Lemongrass Meatballs Bowls! A quick and easy meal featuring quinoa or rice topped with quick pickled carrots, herbs, peanuts, and easy lemongrass pork meatballs, all covered with spicy mayo.
Lemongrass Meatball Bowls
Lemongrass Meatball Bowls? That’s right: quinoa or rice topped with quick pickled carrots, herbs, peanuts, and easy lemongrass pork meatballs all covered with spicy mayo. <– this is a thing.
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Another recipe of yours that we just loved, loved, loved! Served it with vermicelli noodles. Thank you for sharing another great recipe !
Myriam
Guys. I am so digging the bowl lifestyle!
You probably had no idea though because I hardly ever post bowls. (I always post bowls.)
Today’s meatball bowl is inspired by a banh mi (traditional sandwich style), which I’ve only ever eaten once, which makes me a banh mi loser. I acknowledge this fully.
But I loved it so much that I needed it even more. Gimme the stuff that has tons of flavor – the meatballs, the pickled vegetable salad, the herbs, the spicy mayo, the pate – except no pate on this homemade bowl version, srsly WHO DO YOU THINK I AM? – all of these ingredients are mostly what I’m wanting to eat when I think about a banh mi.
Watch How To Make Our Lemongrass Meatball Bowls:
Bowls in general are all about layers. So let’s start with the base layer to this bowl: you can choose to build your bowl on rice, quinoa, rice noodles, or I guess just lettuce if you want it to taste like heartbreak (but don’t do that). Some kind of basic carb situation would be my suggestion. I chose black/red quinoa – mostly because it’s all I happened to have on hand at the moment.
Exhibit A with the red quinoa stand-in: bowls are extremely versatile.
Next layer: on top of the quinoa base, we’re going for a pickled vegetable salad which sounds totally intimidating and really just means shredded or julienne cut vegetables soaked in rice vinegar and sugar for about an hour. That will do it, friends.
I should mention that we are using coconut palm sugar in this recipe which is a big time bonus because it’s a delicious, unrefined brown sugar that doesn’t taste like coconut (that might get weird) – instead it has a deep caramel-lush-ous flavor that is just begging to be featured in Asian sauces of all sorts.
Also lovable: this sugar is actually made by the cooperative farmers in Indonesia who tap the nectar of the coconut palm trees, kind of like you might imagine a northwoodsian tapping a maple tree for syrup. The nectar gets heated over fire until it reduces down to granulated sugar, because OBVIOUSLY. It just had to be that cool.
Guys. I love Wholesome! I loved them before they were trendy and now – bonus – they’re trendy! so you can buy their organic, fair trade products at non-exotic locations, like, for example, Regular Person Target. THANK YOU LIFE.
Next layer: over the quinoa and pickled salad, let’s throw a handful of crushed peanuts and every possible herb that you could ever have in your fridge ever. I went crazytown with green onions, cilantro, basil, and mint. I did not regret it.
Next layer: now we come to the crown jewel of this recipe, the thing that carries most of the flavor: THE MEATBALLS.
Can I just tell you this? My sister, who used to be a vegetarian, is working with us this summer. On the day I made these, she sampled one out of the fridge after I left and she specifically sent me a text to tell me how good they were. Former vegetarian, guys. Loving the meatballs. These are really really good meatballs. They are little crispy gems of pork, lemongrass (I just buy that paste in a tube from the produce section – my life has no time for locating and deconstructing fresh lemongrass sorry not sorry), sugar, and fish sauce which sounds totally scary but it’s so utterly life-changingly delicious. Please try.
Final layer: spicy mayo // mic drop.
I am totes making this for dinner club this month. Bring on the lemongrass meatball bowl party.
Source notes: This recipe was previously titled “Banh Mi Bowls” but was updated in August 2021 to better reflect and respect the cultural origins from which this dish came from. The name Banh Mi directly translates to “bread.” A Banh Mi is a short baguette with thin, crisp crust, filled with all sorts of delicious things like meat, pickled vegetables, herbs, and mayonnaise. In a word: it is GOOD.
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Lemongrass Meatball Bowls
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: enough meatballs / carrots for 4 bowls
Description
Lemongrass Meatballs Bowls! A quick and easy meal featuring quinoa or rice topped with quick pickled carrots, herbs, peanuts, and easy lemongrass pork meatballs, all covered with spicy mayo.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
Quick Pickled Carrots
- 1/2 cup rice vinegar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon sesame oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6–8 carrots, cut into thin ribbons (I used a peeler to make those curls)
Meatballs
- 1 lb. ground pork
- 1–2 tablespoons lemongrass paste
- 4 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon chili paste (like Sriracha or Sambal Oelek)
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
Bowls:
- 1 cup quinoa
- 2 tablespoons cilantro
- 2 tablespoons basil
- 2 tablespoons mint
- 2 tablespoons green onions
- 1/4 cup of crushed peanuts
- spicy mayo (1/4 cup of mayo with a 1 tablespoon of sriracha)
Instructions
- Quick Pickled Carrots: Whisk the rice vinegar, palm sugar, sesame oil, and salt together. Soak the carrots in the mixture.
- Quinoa: Cook your quinoa according to package directions.
- Meatballs: Mix all ingredients. Roll into small meatballs with your hands (they might feel wet and heavy – pop them in the fridge or freezer for a few minutes to get them to hold their shape a bit better if needed). Heat a little bit of olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the meatballs and fry until golden brown on the outside and fully cooked (not pink) inside.
- Bowls: Layer the carrots and meatballs over cooked quinoa. Top with herbs, peanuts, and/or spicy mayo.
- Prep Time: 1 hour (for pickling!)
- Cook Time: 20 mins
- Category: Dinner
- Cuisine: Vietnamese-Inspired
Keywords: meatball recipe, bowl recipe, banh mi, pork recipe, lemongrass recipe, how to use lemongrass
Nutrition information is for 1 out of 4 bowls (meatballs, veggies, and rice using a total of 1 cup uncooked rice) and does not include spicy mayo sauce.
Thanks to Wholesome!® for partnering with us for this post! And for being a brand that we love and respect.
And thanks to you, readers, for supporting the brands that do food right.
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy bowls. Check it out!
July 1, 2016
Nice to meet you!
I’m Lindsay and I ♡ FOOD. I used to be a teacher, and now making food and writing about it online is my full-time job. I love talking with people about food, and I'm so glad you're here.
Did you make a recipe? Tag @pinchofyum on Instagram so we can find you!
i used to love your site but all of your dishes are starting to look exactly the same! the same bowl, the same colors, the same type meals the same thing!! how about some sweets again or something just different?
Hi Deb! Great news – there are tons of food blogs in the world which cover a wide range of recipes! Here are some of my favorites to help you find some variety in your recipes: Sally’s Baking Addiction or Joy The Baker for baking recipes, Sprouted Kitchen or Cookie and Kate for vegetarian recipes, Gimme Some Oven or Damn Delicious for easy family recipes, My Name is Yeh or How Sweet Eats for unique and creative ingredient combinations. It’s a big world out there! Take care!
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Perfect response. love you and your blog, Lindsay! Your recipes are always a hit at my house, keep them coming!
Bless you and your kind (& patient!) soul!! ❤️🙏
All your recipes are the 💣!!
Lol I bet to differ Deb- I love POY. And I can always trust whatever recipe (and often time I hope it’s a bowl because who doesn’t LOVE a big bowl of nourishing food) turns out flavorful and amazing. Lindsey’s recipes are always simple yet fun and spot on YUM.
We must be channeling each other today! i just posted a recipe for vegan meatball bahn mi sandwiches. loving the inspiration behind this recipe, Lindsay – can’t wait to try it!
no way! I love it! 🙂 I’ll have to check it out. Hope you’re doing well Anetta!
Looks yummy
A bit of useless information: bahn mi means sandwich or simply a baguette in Vietnamese, so to talk about a bahn mi sandwich is, actually a bit odd. Just in case you were wondering have a nice weekend
that IS a fun fact and I did not know! 🙂 thanks for the comment Mette!
Ha-ha! Can’t believe I also knew this factoid! I work with a Vietnamese lady and once I’d finished butchering the pronunciation (!) she laughed and said – I have Bahn mi for lunch and showed me. Sure enough – it was a sub roll!! OK I’m totally biting the bullet and buying a bottle of fish sauce after your recommendation. Can’t wait to make this – looks fabulous. BTW I love your photos and look of the site!
Lemongrass meatballs sound so delicious!
Kari
http://www.sweetteasweetie.com
Thanks Kari!
looks really good. it looks like there are jalapeno’s in the pictures. If so, what kind?
serrano peppers! just added that. 🙂 Thanks Barbara!
Beautiful, healthy, delicious. Love the use of flavours. Great work as always (:
Thanks, Nicolas! 🙂
holy cow this looks good! I can’t wait to try it.
Thanks, ZJ! Hope you enjoy it!
This looks so much better than most of the restaurant meals!
I 100% need this in my life now. Totally my jam.
Your dishes don’t look the same, and I think you’re rocking it out with all the awesome recipes you’ve been pushing this spring/summer.
Keep up the great work Lindsay!
Thanks so much, Erikka!
I’m so into a bowl lifestyle 😀 Lovely idea!
Thanks, Marta! 🙂
I am loving Bowl Meals. Do you think I can bake the meatballs ?
Definitely! We’d bake them at about 400 degrees.
Do you have an estimate of how long they’d take to bake?
We haven’t tried so not totally sure, but I’d estimate about 15-20 mins!
Just baked them. Works great! Convection 400 15 minutes (shake the pan at 8 mins)
Also made with turkey 3rd time I’ve made them. They’re not as good… but still good. Will try 1/2 and 1/2 next time
Hi..! Any idea if/how long the carrots can be stored in the fridge after making them?
We’d suggest about a week.
Just made / ate this and it was delicious. So many flavourtowns. I didn’t know there was a thing as lemongrass paste until I was ordering groceries for this recipe. And it was on sale. You’ve changed my life!
So glad you enjoyed the recipe, Kim! Thanks for the comment!
Can’t rate this highly enough! Made it with a rice noodle base andickled some shredded cabbage too. Dressed it with a mix of hoi sin, sweet chilli and crunchy peanut butter – totally amazing. Thank you so much for posting this
Sounds amazing! 🙂 Glad you enjoyed it, Jane!
I love banh mi – without the bread, this is amazing! I then scroll down to leave a comment and see several more mouth watering bowls?! Thank you for sharing these recipes!
Thanks, Camille! 🙂
This looks fantastic! I love your recipes and have made many! I can’t wait to try this one!
Hope you enjoy it, Christina! 🙂
as a Vietnamese, I approve! tHESE LOOK PHENOMENAL!
Thanks so much, Cassie! 🙂 Means a lot!
Amazing meal! I can imagine how delicious it is
Hope you enjoy it! 🙂
nice info thank you
These bowls look amazing lindsay! any chance you have the nutritional info, too?
thanks!!
xo jules
Hi Julia! Thanks for catching that. 🙂 We’ve just added the nutritional info! Thanks!
Thanks Jenna!!
Wow! It’s a mind blowing recipe. Crispy and tasty. Everyone in my family love meatballs. Thanks for the recipe Lindsay 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
Look, for a moment there I was a little judgemental because there was no white bread roll or pate involved – Bahn Mi blasphemy at its highest – but having looked at the photos, read about all those delicious layers I have completely forgotten about bread and pate and just want a huge bowl of this all to myself! Looks amazing!
Hope you enjoy it, James!
I’ve made a bunch of your recipes in the past, but this one was such a hit with my girlfriend that I felt inclined to offer my gratitude 🙂 I obviously enjoyed it immensely as well. The meatballs were superrrr super tasty, combined with the tangy carrots and the balance of the quinoa really made it a winner. An FYI to anyone else out there making this bowl, I couldn’t find Coconut Palm Sugar or Lemongrass paste…I used brown sugar and lemon zest instead…I think they filled in nicely. Thanks again, Lindsay! Keep killin’ it.
Way to improvise! Thanks so much for the comment!
These looks absolutely epic! Can’t wait to try!
Enjoy, Scott! 🙂
I love these meatballs! I used ground chicken breast and doubled the recipe because I have faith in your recipes. (Going to freeze some for a rainy day.) This lucky girl had some leftover coleslaw from your fish tacos, so threw that in the bowl as well. Thanks for another great recipe.
Sounds delicious! Thanks for the comment, Sarah!
Thanks from Perth, Australia! I made this for the first time last night to take to work for lunch. I just wolfed it down and I’m feeling pretty smug that I have more in the fridge for tomorrow! 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it, Sophie! 🙂
This was an AMAZING dinner! We served it over quinoa, although I’ll be excited to try rice next time. The meatballs were so delicious, and pickled carrots are one of my favorite things ever. Just can’t go wrong with this one! We will definitely be having it again. 🙂
Glad you enjoyed it, Ashley!