Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls

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These Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls are based of the classic bun noodle bowls and you can make these with either noodles or freshly steamed rice. They’re all flavor and fresh crunchy veggies paired with savory meat and just the right amount of rice to soak up all the sauce. It’s an easy and healthy meal that can be made with brown rice as well. It’s gluten free, dairy free, and packs well for lunch the next day too.

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

We make many variations of these salad bowls because we love them so much! They’re great with rice or rice noodles. And in the summer, I like to make them with extra lettuce and no rice for a lighter meal. These salad bowls are a great way to add lots of fresh flavor in the middle of the winter because they rely on simple vegetables that are easily available year round.

These salad bowls started as a way to have Vietnamese food at home, when we weren’t in Calgary (see Basil Vietnamese Restaurant). They’re similar to bun noodle bowls that you would order at a Vietnamese restaurant, with lots of fresh vegetables and herbs.

I started trying to make them at home, but I never quite got the flavor until I started adding water to the Nuoc Cham (the dressing for this salad). By diluting the fish sauce flavor, I finally arrived at the flavors I recognized from eating out. By the way, it’s totally not authentic to water down your Nuoc Cham. But it does seem to suit American palates.

Now let’s jump in and make these Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls step by step!

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

You can use any kind of lettuce for this meal. But I prefer either green leaf lettuce or romaine in the winter. In the summertime, we like to use Little Gem lettuce from the garden, (be sure to look for it at Farmer’s Market, it’s like a smaller – softer romaine with great flavor).

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

For the fresh herbs, I like to use lots of cilantro and green onions because they’re reasonably priced in the winter. But during the summer load up on all the herbs you can get your hands on! Also check out my How to Maintain Living Herbs for tips about living basil to have around during winter.

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

I always make a big batch of the pickled carrots and the Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce – aka the dressing for this salad). Both of them will keep for 2 weeks in the fridge. That way, it cuts the prep time down by quite a bit when I make it the next time.

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

For the Nuoc Cham/dipping sauce, I usually use brown rice vinegar instead of the traditional fresh lime juice. I definitely like it both ways, but the version with vinegar keeps longer in the fridge.

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

While the turkey is cooking, assemble the chili paste, fish sauce, and minced garlic (garlic press works great here).

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

For the meat, start by sautéeing the shallot and then add the ground turkey. Once the turkey is lightly browned, add the chili paste, garlic, and fish sauce. There will still be a few juices in the bottom of the pan. This adds to the dressing flavors in the salad bowls.

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

We make these salad bowls with all different kinds of meats, from ground pork to ground chicken. We also do lemongrass beef skewers on the grill, but that’s probably a recipe for another day. You can also follow the recipe for satay chicken in my Satay Chicken Lettuce Wraps, and substitute the chicken into this salad bowl recipe – endless variations.

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

And now for some more Vietnamese inspired recipes!

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

Just a few final notes about fish sauce:

1. Don’t tell anyone it’s in there, and they’ll probably love it! I’ve converted several people now who thought they didn’t like fish sauce with this recipe.

2. Use a good quality fish sauce like Red Boat. Lower quality fish sauces can contain all kinds of undesirable ingredients. And sometimes can have a weird even off putting flavor.

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Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls | Get Inspired Everyday!

Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls


Description

These Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls are based of the classic bun noodle bowls and you can make these with either noodles or freshly steamed rice. They’re all flavor and fresh crunchy veggies paired with savory meat and just the right amount of rice to soak up all the sauce. It’s an easy and healthy meal that can be made with brown rice as well. It’s gluten free, dairy free, and packs well for lunch the next day too.


Ingredients

Scale

3 cups long grain white rice

6 cups water

Salad:

46 cups lettuce, shredded and washed

1/2 cup coarsely chopped basil

1 cup coarsely chopped cilantro

1 bunch green onions, thinly sliced

Quick Pickled Carrots:

2 cups grated carrots

2 Tablespoons rice wine vinegar

Nuoc Cham:

1/4 cup fish sauce

1/4 cup water

2 Tablespoons Grade A maple syrup

2 Tablespoons rice vinegar

1 Teaspoon chili paste

Turkey:

1 pound ground turkey, (I used dark meat)

1 Tablespoon olive oil

1 shallot, minced

2 Teaspoons chili paste

1 Tablespoon fish sauce

2 cloves garlic, minced


Instructions

Rinse and drain the rice 3 times, until it’s no longer cloudy. Place the rice and the water into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. After it comes to a boil, lower the heat to low and place a lid on the saucepan.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes until the rice is tender and the water is fully absorbed. After the rice is done, set it aside until you finish the rest of the recipe.

Next, assemble the salad ingredients into individual serving bowls.

Place the grated carrots in a serving bowl and sprinkle the vinegar over the top.

In another bowl, stir together the ingredients for the Nuoc Cham.

Finally, for the turkey, heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.

Add the olive oil and shallot, and sauté until tender and golden brown.

Add the ground turkey to the pan and break it up with a wooden spoon or spatula.

While the turkey is cooking mix together the chili paste, fish sauce, and minced garlic. When the turkey is cooked through add the chili paste mixture, stir to combine and remove from the heat.

Serve all the components of this recipe together and everyone can assemble their salad bowls to their liking.

Notes

This recipe has a lot of separate parts, but it’s really easy to assemble. It usually takes me about 30 minutes to prep everything while the rice and turkey cooks.
You can also use brown rice in this recipe, just adjust for the longer cooking time.

  • Prep Time: 30 mins
  • Cook Time: 20 mins
  • Category: Dinner
  • Method: Stove Top
  • Cuisine: Asian

Keywords: Vietnamese Rice Bowls, Vietnamese Salad Bowls, Vietnamese Salad Bowls

8 thoughts on “Fresh Vietnamese Salad Bowls”

  1. Hi there!
    We had these for dinner last night and they are delicious.
    My husband said it reminded of him of a banh mi sandwich. Flavors are
    great!

    Reply
    • I’m so glad you enjoyed it! If you like Banh Mi, check out my Banh Mi Salad with Sriracha Aioli, it’s even closer to the traditional sandwich flavors. Let me know if you make it! 🙂

      Reply
  2. I have made a similar recipe tonight before I saw this. I have to try yours ‘coz it has the sweetness element. Plus I love the vegetables that you have added to the dish! Thanks for sharing your recipe.

    Reply
    • We make all kinds of Asian inspired rice bowls, but these are a particular favorite of mine, (I think it’s that sweetness element that you mentioned)!

      Reply
  3. YES! I love this! I’m so proud that Vietnamese food is becoming so much more popular :’)

    Also, have you tried using agave in your nuoc mam cham? The flavor is more neutral than maple syrup so it might be closer to the dipping sauces at restaurants. Traditionally it’s white sugar or cane sugar blocks, but it’s annoying to dissolve that down/a whole lot of white sugar to consume.

    Reply
    • I have used agave before, and it’s really good! I usually use Grade A maple syrup which has a really mild flavor unlike the Grade B which is like pure maple flavor. 🙂

      Reply

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