This meatball banh mi with pickled carrot and daikon, Sriracha mayo, cilantro, and jalapeno, is the most surprisingly delicious thing I’ve made in a while. If you’re not already familiar, banh mi are a kind of Vietnamese sandwich, usually made with a soft Vietnamese baguette, raw veggies, and some kind of protein––often grilled pork or a pork cutlet.
This banh mi recipe is made with juicy homemade pork meatballs, seasoned with garlic, herbs, Sriracha, and fish sauce. AMAZING.
For me, what makes this sandwich great, and banh mi great in general…is the mixture of the bright, crisp textures and flavors of the vegetables, and the richness of the meat (the healthy slathering of spicy mayo doesn’t hurt either). It’s picnic blanket food, for picnic blanket weather. So put these together, grab three other lucky sandwich recipients, and prepare for awesomeness.
Okay, on with the recipe. It was adapted from this recipe on Epicurious.
Here are your ingredients. It may seem like a lot, but most of them are kitchen staples, and this banh mi recipe is super easy to assemble.
Spicy Meatball Banh Mi: Recipe Instructions
Start by preparing the carrot and daikon radish. Add the julienned carrots and daikon to a large bowl and toss in the sugar, salt, rice wine vinegar, and sesame oil.
Set aside for 1 hour, stirring occasionally. I actually got through all the chopping before realizing that this would have been the perfect time to use the julienne peeler we made these veggie noodles with a few weeks ago. Alas!
In any case, I highly recommend using that peeler or even a mandoline slicer for this, if you have one.
While that salad is picking, thoroughly combine all the meatball ingredients in a bowl—the ground pork, cilantro (or basil or parsley), scallion, garlic, fish sauce, Sriracha, sugar, salt, pepper, and cornstarch.
Hand-mushing is definitely the best method to employ here.
Form the mixture into meatballs (you should get about 20 out of the deal), place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, and transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes.
After the meatballs have been chilled, heat a tablespoon of oil in a cast iron or nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Fry the meatballs until browned on all sides and cooked through.
Ka-POW.
In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise and Sriracha. This stuff takes this sandwich’s awesomeness to a whole different level.
Open up each piece of bread, and spread the Sriracha mayonnaise on each side. Fill with the pickled carrots and daikon, cooked meatballs, jalapenos, and cilantro. Serve!
This banh mi recipe is an awesome one but check out a few of our other sandwiches like our authentic Cuban Sandwich and the Morning Glory breakfast sandwich.
Meatball Banh Mi
Ingredients
For the carrot daikon salad:
- 2 medium carrots (julienned)
- 1 cup daikon radish (julienned)
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons rice wine vinegar
- 2 teaspoons sesame oil
For the meatballs:
- 1 pound ground pork (450g)
- 2 tablespoons chopped cilantro or basil
- 1 scallion (chopped)
- 3 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon Sriracha
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- salt and pepper (to taste)
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon oil
To assemble the sandwiches:
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 teaspoons Sriracha
- 1 baguette (cut into 4 equal pieces and lightly toasted)
- 1 jalapeno (seeded and thinly sliced)
- fresh cilantro
Instructions
- Start by preparing the carrot and daikon. Add the julienned carrots and daikon to a large bowl and toss in the sugar, salt, vinegar and sesame oil. Set aside for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
- While that’s going, thoroughly combine all the meatball ingredients in a bowl, and form into meatballs (you should get about 20). Place the meatballs on a parchment lined baking sheet, and transfer to the freezer for 20 minutes. After the meatballs have been chilled, heat a tablespoon of oil in a cast iron or nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Fry the meatballs until browned on all sides and cooked through.
- In a separate bowl, combine the mayonnaise and Sriracha. Open up each piece of bread, and spread the Sriracha mayonnaise on each side. Fill with the pickled carrots and daikon, cooked meatballs, jalapenos, and cilantro. Serve!
Can you make the sandwich ahead for lunch the next day? How do you keep it fresh?
Hi Jeanette, you could make the elements ahead of time, like the mayo, the meatballs, and the daikon/carrot salad. The next day, just assemble it. You can warm the bread, spread on the mayo, then heat the meatballs in the microwave or a pan before putting them on the sandwich with the salad and herbs.
This came out amazing, I will be making this on repeat! I just had a bahn mi at a restaurant yesterday and it was not nearly as tasty! Amazing recipe!
Thank you Tom!
Hello! Made so many things from this site I love it and now trying this for the first time. The oil in the ingredients list under assembling doesn’t seem to be mentioned, so I add it into the sriracha and mayo?
Hi Alice, sorry for the confusion! The oil is actually there for the frying of the meatballs. I’ll move the oil to the meatball recipe list!
Brill thank you!