This Vietnamese lemongrass beef noodle salad is packed with fresh herbs and veggies. It is served with char-grilled lemongrass beef and tangy umami sauce. The dish is incredibly refreshing and visually appealing.
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About The Taste & Flavour
We first tasted this fantastic salad in a Vietnamese restaurant in Paris. We were forever hooked, and I've been trying to replicate the unforgettable flavors at home since then.
And I'm telling you, this is the best! I'd divide this meal into four components for better explanations:
Grilled meat - Marinated beef with lemongrass, ginger, fish sauce, oyster sauce, sugar, and chili. It already sounds fantastic, eh?
Herbs and veggies - Fresh flavors and textures of mint, cilantro, carrot, lettuce, and red cabbage.
Sauce - Tangy umami, slightly spicy sauce to douse on everything.
Noodles - Rice vermicelli noodles, plain, to carry all the beautiful flavors from the other components.
What Meat Cut To Use
We want flavourful, tender meat with that excellent char-grilled look. Since I've made this many times using different cuts of beef, here's what I can tell you.
Ribeye-If you can spend money on it, this is the best option. It has enough fat marbling in the meat to result in tender, grilled meat.
Sirloin-A tad cheaper than ribeye. It has less marbling fat, but it's still great for this.
Chuck-Surprisingly, Chuck's cut works fantastic! Buy a huge piece, and slice it yourself at home into thin strips.
PRO TIPS: Always slice meat against the meat grain to ensure tender meat after cooking. The grain of the meat refers to the direction of the muscle fibers in the meat.
Ingredients & Substitutions
Noodles-Preferably thin, round rice vermicelli noodles, not the flat ones used in stir-fry pad Thai recipes. If you can't find them, that's totally fine, too. We want very mild noodles to carry all the other amazing flavors from the meat and sauce.
NOTE: I don't recommend using egg-based noodles, as the flavor is too strong for this meal. If you have no other choice, use rice-based noodles or even plain rice itself.
Herbs and veggies-I love the combination of mint and cilantro for the herbs. If you have to choose between those two, go for the mint-lots of mints, just like in my fantastic quick Penang asam laksa recipe. For veggies, use crunchy, colorful, and mild-flavored veggies like carrots, lettuce, and red cabbage.
Fish sauce-Fish sauce is one of my must-have Asian sauces in our home. It's fermented fish with salt. Don't get offended by its name or smell (haha!). Trust me, it gives this fantastic umami flavor, just like in my Malaysian satay sauce and my easy glass noodle salad with shrimp.
SUBSTITUTION: Although it's not the same, you could use the same amount of less salt soy sauce instead.
Oyster sauce-Another must-have sauce in our home is oyster sauce. It's a thick sauce made with caramelized oyster juice, sugar, and soy sauce.
SUBSTITUTION: Although it's not the same, you could use the same amount of less salt soy sauce instead.
How To Get A Char-Grilled Look Using A Pan
Traditionally, this dish requires the meat to be fire-grilled. Let's be honest: Unless it's a planned weekend where the husband (or wife!) agrees to deal with the whole grilling-with-fire outside thing, it'll likely never happen. Right?
Well, here's my secret to having that char-grilled look by using a pan in the kitchen.
Use-A cast iron pan. I've been using this one for years. It's very durable (obviously) and never fails to give me the char-grilled looks as if I've been sweating grilling my chicken, meat, and fish outside on the fire grill. I have a few in different sizes.
How-Heat the cast-iron pan with some oil on medium-high heat until it's smoking hot. Add pieces of meat without overcrowding them. Cook untouched for 3-4 minutes, flip, and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes. You'll get perfect char-grilled looks, just like my Malaysian chicken satay!
How To Make Lemongrass Beef Salad
- Prepare meat-Slice meat into ¼ inch thick strips of 2-3 inches.
- Make marinade sauce-Pound lemongrass, ginger, garlic, and chili into a paste. Add to a bowl with fish sauce, sugar, and oyster sauce and mix well. I've also used my food chopper for this; it's totally fine and doable.
- Marinate meat-Add the meat into the marinade sauce and mix well. Chill in the fridge, preferably overnight or at least 2 hours.
- Prepare sauce-Pound ginger, garlic, and chili into a paste. Add them to a bowl with sugar and lime juice. Mix well.
- Prepare veggies and herbs-Slice the veggies and prep the herbs.
- Cook noodles-Cook rice vermicelli noodles in boiling water for a few minutes. Rinse under cold water and drain them.
- Cook meat-Heat some oil in a cast-iron pan on medium heat until it's smoking hot. Add pieces of marinated meat without overcrowding them. Cook untouched for a few minutes, flip, and continue cooking.
- Assemble-Place some noodles in a bowl, followed by the veggies. Add grilled meat, fried shallots, and veggies. Pour some sauce. Mix everything before taking a bite.
Pro Recipe Expert Tips
- Marinate the meat for a few hours for unique flavors. I recommend doing it the night before, as you'll have less work on the day of.
- The marinade and the sauce are made with the same ingredients (minus lemongrass for the sauce). I'd recommend making the sauce simultaneously since you have all the same ingredients.
How To Serve And Store
Serve-I like to serve this buffet style. This way, each person can serve themselves. The only way to give justice to this dish is by mixing everything so that you have a piece of everything in one bite. Very important!
Store-You can store everything in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 3 days. I'd not keep them longer than that because the herbs and veggies will look sad by then. You can marinate the meat up to 3-4 days in advance.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, absolutely! However, I recommend using chicken thigh instead of chicken breast. This will result in char-grilled looks without drying the meat.
Fish sauce is made from fermented fish and salt, so while it's on the salty side it doesn't have that overwhelming fishy taste. The flavors are more complex than just a "fishy" taste. It's earthy, briny and savory.
I recommend following the recipe strictly to get the full experience of this dish. But if you're thinking of switching the veggies up, I'd say go for mild-tasting ones with crunch. As for the herbs, I'd say mint is crucial.
Yes! I'm all about the sauce! The sauce is what's going to season and gives flavor to the noodles, veggies, and herbs. It also prevents the dish from being "dry" as you mix everything with it. Although, like any other sauce, use it sparingly as the flavor is potent.
Nope, not at all. I love using my pestle and mortar; they give me that authentic feeling and make me enjoy the cooking process more. But when in a rush (like we all are in this world), I've also used my food chopper, which worked terrific!
Watch How To Make It
📖 Recipe
Vietnamese Lemongrass Beef Noodles Salad
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
Meat
- 1 lb ribeye (450 g)
- 2 lemongrass
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
- 2 Thai red chili , or adjust to your liking
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar , or any sugar
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon oyster sauce
- 1 tablespoon oil
Sauce
- 1 inch ginger
- 2 garlic cloves
- 4 Thai red chili , or adjust to your liking
- ¼ cup fish sauce (60 ml)
- ¼ cup water (60 ml)
- 1 lime
- 2 tablespoon coconut sugar , or any sugar
Veggies & Herbs
- ¼ red cabbage
- ¼ lettuce
- 1 carrot , julienned
- ¼ cucumber , remove seeds and slice cucumber in julienne
- 1 cup mint leaves
- 1 cup cilantro leaves
Noodles
- 4 oz dried rice vermicelli noodles (200 g)
Others
- fried shallots
- 1 lime , cut in wedges
Instructions
Meat
- Slice the meat into ¼ inch thick strips of 2-3 inches in length. Set aside.
- Take the white part of the lemongrass, cut into small pieces and put into a mortar. Add in ginger, garlic, and chillies. Pound into a paste. You can also use a food chopper for this.
- Place into a big bowl, together with the rest of the ingredients and sliced meat. Mix well, cover with a cling film and chill in the fridge, preferably overnight (8 hours) or minimum 2 hours.
Sauce
- Pound ginger, garlic and chili in a mortar, into a paste. Put in a small bowl together with the rest of the ingredients. Squeeze the lime in. Mix well and set aside.
Veggies & Herbs
- Slice all the veggies thinly. Pick the leaves of the herbs. Place in serving containers, set aside.
Noodles
- Boil rice vermicelli noodles for a few minutes until cooked. Rinse under cold water and drain them. Place on a serving plate, set aside.
Cook
- Heat some oil in a cast-iron pan until it's smoking hot. Add in the meat, without overcrowding the pan and cook untouched for 3-4 minutes. Flip and continue cooking for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the pan into a serving plate. Continue with the rest of the meat.
Assemble
- Grab a bowl and add in some rice vermicelli noodles. Top with the veggies, followed by grilled meat. Sprinkle the herbs and fried shallots on top. Pour 1-2 tablespoon of sauce (or to your liking). Optional, squeeze in some lime. Mix everything well, every bite has to have all of the components in it. Enjoy!
Notes
- The sauce is the bomb! Adjust and use the amount to your liking. You most probably will have around ⅓ of balance. Use as a salad dressing or pour on top of white rice, yum!
- Estimated sodium nutrition fact is calculated excluding the sauce balance.
Susan Franey says
I first came across this recipe a couple of years ago but haven’t made it for a while goodness knows why not. I made it tonight and it is just so gorgeous I just had to comment on it.
I had to search through a million saved recipes to find it. But my lord it was worth it.
My husband was in raptures about it long after we finished it.
Thank you for sharing such scrummy recipes.
Bea & Marco says
Hi, Susan! Thank you so much for this lovely comment! It honestly means the world to us. We’re so happy you came back to the recipe—and even happier that it was worth digging through all those saved ones! 😄 So glad your husband loved it too. Thank you for making it and for taking the time to share this—it truly made our day! Lots of love ❤️!
Mose says
I have always wanted to make this and I finally did. It was delicious and not as difficult. It took me a bit of time but no matter. Thank you!
Bea & Marco says
That's awesome, Mose! I'm happy to hear that you finally made this. The preparation (slicing etc) is what's taking time but it's all easy task. Thanks for your lovely comment!
Norbert says
I tasted something like this at a Vietnamese restaurant "Rôlld" in Sydney last month and searched for the recipe. Yours is outstanding! Thanks.
Notes: I used a blender for the marinade (garlic, ginger, lemongrass, chili, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. Substituted agave for coconut sugar. I didn't use an expensive cut of beef, but did confirm that it's grass-fed beef. (In my opinion, that's critical.)
Bea & Marco says
Yay! I'm happy to hear that you loved it. Yes, good quality beef is always great in this type of recipe. Thanks, Norbert!
Danielle says
This was amazing!!
I cannot say how much we enjoyed it. I was sceptical about the fish sauce. You're right. It wasn't fishy.
Thanks for this recipe.
I know I will be making it again soon.
Ps: what else can I use the fish sauce for?
Bea says
Yeay 🙌! I'm super happy to hear that. You can use the fish sauce in this ginger steamed fish or this 30-minute massaman chicken curry. Just naming a few. You can also find more recipes using it by searching "fish sauce" in our website. Hope it helps and thank you for your feedback, Danielle!