Recipe
🥙 LUNCH
Bún Chả
Smoky grilled pork patties and slices in a sweet-sour dipping broth, with rice noodles and heaps of fresh herbs, Hanoi's lunch.
Vietnamese · medium · serves 4
prep 30 min · cook 20 min
~816 cal · 60g protein · 85g carbs · 26g fat · 5g fiber · 18g sugars · 9g sat fat (estimated, per serving)
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Bún chả is the definitive lunch of Hanoi, so beloved that the smell of it grilling fills the old quarter at midday. It is a dish of contrasts assembled at the table: smoky charred pork, cool rice noodles, and a bright dipping sauce.
Pork patties and slices of belly are marinated and grilled over charcoal until caramelised and smoky, then dropped into a warm bowl of nuoc cham, the sweet, sour, salty dipping broth of , lime, sugar, and pickled vegetables. You dip cool rice and a great pile of fresh herbs into the pork-scented broth, bite by bite, building each mouthful yourself.
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Make it yours
✓ Naturally gluten-, dairy-, egg- and nut-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 4
1 1/2 lb pork (belly and shoulder), sliced and minced
10 oz rice
1/3 cup
2 lime, juiced
3 tbsp sugar
3 cloves garlic and chili
3 shallots, minced
2 tbsp Vietnamese caramel sauce (nước màu)
2 tbsp rice vinegar
1 tsp black pepper
1 cup green papaya or kohlrabi, and carrot, sliced thin for the pickle (dưa góp)
2 cups fresh herbs (lettuce, mint, cilantro, perilla, Vietnamese balm)
Instructions
1
Make one marinade of fish sauce, sugar, caramel sauce, shallots, garlic, scallion and pepper, and split it: turn the sliced belly in half of it, and mix the rest into the minced pork, working it until it turns sticky and springy. Rest both an hour.
✎ Chef’s note
Two cuts, two shapes. Hanoi bun cha always comes with both: thin slices of belly (chả miếng) and small patties (chả băm). And no lemongrass and no five-spice go anywhere near it. Those belong to Southern bun thit nuong; leave them out and the dish stays Northern. Kneading the minced pork until it feels tacky is what holds the patties together on the grill.
2
Shape the minced pork into small flat patties, then grill both the patties and the belly slices over charcoal until charred at the edges and smoky.
✎ Chef’s note
Charcoal genuinely matters here in a way it does not for most dishes. The smoke is an ingredient, not a cooking method.
3
Salt the sliced papaya and carrot for half an hour, then rinse and squeeze them dry, and dress them in a little vinegar and sugar.
4
Warm fish sauce, sugar, vinegar and water together to dissolve, then add lime, crushed garlic, sliced chili, pepper and the pickles.
✎ Chef’s note
The Northern ratio is roughly one part fish sauce to one sugar to one vinegar to five of hot water. This is not the punchy Southern nuoc cham: it should be thin, mild and warm enough to be sipped from the bowl, and it is served warm rather than cold.
5
Drop the hot grilled pork into bowls of the warm nuoc cham.
6
Serve with rice vermicelli and a big platter of fresh herbs to dip bite by bite.
Hanoi lunch tradition.
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🌏 While it simmers, know your destination
📍
Hanoi (Red River Delta). Cha ca is the other Hanoi institution and it has an address. The Doan family were grilling turmeric-and-galangal-marinated catfish for neighbours in the Old Quarter until the street helped them open a shop in 1871; the street was later renamed after the dish. It arrives sizzling with dill and spring onion, to be eaten with bun, peanuts and pungent mam tom.
🗺️
Vietnam. Nuoc cham is the thing that never appears on a menu: fish sauce cut with lime, water, sugar, garlic and chilli, mixed to a ratio each household considers correct and set down beside almost everything. The fish sauce itself is anchovies and salt left in wooden barrels for months, and the EU registered Phu Quoc island's version as a protected name in 2012.
🌍
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 Vietnam
Phở Gà (Hanoi Chicken Pho)A clear, star-anise-scented chicken broth over rice noodles, finished with herbs and lime at the table.
Bánh XèoSizzling turmeric-rice crepes stuffed with shrimp, pork, and sprouts, wrapped in lettuce and dunked in nuoc cham.
Bún Bò HuếThe imperial city’s fierce beef-and-lemongrass noodle soup, spiked with chili oil and shrimp paste, bolder than pho.
Browse all Vietnam recipes →
Good to know
You’ll need: Grill or barbecue.
Storing it: Best fresh. Leftovers keep 2 days refrigerated; loosen with a splash of water or oil as you reheat so they do not clump.
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Frequently asked questions
What is Bún Chả?
Smoky grilled pork patties and slices in a sweet-sour dipping broth, with rice noodles and heaps of fresh herbs, Hanoi's lunch.
Where does Bún Chả come from?
Bún Chả is a Vietnamese dish from Hanoi (Red River Delta), Vietnam.
Can Bún Chả be made vegan, gluten-free, or dairy-free?
This Bún Chả 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 Bún Chả 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 Bún Chả take to make?
About 50 minutes total (30 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking), serving 4.
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