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
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.
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One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of best healthy bowls. Check it out!
i really liked this recipe. it came together so easily. used some red onions that i had already pickled instead of doing the carrots to cut down on time. rarely use pork but really enjoyed it in these meatballs. great combo of flavors. thank you!
What about subbing ground beef for the pork? Have you tried that Lindsay?
These look great! For non-pork eaters, do you think these could be substituted with another ground meat like chicken? If so, any other adjustments?
Yes!
This looks amazing, but I was wondering if you can use ground chicken instead of pork. My doctor has cut pork from my diet.
I also LOVE all your recipes. Made at least 1 a week for over a year to bring to my brother and his family as he recovered from brain surgery. This was one of their favorites!
Wondering if I could freeze these to take in a trip and if so, how would you recommend reheating them?
Yes, you could freeze and then microwave to reheat after letting thaw for 15-20 minutes!
This recipe is great! I make it as a rice bowl and noodle bowl, but the meatballs would be great with anything! I bake them in the oven because I usually make a triple batch. Thank you for sharing.
I don’t eat pork could I sub chicken or turkey
Turkey would be best!
I really enjoyed the leftovers for lunch – and the carrots, I could eat those solo! Next time I make this, I’m going to make a pork crumble instead of meatballs because i end up mashing it all together after it’s heated. But the meatballs were super easy to make!
This looks really good, do you have a recommendation on how to make the meatballs vegetarian?
Hi! I’m making these for meal prep this week and I’m very excited.
For the carrots. Can they remain stored in the rice vinegar mixture in the same container?
This sounds amazing, but I was wondering if I could use ground chicken instead of prok? If so, should I add anything else to prevent it from being dry? Thank you!
I’ve made these with ground turkey (93/7) and it worked just fine!
Looks delicious— think you could bake the meatballs instead of pan frying?
I have done this and yes, you can! I’d bake at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes.
I’ve been making this recipe for years and LOVE IT. My small tweaks are that I use fresh lemongrass (just grate it on a microplane), I omit the salt in the meatballs (thinking my Red Boat fish sauce might be extra salty), and I usually only do three garlic cloves (odd because I love garlic, but I’ve found it can be overpowering in this recipe for me… or maybe just depends how big the cloves are). Lots of herbs. And spicy mayo is a must, it really brings it all together — I also add a splash of water so it’s drizzle-able 😉 I’ve made it with a base of quinoa, rice noodles, salad, and sushi rice, but I must say, sushi rice is my fave!
Oh my lord this lemongrass meatball recipe is heaven! We substituted rice noodles instead of quinoa for dietary reasons. My whole family gobbled it up and my husband is still raving about it today! Thank you SO MUCH for this delicious recipe! This is the first one I have tried from your collection and I can’t wait to try more!
Another winner Lindsay. Made this last night after seeing your recent email of suggestions. It sounded great BUT…….it tasted BETTER! We loved the blend of tastes and it was easy to make. Keep them coming 🙂
Woohoo! Glad you enjoyed it, Joe!
These meatballs are outstanding! I am going to need to start doubling them since my kids like them so much. We served them to the kids deconstructed and let them dip them in spicy mayo, such a hit! I’ve served these over rice and rice noodles, both very good.
Made this last night as part of the meal plan. I just wished I doubled the recipe so I could have leftovers today! They were so good! I turned it into a “wrap” with some homemade tortillas and it totally had a bahn mi vibe, even though I totally forgot the cilantro.
Oh yummy!
This recipe is so delicious and also very pretty. I’ve made it 4x already! Used ground chicken and topped with peanuts, scallions, avocado slices, and sriracha mayo. Definitely part of the dinner rotation now. Thanks!
This was very good!! The only thing I might caution is the salt. I think fish sauce is salty, so may want to leave off the additional salt. I’ll tag you in a photo of the completed dish on IG!
Wasn’t expecting these meatballs to be SO good
I don’t usually leave reviews but this is SO GOOD! Everyone was impressed and we are adding it to our permanent list!
Realized I thawed out ground pork sausage instead of ground pork… think it’ll still work out OK in this recipe?!
Yes it should work just fine!
This worked really well for a meal prep for the week, i just stored the mixed veggies/herbs separate from the meatballs and grains so I could re-heat them. Took the easy way out and subbed the julienned carrots for a TJs shredded cabbage bag in the same vinegar mix to make a kind of slaw and used chicken instead of pork. Turned out great, thank you for sharing!
Hi! I’ve made this recipe before and loved it. Bringing it back into the rotation now. I’m going to make a double batch of the meatballs to save for later. Would you recommend cooking the meatballs and freezing? Or freezing the raw meat? (Either in one big blob or in individual meatballs). Hoping to streamline for next time since I can’t always get my hands on lemon grass. Thanks!
Cooking and then freezing always seems to work best for us!
OMG was this good! I made the meatballs in the morning and kept them in the fridge. I made the carrots and the mayo sauce a couple of hours ahead as well. So all I had to do was make the rice and cook the meatballs. While that was happening, I cut the scallions and cilantro. We left the peanuts whole. I would serve this to company! BTW, I am sharing this with my Vietnamese daughter, who won’t care that Banh Mi means sandwich!