indirect or low heat on the grill for the majority of the time.
I’ve been wanting to make this again but can’t find shallots in my grocery store for past few weeks! Do you recommend another substitute. Would some regular yellow cooking onions do the job? Thanks.
Yes! Yellow or white onions should work as well. Let me know how it goes! 🙂
This recipe came out so well!!! My partner and I live in a small, rural town in Tennessee. We just got a Pho restaurant that we love to support. This tastes just like my favorite dish from there, and it’s a great alternative for the nights when our budget doesn’t support ordering out!
Wonderful! So happy to hear that! 🙂 Thanks so much for sharing!
So yummy! Made about 5 bowls from the recipe and everyone enjoyed! Thank you 🙏🏻
Wonderful! Makes me happy to hear that! 🙂
So, so good! Just what I have been looking for! Everyone loves it! Thanks!
Woohoo!! Always love hearing that! 🙂
Yessss!! This was so good. The only Thai place I liked made this and I was Obsessed and they went out of business. Imagine how how I am now that I can make it at home! Thank youuu
That’s great! I love it when I can recreate my favorite dishes at home too! ENJOY! 🙂
Delicious. I didn’t have lemon grass so I just shredded some ginger. Just loved all the flavours.
Yay! The flavors are amazing on this! 🙂
This was amazing. I loved it so much. Everyone I served it to loved it. It will be part of my regular rotation!
So glad it was a hit!! 🙂
This was so yummy! We used chicken thighs since that’s what I had on hand. I threw in Thai basil from the garden (in place of the cilantro) along with the mint. This combination of flavors was incredibly satisfying. Thank you for the wonderful recipe! I will be sure to make this again.
Thanks for sharing your modifications! So glad you enjoyed it!
This recipe is a crowd pleaser! I just made it again tonight at the request of my partner. I made it and served it to his family for Christmas dinner. Everyone was pleased. Thank you for sharing!
Thank you, Emily! I am thrilled to hear you all enjoyed it! 🙂
This is better than any dish I’ve ever had in an Asian restaurant. We can’t get enough of this one! It’s delicious and so easy to make with your instructions.
Omg I LOVE hearing that! Made my day!