Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad (Bun Bo Xao)

This Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad of Bun Bo Xao is a classic Vietnamese noodle bowl. It includes the most addicting seared steak served with fresh veggies and vermicelli, then topped off with a super easy Vietnamese dipping sauce. Learn how to make this dish your own in the blog post below!

A couple weeks ago I put out a question on Instagram asking what people wanted me to make and many people said that they wanted more easy meals. Well I heard you. Here is an easy meal that feeds a small family. Luckily, so many Vietnamese dishes do make easy meals with little cooking involved. Some of my personal favorites include bun cha gio (a classic!), bun thit nuong, bun ga nuong, and my lemongrass shrimp vermicelli bowl. This dish Bun Bo Xao or Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad is a fresh take on normal comfort food. When I look at this dish, I think spring and sunnier days to come, and it just makes me happy when I eat it.

How I make Bun Bo Xao

Bun Bo Xao is a Vietnamese noodle salad made with marinated flank steak, vermicelli noodles and fresh vegetables all topped with toasted peanuts and Vietnamese dipping sauce (nuoc cham). The core flavor component of the dish revolves around the flank steak. The steak is marinated in oyster sauce, soy sauce, brown sugar, salt, pepper, garlic, and oil, and then cooked with thinly sliced onions. This style of steak can be eaten in noodle bowls or in a spring roll (aka Beef Spring Rolls!). Lemongrass is also included in some recipes, but I didn’t have any, so I made due with what I had. It still turned out great!

Some details about key ingredients

• Flank Steak
  • Flank steak - A traditional bun bo xao is made with flank steak, but I have made it with other cuts of steak as well like the sirloin, strip, and rib eye.
  • Oyster sauce - This sauce is made with oyster extracts, sugar, salt, and water. It adds a distinct umami flavor to the marinade. I like using the oyster sauce from Lee Kum Kee.
  • Brown Sugar - Personally, I like to use light brown sugar, but dark brown sugar also works great. Note that using dark brown sugar will make the steak sweeter.
  • Vegetable oil - Helps give the meat a good brown color. A great substitute for vegetable oil is olive oil or grapeseed oil.
  • Lemongrass - Optional but recommended for more flavor. If you can’t find lemongrass, substitute with 1 tbsp of lime juice.
  • Yellow onion - I would recommend using a yellow onion for this recipe. A good substitute would be a white onion or 1 shallot.
• Noodle Bowl Components
  • Vermicelli - This dish works best with vermicelli noodles, but if you can’t find vermicelli, any kind of thin rice noodle should work. One brand of vermicelli noodles I like to use is the Three Ladies Brand vermicelli noodles. See my post on how to cook vermicelli for a detailed guide on how to properly prepare this ingredient.
  • Toppings (Mint, Carrots, Cucumbers, and toasted peanuts) - These are the toppings I like to eat in my vermicelli bowls, but you can substitute in almost any vegetable or leave out any of these ingredients. I like to use pickled carrots and daikon as a topping.

Tips on how to make the best bun bo xao

Make sure to thinly slice your flank steak

I slice my flank steak really thinly against the grain to get the softest, chewiest texture. The thinner you slice the steak, the easier it will be to cook and eat.

Prep your toppings ahead of time

When I went to make it for this blog post, I spent about 30 minutes slicing all the toppings. It was honestly sort of exhausting lol. To make it easier on yourself when you’re trying to just get dinner on the table, prepare the toppings a day ahead of time and store them in the fridge. It helps with a quicker cook to table time.

Tips on how to cut your cucumbers and carrots

I didn’t learn how to cut my cucumbers and carrots appropriately til recently, and I want to share what I learned with you. To achieve the shape pictured above, thinly slice your cucumbers lengthwise. Then stack the thin slices on top of each other. Cut them width wise (straight across) into the length you desire. Lastly, cut them length wise again to get the thin strips. Repeat this process for carrots. I would recommend using a mandoline for the first cut to thinly slice the carrots. It’s difficult to do with a knife.

Add lemongrass to the steak marinade for extra flavor

I didn’t include lemongrass in my marinade because it’s not how I grew up eating it, and I couldn’t find any. Definitely include it if can because you can never have too much flavor! Use one stalk of lemongrass if you choose to include it.

Did you make this dish?

If you made this dish, I would love to see!

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