With just one bite you will be hooked on this Vietnamese Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl. Fun textures and flavors will have you wanting more and more. It’s a versatile dish that will work with chicken, shrimp, pork, beef, or tofu. Have your passport ready as this will transport you!
Bun is a delicious Vietnamese Vermicelli Bowl. This noodle salad has a wonderfully marinated chicken that is grilled. It’s packed full of great flavors and interesting textures. You’ll love every bite of it!
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I’m so thankful that I work so close to Chinatown in Boston. It gives me the chance to go there for lunch with my great coworkers. We enjoy sitting down for long lunches of dim sum just as much as we do getting to go from great hole in the wall places.
I love that I have a place where I can grab containers of prepared fried rice that is quick and cheap. There is a great place for bubble tea and pastries. But, my hands down favorite place my favorite place has big bowls of Bun.
Vietnamese Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl
Bun, more specifically Bún chả or bún gà nướng is a Vietnamese dish that contains vermicelli, lettuce, carrots, cucumbers, bean sprouts, mint, and grilled chicken. It’s dressed with a fish sauce based sauce called nước chấm.
Basically, bun is a Vietnamese Noodle Salad. It has a great combination of textures and flavors from the different vegetables and the dressing. It can be served with cold or hot noodles. Both ways are great, but my preference is with warm noodles.
I typically get my Bun with grilled lemongrass chicken or just with chả giò, Vietnamese egg rolls. If I’m really hungry I’ll get my bun with both because it’s all so good.
As soon as my bun arrives, I immediately drop my eggs rolls on top and then pour the nước chấm over it all. I love nước chấm so much that I usually ask for extra.
I always thought that making one of these bowls would be really tricky, time consuming, and I’d have to go out and get a bunch of ‘exotic’ stuff.
In reality, this recipe is easy, quick, and I typically have most of the ingredients at home already. And, the additional stuff I had to get will just get out to use the next time I make this because yum! Serious yum.
This homemade version is just like what you get in a restaurant because it has all the right flavors, smells, and textures that I’ve come to love in my big bowls of Bun.
The key to making this dish successfully and enjoyable it taking the time to prepare the various elements.
First prepare the marinade for the chicken, then let the chicken marinate for one hour. While the chicken the marinating, you’ll preapre the rest of the ingredients.
When the chicken is grilled, you’ll be ready to assemble the Vietnamese Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl in just a few minutes.
This Vietnamese Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl is an easy dish to preapre that will have you infatuated with it. The bright, bold, complex flavors will have you hooked immediately.
What is bún gà nướng?
Bún gà nướng is a Vietnamese Vermicelli Bowl with Grilled Chicken on top. Basically, bún is a big noodle salad of lettuce, vermicelli noodles, fresh vegetables and herbs, and a protein. All of that is then dressed with a zippy sauce, called nước chấm.
What are the ingredients?
Bun is a noodle salad that has lettuce, carrots, cucumber,
Vermicelli is a rice noodle that is traditionally used in Asian dishes.
It is also served with your choice of protein- grilled chicken, pork, shrimp, tofu, etc. Sometimes chả giò (egg rolls) are a topping, which means you order Bún chả giò.
Everything is topped with nước chấm, which has really complex flavors from the fish sauce base.
Can this be prepared in advanced?
This is a great dish to meal prepping for weekday lunches as you can prepare the different elements in advance, then then assemble later on.
The chicken can be grilled and stored in an air tight container.
The lettuce, vegetables, and herbs can all be cleaned and chopped, and stored. As well, the dressing can be prepared in advanced. Easy peasy!
Then, on the morning of, you’ll want to dress the carrots and cucumbers to prepare the pickled vegetables.
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Vietnamese Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl
With just one bite you will be hooked on this Vietnamese Grilled Chicken Vermicelli Bowl. Fun textures and flavors will have you wanting more and more. It's a versatile dish that will work with chicken, shrimp, pork, beef, or tofu. Have your passport ready as this will transport you!
Ingredients
For the chicken:
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- 2 scallions, sliced
- 4 inch piece of lemongrass, finely minced
- 3 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 pound chicken breast, sliced thinly
For the quick-pickled carrots and cucumbers:
- 1-2 carrots, peeled and cut into matchsticks
- 1 small cucumber, cut into matchsticks
- 4 tablespoons rice vinegar, no sugar or salt added
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- Pinch of salt
For the nuoc cham sauce:
- Juice of 2 limes
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 3 tablespoons warm water
- 1/2 teaspoon chili paste
For the Scallion Oil:
- 1/4 cup vegetable oil
- 1/2 cup sliced scallions, 3-4 scallions
For serving:
- 12 ounces vermicelli, cooked according to package directions
- 1 head of green leaf lettuce, so finely chopped it resembles thin ribbons
- Bunch of cilantro
- Fresh bean sprouts
- Crushed roasted peanuts
Instructions
- To prepare the marinade for the chicken, in a large bowl mix together all the ingredients from the garlic to the soy sauce. Marinate the chicken by placing in the bowl, cover, and refrigerate for at least an hour before cooking.
- To make the quick-pickled vegetables, pour the vinegar, sugar, and salt over the vegetables and toss to coat. Let sit at room temperature for at least an hour before serving. If you make this more than a couple of hours in advance, store them in the fridge.
- For the nuoc cham sauce, mix all ingredients together. Taste and adjust seasonings as necessary. Set aside.
- For the scallion oil, heat the oil in a large skillet over low heat. When it's hot, add the scallions and cook until wilted but still bright green, about three minutes.
- Take the chicken out of the fridge about ten minutes before you want to cook it. Prepare the grill/grill pan by preheating it over medium high heat. Cook the chicken with a little marinade spooned on top, on both sides until browned and cooked through. Brush the cooked chicken with the scallion oil just before you remove it grill the grill. Let the chicken rest and then slice on a diagonal.
- To serve, place a small pile of lettuce and another mound of vermicelli in a bowl. Top with pickled vegetables, bean sprouts, grilled chicken, and roasted peanuts. Serve with nuoc cham sauce on the side.
Notes
Adapted from The Calculated Whisk
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 4 Serving Size: 4 peopleAmount Per Serving: Calories: 687Total Fat: 19gSaturated Fat: 2gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 15gCholesterol: 96mgSodium: 3172mgCarbohydrates: 84gFiber: 7gSugar: 41gProtein: 47g
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I am so glad you enjoyed the vermicelli bowl! Your photos are gorgeous, and it’s so fun to have a fellow Bostonian assigned to my blog for SRC. I can totally sympathize with you about the search for certain elusive ingredients–I recently went on an unsuccessful hunt for coriander seeds at 3 different Whole Foods markets, the Asian market is my neighborhood, and one regular grocery store; I ended up having to buy them on Moody St in Waltham.
Like you, I am also a bit intimidated by this type of recipe, not sure why. I think all it takes is a little organization before starting. The pay-off in terms of flavor is huge!
Loved this post!
This looks delicious….I have never tried making vietnamese food but I think I will give this a try.
I just made a steak vermicelli bowl last week for the first time and absolutely LOVED it! I can’t wait to give this one a try too! Awesome pick this month 🙂
This looks so yummy!
Just give me a big straw for that sauce! Great SRC pick!
Wow this looks soooo amazing! Flavorful, fresh and delicious! I love to make Asian dishes at home– sometimes I think it’s better than at restaurants. I definitely want to try this one!
This looks seriously good. I’ve got to make it. That sauce alone…. Wow. Great choice!!
That looks SOOOO GOOD!! Great pick this month!
These photos are absolutely beautiful! This is one of my favorite easy summer dinners and my favorite thing to get whenever we go to a Vietnamese restaurant. Great SRC post!
This is so totally my kind of meal I can’t wait to try it. We don’t have any Vietnamese restaurants where I live, so I’ve only ever tried it a couple of times, but I love the freshness and flavours and I know I would love this dish. Pinning it to try it very shortly. So glad you picked it.
Sue
Yum! This looks amazing! I can only imagine how flavourful it is!
Just stumbled on your site from instagram. It looks fab! Wish Id seen it before last week….we just got back from a family holiday in Boston. Id have pumped you for some tips!! This dish looks amazing and tasty. My kids love chinese food, but (bad mother) I we tend to only have it as take out. I should really give this a bash !
I’m trying more and more Asian dishes at home, and this is perfect for one of our dinners. I’ll have to use fish since I don’t eat meat, but my husband would love the chicken version you made. Great pick this month!
Shrimp is great with this. I’m sure a fish would be great too!
I love trying new foods, and I also love that this dish can be made ahead!
This looks fantastic! And perfect for serving for a group since you can add and subtract based on personal preferences. YUM!