Banh Mi Pork Fried Rice Recipe - My Kitchen Love (2024)

Taking the classic savoury Vietnamese pork sandwich and turning it into a mouthwatering pork fried rice recipe. Juicy marinated pork and crispy fried rice with bright crunchy vegetables is one of our favourite weekday dinners.

This Banh Mi Fried Rice came about during the pandemic as a meal to avoid bread in all honesty. Bread was flying out the door at an alarming pace and I wanted a wholesome meal my kids would get behind, without cutting the crust off the bread … again.

Enter the delicious Banh Mi sandwich turned easy fried rice recipe. We’ve got all the fixing we love from a Banh Mi recipe: crispy marinated pork, bright crunchy and tangy vegetables, and a dollop of sriracha mayo if desired.

And yes, I’m still a pansy when it comes to spice so I’ve adjusted the sriracha accordingly. And no, the kids did not have any.

I adore a solid clean out the fridge meal and this one completely fits the bill. Leftover rice, vegetables that may have seen better days, and a supremely juicy and tasty pork.

I ended up trying a couple of different cuts of pork for this recipe during the testing phase. While tenderloin was the easiest to slice and cook quickly at a higher heat, boneless pork loin worked well too.

The marinade has some sugar in it … shock and horror! It balances out the salt and vinegar from other ingredients. Do I think it’s necessary – yes. The ingredients balance each other out and the sugar helps with the caramelization on the exterior of the meat when it cooks, giving it that true Banh Mi flavour and look.

Now the marinade, like most, the longer you let the meat soak up the marinade, the more the flavours will come through. Here because the meat is sliced thinly you can get away with the meat sitting in the marinade for about an hour, but overnight is truly the tastiest.

A traditional Banh Mi recipe has quick pickled raw vegetables in it. For this fried rice recipe I added some cabbage and turned the garnishes into a slaw. I took my quick pickled vegetable from my Korean Pulled Pork Sliders and turned into more of a salad so I can consciously serve this dish as a full meal to my family.

My kids love the simple 2-ingredient dressing from the slaw. I contemplated adding the cabbage into the fried rice, which is a definite option. If you want to go this route, simply add the cabbage with 2 minutes left in the cooking time. One of my kids (my picky eater) will not eat cabbage cooked at the moment so I left it raw (this could change by lunch time today so you do you and what works best for your family).

How to make fried rice from scratch?

The most important piece is that the rice should be cold – as in cooked at least one day before and has been sitting in the fridge for a least a few hours. When the cold rice hits the hot oil, it’s like magic. The rice crisps up perfectly.

Which rice is perfect for fried rice?

As mentioned above, leftover cold rice is the best. Medium to long grain like basmati or jasmine are ideal as they won’t clump, but most will work. Sushi rice is not well suited to fried rice as it designed to stick together.

More easy fried rice ideas like this pork fried rice recipe:

• Chicken Fried Rice
• Steak Fried Rice
• Shrimp Fried Rice
• Easy Flexible Fried Rice

Enjoy! xo