Authentic Banh Mi Recipe (Caramel Pork & Homemade Baguette)

This banh mi recipe follows the version that has been racing up YouTube this autumn: Nick’s Kitchen’s authentic banh mì, with more than two million views in its first fortnight. It builds the sandwich the long way — a homemade baguette with an eggshell-thin crust, a smooth chicken liver pâté, pork belly braised in caramel and coconut water, quick-pickled carrot and daikon, egg-yolk mayonnaise and a handful of fresh herbs. Every part can be made ahead, and every part can be swapped for a shortcut, but together they give you a banh mi recipe that tastes like the bakery version: hot against cold, rich against sharp, soft against shattering. If you love a loaded sandwich, it sits happily alongside our hot honey chicken sandwich.

Why you'll love this

• Perfectly balanced. Sweet caramel pork, sharp pickles, rich pâté and fresh herbs in every bite.
• A real banh mi crust. Steam in the oven gives the thin, crackly shell that makes the sandwich.
• Make-ahead friendly. The pork, pâté and pickles all keep for days in the fridge.
• The pork alone is worth it. Sticky, gelatinous and glossy — it is brilliant over rice too.
• Shortcuts welcome. Use bakery rolls or store-bought pâté and it still tastes special.
• Feeds a crowd. Set out the components and let everyone build their own.

Key ingredients & how to use them

• Bread flour and a little lime juice — the dough is a lean white baguette dough. The splash of lime juice is a traditional trick: the acidity helps give the crumb its airy, cotton-light texture. Banh mì literally means bread, so this is the part worth taking seriously.
• Steam — not an ingredient, but the reason the crust turns thin and glassy rather than thick and chewy. Boiling water poured into a preheated pan on the bottom rack, plus a light mist on the loaves, does the job in a home oven.
• Chicken livers — soaked in milk for a couple of hours to soften their flavour, then cooked with shallot, garlic and Shaoxing wine and blended with butter, fish sauce and five-spice. Without pâté, as the video puts it, you just have a pork sandwich.
• Skin-on pork belly — braised in a dark caramel with fish sauce, soy sauce and coconut water until the skin turns soft and sticky. Keep the skin: it melts into the shredded meat and gives the filling its body.
• Coconut water — not coconut milk. It is the classic Vietnamese braising liquid, thin and lightly sweet, and it reduces into a glossy sauce.
• Carrot and daikon (do chua) — cut into thin matchsticks, massaged with salt and sugar and pickled in rice vinegar. Daikon brings peppery crunch, carrot brings sweetness and colour.
• Egg-yolk mayonnaise — Vietnamese-style mayo uses only yolks and a little rice vinegar, so it is richer and more golden than ordinary mayo. A Japanese-style mayo is the closest store-bought swap.
• Cucumber, cilantro and bird’s eye chilli — the fresh, cold, hot finishing layer. Parsley stands in if you dislike cilantro.

How to make it (step by step)

1. 1

   Mix the dough

   Stir the yeast and sugar into the warm water and leave it for 5 to 10 minutes until foamy. Add the bread flour, lime juice and salt and knead with a dough hook on medium speed for about 10 minutes, until the dough is smooth and pulls away from the bowl. Shape it into a ball, set it in an oiled bowl, cover and leave it to rise at room temperature for about 2 hours, until doubled.

2. 2

   Shape four small baguettes

   Turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface, knock it back into a ball and divide it into four equal pieces — weigh them if you can. Roll each into a taut ball, then press it into an oval. Fold one long side two-thirds of the way over, fold the other side over that, and pinch the seam firmly shut underneath. Set them seam-side down in a baguette tray or on a lined sheet.

3. 3

   Second rise and slash

   Spray the loaves lightly with oil, cover loosely and leave for about 1 hour, until doubled. Heat the oven to 450°F (230°C) with a cast-iron pan on the bottom rack. Uncover the loaves, cut three shallow slashes along each with a razor blade or very sharp knife, and mist them lightly with water.

4. 4

   Bake with steam

   Slide the loaves in, then carefully pour a cup of boiling water into the hot pan and shut the door quickly. After 8 minutes, remove the steam pan and bake for about 5 more minutes, until deep golden. Tap the base: it should sound hollow, and the crust should be thin enough to crackle when you press it. Cool on a rack.

5. 5

   Make the pâté

   Cover the chicken livers with milk and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, then drain and pat dry. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium heat and soften the shallots and garlic for 2 minutes. Push them aside, add the livers in a single layer and let them colour, then stir and cook until the centres are no longer raw and reach 165°F (74°C). Deglaze with the Shaoxing wine, scraping up the browned bits, and turn off the heat.

6. 6

   Blend and chill the pâté

   Tip everything into a blender with the fish sauce, sugar, five-spice, white pepper, salt and softened butter. Blend until completely smooth, adding a spoonful of water at a time if it needs loosening. Scrape into a container, cool, cover and refrigerate until firm.

7. 

   7

   Braise the caramel pork

   Melt the sugar in a heavy pot over medium-high heat, swirling, until it turns a deep amber caramel. Add the pork belly and shallots and toss to coat — it will spit, so stand back. Add the fish sauce, soy sauce, coconut water, garlic and star anise, bring to a simmer, then cover and braise on low for about 1 1/2 hours, until the pork is completely tender. Shred it with two forks, skin and all, and keep the sticky juices.

8. 8

   Quick-pickle the carrot and daikon

   Cut the carrot and daikon into thin matchsticks. Massage them with the salt and sugar for a minute until they start to soften, then pack them into a jar and cover with the water and rice vinegar. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. While they pickle, whisk the yolks, vinegar and salt together and drizzle in the oil, whisking constantly, until thick and glossy.

9. 9

   Build the banh mi

   Cut each baguette slightly above the centre line, most of the way through but not all the way. Spread the top half generously with the egg-yolk mayo and the bottom half with pâté. Add cucumber ribbons, then as much caramel pork as will fit. Squeeze the pickles hard in a paper towel before adding them, so the liquid does not soak the bread. Finish with cilantro, sliced chilli and a spoonful of the pork juices, and eat straight away.

Troubleshooting

• The crust came out thick and chewy. There was not enough steam. Make sure the cast-iron pan is fully preheated before the boiling water goes in, mist the loaves, and keep the door shut for the first 8 minutes.
• The loaves spread flat. The seam was not pinched tightly enough, or the dough over-proofed. Pinch hard along the whole seam, and bake as soon as the loaves have doubled.
• The pâté tastes bitter or metallic. The livers were overcooked or skipped their milk soak. Soak for the full 2 hours and pull them off the heat as soon as they are cooked through.
• The caramel burned. Dark amber is the target; black and smoking is too far and turns the pork bitter. Pull the pot off the heat the moment it reaches a deep copper colour.
• The sandwich went soggy. Wet pickles are the usual culprit. Squeeze them dry, spread the mayo and pâté right to the edges as a barrier, and assemble just before eating.
• The pork is still tough. It needs more time, not more heat. Keep it at a bare simmer with the lid on and check every 15 minutes until a fork slides through the skin.

Serving ideas

A banh mi is a full meal on its own, but a bowl of clear soup or a crisp salad makes it a feast. For a sandwich spread, serve it next to our BBQ chicken sliders and sliced beef brisket sandwich. Leftover caramel pork is excellent in a wrap the next day, with the pickles tucked in for crunch.

Watch the original video

The method above follows Nick’s Kitchen’s viral banh mì video, from the steam-baked baguette to the caramel pork. The video gives the method rather than exact amounts, so the quantities, oven temperature, food-safety temperature for the livers and the troubleshooting guide are our own, written for a home kitchen.

Video: Nick’s Kitchen on YouTube.

Featured photo: “Vietnamese Bánh mì (Banh Mi) Sandwich” by Jimmy Chen, CC BY-SA 4.0, resized and cropped. Step photos are credited in their captions.