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Home Quick and Easy

Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls

By:Nagi
Published:22 Sep '19Updated:30 Jul '23
1,046 Comments
Recipe v Video v Dozer v

Here’s a super fast pork stir fry made with ground pork infused with flavours from the streets of Vietnam. With just a handful of ingredients you probably already have, it’s sweet, salty, beautifully caramelised and absolutely irresistible. It’s the quick and easy version of Vietnamese Caramel Pork, a famous Vietnamese food speciality!

This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!

Close up of pork mince stir fry - Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls

Vietnamese stir fry – Pork Mince recipe

Ground pork – which we call “mince” here in Australia – is extremely good value.

It’s also just about the least sexy protein I know. Don’t you think? A dry aged piece of New York strip is sexy. Quail is gourmet. Oysters are….well, we’ve all heard that oysters are an aphrodisiac, right? 😉

Mince is…well, it just isn’t fancy. And yet, it makes it into my shopping trolley every single week because it’s such good value and so versatile. Sure, there are the usual suspects you can make with mince. Bolognese, meatballs, burgers, Meatloaf, Shepherds Pie – to name a few of the more common ones.

But sometimes, it’s nice to do something a little different. Like this Vietnamese pork stir fry.

The crazy thing about this pork mince recipe is that the ingredients list is so short. Chili, garlic, ginger, sugar and fish sauce. That’s it. Seriously!

Can I make this pork stir fry with chicken or beef mince?

Yes! This is fabulous made with chicken, beef and turkey!

Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls - close up of pork mince recipe, stir fry

“This is a terrific ground pork recipe that tastes and sounds so exotic…. yet it’s so easy!”

The secret to this ground pork  is the caramelisation. It is rare to see recipes made with ground meat that are cooked this way so the meat is caramelised.

But those golden brown bits you see – they are the crowning glory in this recipe that takes it from a rather unappetising pale brown-grey colour to a golden brown pile of deliciousness that you will want to eat with a spoon straight out of the skillet. (Go on – you deserve it – cook’s privileges!)

What you need

Short list – see? I didn’t exaggerate!!

Lemongrass is optional – it’s not a pantry staple and also it’s not an ingredient in traditional Vietnamese Caramel Pork. But lemongrass flavour is certainly at home in this dish!

Ingredients in Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls - pork mince recipe, stir fry

How to make this Vietnamese pork mince stir fry

This pork mince stir fry comes together as quickly as any stir fry. Once you start cooking, you’ll be done in 6 minutes flat.

How to make Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls (pork mince recipe)

Authentic Vietnamese roots

I am not 1000% sure that this is strictly authentic Vietnamese but the combination of ingredients I use most certainly are and it is my replica of dishes I have tried at Vietnamese restaurants here in Australia. It is an adaptation of the marinade I use in my Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Bowl and essentially the quick version of Vietnamese Caramel Pork, a famous Vietnamese food speciality.

Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls served over rice in a rustic bowl - ground pork recipe / pork mince recipe

How to serve it

Serve this pork stir fry over rice and eat it with a spoon! This pork mince recipe doesn’t have a sauce, but  you don’t need it because the flavour is intensified and the pork mince mixes all through the rice which flavour it.

To complete your meal, try these:

  • A fresh side salad like this Asian Slaw;

  • Add a side of cucumber and tomato wedges, pictured (very classic South East Asian way to add vegetables to a meal); or

  • Shredded lettuce, cucumber and carrots which makes it more like the classic Vietnamese Noodle Bowls.

  • Make my Vietnamese Chicken Salad but without the chicken for a fresh, slaw-like salad side.

Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x

PS For a healthy low carb option try Cauliflower Rice – 77% fewer calories and 87% less carbs than rice.


Watch how to make it

This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!

Get your Vietnamese fix!

  • Bun Cha – Vietnamese Meatballs (Noodle Bowl)

  • Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls

  • Vietnamese Caramel Pork – and the Chicken version!

  • Lemongrass Chicken – one of my favourite things to grill!

  • Vietnamese Noodle Salad

  • Browse all Vietnamese recipes

More quick pork mince recipes

  • Pork Stir Fry with Green Beans

  • Bun Cha – Vietnamese Meatballs (Noodle Bowl)

  • San Choy Bow (Chinese Lettuce Cups)

  • Chinese Pork Mince with Noodles

  • Egg Foo Young (Chinese Omelette with Pork)

Hungry for more? Subscribe to my newsletter and follow along on Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram for all of the latest updates.

Close up of pork mince stir fry - Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls

Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls

Author: Nagi | RecipeTin Eats
Prep: 10 minutes mins
Cook: 10 minutes mins
Total: 20 minutes mins
Stir Fry
Vietnamese
4.94 from 420 votes
Servings4
Tap or hover to scale
Print
  • 1936
Recipe video above. An exciting way to use ground meat (mince) to make a quick stir fry that taste unbelievable! This is great made with chicken, turkey or pork. It also works with beef though it is better made with "white meats". Serve it over rice or vermicelli noodles to make rice bowls with shredded lettuce, carrots and cucumbers on the side (very classic Vietnamese meal!).
**NOTE: If you reduce sugar then the pork will not caramelise as well and it will take longer to get colour on it!**

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil (I use peanut oil)
  • 1/2 onion , finely diced (brown, white or yellow) (~1/2 cup)
  • 2 tsp ginger , grated or minced
  • 2 garlic cloves , minced (2 tsp paste)
  • 1 birds eye or Thai chili , deseeded and finely chopped (Note 1)
  • 1 lb / 500g ground pork (mince) (Note 2)
  • 5 tbsp brown sugar
  • 2 tbsp fish sauce

Serving:

  • 1 green onion stem , finely sliced
  • Rice
  • Sliced red chilli, tomato, cucumber (optional)

Instructions

  • Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.
  • Add the onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cook for 2 minutes.
  • Add the pork mince and cook for 2 minutes or so until white all over, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon.
  • Add the sugar and fish sauce. Stir, then leave it to cook without touching until all the juices cook out and the pork starts caramelised – about 2 minutes. Then stir it and leave it again, without stirring, for around 30 seconds to get more caramelisation. Repeat twice more until caramelised to your taste.
  • Serve over rice or vermicelli noodles, garnished with sliced scallions/shallots. For a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice! I like to have chunks of plain cucumber and carrots on the side which is a classic way of making Vietnamese bowls.

Recipe Notes:

1. Birds eye chilis are small red chilis that are usually around 3 to 4cm (1.5 – 2″) long. They are very spicy! You can substitute with any chili you want, or even exclude it if you are making this for kids. Just adjust to your taste.
This dish is great to serve with sriracha on the side so people can add the amount of heat they want.
2. Other meat – recipe works great with chicken and turkey too. Beef will also work well.
3. Lemongrass is a lovely and very traditional Vietnamese herb used in dishes like this. 1 stalk, white part only, very VERY finely chopped. Add it into the skillet with the garlic. 
If you have lemongrass paste (see ingredient photo in post), add it with the brown sugar.
4. Nutrition is for the pork stir fry only, excludes the rice and assumes you use a lean pork (10% fat).

Nutrition Information:

Serving: 153gCalories: 341cal (17%)Carbohydrates: 17g (6%)Protein: 22g (44%)Fat: 13g (20%)Saturated Fat: 3g (19%)Cholesterol: 110mg (37%)Sodium: 782mg (34%)Potassium: 425mg (12%)Fiber: 1g (4%)Sugar: 16g (18%)Vitamin A: 30IU (1%)Vitamin C: 3mg (4%)Calcium: 40mg (4%)Iron: 1mg (6%)
Keywords: Ground pork recipe, ground pork stir fry, Pork mince recipe, pork mince stir fry
Did you make this recipe?I love hearing how you went with my recipes! Tag me on Instagram at @recipe_tin.

Originally published November 2015. Updated September 2019 with new writing, some new photos, brand new video and most importantly, new Life of Dozer section added!

Life of Dozer

Dozer on the wrong side of the counter at the pet shop!!!

(PS yes you spy cat treats, buying a present for a friend!)

Dozer Pet O wrong side of counter buying present

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1,046 Comments

  1. Kim L says

    September 19, 2023 at 6:58 pm

    5 stars
    Left a comment and forgot to rate it! 5 stars!

    Reply
  2. Kim L says

    September 19, 2023 at 6:55 pm

    Absolutely delicious! I made some tweaks. Less sugar. Subbed soy sauce for fish sauce and half a red capsicum for birds eye chilli. Turned out yum. Nagi, your recipes are always so versatile.

    Reply
  3. Heather says

    September 3, 2023 at 9:59 am

    5 stars
    This is such a great recipe, and I love that there are many times (such as tonight) when I have chicken mince and don’t know what to do with it, but I have all these other ingredients in my pantry or fridge. Thanks so much for this recipe!

    Reply
  4. Simone Kingston says

    September 2, 2023 at 7:10 pm

    Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls – absolutely scrum=diddly-umptious! Thank you once again. Xx

    Reply
  5. Alyssa says

    August 23, 2023 at 8:34 am

    I used this pork recipe as a topping to the Trader Joe’s Knife Cut Squiggly Noodles, topped it all with the Trader Joe’s Crunchy Chili Onion topping and it was a WINNER. Hit all the craving buttons.

    Reply
  6. Vanessa says

    August 9, 2023 at 7:16 pm

    5 stars
    I will continue to rate this recipe 10/10
    My whole family loves it.
    So quick and easy to pull together
    I love to add lemongrass – visit your local Asian grocery for the frozen version where you can snap a piece off and add to the recipe to add another layer to an already yummy meal!

    Reply
  7. Walker says

    August 7, 2023 at 7:01 pm

    Love this recipe… I used chicken mince instead as I’m not a pork fan, and it turned out amazing!

    Reply
  8. Paula says

    July 30, 2023 at 4:41 pm

    5 stars
    Super easy and delicious. Winner with the whole family.

    Reply
  9. Rachael Gibbs says

    July 19, 2023 at 7:41 pm

    5 stars
    A very tasty dish .. but very sweet.
    I will lessen the sugar by half next time .. but everyone liked it regardless.

    Reply
  10. Kerri Ogden says

    July 18, 2023 at 8:24 pm

    My mince did not turn that caramelised colour as shown
    Does anyone know why?

    Reply
    • Rachael says

      August 29, 2023 at 6:55 pm

      The first time I made it I didn’t cook it for long enough…it took way longer than I thought but 2as delicious.

      Reply
  11. Meena says

    July 11, 2023 at 4:21 am

    5 stars
    Delicious but I made some adjustments to make it perfect for me. It was too sweet and oily the first time I made it so I adjusted the following:
    2 tbsp of brown sugar instead of 5
    1 tbsp sesame oil instead of 1.5 of cooking oil
    It needs something crunchy and salty to balance the flavors. We used her idea of tomatoes and cucumbers but modified it. We diced the cucumbers, tomatoes and a chilli. We added lemon juice and salt and pepper, that became our garnish. I added some fresh cabbage and it was perfect.!

    This recipe is in our family book now! It’s a staple.

    Reply
  12. Christina says

    July 11, 2023 at 1:36 am

    Nagi, your recipes are always fantastic. Full of flavour with great instructions to get it right! Whenever I’m searching for a recipe, I always end up on one of your pages. Love it! Thanks Nagi

    Reply
  13. Hayley says

    July 8, 2023 at 7:58 am

    Thank you for this recipe! It’s so delicious ❤️

    Reply
  14. Ame says

    July 6, 2023 at 2:26 pm

    If using the lemongrass paste- how much is recommended?

    Reply
  15. Jayne Pennington says

    June 26, 2023 at 9:00 am

    5 stars
    This was very, very tasty. I made this with rice and then had left overs with my lunch the next day (udon noodles with soy sauce and mirin). Highly recommend and super easy to make!

    Reply
  16. Micky says

    June 23, 2023 at 4:31 pm

    5 stars
    Thank you so much Nagi this recipe is delicious. I love the no frills videos but most of all the simplicity of recipe and for me personally can twist it for an even more awesome dish/s, again many thanks

    Reply
  17. sammy says

    June 19, 2023 at 11:43 pm

    the things i would do to this meal if it was a person

    Reply
  18. Kath Barker says

    June 15, 2023 at 1:53 pm

    5 stars
    LOVE LOVE LOVE this recipe! So quick and easy and super delicious. I make this almost once a week.

    Reply
  19. Debbie says

    June 12, 2023 at 6:07 pm

    5 stars
    Delicious! I only used half the sugar, and added the juice of a small lime, some carrot and green beans. It was so quick and so tasty! Thank you so much Nagi x

    Reply
  20. Tanya says

    June 12, 2023 at 6:03 pm

    5 stars
    So delicious. Quick and easy to make, too!

    Reply
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I believe you can make great food with everyday ingredients even if you’re short on time and cost conscious. You just need to cook clever and get creative! Read More

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