Introducing Bun Cha, the famous caramelised pork meatballs from the stress of Hanoi. Traditional Vietnamese food, made at home! This is an easy Vietnamese recipe that anyone can make that’s full of flavour. No need to hunt down obscure ingredients at an Asian store!
Serve it over vermicelli noodles with Vietnamese Nuoc Cham Sauce and your fresh vegetables of choice.
Bun Cha – traditional Vietnamese street food!
Any self respecting foodie visiting a new country will be armed with a list of “Must Try Foods!!“. And for visitors of Vietnam, Bun Cha should be right up there, alongside Pho, fresh rice paper rolls, and Banh Mi, to name a few favourites.
It was certainly one of the first foods I hunted down when I visited Vietnam. A top-priority!
These are photos of a Bun Cha speciality place in Hanoi that we visited. The Bun Cha was as great as we expected, and I’m happy to report the flimsy stools you spy held up for the whole meal. (Flimsy plastic stools are the norm everywhere, and we were seriously concerned every time we planted our butts down on them!)
What is Bun Cha?
Bun Cha is a traditional Vietnamese pork dish that’s a speciality of Hanoi, the capital city of Vietnam. Seasoned pork patties (I call them squished meatballs) and caramelised pork belly slices are served in a broth alongside rice noodles, fresh vegetables and herbs.
How to eat Bun Cha – The idea is to use the broth for dunking the noodles, vegetables and herbs. So you dunk, slurp noodles, bite into juicy pork, try to cram in a few sprigs of herbs – and that moment when you succeed, when you get a mouthful with a bit of everything…
THAT my friends, is a big, fat mouthful that epitomises all that is great about Vietnamese food. That perfect balance of fresh, savoury, sweet, herb, citrus, tender noodles, and that juicy caramelised pork….. YES!!!
About this Bun Cha recipe
This Bun Cha recipe I’m sharing today is a simple home version that’s a style more familiar to those of us outside of Vietnam. On point with flavour, but presented differently.
To make this a simple dinner recipe, I’ve skipped the pork belly and made noodle bowls with the sauce for spooning over, rather than serving it “soup” style. This Noodle Bowl way of serving Vietnamese food is increasingly popular here in Sydney, especially with the work lunch crowd.
How to make Vietnamese Meatballs
You’ll love how you won’t need to take a trip to an Asian store for this! You’ll also love how versatile this recipe actually is.
The Vietnamese (squished) meatballs are just made with pork, garlic, sugar, fish sauce*, salt, pepper and scallions/green onions. Fish sauce is the key seasoning here, and the touch of sugar that makes the surface beautifully caramelised.
The Vietnamese Sauce is a version of Nuoc Cham, a version of which is served with “everything” in Vietnamese cuisine (and that’s no exaggeration).
The sauce for Bun Cha is made with fish sauce*, rice wine vinegar, lime juice, sugar, garlic and chilli (hot or not hot, or even skip it). It’s diluted with water to make it more like a soup broth. In a nod to the authentic way Bun Cha is served, the idea with this recipe is to use lots of sauce. You need it, to slurp up the noodles!
* I know there are people who aren’t a fan of fish sauce. But fish sauce is as Vietnamese as Banh Mi, so I really do urge you to use it if you can. This recipe is in no way “fishy” tasting like some Vietnamese foods. It’s just a savoury seasoning that has more depth of flavour than soy sauce.
Essential Sides
To complete the bowl, these Vietnamese Meatballs are served traditional Bun Cha style with noodles, fresh vegetables and herbs.
The noodles are rice vermicelli noodles, found “everywhere” nowadays in Australia. Simply soak in boiling water for a couple of minutes, then drain.
Fresh vegetables and herbs are an essential part of Vietnamese food, and you’ll get large bowls served alongside almost every meal. Bean sprouts, mint and coriander/cilantro are the most common, as well as pickled vegetables.
But this is the sort of recipe that’s terrifically versatile that will work well with many types of vegetables. Shredded cabbage or lettuce, or other leafy greens. Finely sliced cucumber, green beans, red radish, cherry tomatoes, even asparagus. Most fresh vegetables will work great in this!
In today’s recipe, I’ve also provided a quick Asian pickled vegetables recipe which is ideal to serve with this Bun Cha recipe. But pickling is optional.
The length of the list of ingredients is actually quite deceptive because there’s a handful of repeat ingredients. So don’t be turned off just because this isn’t a 5 ingredient recipe. 🙂
It’s worth it, I promise. If you love Vietnamese food (and I don’t know anyone who doesn’t!), this one will really hit the spot! – Nagi x
Get your Vietnamese fix!
- Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls
- Lemongrass Chicken – one of my favourite things to grill!
- Vietnamese Caramel Pork – another iconic Vietnamese food! Also see the Chicken version.
- Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls – the super quick version of the above
- Vietnamese Noodle Salad
- Vietnamese Chicken Salad
Bun Cha – Vietnamese Meatballs
Watch how to make it
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Bun Cha – Vietnamese Meatballs
Ingredients
Meatballs:
- 250 – 300 g/8 – 10 oz pork mince (ground pork)(Note 1)
- 1 tbsp fish sauce (Note 2)
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 1/3 cup finely chopped green onions / scallions
- 1 clove garlic , minced
- Pinch of white pepper and salt
- 2 tsp lemongrass paste or fresh finely chopped , optional (Note 4)
- 1 1/2 tbsp oil , for cooking
Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese Dressing / Sauce – Note 2):
- 3 tbsp white sugar
- 3 tbsp fish sauce (Note 2)
- 2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
- 2 tbsp lime juice
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 birds eye chilli , seeded and finely chopped (Note 3)
- 3 cloves garlic , finely chopped
Serving (Note 4):
- 100 g / 3.5 oz vermicelli noodles , dried
- Big handful beansprouts
- Few lettuce leaves , folded or shredded
- Julienned carrot and white radish (daikon), optional quick pickle (Note 5)
- Handful of coriander/cilantro sprigs , mint
- Sliced red chilli , lime wedges (optional)
Instructions
- Sauce: Mix ingredients. Set aside 10 minutes+.
- Noodles: Pour over boiling water and soak per packet directions. Drain, set aside.
Meatballs:
- Mix all ingredients except oil until combined.
- Shape into 6 mini hamburger patties with your hands.
- Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Add patties and cook for 2 1/2 minutes or until golden. Flip, cook 2 minutes then remove.
Assemble Bowls:
- Place noodles in bowl. Top with a handful of beansprouts, wedge in lettuce, carrots and radish in.
- Place meatballs on top, top with coriander and mint.
- Spoon over a generous amount of Sauce (it’s supposed to be like a soup broth), eat and be happy!
Recipe Notes:
8. Adapted from a few Vietnamese cookbooks, including My Vietnamese Kitchen by Uyen Luu and Hanoi Street Food by Luk This and Tom Vandenberghe. 9. Nutrition is for meatballs and sauce only, assuming all sauce is consumed.
Nutrition Information:
Life of Dozer
Title says it all – this is the Life of Dozer.
This was absolutely delicious and a huge hit with my kids as well as my husband. I doubled the recipe and used 1 lb ground pork and 1 lb ground chicken. Did not mix them but prepared them each separately. So glad I found you! I’ll have to take a look at some of your other recipes.
I’m so happy it was a hit Kristina, I hope you try more of my recipes and love them – N x
Tasty!! I’ve prepped this for lunches and I’ve tried all the bits and pieces. Looking forward to putting it all in one bowl on Monday
I literally just got back from Vetianm and went to that exact restaurant you did. We absolutely loved it. It seems like fate that I return home, check my emails and see a recipe for it. Will definitely try it.
What a coincidence! I hope you love this recipe!
I haven’t even tried this yet, but I can tell I’ll like it. Always craving new Asian recipes to try I use my cast iron skillet as a wok. I have some mild ground pork sausage to use, and happen to have lemongrass and fish sauce. Tonight is the night!
You’ll love it Kim!!
It was all as expected! Good stuff!
Terrific!
I was a little nervous using ingredients I wasn’t familiar with, but the end result was delicious! I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to heat the sauce. I did and it was good. I will be making this again. Thank you for sharing.
SOOO delicious! Wonderful food memories of our holiday in Vietnam came flooding back – yum. Thank you 🙂
I love hearing that ❤️
This was even better than I hoped it would be! Thanks for another awesome recipe, Nagi. I didn’t change anything except a little less water in the dressing as I like it vinegary and punchy! (I think it definitely essential to get fatty pork from an Asian grocer or a butcher as lean stuff from the supermarket would just not be the same!) So delicious!
You have that right lean pork is definitely too dry! I’m so glad you enjoyed it Corrie ☺️
I was a little nervous using ingredients I wasn’t familiar with, but the end result was delicious! I wasn’t sure if I was supposed to heat the sauce. I did and it was good. I will be making this again. Thank you for sharing.
This was amazing! Soo tasty, I ind of messed up and should have flattened the meatballs a little bit more, but I just threw them back into the pan for a few more minutes. This is a do-again. Thank you for posting 🙂
Thank-you! I live in a small town with no noodle house. This made me so happy!
Awesome Nancy!
Hi Nagi
Im not sure where i went wrong,the patties turned out ok but when i assembled it all for eating i found it had a bitter taste to it and not the tang i was expecting from a Vietnamese dish.
Please help
Loved this dish. So easy and flavours where bang on. Perfect summer dish. Thank you
Awesome!!
Hey Nagi – love the recipe. Had it in Vietnam, and this is very authentic. How would you make it more like soup than dipping sauce? GREAT WEBSITE!!!!
Hi Sarah, the dressing pools in the bottom of the bowl so it isn’t really a dipping sauce – more like a soup
Hey Nagi… I want to make them for a party. Do you think I could put them in the oven and broil them instead of cooking them on the stove?
Hi Anne, definitely! I’d place them on a rack and spray with oil then cook for about 20 minutes on 200c/390F
Hi Nagi,
Could beef mince be used instead of pork mince with this recipe?
Hi Vicki, sure can!
Great recipe, Nagi! We enjoyed it very much, although in the future I will eliminate much or all of the added salt. I think the oversaltiness came from the brand of fish sauce that I typically use. I will definitely make this again!
I made the dish tonight as part of my constant research, as I am always looking for ideas to add to my professional repertoire. My wife is such a patient woman, never complaining about my ever-going research!
Hi Jeffrey, sorry you found it too salty, the brand of fish sauce could definitely be the culprit! – N x
Wanted to let you know I used the “leftover” pickled carrots & daikon, dressing, cucumber, cilantro, and butter leaf lettuce to make a salad tonight. (Unfortunately, the mung beans were past their prime so I couldn’t use them) I added tuna and peanuts for protein. It was delicious! I think the dressing got even better after sitting in the frig a couple of days. I have enough left to do the same with chicken tomorrow. Yum!!
Nagi, I LOVE your recipes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The Bun Cha is so good, I’m making it again tonight! Perfect for the sweltering weather right now.
(PS I’m an editor, your exclamation marks are part of your “voice”, keep them coming.)
🤗 Thanks so much!
Your Bun Cha recipe is absolutely delicious! I made it on a very hot day for lunch using my home raised pork and home grown veg. Flavours were wonderful and so quick to put together. Will be a regular thing in our house from now on.
Great Roberta!
nagi
can you recommend an asian grocer on the northern beaches?
xx jen
There aren’t any! It’s what we’re missing here!
There are a couple in Dee Why off the main road and a big one in Chatswood Chase (not too far from the Beaches)
Dee Why doesn’t have a big variety – I’d head to Chatwsood or Eastwood ☺️