Recipe
🍽️ DINNER
Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad)
Warm minced pork tossed with lime, fish sauce, chili flakes, toasted rice powder, and a garden of herbs.
Lao · easy · serves 3
prep 15 min · cook 10 min
~964 cal · 56g protein · 132g carbs · 23g fat · 5g fiber · 5g sugars · 8g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Larb (laap) is considered the national dish of Laos, a warm, zesty salad of minced meat tossed with lime juice, , chili, herbs, and the essential toasted-rice powder (khao khua) that gives it a nutty crunch. It is the vibrant heart of Lao eating, bright, spicy, and herbaceous.
The toasted rice powder is the signature, ground from dry-roasted sticky rice and lending both texture and a distinctive aroma, alongside handfuls of mint and cilantro. Larb carries cultural weight too, its name evokes 'luck,' making it auspicious at celebrations, and it spread into Thailand's Isan region with the shared Lao culture.
Eaten with sticky rice pinched up by hand and fresh raw vegetables to cool the heat, larb is everyday and festive food across Luang Prabang and Laos.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, nut- and egg-free. No swaps needed.
Toggle a diet and the ingredients rewrite themselves with regional substitutes.
🥕 Vegetarian
🌱 Vegan
🌾 Gluten-Free
🥛 Dairy-Free
🥜 Nut-Free
🥚 Egg-Free
🐖 Pork-Free
Dietary labels are a cooking guide, not allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish; we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, read the label on every product you use, and note that a kitchen can cross-contaminate in ways a recipe cannot control.
Ingredients
US
Metric
Serves 3
1 lb ground pork (or chicken)
2 cups sticky rice
2 tbsp sticky rice (for khao khua powder)
2.5 tbsp
3 tbsp lime juice
3 shallots, thinly sliced
1 tbsp , finely minced
Hard to find? fresh ginger with a little lime zest - a compromise rather than a swap. Galangal is sharper, more peppery and faintly piny, and ginger alone tastes of ginger; frozen or paste galangal keeps well and is much closer
4 kaffir lime leaves, finely slivered
Hard to find? finely grated lime zest - slivered leaves are eaten rather than fished out, so zest is a reasonable stand-in here; frozen makrut leaves keep for months and are worth buying if you cook Thai food at all often
1-2 tsp toasted chili flakes
1/2 cup mint
1/2 cup cilantro
1/2 cup culantro (if you can find it)
3 , sliced
a few cabbage wedges, to serve
a handful long beans, to serve
1 cucumber, to serve
Instructions
1
Make the khao khua: toast 2 tbsp raw sticky rice in a dry pan until deep gold, then grind to a coarse, sandy powder.
✎ Chef’s note
The toasted rice powder is what gives larb its nutty aroma and body. Grind it coarse, not to flour.
2
Cook the meat (or mushroom and tofu) in a splash of water over medium heat, breaking it fine, just until done.
✎ Chef’s note
Larb is dressed warm, not seared. Cooking it gently in a little water keeps it tender and juicy.
3
Take the pan off the heat and dress the warm meat with fish sauce, lime juice, chili flakes, sliced shallots, minced galangal, and slivered kaffir lime leaves.
4
Fold in the fresh herbs, scallions, and toasted rice powder last, so they stay bright and fragrant.
5
Serve warm with sticky rice and a platter of raw vegetables for scooping.
Luang Prabang tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Luang Prabang. The town's own dishes are far more particular than Lao food in general: aor lam, a stew given a numbing edge by sakhan pepperwood; jaew bong, a chilli paste made with dried buffalo skin; and khai pen, weed lifted from the Mekong, pressed into sheets with sesame and garlic and dried, gathered only a few weeks a year.
🗺️
Laos. Sticky rice is not boiled, it is soaked overnight and steamed in a conical bamboo basket called a huad, then tipped into a lidded basket, the thip khao, that each person keeps beside them. You pinch off a lump, knead it into a ball with your fingers, and use it to pick up everything else. Laotians sometimes call themselves luk khao niao, children of the sticky rice.
🌍
Asia. Asia is the world's largest and most populous continent, and its food spans the delicate seasonality of Japanese washoku, the chili-fired curries of India and Thailand, and the wheat-and-lamb traditions of Central Asia. Rice, noodles, soy, and fermentation recur across its regions, while ancient spice routes and religious traditions shaped distinct grammars of flavor. Whether from a street-cart wok or a monastery kitchen, eating is deeply communal and ritual-rich.
The story behind this dish is up top, worth a read while the pot works.
More from Laos
Tam Mak Hoong (Lao Green Papaya Salad)Shredded green papaya pounded in a mortar with padaek, lime, chili, garlic, and tomato, the dark, funky, fiery Lao papaya salad.
Or LamA Luang Prabang herb stew of meat and vegetables thickened with sticky rice and buzzed with peppery sakhan vine.
Khao Piak SenA comforting Lao chicken noodle soup with soft, chewy hand-cut rice-tapioca noodles.
Browse all Laos recipes →
Good to know
Storing it: Best assembled just before serving. Prep the components ahead and dress at the last moment so it stays crisp.
Make it a Laos meal
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Frequently asked questions
What is Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad)?
Warm minced pork tossed with lime, fish sauce, chili flakes, toasted rice powder, and a garden of herbs.
Where does Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad) come from?
Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad) is a Lao dish from Luang Prabang, Laos.
Can Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad) be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad) recipe includes substitution suggestions for vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, nut-free, egg-free, and pork-free versions, including several at once such as gluten-free and dairy-free together. Treat them as a starting guide rather than a guarantee, and see the allergen note below.
Is Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad) safe for people with food allergies?
Our dietary labels and substitutions are a cooking guide, not medical or allergen-safety advice. We track dairy, egg, gluten, tree nuts and peanuts (we count coconut as a tree nut, following FDA labeling), fish, and shellfish, but we do not screen for sesame, soy, mustard, celery, or sulphites. If you have a food allergy, always read the label on every product you use, and remember a home or commercial kitchen can cross-contaminate ingredients in ways a recipe cannot control.
How long does Larb (Lao Herb & Meat Salad) take to make?
About 25 minutes total (15 minutes prep, 10 minutes cooking), serving 3.
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