When I lived in Orlando, Florida, I had a couple of Vietnamese restaurants that I loved. One was within walking distance of work, and I often went there for lunch and coffee. Bún Thịt Nướng became my favorite dish on the menu. It had so many flavors in one bowl—fresh herbs, vegetables, and grilled pork served over thin rice noodles with a healthy dose of nước chấm sauce. So good! Now I’m going to try to recreate that bowl of goodness in my own kitchen. I’m excited to make it, but I’m also going into this assuming it will be good but not quite restaurant quality. Once again, it’s time to test my cooking skills with a new recipe.
Tender pieces of marinated pork, stir fried until crisp on a bed of rice noodles, bean sprouts, fresh herbs and Nuoc Cham, Bún Thịt Nướng, or Vietnamese Grilled Pork with Noodles, is delicious and super easy to make – perfect for those weeknight dinners!
The Ingredients
Okay, this was actually three recipes for me, and there were some twists and turns as I gathered the ingredients. The recipe doesn’t require it, but I added homemade nước chấm and pickled carrots. Both took just under 30 minutes to make, and I made them the day before serving my Bún Thịt Nướng, along with the marinade.
My pre-shopping kitchen check revealed a few ingredients on hand. I had unsalted roasted peanuts, garlic, honey, fish sauce, black pepper, and coconut palm sugar for the Bún Thịt Nướng. I also had carrots to pickle plus sugar and a small chili for the nước chấm.
That left me to shop for the meat, herbs, and vegetables, which was expected. I also picked up some limes for the nước chấm and extra rice vinegar to pickle the carrots. My regular grocery store had almost everything I needed.
I had to buy a bone-in pork shoulder that was 4.43 pounds. That needed to be de-boned and cut up, but I was fine with that. Also, I had to substitute regular basil for Thai basil per the recipe.
Lastly, they were out of lemongrass paste, so I ordered some to save an extra trip. The selection was very limited, and an expensive $15 jar of Cambodian lemongrass paste. I gave it a taste when I opened it to photograph the ingredients, and it was terrible—it was a jar of pure salt with a hint of turmeric and garlic. Hubby was kind enough to make a special trip to the “expensive” grocery store up the road for a tube of pure lemongrass paste.
Pickled Carrots
I highly recommend adding pickled carrots to your Bún Thịt Nướng! They added a little something extra to the bowl and were easy to make. I used a mandoline to julienne them quickly, then added them to a large jar with the brine. The entire process took me 16 minutes.
The Process
Since I bought a bone-in pork shoulder, deboning was where I started. It took me almost 30 minutes and some finesse with my boning knife, but I got just over two pounds of meat when I was done.
Next, I had to mix up the marinade which was just tossing all the ingredients into a bowl and stirring. Easy peasy! I made sure the chunks of pork were thoroughly coated and popped the covered bowl into my refrigerator overnight.
The two-inch pieces of pork I thought were a good idea were too big. I had to cut them all into bite-sized one-inch chunks. That way I could get meat and other ingredients onto my fork and into one bite.
Cooking & Serving
When it was time to cook I prepped the remaining ingredients. That was mostly slicing vegetables and pickling leaves off the stems of the herbs—all very simple stuff.
I put a large cast iron skillet on to pre-heat as I made the vermicelli. It was fast and easy! All I had to do was heat water in my microwave and pour it over the noodles. I drained them two minutes later, and they were ready and waiting when I needed them.
A roomy 12-inch cast iron skillet was a good choice for stir-frying the chunks of pork without crowding. I did mine in three batches as suggested and got a nice sear. The key was to preheat the pan for four minutes, then add the oil and pork.
I chose not to rinse the marinade off the pork or pat it dry first since it wasn’t part of the instructions. Fortunately, the large pan allowed the steam from the liquid to evaporate and the pork to sear pretty well. It did leave a mess in the pan since the solids burnt after three batches, but it was surprisingly easy to clean afterward.
Once the pork was done, all I had to do was add noodles to each bowl, add the toppings, and drizzle on a little nước chấm. It was very easy to do, and I loved that toppings could be added or omitted to taste.
Timing
This recipe listed 5 minutes to prep, 1 day to marinate, 10 minutes to cook, and a total time of 1 day 15 minutes. I love it when the marinating time is included! Here’s how my time was spent:
- 9 minutes to make the marinade*
- 1 day to marinate
- 15 minutes to prep toppings and cook vermicelli
- 17 minutes to cook pork and assemble
- 1 day 40 minutes total
*Deboning the pork shoulder (26 minutes) is not included. Also, the pickled carrots took 16 minutes, and the nước chấm took 10.
I went over the prep and cooking times, and I’m not sure if I could have done this any faster. Also, the cooking time is 10 minutes, but the instructions say to cook 5-7 minutes in three batches. That adds up to 15-21 minutes to cook, so allow more time than the totals listed at the top of this recipe.
 recipe was restaurant quality. Easy to make and tons of flavor makes it a new fave!){kind=link}