Bánh Mì Sandwich
This delicious Vietnamese inspired Bánh Mì sandwich made with your favorite chicken or pork, flavorful pickled veggies, jalapeno, and fresh herbs and homemade sauce. It’s a simple yet full of flavorful sandwich that doesn’t rely on complex procedures or ingredients.
This recipe hones in on getting the most out of a few key components. The bread, pork, and vegetables are all optimized to bring out the best in every bite.
Banh mi (pronounced ban mee), means “bread” in Vietnamese, or more specifically, a thin and crusty baguette that's filled with meat (generally pork, pate, or chicken) and veggies. From my understanding, Banh mi sandwiches are a result of French influence on Vietnamese food.
This Bánh Mì sandwich had so many layers of flavor-depth, complexity, and intrigue with every bite. It’s a simple yet flavorful sandwich that doesn’t rely on complex procedures or ingredients.
Why You’ll Love It
- You don’t have to pull out the grill! Pork is commonly baked on an oven rack and mine I make it pan grilled you just need to seared to achieves the light char we love in grilled Vietnamese pork.
- Quick marination times. Both the pickles and pork only need an hour of marination time each so you can make bánh mì from start to finish very quickly (they can also be marinated for longer if you want to marinate one day and cook another).
- Accessible ingredients. Unlike the cold-cuts version, pork bánh mì has the most accessible ingredients list. Here, I call for pork shoulder (a common cut). Any pork roast cold cuts work just fine here – or you can just get it from my local deli – or thinly sliced leftover Pork Roast!
- The sauce. You always make the sauce ahead of time and refrigerate. In a small bowl, combine the mayonnaise and sriracha then season with salt, pepper, garlic powder and onion powder.
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This delicious Vietnamese inspired Bánh Mì sandwich made with your favorite chicken or pork, flavorful pickled veggies, jalapeno, and fresh herbs and homemade sauce.
- 2 pork shoulder steak
- 1 french bread (or use long crunchy rolls)
- 3 jalapenos (thinly sliced)
- 1 cup fresh cilantro sprigs
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoon sriracha hot sauce
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 tablespoon garlic salt
- 1 carrot (peeled and cut into matchsticks)
- 1 cucumber (peeled and cut into matchsticks, remove seeds)
- 1 radish (peeled and cut into matchsticks)
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons sriracha hot sauce
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- Meat marinade
Combine all marinade ingredients in a mixing bowl. Marinate for at least an hour inside the fridge but the longer you marinate the better.
- Pickled Vegetables
Combine rice vinegar, water, sugar and salt. Stir until sugar dissolved, then add in the vegetables. Make sure to submerge the vegetables with the mixture. and refrigerate until ready to assemble the sandwich.
- Cook the chicken
Heat oil over medium high heat. Add the chicken and cook for a few minutes on each side until browned and cooked through. Rest for 5-10 minutes before cutting.
- Make the sauce
While the meat is cooking, in a small bowl combine the mayonnaise, sriracha hot sauce and season with garlic powder, onion powder,salt and pepper. Set aside, or make ahead and refrigerate.
- Assemble
Slice the rolls in half lengthwise and toast them, if desired. Spread a thin layer of the sriracha mayo on each half of bread. Layer the sandwiches with sliced meat, drained pickled vegetables, jalapeno slices and cilantro. Serve and enjoy!
- Sandwich is best eaten fresh so the rolls still nice and crunchy. These can be place in the fridge (wrap in plastic wrap or beeswax wrap) for a couple of hours before serving. Once assembled, the sandwiches are best within three days. The bread won’t be as crusty, but still delicious!
- The pickled veggies can be made a week in advance and refrigerated until you’re ready to assemble.
