Bún Chả Hà Nội: Vicky Pham’s Grilled Pork Recipe

Close-up of grilled pork served with rice paper rolls and dipping sauce.

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This recipe is taken directly from Vietnamese food writer Vicky Pham‘s own site — her Bún Chả Hà Nội recipe published on vickypham.com. Pham is a home cook who focuses on preserving and sharing authentic Vietnamese recipes, and her version of this Hanoi classic is a good baseline before you start adjusting the dipping sauce to your own taste.

What Is Bún Chả?

Bún chả is grilled pork (chả) served with rice noodles (bún), fresh herbs, and a fish-sauce dipping broth, according to The World from PRX. Pham, who specialises in Northern Vietnamese cooking, describes it as her favourite Vietnamese dish and a Northern Vietnamese specialty that originated in Hanoi. Chef Michael Chuong of Elements restaurant told The World that “bún chả is one of the oldest favorites of north Vietnam cuisine,” and that Hanoi cooks typically grill it two ways: fatty pork patties, and thin slices closer to barbecued pulled pork.

Pham draws a clear line between this Northern dish and its Southern cousin, bún thịt nướng: bún chả is served deconstructed, with noodles and grilled pork patties kept separate from a sweeter, lighter dipping broth, while bún thịt nướng is tossed together in one bowl with thinly sliced grilled pork shoulder and a saltier nước chấm sauce.

Ingredients

For the pork patties

  • 1 1/2 lbs fatty ground pork (at least 20% fat)
  • 2 tablespoons fish sauce
  • 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
  • 3 tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 tablespoon roasted rice powder
  • 1/4 cup minced lemongrass
  • 4 fresh garlic cloves, finely minced
  • 1 small shallot, finely minced
  • 2 teaspoons vegetable oil, for coating hands

For the rest of the dish

  • 14 oz dried round rice vermicelli noodles
  • Lettuce, cucumber and Vietnamese herbs
  • 2 cups thinly sliced unripe green papaya, 2 teaspoons salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, 2 tablespoons white vinegar (for quick pickled papaya)
  • 1 cup hot water, 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup fish sauce, 3 tablespoons lime juice, 2 cups coconut soda, 6 garlic cloves, 2 Thai chilies (for the dipping sauce/broth)

Method

  1. Combine the ground pork with fish sauce, oyster sauce, brown sugar, pepper, roasted rice powder, lemongrass, garlic and shallot.
  2. Oil your hands and roll the mixture into about 32 small patties. Grill over charcoal, roughly 8 minutes per side, until lightly charred, or pan-fry, or air-fry at 350°F for about 5 minutes per side.
  3. For the pickled papaya, salt the sliced papaya and let it sit 30 minutes, rinse, squeeze dry, then mix with sugar and vinegar.
  4. For the dipping broth, dissolve sugar in hot water, then stir in fish sauce, lime juice, coconut soda, garlic and chilies.
  5. Cook the noodles per package instructions.
  6. To serve, put pork patties and pickled papaya in a small bowl and cover with the dipping broth; serve alongside noodles, lettuce and herbs.

A Note on Safety

Because the pork here is ground rather than a whole cut, it needs to reach a higher internal temperature than a chop or roast. The USDA’s Safe Minimum Internal Temperature Chart lists ground meats at 160°F (71.1°C), with no rest time required, compared with 145°F (62.8°C) plus a 3-minute rest for whole muscle cuts. Pham’s recipe doesn’t specify a target temperature, going by char and time instead, so it’s worth checking a patty with a thermometer the first time you make this until you know what 160°F looks like on your grill.

How to Eat It

Pham’s instructions describe the traditional method: use the meat-and-broth bowl as your base, add noodles, tear in herbs and lettuce, swish everything in the sauce, then eat with a patty and a bit of pickled papaya, repeating for each bite. It’s a more hands-on, assemble-as-you-go meal than most Western noodle bowls, which is part of why it works so well as a shared table dish.

The Dinner That Made It Famous

Bún chả became internationally famous in May 2016, when President Barack Obama joined Anthony Bourdain for beer and a bowl at Bún Chả Hương Liên in Hanoi, on Bourdain’s CNN show Parts Unknown, as reported by The World from PRX. The restaurant had been serving the dish for decades before that meal turned it, briefly, into the most talked-about bowl of noodles in Vietnam.

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