Vietnamese Baguette Sandwiches -Banh Mi Recipe

Vietnamese Sandwich Recipe: the Vietnamese baguette Banh Mi combines grilled pork, tangy pickles, cucumbers, pate, spicy lime mayo and cilantro for the perfect sandwich.

I love this Vietnamese sandwich recipe. Love it. And I hope you will too. Every time I’ve made it,  it’s always a crowd pleaser.

I first heard of this sandwich on a cooking show quite a few years ago, but never had a chance to try it.  Just from the list of all of the ingredients, I knew that it would be yummy. I really like Vietnamese food,  so I experimented with a few different recipes and versions, to come up with all the elements of these amazing Vietnamese sandwiches.  It turned out so great.  I love this sandwich.  It is hearty enough to be a meal in itself.  The best part about this sandwich is that it has an amazing combination of textures and flavors.  It’s spicy and sweet and sour and savory and fresh.  It’s also crispy and smooth and chewy all at the same time.  This version is not the quickest sandwich to throw together.  But it’s well worth the time it takes to marinate and grill the pork, and to pickle the fresh vegetables for this bahn mi sandwich recipe.  If you’re lucky enough to be in a Vietnamese neighbourhood you can pick on up.  But you can also make it at home with this recipe and have it whenever you want.

French and Vietnamese Fusion

There’s a lot of French influence in Vietnamese cooking, and you can see it in this sandwich with the baguette and the pate.  This comes from the time when Vietnam was under French colonial rule beginning in 1858.  French colonialism impacted the vietnamese people in many ways including their food.  Some French cuisine was introduced  including French bread.  The crispy baguette become a stable.  Over the years, there was a fusion between the French influence and the Vietnamese cuisine.  The traditional banh mi sandwich is made with a French-style baguette, and  bahn mi is actually the vietnamese word for the baguette bread this perfect sandwich is made in.  Along with the crusty baguettes, it also usually has French influenced pate in it.  A Vietnamese banh mi is also filled with asian style pickled veggies, spicy mayo, some kind of Vietnamese pork, and fresh herbs. This delicious sandwich is the perfect fusion of French and Asian influence.  This Vietnamese street food is perfect for on the go eating.  It usually contains some kind of pork meat.  We’ve used lemongrass pork for ours, but it’s also served sometime with pork meatballs, pork loaf, or roast pork.

Pork

We used pork shoulder for our lemongrass pork for the sandwich.  It has a good bit of fat in it, which makes the grilled pork nice and moist.  You can also use pork butt, pork belly, or pork tenderloin for this.  Don’t skip the lemongrass in this recipe.  Look for it at any asian or Vietnamese grocery stores with the fresh veggies and herbs.  Be sure to marinate your pork for at least a few hours, and up to overnight.  If you’re making this sandwich for a party or company, you can do this step the night before so that all you have to do is grill it the day of.  You can also freeze the pork in the marinade.  Do yourself a favor if you’re making a batch of this and do an extra one at the same time, place the marinade and pork in a ziplock bag and freeze it.  The next time you want to enjoy this yummy sandwich, all you have to do is take the pork and marinade out of the freezer, let it thaw and grill, and then assemble the rest of your sandwich and enjoy.

Pickles

The pickled carrots and daikon radish don’t take long to make.  Use a mandoline chopper to make slicing them much quicker.  Let them sit in the pickling liquid at least a few hours before serving.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days.  Enjoy this pickled crunchy vegetables on the sandwich, with more on the side for pickle lovers.

I served this sandwich on the weekend at a summer get-together with some old friends in the backyard.  This sandwich really is perfect for summer entertaining.The pork is done on the bbq and the pickle can be made the day before so all you need to do the day of is assemble.

These pork banh mi sandwiches are something different and really fresh.  They have a great balance of textures and taste.  The crusty Vietnamese baguettes is contrasted with the velvety smooth texture of the pate.  The pickled carrots and daikon have the perfect sweet and sour taste,  Along with the taste, the pickled vegetables add more of the great crunch. The cilantro leaves add some freshness.  And the spicy element is covered with the spicy mayo.  The pork is perfectly seasoned and also sweet, and a little bit fatty in the best sense and wonderfully unctuous.  This really is one of the best sandwiches.  I hope you love it too!

With this yummy Vietnamese pork sandwich recipe, life really is a party!

More Recipe Inspiration

You might also this recipe for Marinated Flattened Grilled Chicken.

Also check out our recipe for Scotch Eggs here.