Craving a culinary adventure? Transport your taste buds straight to Southeast Asia!
I’ve compiled 21 amazing Vietnamese recipes, ranging from savory street eats to comforting mains, all designed for you to whip up in your own kitchen.
Get ready for a flavorful journey!
1. Peanut Sticky Rice
This rice dish has something completely unique to offer. The combination of sweet and salty characteristics is simply divine. This is an excellent choice for either breakfast or a quick snack.
With the addition of coconut milk, it’s made with sticky rice, giving it a fantastic texture. For heightened flavor, sprinkle with shredded coconut, toasted sesame seeds, and roasted peanuts blended with sugar and salt. It’s absolutely delicious!
2. Pandan Waffles
Not only do pandan waffles bring you a delightful sugar rush, but they also infuse your kitchen with an alluring fragrance. Another plus is the chewy core of these waffles. It’s incredibly tasty!
The crisp exterior provides a fantastic contrast to the soft inside. The addition of coconut cream also gives each bite a coconut flavor.
3. Vietnamese Shrimp Tacos
These tacos are packed with fresh herbs, Asian salsa, veggies, and marinated shrimp, making them a healthy option. Your Taco Tuesdays will be amazing because of them!
The shrimp is enhanced with classic Vietnamese spices, along with coconut sugar and lime juice. The spicy and tangy flavors of the salsa and pickled veggies will tantalize your taste buds.
4. Vietnamese Fish Sauce
Because of its extensive use in a variety of dishes, fish sauce is the most important of Vietnam’s many sauces. The fish sauce gives everything from rice noodles to spring rolls a hint of umami.
Just combine pure fish sauce, water, lemonade, and sugar to create the dipping sauce.
5. Vietnamese Rice Noodle Salad
From Vietnam, this rice noodle salad is yet another nutritious and delectable dish. Tender chicken thighs, crunchy fresh herbs and vegetables, and soft rice noodles are mixed.
A traditional Vietnamese condiment called nuoc cham is used to coat the fresh ingredients. It functions as a salad dressing with practically every flavor characteristic, including salty, sour, sweet, and spicy.
Since this recipe uses so little of the stove, it’s ideal for summer cooking.
6. Vietnamese Papaya Salad
A crunchy and nutritious salad, this dish is the perfect summer snack. It contains fried onions, peanuts, raw vegetables, and papaya.
The orange papaya gives the salad a hint of sweetness, while the lime dressing that’s lightly spiced gives it zest and freshness.
7. Vietnamese Mango Salad
It’s rare to find a mango salad with a harmonious blend of sweet and sour flavors. But you can now, thanks to this recipe! Plus, making this Hanoi street snack is incredibly simple.
This salad features shallots, cilantro, and ripe mangoes. A fish sauce-based dressing with vibrant undertones of rice wine vinegar and lime juice is used to toss everything together.
8. Vietnamese Caramel Sauce
Nuoc mau, sometimes known as caramel sauce, is a dark, viscous liquid frequently seen as an all-around flavor enhancer for Vietnamese food. The sauce is frequently used to give savory dishes a subtle, smoky, sweet background flavor.
This recipe only uses three ingredients: water, cane sugar, and vinegar. The latter is used for reducing the sauce that is made with heated sugar and vinegar.
9. Vietnamese Garlic Butter Noodles
This noodle recipe, which can be prepared in under 20 minutes, is both garlicky and buttery, making it a soothing dinner choice for busy weekday evenings. The garlic-butter sauce, flavored with a dash of sugar, soy sauce, oyster sauce, and fish sauce, is used to toss the al dente egg noodles.
Adding parmesan cheese as a garnish isn’t common, but it elevates the dish. These are some seriously tasty noodles!
10. Vietnamese Spring Rolls
These vibrant Vietnamese spring rolls demonstrate how satisfying and incredibly tasty nutritious food can be! Veggies, proteins, and fruits are bundled in rice paper wrappers. There’s avocado, shrimp, carrots, cucumbers, and more!
The trick is to roll them like a burrito, cut them in half, then serve with a simple yet tasty peanut dipping sauce. You can serve these refreshing rolls as a light meal on meatless Mondays or as appetizers!
11. Lemongrass Chicken
One of the tastiest chicken meals is without a doubt Vietnam’s lemongrass chicken! Its marinade is infused with red curry paste, sweet chili sauce, lemongrass, and fish sauce, among other ingredients.
What about the chicken? You’ll be addicted to how juicy it is!
I enjoy pairing them with jasmine rice infused with coconut for a filling Asian-style meal.
12. Vietnamese Fried Tofu
Are you seeking a fresh dish to add to your weekly menu? This could be what you’re searching for! In under 20 minutes, you can make this delectable Vietnamese fried tofu.
Just sauté the tofu until crispy while ensuring the inside is still soft. Serve with rice or eat as is after dipping them in a tasty scallion-fish sauce mixture. It’s a cinch!
13. Vietnamese Mung Bean Dumplings
With these deliciously soft dumplings packed with mung bean, take a break from crispy snacks. The mung bean is both savory and sweet, seasoned with onions, pepper, and salt.
Though shrimp or pork is typically included in traditional mung bean dumplings, they can be left out to make the dish vegan.
14. Prawn and Sweet Potato Fritters
Prawn and sweet potato fritters are another delectable snack that’s crisp and quick to prepare. You’ll get the ideal crunchy bite from this meal, which is well-known as street fare in northern Vietnam!
Getting the batter perfect is essential to making the greatest fritters. But don’t worry; you only need a few basic ingredients for this.
It shouldn’t be overly thick, but it needs to be robust enough to bind the sweet potato and prawn together, having a consistency similar to pancake batter. Wrap everything in lettuce with fresh herbs, then dunk it in fish sauce for a comprehensive dinner.
15. Pok Pok Wings
These chicken wings are marinated, deep-fried until incredibly crispy, and drizzled with spiced fish sauce. You’ll be completely dependent on them for the rest of your life!
The wings are subtly salty and have a rich, complex taste that isn’t overly sweet. A fragrant scent and a pleasant, additional crunch are added by the fried garlic, mint, and cilantro topping.
16. Banh Mi
Banh mi is one of the most well-known street foods in Vietnam. It has a soft, light baguette with pickled vegetables, meat, herbs, and spices as fillings.
Banh mi has evolved into many variations as it’s become so popular in Vietnam and other nations. This recipe uses marinated tofu in place of chicken or pork to make it suitable for vegetarians.
Sriracha and mayonnaise are used to give it more taste and heat.
17. Vietnamese Caramel Shrimp
Are you trying to figure out how to utilize that delectable caramel sauce? This shrimp recipe is exactly what you need!
The shrimp is sautéed with the aromatics before being cooked with the caramel sauce until it thickens. For added taste, use fish sauce, scallions, and black pepper.
The end result is among the simplest and tastiest shrimp recipes!
18. Vietnamese Crepes
Vietnamese crepes are very well-liked in the country’s northern, southern, and central regions. These savory fried pancakes are incredibly crispy and loaded with pork, shrimp, and bean sprouts!
Serve with a dipping sauce made with fish sauce and lime juice to elevate these to a new level!
19. Vietnamese Boiled Cabbage
In almost every Vietnamese home, boiled cabbage is a simple and quick side dish. The cabbage in this dish is simmered till tender.
What distinguishes it is the remarkable dipping sauce that is offered with it. It’s flavored with lime juice, chili peppers, and fish sauce and created with mashed hard-boiled egg.
20. Purple Yam Soup
Purple yam soup is gorgeous, creamy, and incredibly tasty, unlike anything else. To begin with, it has a striking purple hue! And second, it is brimming with tasty prawns and bits of fish.
Another taste dimension is added by the chicken stock that makes up the soup’s base. To make a truly delicious and fragrant dish, fresh spices and herbs are utilized.