Vietnamese Beef Banh Mi

This Lemongrass Beef Banh Mi (Bánh mì bò nướng sả) features Vietnamese baguette with aromatic grilled beef, pickled vegetables, and a hoisin-based sauce. It offers so many interesting flavors and textures in one bite.

Bánh mì, which means bread made from wheat in Vietnamese, is a staple in Viet cuisine. In the old days, banh mi was traditionally stuffed with humble fillings such as cold cuts, fried eggs, and pork floss. It has evolved (quite dramatically, in my opinion), and more filling choices have been created along with new accompanying sauces.

This lemongrass beef banh mi is quite popular in the South of Vietnam, where it is called “bánh mì bò nướng sả“. Ground beef is mixed with a lot of lemongrass and seasonings, then formed into beef skewers and grilled until aromatic with an irresistible charred flavor. I think you will love the combination of crispy bread, savory fragrant beef, crunchy vegetables and a slightly sweet garlicky sauce.

Related: have you tried my pulled pork banh mi, banh mi bo kho or meatball banh mi recipes? They are very easy to make and receive many positive feedbacks.

Watch How to Make Beef Banh Mi

Ingredients

For the beef filling, the main ingredients are:

• ground beef: it’s best to use ground beef with a reasonable amount of fat (like 15-20%) so that the beef skewers will turn out juicy with a bouncy texture.
• aromatics: lemongrass, garlic and shallots. For this beef banh mi recipe, you should only use the white parts of lemongrass. The green parts are fibrous and not pleasant to eat directly. You can save the green parts to add to soups or make tea.
• flavorings: fish sauce, soy sauce, honey, and five-spice powder.
• cornstarch: a little bit of cornstarch will help to keep the meat juicy with a nice texture.

For the pickled vegetables, you will need crunchy veggies, typically carrots and daikon radish, vinegar (I recommend rice vinegar) and sugar. If you don’t like daikon radish, you can substitute with cucumber (seeds removed).

You can buy plain banh mi from almost any shops selling banh mi sandwich. If it isn’t an option, substitute with regular baguettes. Compared to regular baguettes, banh mi has a thinner and crispier crust and lighter and airier crumb. However, I’m sure the dish is still tasty with baguettes.

Cooking Notes

I recommend pickling the vegetables several hours in advance or even the night before. Generally, if you want to eat all of the pickled veggies fairly soon, you can increase the ratio of vinegar to water to reduce the pickling time. Vice versa, if you want to keep the pickled vegetables for a longer time, use a lower ratio of vinegar to water.

These lemongrass beef skewers are best when grilled. I cook them in my Staub grill pan for 2-3 minutes each side. They can also be broiled in the oven or cooked in the air fryer for 5-6 minutes in total. However they won’t be as aromatic and juicy as when grilled.

Also, it isn’t a must to form the meat mixture into skewers like I do here. You can shape them into small patties as well. Just do what works best for you.

⭐️ I’d love to hear what you think about the dish, so please feel free to leave a comment and a rating if you have tried it. New recipes are added every week so let’s connect on Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates. You can find my collection of Vietnamese recipes here.