Lemongrass Vietnamese Meatballs
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Celebrate the vibrant flavors of Vietnam with these delectably tender Vietnamese meatballs. Combine fragrant aromatics with fresh herbs and umami-rich sauces to make these juicy balls of deliciousness that are bursting with flavor. They're also a breeze to make: you'll be in flavor town in just 30 minutes!
Craving more Vietnamese-inspired recipes? Try this Vietnamese lemongrass chicken next.
Vietnamese food is renowned and celebrated for its fresh and vibrant flavors, fragrant herbs, and delicious balance of flavors. These Vietnamese meatballs are no exception, loaded with flavor with fresh herbs, savory sauces, and zesty aromatics, then pan-cooked until golden.
What are Vietnamese meatballs?
Vietnamese meatballs are called BĆŗn Nem NĘ°į»ng and are seasoned balls of pork often served with rice noodles and pickled vegetables. They are made with ground meat and other ingredients popular in Vietnamese cooking, like lemongrass, garlic, ginger, and cilantro.
Is this an authentic Vietnamese meatball recipe
Our Vietnamese meatball recipe is made with flavors that we associate with Vietnamese cooking: lemongrass, fish sauce, ginger, soy sauce, and pork. We've taken these flavors and transformed them into meatballs that we know you will love to eat. If you are looking for an authentic Vietnamese meatball recipe, we suggest that you try this BĆŗn Nem NĘ°į»ng.
Ingredients needed
This Vietnamese meatball recipe celebrates the essence of Vietnamese cuisine with these delicious, simple, and fresh ingredients:
- Onion: Adds moisture and a sweet undertone.
- Lemongrass: A hallmark ingredient of Vietnamese cooking! Use the white part of three lemongrass stalks for a citrusy note.
- Cilantro: Brings a fresh, herbal punch ā save some for garnish.
- Sriracha: For a subtle kick of heat.
- Brown sugar: To sweeten out the savory and spicy elements.
- Fish sauce: The deep umami flavor with a salty undertone.
- Soy sauce:Ā Get gluten-free if needed.
- Aromatics: Garlic and ginger.
- Ground pork: Forms the base of our meatballs. Beef or chicken also taste great!
- Oil: Use your preferred oil to cook the meatballs.
How to make Vietnamese meatballs
These Vietnamese pork meatballs contain so much flavor for such a simple recipe! These are the instructions:
- Make a flavorful paste: Place the onion, garlic, ginger, cilantro, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, siracha, and lemongrass stalks in a food processor and whizz until it makes a paste-like consistency.
- Mix and shape: Add the ground pork to a large bowl and mix the lemongrass paste into it. Form the mixture into balls. The mixture will be soft, which means the meatballs will be succulent!
- Cook and serve: Heat up a large frying pan and add the meatballs, cooking them until they're browned. Serve with fresh cilantro over top!
Ideas for using Vietnamese meatballs
These Vietnamese meatballs are so packed with flavor that you can seamlessly use them to build other recipes. Here are our top picks:
- Make it an appetizer by serving them alongside your favorite dipping sauce.
- Cook the meatballs, then place 3-4 on a skewer to make a Vietnamese meatball skewer, perfect for dipping!
- Serve them over rice or vermicelli noodles as we do in our banh mi noodle bowls, or add them to a stir fry.
- Make a banh mi sandwich by placing the meatballs in a crusty baguette with pickled vegetables and cilantro.
- Fill lettuce cups with your meatballs alongside rice vermicelli noodles, fresh herbs, and a sauce.
- Add them to a soup, such as a flavorful pho to make a Vietnamese meatballs pho.
- Or make a batch for these awesome winter rolls.
What to serve with Vietnamese meatballs
Keep it simple and serve alongside a simple dipping sauce. We like combining mayo, a squeeze of lime juice, and sriracha. Or you can make our peanut satay sauce or bang bang sauce ā neither are traditionally Vietnamese, but they are delicious and go well with the meatballs!
Make it a spread by serving alongside Thai cucumber salad, Asian eggplant, Asian noodle salad, or soy ginger noodles.
Carry on with the Vietnamese and lemongrass theme and serve with our Vietnamese lemongrass chicken, then cut through the lemongrass with a creamy dessert. Try this orange blossom panna cotta or lemon coconut ice cream.
Recipe FAQs
Can I make these gluten-free or dairy-free?
These Vietnamese meatballs are already gluten-free and dairy-free! Just be sure to double-check the labels on everything in case there are additives and use a gluten-free soy sauce.
Can I make these with another type of meat?
Sure, while juicy pork is our first choice, these flavors will taste good with other meats, too! We've enjoyed them with ground beef and chicken, and you can also use ground turkey. If you're swapping the pork for chicken, you may want to add a bit of breadcrumbs of almond flour so they are not too soft.
Is the meatball mixture meant to be soft?
Yes! Once you combine the pork and paste, you'll have a soft mixture that will stay together when you form the balls. A soft mixture is the reason why the end result is so tender and delicious! Be careful not to over-blend when making your paste. If you're after a firmer texture, add almond flour, breadcrumbs, or oats to the meatball mix, however, this will change how juicy the end result is.
Can I store leftovers?
These are too good to leave any on your plate! But if you do find yourself with leftovers, you can store them in the refrigerator in an airtight container for 3-4 days.
More meatball recipes
Lemongrass Vietnamese Meatballs Recipe
Ingredients
- Ā¼ cup EACH: minced onion and cilantro
- 2 tablespoons EACH: brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce (gluten-free if needed)
- 1 teaspoon sriracha
- 3 stalks lemongrass (white part only)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 2 inch piece of ginger
- 1 lb ground pork (beef or chicken)
- 1 tablespoon oil
- Cilantro (for serving)
Instructions
- Place the onion, cilantro, brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, lemongrass stalks, garlic, and ginger into your food processor and process on high until smooth and almost paste-like.Ā¼ cup EACH: minced onion and cilantro, 2 tablespoons EACH: brown sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce, 1 teaspoon sriracha, 3 stalks lemongrass, 3 cloves garlic, 2 inch piece of ginger
- Add the ground pork to a large bowl, pour in the lemongrass paste, and mix everything together.1 lb ground pork
- Use a medium-sized cookie scoop to scoop the meat and then form it into balls. Place the balls onto a baking sheet.
- Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and cook them, turning a few times, until they are well-browned and cooked through, about 8-10 minutes.1 tablespoon oil
- Serve the meatballs with some cilantro over top.Cilantro
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Nutrition
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These meatballs turned out great. Quite soft and a bit hard to work with but they tasted amazing.
These are delicious! I actually popped them in the oven and finished them on broil and they came out perfect.
Such a great recipe! I do agree with the other commenters though that the mixture ends up being WAY too wet as is. Either scale back the mixture or scale up the meat by, honestly, like 2-3x if you want it to be able to hold it’s shape.
I LOVE the flavor and texture of these meatballs! I made then to make the winter rolls, and also to pack for my daughter’s lunches… the only issue I had was getting the meatballs to cook evenly, so I ended up browning them in the pan and then piling them into an oven-safe covered dish and cooking them in the oven for 20 minutes or so to get the internal temperature high enough without over-cooking the outsides…. that worked great!
This was delicious! Made them today with ground chicken and the flavor is amazing. As some other people said, the meat was very runny so I ended up adding one egg and 3/4 cup breadcrumbs to firm it up. It was still runny and I couldn’t make them into meatballs but my plans was to bake them so I dropped large spoonfuls of meat on a baking sheet and baked them at 350Ā°F for 25 minutes. They don’t look pretty but they taste amazing. This recipe is definitely going into my recipe book. Thank you!
Made these today very yummy. Served them over basmati rice and topped with Asian greens sautƩed in soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce and garlic
Good food but the recipe is tricky. I added about 50% more mince because te mixture was way to wet.
Instead of āone small onionā it would be better to define the amount of onion by weight.Ā
The flavors were great, but I think the texture needed something (an egg?) to hold them together. I tried to make meatball skewers to BBQ and they fell completely apart on the grill and I had to finish cooking the crumbles in a skillet. Ā I will try this recipe again but will add either an egg and/or some type of crumb (panko, bread, or crushed Rice Krispies). Ā We served with rice and broccoli.Ā
Amazing recipe! I’ve made it three times so far and each time we all love it. The only difference is the addition of a chilli which I added two times but this was great even without.
Spicy makes everything better!!
They look delicious! Can you cook in air fryer?
I’ve never tried it. If you’ve successfully cooked other meatballs in your air fryer then I would think this would work, too. I would use caution though if yours has a paddle in it. From my experience, the air fryers with the paddles make a mess of many recipes and it may end up crumbling the meatballs.
What a fantastic recipe! I served these on lemongrass āskewersā – I tried it grilled and then made them for a dinner party baked at 450 – fantastic. I served them with a plum sauce and everyone enjoyed.Ā
That’s such a great serving idea! I’m going to have to remember that one!
This recipe is fantastic! So flavorful and great, authentic Vietnamese flavors.Ā
Thanks, Alex!
I made these and they were lovely but I had to add flour as they were too wet. I was unsure whether or not to add the oil to the mix and I did in the end as thought it would otherwise say add all other ingredients except oil? can you advise please?Ā
Yes they are very moist meatballs! The oil is added to the pan to cook them. š
What do you think of baking them??
I think it would work!
Made this over the weekend for a healthy potluck and they were demolished. I used 2 lbs lean beef and 1 lb ground pork. With everything else added it made about 50 meatballs using a medium size baking scoop. The taste is truly amazing and I will be making these very often. I also made a sauce with Greek yogurt, sriracha, lime zest and lime juice which was also very good.
Love the sound of that sauce you made!!
So good!! ? Made them today and this will bee one of my “make again” recipes!
I live in the south of Sweden, this is a good substitute too the swedish ones ?Ā
Tack sƄ mycket ?
I’m so happy they were a hit! Hooray!