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.
Can I marinate the meatballs for 24hrs? Please advise. Planning to cook the dish the following day. Thank you!
“Introducing meatballs from the STRESS of Hanoi”? I hope that was a typo (as last year I watching the Vietnam War documentary…and I don’t think I could eat Anything related to revisiting the stress of that, especially being American and despising that war beyond words)
This was fantastic, can’t believe I haven’t tried it before. Did lazy girl option for salad and used a salad bag from Woolies, with some chopped mint and peanuts on top. Easy to prep earlier and throw together at dinner time and a perfect light summer dinner. Thanks Nagi and team!
I had a mix of pork and beef mince and that worked perfectly. I served with a rice noodle, cabbage, capsicum, mint, carrot salad and dressed with the coconut dressing from the prawn salad in Dinner. Meant to sprinkle with roasted peanuts but forgot, unfortunately. Topped with coriander and chilli. Such a delicious dinner.
This is such a delicious recipe I’ve made multiple times for my family of three. I’m considering scaling it for a crowd – could the meatballs be cooked in the oven?
Lately I have been on a mission to simplify the cooking chore wherever possible and this was also the first thing I thought of when reading the recipe. Since I temp check meats to be sure they reach proper cooking temps, I never cook pork in anything but the Instant Pot or the oven. Ground pork should be fatty enough to withstand an oven cook (I cook hot, covered and in vintage Corningware with matching lids or in the IP for 45 minutes). I am definitely going to try to quadruple the recipe and bake the patties. Also, this sounds like it would make great Banh Mi sandwiches – soft roll, 2-3 juicy pork patties, cilantro, grated carrot, splash of oil & vinegar. I’m guessing they will become an instant (and easy!) fave. I tried these the first time at a restaurant opening and they knocked my socks off; I would think a crowd would devour these! Like with Pho, Vietnamese food is largely about getting all those magic flavor layers into your mouth at the same time – rich meat, fresh veg, juices/broth, fresh herbs, crunchies, vinegar counterpoint to the meat’s richness, etc. Noodle bowls might be challenging for a crowd to juggle but the Banh Mi version tuck nicely in those soft rolls with all that magic intact. Big batches in the oven or IP equals fast & delish sandwiches for next time…if they last that long! I’d be surprised if your crowd wasn’t smitten!
Excellent!! My husband and I loved this recipe. Absolutely perfect as it’s written and I wouldn’t change a thing about it. Thanks for sharing it
This came out fantastic!!!
Delicious
I am really in the mood for Fresh Vietnamese food now Nagi. Can’t wait to make this, this weekend. Hope you are well, thinking of you and Dozer💙
So delicious. Go to summer recipe for us. I leave out the sugar and serve with konjac noodles.
I grew up with my mom making this. This recipe brought back memories 🙂
Thank you Nagi!!
Hands down favourite recipe of all time! Highly, highly recommend.
Made this again today, doubled the meatballs to freeze. Added lemon balm and mint from garden to salad. So good
I’ve made this a few times and it has become one of my favs! I switched it up last night! I made crispy skin salmon, jasmine rice with stir fry baby corn, asparagus and broccolini and used the nouc cham as the dressing! Damn! 10/10!
So frikkin delicious oh my god. It’s on the weekly rotation. Easy to make and very yummy 🙂 Thank you Nagi!
Thank you as always for making the recipe so well written and straightforward to follow.
My 12 year old made the meatballs all by herself. I assisted in cooking it on the stove. The whole family loved it! Even my 6yo who does not like trying new food.
Thank you!
First bowl I had not soaked the noodles long enough and chewing threw them was like chewing wire – albeit tasty wire. Nice heat, couldn’t do with seeds. Thanks Nick
Thanks Nagi, this was really great: it came together quickly, was delicious and nutritious. I didn’t have some things, like lemon grass, but It didn’t seem to get us down. We enjoyed it very much.
I loooooved this recipe! The meatballs are so flavorful.
I have made for my husband and I, it was straightforward & delicious! I used fresh chives instead of speing onions. Meatballs were so tasty. Sauce was so yummy. Leftover my lunch went down a treat. Love the crunch of the bean shoots & carrot pickle