13 Essential Vietnamese Recipes for Your Daily Dose of Fish Sauce (2024)

Leafy herbs, noodle soups, aromatic broths, spicy chiles—Vietnamese recipes, let us count the way we love you. Here are our favorites—traditional and otherwise—that we think you should cook right now.

Bowien serves this soup as part of a breakfast menu. The dish is inspired by the Vietnamese soups he ate at Turtle Tower in San Francisco when he was a culinary student. Bowien simmers the simple chicken broth for just a short period after bringing it to a boil because he feels that the flavor goes flat if you cook the broth for too long. Get the recipe for Danny Bowien's Hanoi-Style Breakfast Pho »

A fragrant and satisfying appetizer (as well as an excellent use for leftover roast pork and poached or steamed shrimp), these flavorful bundles are great dipped in nuoc cham, a sweet and spicy Vietnamese sauce. Get the recipe for Pho Bac »

In Lauren Shockey's culinary memoir Four Kitchens(Grand Central Publishing, 2011), in which this recipe appears, the author writes: "After pho, bun cha is one of Hanoi's most famous dishes and is a delicious summertime lunch or light dinner. In Hanoi, you'll know you're at a bun cha stand by the smoke wafting from the charcoal grills. Living in New York City, I don't have the luxury of cooking pork on a charcoal grill, but my stove's broiler works just fine." Get the recipe for Vietnamese Pork Meatball and Noodle Salad (Bun Cha) »

A fragrant and satisfying appetizer (as well as an excellent use for leftover roast pork and poached or steamed shrimp), these flavorful bundles are great dipped in nuoc cham, a sweet and spicy Vietnamese sauce. Get the recipe for Vietnamese Lettuce Wraps »

For making spring rolls, most Vietnamese-American home cooks use the spongy, wheat-based wrappers called TYJ Spring Roll Pastry, which are made by the Spring Home company. They're available frozen at most Asian food stores. Get the recipe for Crab Spring Rolls »'

According to Andrea Nguyen, author of Into the Vietnamese Kitchen (Ten Speed Press, 2006), the baguette for this iconic Vietnamese sandwich "should be light and airy, with a very delicate crumb that does not fight you, but just frames the sandwich." This recipe first appeared in our April 2011 special Sandwich Issue with Nguyen's article Street Hero. Get the recipe for Banh Mi Sandwich »

Southern Vietnamese cooks often simmer catfish steaks with caramel sauce, and use the fish's head and tail in this refreshing soup brightened with tamarind and pineapple. Serve with rice, and that's my quintessential Vietnamese meal. Get the recipe for Sour Fish Soup (Canh Chua Cá »)

Pork collar is a great cut for a long marinade and a quick cook time—it gets nice and crispy on the outside and stays juicy inside, thanks to its marbled fat. This recipe comes courtesy of chef Chris Shepherd of Underbelly in Houston. Get the recipe for Vietnamese-Style Pork Collar »

The key to making this dish (from San Francisco's Slanted Door), often called "shaking beef", is to sear the meat in small batches in a very hot wok or skillet so that it browns quickly. Get the recipe for Vietnamese-Style Sautéed Beef »