Vietnamese Pork Meatball Banh Mi

Delicious and easy to make, our Vietnamese Pork Meatball Banh Mi can be enjoyed on a baguette or piled into a lettuce cup.

Vietnamese Pork Meatball Banh Mi

While most of the school year tends to be busy, we really gear up in May and June. Two kids in two different Fastpitch leagues keep us running 6 nights a week all over Calgary and beyond for games and weekend tournaments.

This is when organization and menu planning is key to ensure there are no greasy food stops along the way, but instead we keep pace with healthy, quick meals filling bellies and giving everyone tons of energy for the evenings adventures.

June is Pork Month

For the next month we have partnered with local business Sunterra Market to help promote their own farm pork in celebration of pork month in June. We will be creating some quick family meals using pork and accompanying store products.

With quick and easy meals our theme, we’ve created a banh mi sandwich utilizing flavours from Vietnam. We initially had planned on a variation of our Pork Kofta, (also an easy way to use pork for a quick meal) but changed to meatballs, because who doesn’t love a good meatball?!

Start the day before

This recipe can be started the night before by mixing the meatball ingredients, even making the meatballs and leaving in the refrigerator, covered and uncooked. Making the mayonnaise spread in advance also allows the flavours to blend nicely.

For those on a low carb diet or keto, all the ingredients can be placed into a lettuce cup or on top of a salad using all the ingredients you have prepared for these sammies. This recipe makes up to four dozen meatballs or 8 sandwiches. After feeding our family of four we had a handful of meatballs left!

History of the Banh Mi

The traditional Banh Mi sandwich itself is actually a French-Vietnamese hybrid consisting of a baguette, pickled vegetables, cilantro, a spicy chili component, cooling cucumber, a spicy or garlicky sauce and a protein.

These days any protein can go into one of these sandwiches allowing them to be unique to each person. Ours do not include the pickled vegetables since I am the only one who enjoys pickles in the family, therefore we keep our vegetables crunchy and everyone happy!

Sunterra Farms Facts:

Did you know Sunterra Farms started over 40 years ago in Acme, Alberta. Since then they have been perfecting their pork. You can read more about the farm and how they came to be through a conversation in Oxfordshire, England and the Pig Improvement Company (PIC) back in the 1960s by clicking on the link: Over Forty Years of Perfecting Pork

1. Sunterra Farms raises pigs in rural Alberta, producing top-quality pork that is processed at Sunterra Meats and available at Sunterra Market locations. The pork is traceable from farm to fork.
2. All the pork sold in the market comes from the farm. Valbella processes their hams in Canmore.

Bright, yet simple flavours are what make this sandwich shine. We’ve served the meatballs in a baguette, in a lettuce cup, and the next day in a salad for lunch.

Popular Pork Recipes to try

• Pork Souvlaki with Cucumber Pineapple Salsa
• Slow Cooker Beer Pulled Pork
• Spicy Orange Pork Chops
• Pork Sausage Patties
• Thai Salad with Jalapeno and Mint

We are working in collaboration with Sunterra Market and they have provided the ingredients for this recipe. All opinions, views expressed and recipe development are, as always, my own.

If you made this recipe tag Wanda Baker on Instagram and hashtag it #bakersbeans or #wandabaker

Vietnamese Pork Meatball Banh Mi

Print Recipe Pin Recipe Rate Recipe

Course: dinner, lunch

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Servings: 8

Author: Wanda Baker

Ingredients

Meatball Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground pork
• 1/3 cup finely chopped fresh basil
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh mint
• 2 finely chopped green onions
• 2 stalks lemon grass pale section, bruised & finely chopped
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp chili garlic sauce
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp minced ginger
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tsp cracked black pepper

The Sauce

• 2/3 cup mayonnaise
• 1 tsp lime zest
• 1 tsp lime juice
• 1 tbsp cilantro chopped
• 2 tsp chili garlic sauce
• pinch sea salt

The Toppings

• Butter Lettuce
• 2 carrots julienned
• 2 radishes julienned
• 1/2 cup cucumber shredded or thinly sliced lengthwise
• 1 jalapeno sliced thin
• 1 red Thai chili pepper sliced thin
• cilantro fresh sprigs
• 2 limes sliced into wedges
• 2 baguettes
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• Cooked vermicelli noodles If making lettuce cups

Instructions

Make the meatballs

• In a bowl mix together pork, basil, mint, green onions, lemongrass, fish sauce, 2 tbsp chili garlic sauce, sugar, ginger, salt and pepper. Once combined set back in fridge.

Make the Sauce

• Mix the mayonnaise, lime zest and juice, cilantro, 2 tsp chili garlic sauce and a pinch of salt in a small bowl. Set back in refrigerator until ready to use.

Cook the meatballs

• Take your pork mixture and roll your meatballs into 1 inch balls or roughly the size of a walnut.
• Heat 1 tbsp of the sesame oil in a large cast iron or non stick frying pan over medium heat. Cook half the meatballs, turning often, for 5-9 minutes or until browned and cooked through. Set aside on a parchment lined baking sheet and keep warm in the oven while you cook the second batch of meatballs in the remaining 1 tbsp of sesame oil.

Pre the veg

• In individual bowls add your carrots, radish, cucumber, jalapeno and red thai chili peppers, cilantro sprigs and lime wedges.
• Cut your baguettes lengthwise without cutting all the way through, and then into 4 equal pieces.
• Once they are all cooked start preparing your sandwich.

Make the sandwich

• On each piece of baguette slather on some spicy mayonnaise. Add a few pieces of butter lettuce, 3-4 meatballs, a sprinkle of carrots, radish and cucumber. Top with cilantro, hot peppers and a squeeze of fresh lime.

The lettuce cup

• To eat as a lettuce cup, use medium size pieces of butter lettuce, add some vermicelli noodles, carrots, radish, cucumber, cilantro and hot peppers. You can add a small dollop of the mayonnaise if you wish and fresh lime juice.
• Put all the ingredients on the table allowing everyone to add more.