Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad (Bun Bo Xao)

4.92 from 24 ratings

This is a refreshing recipe for Vietnamese Beef Noodle Salad or Bun Bo Xao.

Prep Time30

Cook Time10

Course: Dinner, Main Course

Cuisine: Vietnamese

Keyword: bun bo xao, bun bo xao recipe, Vietnamese beef noodle salad

Servings: people

Calories: 396kcal

Marinade your flank steak in 1 tbsp soy sauce, 1/2 tsp corn starch, 1 tbsp light brown sugar, 1 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp vegetable oil, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 pepper, 2 cloves minced garlic, and 1 stalk minced lemongrass. Let it sit for 30 minutes.
While the steak is marinading, prepare the rest of your ingredients. Cook your vermicelli. Toast and cut your peanuts. Thinly slice your onion, cucumber, and carrot. Make your Vietnamese dipping sauce. Once you're done prepping the rest of your ingredients, the steak should be done marinading.
Now it's time to cook your steak. Add a tablespoon of oil to a large pan. Cook your onions until shiny and soft. Add in your steak and cook for 5-10 minutes until your steak is cooked through.
Assemble your noodle bowl. Add a handful of vermicelli noodles to a bowl. Follow that with lettuce, mint, cucumber, and carrot. Finally, top it all with peanuts. Drizzle Vietnamese dipping sauce over the top to taste and serve!

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.