Homemade Vietnamese Food Recipes

Pinterent Juni 27, 2023 Comment

Have a hankering for Vietnamese food? We've got 6 easy recipes you can totally make at home, from a quick wok-kissed beef pho to lettuce wraps.

Simply Recipes is a trusted resource for home cooks with more than 3, 000 tested recipes, guides, and meal plans, drawing over 15 million readers each month from around the world.

Here at Simply Recipes, we often partner with cookbook authors and recipe writers who want to share their skills, cuisines, and recipes with us. For the past few months, we've partnered with Andrea Nguyen, an award-winning recipe writer and cookbook author, most recently of

Instant Pot Pho

Vietnamese cooks have always been resourceful and innovative, doing their best under harsh circumstance, foreign intrusion, and displacement. My family came to America in 1975 and in our efforts to resettle here, we mined American supermarkets to cook the flavors we missed.

Like many displaced people (my parents are northerners who’d migrated to Saigon decades earlier and raised five kids during the Vietnam War), we made do and shared new ideas with our community.

In the main, those new ideas were rooted in foundational cooking but were also forward looking. They helped people realize that they could be Vietnamese in America but more importantly, to become Vietnamese Americans.

Simple Vietnamese Recipes

The exciting initial years were full of discovery and learning. Just like in the motherland, people cooked with care — a notion that’s expressed in the Viet term khéo, which means “smart” and “adroit”, but when applied to cooking, it conveys food that’s been thoughtfully and skillfully prepared with intention and a grounding in the fundamentals.

Mostly based on my latest cookbook, Vietnamese Food Any Day, the recipes in this Simply Recipes collection reflect the Vietnamese notion of khéo in how it captures the essence of Vietnamese foodways. I incorporate cultural notes in the recipe write ups [you'll have to click through to the actual recipes] to explain the roots and foundations of the recipes.

For example, char siu chicken is based on a [Chinese recipe] char siu pork (thịt xá xíu); the reason for chicken is it’s faster to marinate and cook, is delicious and people cook up lots of chicken nowadays. The wok seared beef pho is a quickie take on a 1940s dish that my mother had in Hai Duong, where she grew up; if you’d like the original version, check out my book, “The Pho Cookbook.”

Chicken Phở Recipe (easy, Authentic Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup)

If you want to learn more about Andrea Nguyen, ingredients used in Vietnamese cooking (and other cuisines as well), cooking equipment and her approach to Vietnamese Food follow these links:

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Typical Vietnamese meals for weeknights are usually quick and easy to prepare since it is common for both parents to work. When planning a meal, Viet people try to include a variety of tastes, textures, and colors while taking time limit into consideration.

Vietnamese Grilled Pork

Traditional family dinner usually has rice and several accompanying dishes. For a meal for 2-3 people, you should aim to have two dishes (though three dishes will be more ideal). Then add one extra dish per extra person.

The main dish usually has a deep savory flavor to eat together with rice. Other dishes are lighter or more delicate to keep the overall flavors of the meal in balance. Also keep in mind that Vietnamese meals often have a soup dish to help send the rice down.

Is a great example of classic Vietnamese family food. It may take up to 2 hours to cook, but you can make it ahead the day before, or make a big batch during the weekend and freeze.

Easy Vietnamese Pho Noodle Soup

Vietnamese Caramelized Pork Belly (Thit kho tau) is a classic comfort food of Viet families. Pork belly is slowly braised until it has a beautiful caramel color and becomes so flavorful and tender.

By using fish fillets instead of a whole fish, the prepping and cooking process will become effortless. You can use grouper, red snapper, halibut, cod or even salmon for this recipe.

Steamed Fish with Ginger, Scallion and Soy Sauce is a restaurant-quality dish you can easily cook at home in just 30 minutes. Serve this light yet flavorful dish with rice for a healthy and delicious meal.

Beginner's Guide To Cooking Vietnamese Food At Home

This dish is my childhood favorite. It has a savory taste with flavorful beef and tender potato slices. We usually cook it as a main dish served with rice.

Vietnamese Beef Potato Stir-fry (Thit bo xao khoai tay) is delicious, flavorful and filling. Add this quick and easy stir-fry to your family dinner rotation.

Another restaurant-style dish you can make at home. Marinate the pork chops in the morning and then all you need to do is to grill it in the evening for dinner. You can serve it with rice, a fried egg and perhaps a wedge of Vietnamese egg meatloaf.

Authentic Vietnamese Caramelized Pork Belly (thit Kho Tau)

These grilled pork chops are full of sweet and savory flavors and infused with lemongrass fragrance. This is one of the easiest Vietnamese restaurant dishes to make at home.

A rustic side dish ready in 15-20 minutes. Crispy and piping hot fried tofu is dipped in scallion fish sauce mixture to soak up delicious flavors. You may also want to try this Vietnamese lemongrass tofu version.

Vietnamese Fried Tofu with Scallions (Dau ran tam hanh) is a rustic Northern Vietnamese dish, featuring crispy fried tofu dipped in scallion fish sauce mixture. It is a tasty side dish or even main dish you can make in just 20 minutes.

Homemade Pho Recipe

Many Vietnamese people love to start their dinner with a lightly cooked seafood dish that highlights the natural sweetness of the seafood.

This Steamed clams with Thai basil and lemongrass is super quick and easy to make with minimal prepping. It is packed with delicious flavors and irresistible aromas.

Features juicy chicken in a savory and lightly sweet sauce. You can use chicken drumsticks, thighs or whole chicken legs and marinate them in the morning. Then in the evening, you can put the dish together within an hour for dinner.

Vietnamese Food: 34 Traditional Dishes To Try In Vietnam

Vietnamese Rotisserie Chicken (Ga Roti) features juicy chicken in a savory sauce with a hint of sweetness. Serve it with rice for a filling dinner.

This fried eggs and tomatoes is a light dish with lovely flavors to accompany any strongly-flavored main dish. Everything is cooked in one pan, and it takes just 10-15 minutes from start to finish.

This Vietnamese omelet with tomatoes and onions is made with simple ingredients, but you will be surprised at how good it tastes. Eggs are fried into an omelet with browned spots to enhance the flavors. The recipe is vegetarian adaptable.

Easy Beef Pho Soup Recipe

An easy and delicious one-pan meal that doesn’t require a lot of effort. You can eat it with rice, or serve it with simple salad and fries on the side.

Vietnamese Shaking Beef (Bo Luc Lac) is an easy and delicious one-pan meal that is excellent for everyday meals as well as special occasions. This dish features tender and flavorful beef plated on a bed of green cress and fresh tomatoes.

This simple egg drop soup is in the daily meal rotation of many busy families and college students or young adults who just move out in Vietnam. You can use silken tofu instead of eggs for a different variation.

Vietnamese Food: 40 Delicious Dishes To Try In Vietnam

This Tomato Egg Drop Soup uses just a handful of affordable ingredients that you probably already have in your kitchen. Ready in 15 minutes, this light and tasty soup is a great addition to a hassle-free meal.

Fried rice is always a crowd-pleaser. Crab fried rice may sound fancy but it is so quick and simple to make. If you need something even easier, try this garlic fried rice instead.

This Crab Fried Rice is so simple but surprisingly tasty with natural sweetness from crab meat and richness from eggs. It is great for daily meals as well as special occasions.

Must Eat Vietnamese Dishes Beyond Pho And Banh Mi

I will be honest here and say that this isn’t the crowd-pleaser type of dish. Bitter melon is an acquired taste because of its bitterness. Good news is the richness of eggs will help tone down its bitterness significantly in this recipe.

Vietnamese Bitter Melon Egg Stir-Fry is a quick and easy dish with health benefits. It requires very few ingredients and you need only one pan to cook it. Gluten-free and/or vegetarian options are available.

Vietnamese Beef Pasta Stir-Fry (Nui Xao Bo) is composed of pasta, beef and