Meet your new favourite pork mince recipe – Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls! 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!
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!
“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!
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.
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.
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.
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
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)
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Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls
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:
Nutrition Information:
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!)
can you used dried ginger in this? is there any substitute for fish sauce?
thanks
Hi Diane, dried ginger just doesn’t have that fragrant freshness that fresh ginger has – but if you can only get dried ginger, I’d use 1/4 tsp. You can use soy in place of fish sauce here – it won’t be quite the same but it’s the closest sub 🙂
I’ve read this recipe 3 times nowhere in the ingredients or method is lemongrass got me stumped
Hi Betty, it’s an optional extra you could add if you like 🙂
Love love love this dish. After reading others comments I will try it with vermicelli next time and add some edamame and jazz it up! Thank you Nagi. It seems like I haven’t had a miss with any of your recipes. Either I am a good cook or your recipes are that fabulous!
I think both are acceptable 😉 N x
I am going to use some of your easy recipes for our hotel in Bali. We are sometimes limited with supplies and yet pretty much everything we will need is availability here.
Perfect Barbara!!
Super easy, tastes great! Now a regular dish in our household.
Great recipe. Came together in a snap. We added some king oyster mushrooms. The flavor was out of this world. Make a simple Vietnamese dipping sauce and made it into a bowl with vermicelli noodles and lettuce. Thanks for a delish, quick meal idea.
Sounds great Ibby!!
So easy and the flavour was wonderful!
That’s great to hear Sierra!
There is a ground pork dish that uses lemongrass and shrimp paste. My family calls it “stinky pork” as it smells up the house when you cook it (I advise to only do it outdoors). It is delicious and served with sliced cucumbers to cool it down. I think the Vietnamese name is mam ruoc or ruoc xa (my family uses ground pork, but some people just slice up the pork belly into thin pieces).
So good. My son says it takes like the pork in his favourite Vietnamese dish
How much of the lemongrass paste?
Tonight’s pork dinner was a massive hit. Caramelised beautifully! I sneaked in a couple of grated zucchinis which virtually disappeared by the time the pork was getting golden and sticky.
Served with basmati and an Asian slaw with apple and mint.
Sooo easy and soo tasty. Shredded lettuce mix with carrots, cucumbers and snow peas and added some vermicelli. Poured the pork mince over the top with some fish sauce and it was just like the Binh Vermicelli from our favourite Vietnamese Restaurant.
That’s great to hear!!
Love this recipe. I always julienne and pickle some carrots a night or two beforehand to go along with it. I can never actually manage to get the sauce to caramelize, though. I always get way too much liquid cooking out of the onion which prevents it. Still delicious, though 🙂
Hi Travis, I’m so glad you love it! Try a little higher heat to get that caramelisation happening – N x
Super tasty and easy!
But I would like to ask you one thing. Even though I waited, the pork wasn’t caramelised…. It just got dry and started to burn. Do you have any ideas what went wrong?
Oh no Mizue! You may need to turn down the heat a little and wait for it to caramelise – N x
You would’ve thought my husband was dying the other night during dinner because he was moaning so often when I made this for the first time. I don’t think I’ve ever had quite that reaction to a meal before…it was fabulous. Thank you for the recipe and the Vietnamese inspiration!
That’s awesome to hear Sandra!!
Delicious! especially with some fresh crunchy slaw! So quick and easy perfect for a hungry 3 year old! Thank you Nagi <3
Wahoo! I’m so glad it was a hit!
I tried it with chicken instead of pork. Easy yet amazing dish. My family just loved it.
Thank you, Nagi & God bless you!
I’m so glad you loved it Joy!!
This was crazy simple, crazy good. I have made it SIX times already! Even sent it to my husband’s hunting camp – the big burley hunters LOVED it!
Woah that’s great to hear Lorelei!!
Amazing recipies
Thanks Linda!
When do you add the lemongrass?
Thanks!
Whoops. Just read where to add it. Cheers
Just made this for the family tonight. Added the lemongrass. Oh my, how yum it was. Definitely on my list of recipes to make again. Mmmm
Thank you. Love your food. 👍🏼
I’m so glad you loved it Annie!