Here’s a super fast pork stir fry made with ground pork infused with flavours from the streets of Vietnam. With just a handful of ingredients you probably already have, it’s sweet, salty, beautifully caramelised and absolutely irresistible. It’s the quick and easy version of Vietnamese Caramel Pork, a famous Vietnamese food speciality!
This is a reader-favourite recipe included by popular demand in my debut cookbook “Dinner”!
Vietnamese stir fry – Pork Mince recipe
Ground pork – which we call “mince” here in Australia – is extremely good value.
It’s also just about the least sexy protein I know. Don’t you think? A dry aged piece of New York strip is sexy. Quail is gourmet. Oysters are….well, we’ve all heard that oysters are an aphrodisiac, right? 😉
Mince is…well, it just isn’t fancy. And yet, it makes it into my shopping trolley every single week because it’s such good value and so versatile. Sure, there are the usual suspects you can make with mince. Bolognese, meatballs, burgers, Meatloaf, Shepherds Pie – to name a few of the more common ones.
But sometimes, it’s nice to do something a little different. Like this Vietnamese pork stir fry.
The crazy thing about this pork mince recipe is that the ingredients list is so short. Chili, garlic, ginger, sugar and fish sauce. That’s it. Seriously!
Can I make this pork stir fry with chicken or beef mince?
Yes! This is fabulous made with chicken, beef and turkey!
“This is a terrific ground pork recipe that tastes and sounds so exotic…. yet it’s so easy!”
The secret to this ground pork is the caramelisation. It is rare to see recipes made with ground meat that are cooked this way so the meat is caramelised.
But those golden brown bits you see – they are the crowning glory in this recipe that takes it from a rather unappetising pale brown-grey colour to a golden brown pile of deliciousness that you will want to eat with a spoon straight out of the skillet. (Go on – you deserve it – cook’s privileges!)
What you need
Short list – see? I didn’t exaggerate!!
Lemongrass is optional – it’s not a pantry staple and also it’s not an ingredient in traditional Vietnamese Caramel Pork. But lemongrass flavour is certainly at home in this dish!
How to make this Vietnamese pork mince stir fry
This pork mince stir fry comes together as quickly as any stir fry. Once you start cooking, you’ll be done in 6 minutes flat.
Authentic Vietnamese roots
I am not 1000% sure that this is strictly authentic Vietnamese but the combination of ingredients I use most certainly are and it is my replica of dishes I have tried at Vietnamese restaurants here in Australia. It is an adaptation of the marinade I use in my Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Bowl and essentially the quick version of Vietnamese Caramel Pork, a famous Vietnamese food speciality.
How to serve it
Serve this pork stir fry over rice and eat it with a spoon! This pork mince recipe doesn’t have a sauce, but you don’t need it because the flavour is intensified and the pork mince mixes all through the rice which flavour it.
To complete your meal, try these:
A fresh side salad like this Asian Slaw;
Add a side of cucumber and tomato wedges, pictured (very classic South East Asian way to add vegetables to a meal); or
Shredded lettuce, cucumber and carrots which makes it more like the classic Vietnamese Noodle Bowls.
Make my Vietnamese Chicken Salad but without the chicken for a fresh, slaw-like salad side.
Hope you enjoy! – Nagi x
PS For a healthy low carb option try Cauliflower Rice – 77% fewer calories and 87% less carbs than rice.
Watch how to make it
This recipe features in my debut cookbook Dinner. The book is mostly new recipes, but this is a reader favourite included by popular demand!
Get your Vietnamese fix!
Vietnamese Caramel Pork – and the Chicken version!
Lemongrass Chicken – one of my favourite things to grill!
Browse all Vietnamese recipes
More quick pork mince recipes
San Choy Bow (Chinese Lettuce Cups)
Egg Foo Young (Chinese Omelette with Pork)
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Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 tbsp cooking oil (I use peanut oil)
- 1/2 onion , finely diced (brown, white or yellow) (~1/2 cup)
- 2 tsp ginger , grated or minced
- 2 garlic cloves , minced (2 tsp paste)
- 1 birds eye or Thai chili , deseeded and finely chopped (Note 1)
- 1 lb / 500g ground pork (mince) (Note 2)
- 5 tbsp brown sugar
- 2 tbsp fish sauce
Serving:
- 1 green onion stem , finely sliced
- Rice
- Sliced red chilli, tomato, cucumber (optional)
Instructions
- Heat the oil in a large skillet over high heat.
- Add the onion, ginger, garlic and chili and cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the pork mince and cook for 2 minutes or so until white all over, breaking up the meat with a wooden spoon.
- Add the sugar and fish sauce. Stir, then leave it to cook without touching until all the juices cook out and the pork starts caramelised – about 2 minutes. Then stir it and leave it again, without stirring, for around 30 seconds to get more caramelisation. Repeat twice more until caramelised to your taste.
- Serve over rice or vermicelli noodles, garnished with sliced scallions/shallots. For a low carb, low cal option, try Cauliflower Rice! I like to have chunks of plain cucumber and carrots on the side which is a classic way of making Vietnamese bowls.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
Originally published November 2015. Updated September 2019 with new writing, some new photos, brand new video and most importantly, new Life of Dozer section added!
Life of Dozer
Dozer on the wrong side of the counter at the pet shop!!!
(PS yes you spy cat treats, buying a present for a friend!)
This is easily one of my fave, go-to recipes. It’s quick & so, so delicious & I can make it totally healthy by serving it over a salad bowl.
This is my go to quick dinner after a long day at work! Never disappoints!
4 in the house and this was 8 thumbs up, so delicious
Kids demand this at least weekly – and I’ve got fussy eaters.
This is so easy and super delicious took a little longer to crisp up, no leftovers all devoured. You have done it again Nagi.
How much lemongrass paste do you recommend using?
Hi Tom
As much as you like!
If you’re lucky to live near an Asian grocer, you can buy frozen minced lemongrass which you can just break off what you need and pop back into your freezer. And it’s super cheap too!
We are making this tonight for I reckon the 50 th time – it’s delicious 😋
The family loved this dish, I doubled it using turkey and pork, with half the amount of sugar. Caramelisation really good but would be better with more sugar (but no good for the diabetic). Served with vermicelli noodles, and cucumber/tomato/carrot/mint simple salad with squeeze of lemon. And quick pickled cabbage (from Fish Taco recipe). Kids asked to have it again. BIg winner.
this is on regular rotation at our house – i cook the pork mince exactly as described in recipe and have chopped red capsicum, carrot and cucumber with it (plus the rice) – it’s so SO good, thankyou Nagi!
Delicious. Rarely have chilies on hand, but always have gochugaru. Used a few pinches. Since my son can’t eat fish, I replace the fish sauce with a vegetarian version and some vegetarian oyster sauce.
Can’t wait to make it for myself with actual fish sauce
This was so easy and ridiculously delicious so much flavor.
Nagi, I am so grateful for this amazing recipe! I have a very clingy baby and was so close to breaking and getting takeaway, but found this recipe and made the quickest dinner of my life. I had to sub fish sauce with soy sauce and added julienne carrots. So delicious, fresh, fast, just incredible and will be high on rotation for a while. Thank you!
I never comment, but this was a 2 thumbs up from my hard-to-please family!
So quick, so tasty, my daughter and I absolutely love this meal.
I’m eating a bowl of leftovers now — this has become a go-to in our home! I often throw in frozen shredded cabbage + carrots to add some veggies, and have subbed red pepper flakes several times, with spicy, delicious results.
I love the flavour, but how can I make it less spicy?
Left a comment and forgot to rate it! 5 stars!
Absolutely delicious! I made some tweaks. Less sugar. Subbed soy sauce for fish sauce and half a red capsicum for birds eye chilli. Turned out yum. Nagi, your recipes are always so versatile.
This is such a great recipe, and I love that there are many times (such as tonight) when I have chicken mince and don’t know what to do with it, but I have all these other ingredients in my pantry or fridge. Thanks so much for this recipe!
Vietnamese Caramelised Pork Bowls – absolutely scrum=diddly-umptious! Thank you once again. Xx
I used this pork recipe as a topping to the Trader Joe’s Knife Cut Squiggly Noodles, topped it all with the Trader Joe’s Crunchy Chili Onion topping and it was a WINNER. Hit all the craving buttons.