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These colorful Vietnamese-inspired 25 Minute Ginger Sesame Banh Mi Rice Bowls are full of fresh flavors and made so simply. The ground chicken, or pork, is cooked in a sweet soy chili sauce until caramelized around the edges. It’s then added to bowls of lemongrass rice. A fresh, bright, cucumber herb salad with chunks of avocado is spooned overtop along with quickly pickled carrots. There’s spicy mayo and extra sauce too. It’s a very yummy balance of spicy, sweet, and savory flavors. Altogether, these bowls are so delicious, plus quick to make.
If you’re not familiar with a Banh Mi sandwich, it’s a Vietnamese sandwich. It’s usually made with a baguette-style sub roll that’s layered with cripy pork or chicken. Then a spicy mayo is spread on top with pickled veggies, cucumbers, spicy chilies, and fresh herbs. It’s also traditional to add liver pate, but you’ll notice I left that out of these bowls. It’s not something I can easily find.
The flavors combined are fresh, with just the right amount of spiciness, and great umami flavors all around.
It’s such a yummy sandwich!
I’ve never made a traditional banh mi, they can sometimes be time intensive depending on the method used. But these bowls are the next best thing!
And so quick to make too, which we just love! These bowls aren’t traditional, but a nice, quick way to enjoy similar flavors.
The details on these bowls
To start, I do make my own lemongrass rice. It’s super simple but totally optional.
Lemongrass is such a star ingredient that’s so underused. When cooked, it has a subtle citrusy, lemony flavor with a bit of mintiness in there too.
It’s a very light refreshing flavor and I love cooking it into the rice. The lemongrass really compliments these bowls.
I cook the rice in coconut milk for a creamy, coconut flavor along with lemongrass paste and Thai jasmine rice. Simply let the rice steam while you prepare the bowls.
While that’s cooking away, I make the cucumber salad.
Lots of fresh herbs, I use a mix of cilantro and Thai basil. If you enjoy mint, add that too! Then, refreshing cucumber, avocado, toasted sesame seeds, roasted peanuts, a little spice from a serrano pepper, and a simple lime dressing.
Just toss everything together in a bowl, no fancy steps.
And now the meat. You can use chicken or pork, I usually do a mix of the two. Then a couple of shallots and garlic. Then add chili paste, tamari or soy, fish sauce, and maple syrup. Oh, plus some black pepper.
Now the KEY, pickled ginger. I added this at the last minute and it ended up being the most delicious addition. The picked ginger quickly caramelizes and becomes sweet and just addicting. You will love it.
Finish it up
Layer each bowl with lots of rice, then the meat, and any extra sauce. Top each bowl with the cucumber salad and spicy mayo.
Enjoy immediately…and that’s it! This takes less than 30 minutes to make and it’s delicious and fun! All those fresh herbs really make the difference.
Looking for other quick weeknight dinners? Here are some favorites:
Sheet Pan Poblano Chicken Fajita Bowls.
Cauliflower Tzatziki Bowls with Sweet Potato Fries
30 Minute Garlic Butter Chicken Pad Thai
Coconut Popcorn Chicken with Sweet Thai Chili Lime Sauce
30 Minute Sticky Thai Meatballs with Sesame Noodles
Better Than Takeout Sweet Thai Basil Chicken
Lastly, if you make these 25 Minute Banh Mi Rice Bowls, be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
25 Minute Banh Mi Rice Bowls
Servings: 6
Calories Per Serving: 530 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
Cucumber Herb Salad
- 2 Persian cucumbers, chopped
- 1 Serrano or jalapeño pepper, seeded and sliced
- 1 cup mixed fresh herbs, chopped
- 3 tablespoons mixed sesame seeds and peanuts
- 2 tablespoons toasted sesame oil
- 2 tablespoons lime juice
- 1 avocado, cubed
Banh Mi Meat
- 2 tablespoons sesame or olive oil
- 1 1/2 pounds ground chicken or ground pork
- 2 shallots, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1/2 cup tamari
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1-3 tablespoons chili paste
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup
- 1 cup shredded or pickled carrots
- 1/3 cup pickled ginger
- 3-4 cups cooked rice, for serving
- spicy mayo, for serving
Instructions
- 1. To make the salad. Combine everything in a bowl and gently toss. Season with salt 2. To Make the meat. In a bowl, mix the tamari, fish sauce, chili paste, and maple syrup. Add 1/3 cup water. Set a few tablespoons of the sauce aside for serving, if desired. 3. Heat the oil, meat, shallots, and garlic in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook, breaking up the meat as it cooks, until browned, 5 minutes. Add the sauce. Cook another 5 minutes, until the meat is crispy. Add the pickled ginger, and let cook for 1 minute. Remove from the heat. 3. Spoon the meat over bowls of rice. Top with the herb salad, pickled carrots, and spicy mayo. Drizzle over the extra sauce. Enjoy!
Notes
Pickled Carrots: In a bowl, mix 1/2 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey, 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil, and 1 teaspoon salt. Microwave 1 minute, then whisk. Add 2 cups julienned carrots and toss well. Let sit 15 minutes to 1 hour. You can also add thinly sliced ginger and or jalapeños.
LEMONGRASS RICE: Add 1 can coconut milk and 1/3 water to a medium-sized pot. Bring to a low boil. Add in 1 1/2 cups jasmine rice and 1 tablespoon lemongrass paste. Stir to combine. Place the lid on the pot and turn the heat down to the lowest setting possible. Allow the rice to cook 10 minutes on low and then turn the heat off completely. Let the rice sit on the stove, covered, for another 15-20 minutes (don’t take any peeks inside!).
2. After 15-20 minutes remove the lid and fluff the rice with a fork. Note that rice can cook differently for everyone, this is just what works for me.
Tried this tonight and boy my daughter and I gobbled it right up. I made it without peanuts and lemongrass rice since I couldn’t find that ingredient. Definitely going to add this to the rotation. I liked how I was able to modify it to be lower in fat due to diet restrictions from pancreatic disease.
Tieghan,
This was such a great recipe! The way you pair different flavors is amazing and a real talent. I really enjoyed how fresh all of the ingredients were and I pickled my own carrots per your instructions and they were also soooooo good! Keep these fresh healthy recipes coming!
-Sarah
This was so so good! I’ve made it twice in the last week and the whole family loved it. Loved the pickled carrots and ended up pickling the cucumbers too. Thank you Tieghan.
People outraged for the name, ingredients and “white washing a recipe” are funny. This is her style, she’s done numerous Mexican dishes in her style that are far from what really is found in Mexico or a traditional Mexican cooking. I don’t get offended, stop following her or bash her because I take what I want from it and not once felt disrespected. I’m glad she got inspired to make something with ingredients that maybe more assessable to people all over. You cancel people need help if this really gets your chonies in a bunch. Its simple, just unfollow her and follow authentic cooking pages. Good day all 🙂
This comment section is…frankly awful. As far as the recipe goes, it was pretty good. I’d adjust the amount of tamari and fish sauce because to me it was too salty. Also, I’d suggest using the whole 4 cups of rice, as I used 3 and it wasn’t quite enough.
Cucumber herb salad was delicious and paired nicely with the rest of the recipe.
I loved this recipe! Absolutely delicious! Full of amazing flavour! I make so many of your recipes several times a week and all of them have been incredible! I always look forward to seeing what new recipes you post. You are incredible!
Why not just call this a rice bowl and leave it at that?
You’re totally free to make whatever combination of food you like, but when you tell people the name of a food item it comes with expectations.
This is the same as saying a hamburger is made with a chicken patty, no one would ever think that’s what a hamburger is, so why pass this dish off as Viet banh mi?
Why not find something legit to worry about? Nobody cares about your “moral outrage”. You just appear petty and whiny. Not a good look.
This was really good Tieghan. I used leftover pulled pork that I slow cooked for another meal earlier in the week, instead of the ground pork. We miss eating at our favorite Vietnamese food truck in our old hometown. This recipe reminds me of their signature menu item. I will add mint leaves to the herb mix next time.
Recipe instructions were easy to follow and turned out delicious!
Made this for a quick Saturday night dinner. While it took me twice as long to make as the recipe says, the flavor was worth it. Delicious and will go into regular rotation.
Between the poor pronunciation and the ‘Chipotle-fying’ of what is an an amalgamation between a Vietnamese banh mi and a Korean bibimbap,…I just can’t! Do better!
One could say the same for your awful punctuation. But only an illiterate douche with an I.Q. in the single digits would care about this anyway. No, you really can’t. You can’t stop making an ass of yourself. Bye.
This was delicious! Please don’t listen to cancel culture and keep on making great recipes.
Great recipe! Love the combination of flavors.
Hi Tieghan,
As a fellow food blogger, I recommend better curating your comments. There’s no reason to give these idiots a voice on your website. If you screwed something up, forgot to mention how many cloves of garlic, that’s one thing. But shut down these idiot malcontents who just want to use YOUR website as yet another platform to air their grievances. I’m sure they all have a countless number of Facebook posts griping about every single thing in the world, let’s keep your site about the quality of your recipes.
By the way, aside from the nonsense these people are blathering about, we find your images among the most outstanding in the business. We follow the gimmesomeoven style of simplicity, but are in awe of your artistry and detail. It’s a little intimidating. Keep it up, you’re one of the best out there!
I hope she takes your advice Jason.
So yummy, the flavors all compliment each other well. Well done 👏
The ass kissing is honestly embarrassing. The fact is she mispronounced banh mi and created a dish that literally had no connection to the original source. This isn’t the first time she’s done this either. I’m all for fusion food and creativity, and people might be less outraged if she had used any of the actual Banh mi, or heck, even Vietnamese ingredients in this recipe. But she didn’t, she used a bunch of ingredients from different Asian countries and then gave this dish a Vietnamese inspired name.
This is the nicest comment ever!! I agree it’s so disheartening to see people be mean on here constantly. And I follow a lot of places for recipes and neverrrr see it anywhere else?!? It’s ridiculous. As someone who loves flavor her talent is insane like the things she thinks of along with the photos. Let’s just enjoy the artistry! 🙂 anyway just wanted to say thanks for calling this out bc it really is exhausting so can’t imagine how she feels
The whining and outrage from people like you is actually what is stupid as hell. Please get a real life and some perspective on what constitutes an actual reason to get upset. You look so bloody high strung and idiotic. Not to mention petty and jealous.
You’re talking nonsense, “M”. No sane person would take time out of their day to come unglued about something so trivial. Get help.
Well said!!
I agree. I also think it is good Tieghan has not responded to any of this BS. Her recipes are fantastic.
Best Banh Mi ever! Thank you for the improvement.
Delicious! My whole family loved it! I have so many of your recipes saved because I feel they use ingredients I have and flavors my family loves. Please keep them coming!
First of all, you pronounced this wrong. Secondly, this is a misinterpretation of Vietnamese food. You should just call this a rice bowl. This is not a banh mi bowl. Please do not white wash Asian food.
Put a sock in it, you uppity minge. She can call it and pronounce it however she wants. Bugger off.
Call the waaaaaaaaah-mbulamce. Amanda is critical. 🙄
Give it a rest, you ignorant racist.
Amanda, if you are interested in learning more about my culture and regional cuisine, I could introduce you to the Alabama Hot Pocket. 😉
Amanda, please don’t be that moron spouting this appropriation nonsense. The US has always been a melting pot of cultures from all over the world and this is no different.
Thank you, John. 🙏🏻
Amanda, if you’re interested in a Cleveland Steamer, I could offer that to you. No way to whitewash that.
The Alabama Hot Pocket and Cleveland Steamer are too gentle for Amanda. She’s ready to go straight to the Strawberry Shortcake.
Child’s play! Amanda is a Rusty Trombone kind of gal.
Oh brother. It’s a recipe. Stop being such a snowflake,
Good point Cindy! But snowflakes are pretty and unique. These people are more like shitstains. 😂