This Vietnamese beef vermicelli dish is savory, and full of freshness, flavor, and texture. It's a dish that you're sure to fall in love with! It takes a bit of planning and preparation, but it will be worth it once you taste the final result! It's a favorite in our house and is sure to be one in yours, too!

Back in 2016, my family and I visited Hoi An, Vietnam and while we were there, we attended a cooking class where we made this delicious noodle dish that made a huge impression on me.

Asian woman wearing a pink shirt, holding a white dish containing vegetable and noodles. — Me a the Thuan Tinh Cooking Tour class in Hoi An, Vietnam in 2016....

A white dish containing white noodles, beef, green lettuce, strips of carrots and cucumber. — ...and the southern-style beef vermicelli dish we made that inspired my recipe!

They called it a Southern Vietnamese Beef Vermicelli, but I don't know enough about the different regions of Vietnam and what dishes come from where.

All I do know is that I still love this dish as much as I did back when I first tried it and I think you will, too! Let's get cooking!

Preparing the ingredients

Before you get to cooking the beef, all these ingredients should be ready to go. Once the beef is cooked, everything gets put together really quickly for eating!

Rice Noodles

Prepare the noodles according to the package directions. You can use any type of dried Asian rice noodle you can find, but I prefer to use ones that are slightly thicker and have more chew than ones that are very thin.

A dark grey rectangular plate containing white uncooked stick noodles.

A colander containing cooked white noodles.

Rinse the noodles with cool water after boiling to stop the cooking process and set aside in a colander or strainer.

Note: The noodles will stick together if left sitting for a long time. All you need to do is give them a quick rinse with cool water or pour hot boiled water over them and then shake to loosen, draining out the excess water before transferring the noodles to your dishes.

Vegetables

I like using carrots, cucumber, and lettuce in this dish, but fresh bean sprouts is another option. The key with the vegetables is to prepare them so that they are "noodle-like", making them almost "at one" with the rice noodles when mixed together.

Carrots: You can julienne them or you can do like I do and use a peeler to create carrot ribbons. They are easier to eat and blend nicely with everything else in the dish.

A carrot, a vegetable peeler, and carrot peelings on a wooden cutting board.

Thin cut strips of cucumber on a wooden cutting board.

Finely chopped lettuce on a wooden cutting board.

Cucumbers: I julienne cucumbers thin enough so that they have some bend do them.

Lettuce: Cut them fine so they are like shreds.

Divide and arrange the veggies how ever you'd like among your dishes. Add the noodles the dishes.

Sauce

In a measuring cup, combine the broth, soy sauce (tamari or liquid aminos for gluten-free), fish sauce, honey, tapioca starch, and pepper and stir well. Set it aside.

A measuring cup containing a metal ¾ teaspoon and brown liquid with black pepper.

If you are a vegetarian, substitute the beef with shiitake or oyster mushrooms and use vegetable broth instead of beef or chicken broth for your sauce.

Cooking the Beef

In a skillet over medium-high heat, cook the beef in a bit of oil, making sure to brown the beef so that you get some bits cooked onto the bottom of the pan, aka fond, aka FLAVOR that will add to the sauce you'll make at the end!

A white plate containing raw pink thinly sliced beef.

A grey skillet containing brown cooked thinly sliced meat.

Once the beef is cooked, immediately divide and add them to the dishes already containing the veggies and noodles.

With the heat still on, pour in the sauce into the skillet where you cooked the beef to deglaze the pan. Scrape the bottom of the skillet with a spatula to get all the browned bits off.

Brown liquid being poured and bubbling in a grey skillet.

Bring the sauce to a boil and then drizzle it over the beef and noodles.

How To Enjoy It

Wooden chopsticks resting on a round bowl containing cooked beef, vegetables, and white noodles.

If desired, top your beef vermicelli with fried shallots, chopped scallions, or chopped peanuts. At the cooking class, they taught us to fry thinly sliced garlic and shallots in the oil that we would end up frying the beef in. But to make it simpler, I find using jarred fried shallots is way easier and there's less of a chance of me burning it!

If you like spice, sprinkle it with some sliced fresh chili peppers. Serve it with a wedge of lime to squeeze in some tang.

A spoonful of brown sauce being drizzled over white noodles and vegetables.

And then all you have to do is mix everything up and dig in! Fresh crisp vegetables, tender beef, oodles of noodles, tasty sauce...you're going to love it!

More Asian Noodle Recipes

I, personally, love noodle dishes, especially ones with Asian flavors like this Vietnamese beef vermicelli. If you're like me, check out these other Asian noodle recipes you're bound to like!

A dark round bowl containing cooked beef, white noodles, carrot strands, cucumber strips, and chopped lettuce.

Vietnamese dishes can be somewhat complex and can sometimes require a lot of prep, but their dishes are also so flavorful and delicious that it's worth it...and this beef vermicelli is no exception! Learning how to make this in Vietnam was one of the best cooking experiences I've ever had and you are going to love that I've shared this with you!

~ Lisa.

**This post was originally published June 18th 2018 and republished October, 9th, 2022 with an updated recipe, new photos, and new writing.

Savory Vietnamese Beef Vermicelli