Slow Cooker Vietnamese Pulled Pork Banh Mi
This pulled pork banh mi features Vietnamese baguette (banh mi) filled with tender and flavorful pulled pork, pickled vegetables, and tasty sriracha mayo sauce. With a slow cooker to cook the pulled pork, this delicious banh mi recipe cannot be easier to make.
Vietnamese people often eat banh mi for breakfast. The traditional fillings for banh mi sandwich are fried eggs, pate, pork floss, Vietnamese ham, grilled meat, and pickled vegetables. We also eat banh mi alongside with some saucy dishes such as beef stew, braised meatballs, or black pepper beef.
This Vietnamese pulled pork banh mi isn’t the most traditional version. It is inspired by the Southern-style banh mi and we love to eat it for breakfast. The crispy bread, tender pork, crunchy vegetables, and slightly spicy tangy creamy sauce are what make it delicious and satisfying.
We always search for breakfast that takes little time to prepare in the morning and this banh mi sandwich recipe is the perfect solution. We cook the pulled pork in the slow cooker and pickle the vegetables overnight, and then assemble the sandwich in the morning.
Ingredients
1๏ธโฃ To make the pulled pork, you will need a reasonably fatty cut of pork such as pork shoulder or butt, and spice rub. Slow-cooking the pork will render the fat while keeping the meat moist, tender and flavorful.
2๏ธโฃ The main ingredient for the spice rub is five-spice powder, which is Vietnamese people’s favorite spice for pork. You can find it in many Western grocery stores and of course, Asian grocery stores. You can also order five-spice powder on Amazon. It is also possible to use other dry-rub for pulled pork that you like.
3๏ธโฃ For the pickled vegetables, you will need crunchy veggies such as carrots, daikon radish or cucumber, vinegar (I recommend rice vinegar) and sugar.
4๏ธโฃ For the bread, as mentioned in the previous section, if you cannot find plain Vietnamese banh mi, substitute it with regular baguettes. We sometimes even stuff all the fillings inside toasted pita bread and it is also very good (we always have some pita bread in our freezer).
Some Products I Used to Make this Dish
- Five-spice powder: I often use five-spice powder from Frontier Co-op, or from Simply Organic sometimes. These blends are quite similar to what we use in Vietnam in my opinion.
- Garlic powder: I like Simply Organic garlic powder, but the one from McCormick is also good and affordable.
- Smoked paprika: I always use McCormick smoked paprika. There’s also an organic version.
- Sriracha: always handy to have one in the refrigerator.
How to Make Pulled Pork Banh Mi
The first step is to cook the pork in the slow cooker, which can be done overnight. It’s not necessary to marinate the pork. Just rub it with spices, throw into the slow cooker, push the button and then walk away! You can then pickle the vegetables for a couple of hours or overnight.
Next morning, or whenever you want to eat it, make the sauce, lightly toast the bread until crispy, shred the pork and then stuff the bread with pork, pickled veggies, cilantro and sauce. Super easy and yummy!
You can create a filling breakfast with this pulled pork banh mi and a cup of tea/coffee or a glass of smoothie. Here are some of the drinks I love to have with banh mi:
Slow Cooker Vietnamese Pulled Pork Banh Mi
Ingredients
For the Pulled Pork
- 1 1/2 lb pork shoulder or pork butt
- 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons five-spice powder
- 1 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/3 cup water
For the Pickled Vegetables
- 2 oz julienned carrots
- 4 oz julienned cucumber (or daikon radish)
- 3/4 cup rice vinegar
- 1/2 cup water
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- pinch of salt
To Assemble the Banh Mi Sandwich
- 3 tablespoons mayonnaise
- 1 tablespoon lime juice
- 1 teaspoon sriracha
- 1/2 teaspoon honey
- salt
- black pepper
- 3-4 banh mi, lightly toasted (or baguettes)
- cilantro
Instructions
To make the pulled pork
- Combine salt, five-spice powder, garlic powder, paprika and black pepper in a bowl. Rub the spice mixture all over the pork shoulder/butts.
- Transfer the pork to the slow cooker, add the water. Cook on low for about 8 hours (or 6 hours on high) or to desired tenderness.
To make the pickled vegetables
- Julienne carrots and cucumber (or daikon radish). If using cucumber, remove all seeds before you julienne them. In a jar or bowl, combine rice vinegar, water, sugar and salt, and then add the veggies. Cover, refrigerate to pickle for 2-3 hours or overnight.
To assemble the banh mi sandwich
- In a bowl, mix together mayonnaise, sriracha, lime juice and honey to make the sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.
- Shred the pork. Slice the banh mi (or baguette) open lengthwise, fill with pulled pork, pickled veggies and cilantro, then drizzle with plenty of sauce. Serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
โญ๏ธ Iโd love to hear what you think about the dish, so please feel free to leave a comment and a rating if you have tried it. New recipes are added every week so letโs connect onย Facebook,ย Youtube,ย Pinterestย andย Instagramย for the latest updates.ย You can find my collection ofย Vietnamese recipesย here.
Other Banh Mi Recipes
Can’t have enough of Vietnamese banh mi? I think you will also like these recipes:
We LOVED this! We added spring onion lengths, lettuce and chilli slices to our rolls. Iโd never pickled carrots before (despite making Banh Mi because Iโm actually allergic so I couldnโt be bothered – plot twist – I ate the pickled carrot and no allergic reaction!) and this was super simple and tasty. Thank you so much! Will definitely be making again!
Hi Bec,
Thank you so much for your detailed feedback! Some people also like to pickle daikon radish for banh mi, but the smell of pickled daikon always bothered me for some reason so I avoided it. I once had banh mi at a shop that used pickled red bell peppers instead. Those are some alternatives if you want to switch things up or avoid carrots next time.