A tasty recipe for Bun Cha – grilled Vietnamese meatballs served with a Vietnamese noodle salad with fresh herbs and citrus dipping sauce (nuoc cham). A healthy and delicious dish, perfect for lunch or dinner.
Bun Cha
My latest contribution to Discovery, the in-flight magazine for Cathay Pacific, is currently out now on all Cathay Pacific and Cathay Dragon flights. This month’s foodie feature is the classic Vietnamese dish called Bun Cha, consisting of grilled pork meatballs served with an abundance of fresh herbs on a bed of vermicelli noodles.
A Vietnamese dipping sauce, called nouc cham, is essential to this dish to dress the noodles and to add a salty and sour element – a flavour combination which is essential to many Vietnamese dishes.
It is a Vietnamese noodle salad which is bold, fresh and full of flavour.
Bun Cha Recipe
Bun cha is a popular street food dish in Vietnam and it is easy to recognise the stands selling this dish by the mouthwatering smell of flame-grilled meat.
Street food vendors and restaurants will typically serve Bun Cha with a few fried spring rolls (egg rolls) for some additional texture (a variation of Bun Cha Gio).
This Bun Cha recipe is something which I love to make during the warm summer months when the weather is more suited to a light and refreshing salad. However, I often find myself making this even during the bleakest of winter when the bold colours and flavours of this dish are enough to warm the soul.
It also happens to be a dish which both my husband and son love to eat. In fact, my son happily eats these Vietnamese pork meatballs with plain steamed rice and fresh carrot sticks.
Vietnamese Noodle Salad
I also have fond memories eating Bun Cha dish as a child, something which my mother often made on the weekends and whenever we had friends over for a meal. Sometimes she would use pork, at other times she would use beef.
Although she never added fresh herbs to her Vietnamese pork meatballs, they were always fragrant with sesame oil and lemongrass. But as is the case for many traditional recipes, so many variations exist.
Vietnamese Noodles
I love this Bun Cha recipe, and making Vietnamese noodles in general, because it uses ingredients which I always have in the fridge and pantry, although a special trip to the Asian grocer is sometimes necessary for herbs such as perilla, coriander (cilantro) and mint.
Coriander (cilantro) is a staple in my cooking and I wish I could grow as much as we consume! What is your favourite herb? ? pic.twitter.com/uy4Op6vvzd
— Thanh (@eatlittlebird) July 2, 2018
In summer, though, I plant these herbs on our balcony so that I can make Vietnamese noodle salads like this one without too much effort.
But I always have a good supply of dry vermicelli noodles on hand so that I can always make Vietnamese noodles or a Vietnamese noodle salad at short notice.
How to Eat Bun Cha
Like many Vietnamese dishes, Bun Cha is one of those dishes where each person can customise the flavours to their liking.
At home, I set out everything separately on the dining table as follows:
* The salad and herbs should be washed and spun dry, and placed in a colander or large salad bowl.
* I cook the vermicelli noodles ahead of time (about 1 hour) so that it has had time to dry before eating. It will start to stick after some time, but you can separate them again with some tongs or chopsticks. Avoid placing the noodles in the fridge as this will harden the noodles.
* The Vietnamese meatballs should be grilled at the last minute so that they can be served hot. I place all of the cooked meatballs onto a large platter for people to help themselves.
* I place a big bowl of the Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham) on the table with a small ladle so that people can help themselves when pouring some sauce over their noodles.
* I also place small bowls for the Vietnamese dipping sauce as some people (including myself) like to dip the meatballs into the sauce for extra flavour.
* I also serve finely chopped chillies or some Pickled Chillies for those who want their food spicy. This can be added directly to the noodles and/or the dipping sauce.
* To assemble, place some salad leaves on the bottom of the plate, top with a handful of noodles, add some Vietnamese meatballs, garnish with herbs, and drizzle over some Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham). Use your chopsticks to bring everything together.
Bun Cha – Vietnamese Meatballs with Vietnamese Noodle Salad
- Prep Time: 30 mins
- Cook Time: 30 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: Serves 4
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Grill
- Cuisine: Vietnamese
A tasty recipe for Bun Cha – grilled Vietnamese meatballs served with a Vietnamese noodle salad with fresh herbs and citrus dipping sauce (nuoc cham). A healthy and delicious dish, perfect for lunch or dinner.
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RateIngredients
For the pork meatballs
- 500 g (1 lb) minced pork
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon caster sugar
- 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 1 tablespoon runny honey
- 2–3 thin spring onions, finely sliced
- 1–2 sprigs coriander (cilantro), finely chopped
- 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
For the Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham)
- 2 tablespoons caster sugar
- juice of 1 lemon
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 4–6 tablespoons water (to taste)
- 1 garlic, finely chopped
- 1 red chilli, finely chopped (optional)
For the noodle salad
- 300 g (11 oz) dried vermicelli noodles, cooked according to packet instructions and left to cool
- iceberg lettuce or other salad leaves, roughly torn
- 1–2 small carrots, finely shredded
- cucumber, sliced into thin batons
- bean sprouts (optional)
- mint
- coriander (cilantro)
- Thai basil
- perilla leaves
Instructions
For the pork meatballs
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the minced pork, fish sauce, sugar, salt, pepper, honey, spring onions, coriander (cilantro) and garlic.
- Set the mixture aside for 30-60 minutes in the fridge to let the flavours develop and to allow the mixture to firm.
- Form the pork mixture into small meatballs about the size of a golf ball, and then flatten them slightly.
- Heat a large frying pan with some vegetable oil and cook the meatballs until they are golden and caramelised.
For the Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham)
- In a medium bowl, dissolve the sugar in the lemon juice.
- Add the fish sauce, water, garlic and chilli (if using), and mix until well-combined.
- Set the sauce aside for about 10-15 minutes before tasting.
- You may need to add a bit more lemon juice, fish sauce, or even water, to get a good balance of sweet, sour and salty.
To serve
- Place some salad and vegetables on the bottom of each bowl or plate.
- Place a good handful of noodles on top of the salad.
- Top with however many meatballs you like.
- Garnish with some herbs, roughly torn.
- Generously drizzle some Vietnamese dipping sauce over the noodles and meatballs, and use chopsticks to mix everything together.
- Provide each person with a bowl of dipping sauce to drizzle over the noodles and also to dip the meatballs into.
Kitchen Notes
COOKING FOR CHILDREN
If you are feeding young children, I tend to omit the chillies from the sauce and either serve chopped chillies or pickled chillies on the side.
STORAGE TIPS
The Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham) keeps well in the fridge in a sealed jar for several weeks. I often double or triple the recipe so that I always have a bottle handy in the fridge.
CONVERSIONS
To convert from cups to grams, and vice-versa, please see this handy Conversion Chart for Basic Ingredients.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 4
- Calories: 486
- Sugar: 4.8g
- Sodium: 816.7mg
- Fat: 9.2g
- Carbohydrates: 52.3g
- Fiber: 1.2g
- Protein: 48.5g
- Cholesterol: 133.3mg
#eatlittlebird
Update
This recipes was first published on 9 April 2016. It has been updated with new photos and more comprehensive recipe notes.
This looks beautiful, I love pork meatballs, so are the noodles served cold or warm with this dish?
The noodles are served cold in this dish or, rather, at room temperature. With vermicelli noodles, you normally cook them in boiling water until they have softened, and then you rinse them under cold running water to stop the cooking process. The cold water will then cool the noodles. It’s essentially a cold noodle salad served with hot meatballs to give you a lovely contrast in flavours and textures.
Wow this looks incredible! Those meatballs are calling my name! :p And congrats on the feature! <3
Thanks, Beeta! 🙂
This looks delicious! I love vietnamese food, it’s always so fresh and full of flavour!
Glad to hear you are a fan of Vietnamese food! I never tire of it 😉
I could eat this for breakfast, lunch and dinner! So bright and enticing!
Me too! We eat it year round 🙂
Yum! Will be trying this one out. Congratulations on the publication too! Miss you guys x
Thanks, Prits! Miss you guys heaps, too! We should have a Skype date soon 🙂 Hugs to you and S xx
All that food looks beautiful in the dish!! And the photo is cute too!!!
I love the recipe, my boyf will to, so I take a pen and mi notebook!!!
Although, I’m not sure if those vermicelli will need something for us… Os perhaps soba noodles, that looks more… tasty… I think… Well, OK, perhaps we have to try them!
I’ve always wanted to try pak choy, I haven’t ever tasted it!! Well, if I have, perhaps, in some Asiatic restaurant, but in this case it was fine minced, and I didn’t know it was that. So I’m pretty sure I haven’t.
Yes, I’m ‘disordering’ as always, pak choy comes from the other recipe 😉
Have a nice end of week Thanh!!!!!
I hope you have been well! And I hope you will get a chance to try this recipe, whether at home or in a restaurant. It’s one of my favourites 🙂 P.S. Soba noodles sound delicious!
This dish looks so bright and beautiful! I’ve had vermicelli a few times, but never in combination with meatballs. This is something I will HAVE to try soon!
I hope you will enjoy this recipe, whether you make it at home or eat it in a restaurant. It’s typically a summer dish, but we eat it year round 🙂
Thank you so much for this! I spent months in Vietnam and now live no where near ANY viet restaurants! It’s so great to be able to replicate one of my favourite northern dishes at home!!
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Thank you for this great idea! Deliciously!
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My wife and I have cooked many versions of this dish in the past. This time I had all of the fresh herbs and leaves growing in my garden. Its spring here in Australia and all the produce is at its peak. Have not used lemons in the nuoc cham before ( only limes) and found it very nice indeed as the lemon ws a variety called ‘lemonade’ which is sweeter than most lemons. The dipping sauce was to die for. Also we always used coconut or palm sugar but this time used castor sugar and to be honest, this was the best tasting nuoc cham I have had outside a Vietnamese restaurant or Vietnam itself.
For the pork mince balls, I added some finely chopped red onion and some finely chopped green onion stems and marinated for 8 hours.
Overall the dish was just so well balanced with the most amazing flavours. Will be making this again soon. Shame I can’t post a picture 😉
Hi Greg,
Many thanks for your wonderful feedback! I’m so glad that you and your wife enjoyed this recipe. It is a dish close to my heart, so it gives me great joy to share it and to hear that others are enjoying it too. My husband loves this nuoc cham so much that he tells me he could drink it, ha ha! I’m curious about the lemons that you used – they would certainly affect the taste of the nuoc cham, and it sounds like you used the perfect variety for this sauce.
If you managed to take a photo of your dish, please feel free to email it to me 🙂 Or to tag @eatlittlebird on Facebook or Instagram with your photos. I always love seeing how other people have recreated my recipes!
Thank you again for taking the time to leave your lovely feedback.
Hi Thanh, I just made these meatballs in my airfryer (partly too lazy to pan fry and also Aussie summer: enough said) + they are amazing!
That’s great to hear! So glad you enjoyed this recipe ? P.S. You’re making me miss the Aussie summer!
Kids loved it. very good and easy recipe, i tried it last night
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Thanks for your feedback! So glad you all enjoyed this recipe.
I found this recipe after searching for “How to make Bun Thit Nuong” with ground pork. My husband is Vietnamese and forgot the ground pork version was called Bun Cha. Anyway, he said it tasted just like his moms, so that’s a win. I also fed this to my Italian parents this evening and they loved it. 5 stars!
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Hi Joelle,
Wow, that is a big compliment! So glad your husband and your parents enjoyed this Bun Cha recipe 🙂
Great easy recipe! Will make it again.
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Excellent recipe! I don’t need to order Bun Cha from my local takeaway anymore haha! The meatballs were nice and savory but the best part of this recipe was your nuoc cham! Honestly you could bottle it! I’ve been trying new recipes all the time for nuoc cham but could never find the right one, until now. Winning recipe!
Thanks For Sharing this amazing recipe. My family loved it. I will be sharing this recipe with my friends. Hope the will like it.
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Wow, this was so tasty! Everyone loved it.
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An absolutely wonderful recipe. This is now a family favorite!
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Your nuoc cham recipe is gold! All of the flavours in this recipe just hit the spot. Excellent recipe!
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Omg this was sooo yum! Everything together tasted so great.
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