• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Delightful Plate
  • Vietnamese Recipes
  • Recipe Index
    • Recipe Index
    • Recipe Filter
  • Cookbook
  • Pantry
  • About
  • Contact
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Vietnamese Recipes
  • Recipe Index
  • Recipe Filter
  • Cookbook
  • Pantry
  • About
  • Contact
    • YouTube
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • RSS
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Vietnamese Recipes
    • Recipe Index
    • Recipe Filter
    • Cookbook
    • Pantry
    • About
    • Contact
    • YouTube
    • Facebook
    • Pinterest
    • Instagram
    • RSS
  • ×

    Home » All Recipes » Main Dish » Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly

    Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly

    Published: Feb 12, 2022 Updated: Feb 12, 2022 by Sophie 2 Comments

    210 shares
    • 1
    Jump to Recipe Jump to Video

    Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly (Ba chi rang sa) features savory and lightly sweet pork belly pieces browned with a lot of lemongrass, making the dish smell so good. The dish is best served with rice.

    pieces of pork belly that have been browned with lemongrass, fish sauce and sugar.

    Main dishes in the daily meal rotation of Viet families usually use just a few ingredients. This lemongrass pork belly is no exception. It requires only 6 ingredients and everything is cooked in one pan. The Vietnamese name of this dish is ba chỉ rang sả or ba rọi rang sả. You can see how easy this recipe is in the video below.

    Watch the Recipe Video

    Subscribe to our Youtube channel for more easy-to-follow cooking videos!

    Ingredients

    The main ingredients that make this dish tasty are:

    • pork belly
    • lemongrass
    • fish sauce
    • sugar

    You can customize the amount of fish sauce and sugar to your liking. The sugar will round out the taste as well as give the meat a nice golden brown color. We can also add shallots, garlic, and black pepper to enhance the flavors further.

    Prepare Pork Belly

    Pork belly consists of 3 layers: the outside skin, a layer of fat and a layer of meat. Try to choose one with a thin layer of fat. If the fat layer is too thick, the dish will be too greasy.

    For this particular dish, you don’t need to keep the skin layer. The skin will have a chewy texture (kinda like gummy bears) which some Vietnamese people enjoy. This may sound strange to you, but in Asia, we sometimes eat food just purely for the texture. Anyway, it is totally fine to remove the skin before cooking.

    First of all, cut the pork into bite-sized pieces (1/2 inch thick or up to 3/4 inch thick) as in the photo below. Marinate with fish sauce and sugar for 15 minutes (or up to 30 minutes at room temperature).

    add the marinade to the pork belly in a bowl

    Prepare Lemongrass

    By now, you probably have seen quite a lot of Vietnamese recipes with lemongrass on the blog (such as these lemongrass pork chops, bun cha or lemongrass tofu). In this dish, we only need the white and very light green part of lemongrass stalks.

    You will need to slice them very thinly on a bias as in the photo below. The green part is very fibrous so we don’t use them in stir-fries.

    slicing lemongrass very thinly on a bias

    How to Make Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly

    It is much quicker and easier to cook ba chi rang sa than another Vietnamese pork belly recipe I shared a while ago. Having said that, this dish still requires a little bit of patience.

    First, sauté the aromatics until fragrant and then add the meat.

    cook the pork belly with lemongrass in a pan

    The pork belly and lemongrass will need to be browned over medium heat for 20-25 minutes (no longer than 30 minutes). This method of cooking is called rang cháy cạnh in Vietnamese. The reason is we want the fat and meat to break down enough so that the cooked pork will be flavorful with a nice chew.

    brown pork belly with lemongrass in a pan

    Give everything in the pan a stir every few minutes to make sure they are browned evenly. If the heat is too high, the meat will be dry and tough quickly, the lemongrass slices may get burned and we don’t want that.

    What to Serve with this Dish

    a pan with pieces of pork belly after being cooked with lemongrass.

    It is best to eat this dish with steamed rice. To make a full meal, you can add a steamed or stir-fried vegetable dish and/or a soup dish. Some quick and easy dishes you can serve with this Vietnamese pork belly recipe are:

    • Tomato Egg Drop Soup
    • Vietnamese Bitter Melon Soup (Canh Kho Qua)
    • Vietnamese Pumpkin Soup (Canh Bi Do)
    • Stir-Fried Cucumber with Egg

    Other Pork Recipes to Try

    • Asian Pork Skewers (Air Fryer or Grill)
    • Steamed Tofu with Ground Pork
    • Authentic Vietnamese Caramelized Pork Belly (Thit Kho Tau)
    • Vietnamese Sweet and Sour Pork Ribs (Suon Xao Chua Ngot)

    ⭐️ I’d 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 let’s connect on Facebook, Youtube, Pinterest and Instagram for the latest updates. You can find my collection of Vietnamese recipes here.

    This recipe first appeared on Delightful Plate in May 2020. It has been updated with more information and unit conversion.

    pieces of pork belly that have been cooked with lemongrass in a pan

    Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly

    Vietnamese Lemongrass Pork Belly (Ba chi rang sa) features savory and lightly sweet pork belly pieces browned with a lot of lemongrass, making the dish smell so good. The dish is best served with rice.
    5 from 1 vote
    Print Pin Rate
    Course: Main Dish
    Cuisine: Vietnamese
    Keyword: lemongrass pork belly
    Prep Time: 15 minutes
    Cook Time: 30 minutes
    Total Time: 45 minutes
    Servings: 3 people
    Calories: 827kcal
    Author: Sophie

    Ingredients

    US Customary – Grams
    • 1 lb pork belly
    • 5 garlic cloves, minced
    • 3 shallots, minced
    • 1 tablespoon plus 2 teaspoons fish sauce
    • 1 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar
    • 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
    • 5-6 lemongrass stalks
    • cooking oil

    Instructions

    • Slice pork belly into bite-sized pieces, about 1/2 inch thick (or up to 3/4 inch thick). Please refer to the video in the post to see how the pork belly pieces look.
    • Mix the pork with minced garlic, shallots, fish sauce, sugar and black pepper. Marinate at room temperature for 10-15 minutes (or up to 30 minutes).
    • Discard the fibrous outer layer and green part of lemongrass stalks. Slice the white and very light green part very thinly on a bias.
    • Heat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat and add some cooking oil. Add lemongrass and sauté briefly until you start to smell the aroma.
    • Add pork belly to the pan. Keep stirring, toss and cook until the outside of the pork is no longer pink. Then stir and cook every few minutes for about 20-25 minutes until both the pork and lemongrass are golden brown and the pork tastes flavorful. Lower the heat near the end to avoid burning the lemongrass. Adjust seasoning with more fish sauce and sugar to taste.
    • Transfer to serving plates and serve hot with steamed rice.

    Video

    Notes

    If you use pork belly with skin, the skin will have a chewy texture (kinda like gummy bears) after being cooked which some Vietnamese people enjoy. It is totally fine to remove the skin before cooking.
    If your stove is not powerful, before adding the pork, you can increase the heat to medium high and once the outside is no longer pink, reduce it to medium. This is to ensure your pan is hot, otherwise the pork may be steamed and lose its natural juice.
    Once the outside is no longer pink, maintain a medium heat and patiently brown the pork and lemongrass. If the heat is too high, the meat will be dry and tough too fast and the lemongrass may be burned. Cook until both pork and lemongrass are golden brown and the texture is to your liking. The cooking time should not exceed 30 minutes.

    Nutrition

    Calories: 827kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 16g | Fat: 80g | Saturated Fat: 29g | Cholesterol: 109mg | Sodium: 524mg | Potassium: 461mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin C: 4mg | Calcium: 31mg | Iron: 2mg
    Tried this recipe?Comment & Rate below or Tag @delightfulplate on Instagram
    Liked our videos?Subscribe to our Youtube channel and cook along with us
    Disclosure: Delightful Plate is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. As an Amazon associate, we earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. We only recommend products we use and trust.
    Copyright: All content and photos on Delightful Plate are copyright protected. Please do not use them without our written permission. Thank you.

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Jenny

      January 15, 2022 at 3:26 am

      5 stars
      Fantastic recipe! Tried this last night and I immediately recommended to my friends. It’s so tasty I ate more than I should. Simple to cook + ultra delicious means this will be going into my recipe book!

      Reply
      • Sophie

        January 19, 2022 at 11:17 pm

        Hi Jenny,
        That is so great to hear! I’m so happy you enjoyed it and even recommended it to your friends. Thanks so much for coming back and letting me know :).

        Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    Primary Sidebar

    About

    Hi, I'm Sophie! Delightful Plate is where I share authentic Vietnamese recipes that have been cooked in my family for years, as well as other Asian recipes and recipes inspired by ingredients and flavors from other cuisines. Read More…

    Never Miss A Recipe!

    Sign up and receive emails with free recipes once a month.

    BUY OUR EBOOK!

    real vietnamese homecooking cookbook
    Buy Now!

    Popular Recipes

    a plate of Vietnamese summer rolls (goi cuon)

    Vietnamese Fresh Spring Rolls (Goi Cuon)

    This Asian Steak Bites and Potatoes recipe features seared beef cubes and potatoes in a garlicky butter and soy-based sauce. It comes together in under 30 minutes and everything is cooked in just one pan. Easy weeknight dinner!

    Asian Steak Bites and Potatoes

    This scallop shrimp pasta with burst cherry tomatoes is perfect for not only quick and simple weeknight meals but also fancy date night dinners. It is so flavorful with sweetness from fresh seafood and umami from burst tomatoes.

    Scallop Shrimp Pasta with Burst Cherry Tomatoes

    This Vietnamese Pulled Pork Banh Mi features crispy bread, tender and flavorful pork, crunchy pickled vegetables and yummy sriracha mayo sauce. With the help of a slow cooker, this banh mi sandwich recipe is super easy to make.

    Slow Cooker Vietnamese Pulled Pork Banh Mi

    This baked shrimp toast features flavorful shrimp mixture on top of crispy bread. It is a quick and easy appetizer for parties, holidays or any occasions.

    Easy Baked Shrimp Toast

    Footer

    Footer

    ↑ back to top

    About

    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy

    Stay Connected

    • Sign Up! for emails and updates
    • Contact Form

    Other Contents

    • Google Web Stories