Vietnamese Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps

Name: Vietnamese Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 1 h
Yield: 4
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 4 cloves garlic, minced; 1 inch ginger, minced; 1/2 tbsp palm sugar; 1/2 tbsp fish sauce; 2 tbsp soy sauce; 500g pork belly, diced; Large lettuce leaves; 1 large carrot, grated; 1 green cucumber, grated; 1 large red chilly, finely sliced; Fresh coriander; Crispy fried shallots

Dinner East Asian Gluten Free Recipes Pork Slow-Cooked Spring & Summer Favourites Vietnamese

5 years ago

by Bry

Published 9 August 2021

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Vietnamese Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps

4.7 Stars (6 Reviews)

Vietnamese pork belly lettuce wraps are one of my go-to meals when I want something vibrant, bold, and packed with texture. I crisp up slices of pork belly in a sticky, sweet-savoury glaze, then pile them into crunchy lettuce cups with fresh herbs, pickled veg, and a squeeze of lime. It’s the perfect balance of rich and refreshing – light enough for summer, satisfying enough for any night of the week. And yes, they’re a bit messy. That’s half the fun.

Prep Time 30 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour

Ingredients

Pork Belly

4 cloves garlic, minced
1 inch ginger, minced
1/2 tbsp palm sugar
1/2 tbsp fish sauce
2 tbsp soy sauce
500g pork belly, diced

Lettuce Wraps

Large lettuce leaves
1 large carrot, grated
1 green cucumber, grated
1 large red chilly, finely sliced
Fresh coriander
Crispy fried shallots

Instructions

Toss together the garlic, ginger, palm sugar, fish sauce, soy sauce and pork belly, and set aside to marinate for 30 minutes.
Preheat oven to 220C and once hot, spread the pork belly onto a baking tray in a single layer. Bake for 30 minutes in the hot oven, tossing the pork in the tray halfway through to help cook evenly.
Once the pork is cooked, serve in lettuce wraps with carrots, cucumber, chillies, coriander and crispy fried shallots.

Nutrition Information:

Yield:

Serving Size:

1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 399Total Fat: 27gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 16gCholesterol: 105mgSodium: 744mgCarbohydrates: 7gFiber: 1gSugar: 3gProtein: 30g

Please note, this nutrition information is to be used as a guide only. Nutrition information isn’t always accurate.

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Vietnamese Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps

From Street Food to Home Kitchen

Since moving to the UK all those years ago, I’ve definitely started eating more pork belly. I don’t know what it is exactly – maybe the richness, maybe the way it crisps up just right when roasted – but it hits the spot in a way few things do. So of course I’m always looking for new ways to work it into my dinners. This weekend I gave Vietnamese pork belly lettuce wraps a whirl, and let me tell you, they were so so good. Golden, caramelised pork in crisp lettuce with fresh salad and crispy shallots. It was giving summer-in-Scotland energy in the best possible way.

I’m already a salad obsessive as we know, but these wraps? Think tacos with a Vietnamese twist – and if you’ve been here a while, you know I love tacos even more than salad. These are one of those dishes that don’t need anything extra. The marinade’s simple, sure, but once the pork belly has spent a little time in the oven, it turns into something else entirely. Sticky, rich, sweet-but-savoury – like a bite-sized poem you want to eat ten of. Which I absolutely did.

This recipe brings me straight back to my Brisbane days. Every Friday, like clockwork, I’d head to my favourite Vietnamese street food takeaway for lunch. Sometimes it was Nem Nuong, sometimes rice paper rolls, but always fresh, always delicious. That was my weekly reward for surviving work, and it sparked a lifelong love of Vietnamese food. These days, I still whip up rice paper rolls at least a couple times a week – they’re the perfect quick fix, after all. Throw in whatever’s hanging around the fridge and you’ve got a no-fuss, no-drama dinner.

Embark on a flavor-packed adventure with our Vietnamese Pork Belly Lettuce Wraps. These wraps showcase the vibrant and zesty flavors of Vietnamese cuisine, as tender pork belly meets a medley of fresh herbs and zingy dipping sauces. The crisp lettuce acts as the perfect vessel, enveloping the succulent filling and creating a textural symphony that's as exciting as it is delicious. Get ready to awaken your senses with each bite.

A Little Time, a Lot of Reward

I know the oven time might have you raising an eyebrow. “Bit long for a Monday night, isn’t it?” Maybe. But it’s worth every minute. Pork belly needs that time – it’s not about blasting it fast, it’s about letting all that fat render out so it goes tender and crisp in all the right places. The sugars in the marinade need time too – that slow caramelisation? That’s where the magic happens.

This isn’t a fussy dinner, despite how it sounds. Once the pork’s in the oven, it more or less takes care of itself. You can potter about, prep the salad, scroll on your phone, or just stare into the middle distance thinking about whether or not you should have a glass of wine, divorce your husband, and run away to Aberdeen. (The answer is yes.) Then when that timer goes off, and the smell fills the kitchen, you’ll know exactly why I told you to wait.

When you’re finally building your wraps, the pork should be glossy, dark, a bit sticky – exactly how it should be. The sugars have caramelised, the edges are crisp, and it’s practically begging to be eaten. Trust the process. Don’t cut corners. This isn’t the kind of dish you rush through. Let it do its thing and you’ll be rewarded with pork that practically melts in your mouth – no chewy disappointment, just golden perfection.

Ingredients Breakdown

These Vietnamese pork belly lettuce wraps are fresh, sticky, and a little bit messy – basically everything I want from a hands-on dinner. The pork belly is the heart of it all. You want it diced and ready to soak up the flavours of garlic, ginger, palm sugar, fish sauce and soy sauce. It’s a simple marinade, but it packs a punch – salty, sweet, a little funky, a little bright. Nothing over-the-top. Just good ingredients doing good things.

The wraps themselves are held together with big, crisp lettuce leaves – whatever’s in the fridge will do. Iceberg, cos, butter – I’ve used them all and they all work. Then there’s the salad bits: grated carrot and cucumber for crunch and freshness, red chilli for a bit of bite, and heaps of coriander for that proper Vietnamese flavour. You can mix it up, but don’t skip the herbs. They really make it.

And finally – the crispy fried shallots. Do not even think about leaving them off. They’re salty and crunchy and bring the whole wrap together. I always have a jar stashed in the cupboard. You just sprinkle them on top and suddenly the whole thing tastes like something you’d pay good money for. They’re not just garnish – they’re the finishing touch. Like your favourite earrings. Or that glass of wine you absolutely earned.

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Bry

Bry is the food writer and recipe developer behind Cooking with Bry, a recipe platform built on nearly thirty years of cooking experience and over 215 original recipes spanning classic Australian, British, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean cuisine. She grew up in Western Sydney, where food was never just food. It was Aussie barbecues in the backyard, Middle Eastern bakeries down the road, and Mediterranean kitchens that treated every meal like an occasion. That early, immersive exposure to bold and diverse flavours shaped her palate and her cooking instincts in ways that underpin every recipe she develops today. She spent seven years living in the UK across London and Glasgow, deepening her understanding of British comfort food and traditional European cooking before returning to Australia via Adelaide, the country's undisputed foodie capital, where a passion for exceptional produce and honest, ingredient-led cooking only grew stronger. She's now based in Brisbane, developing and testing all of her recipes from her home kitchen. All of that, Western Sydney, the UK, Adelaide, Brisbane, and everywhere in between, feeds directly into what she cooks and how she writes about it. Her recipes pull from the traditions she knows most deeply, the food that feels like home, and are developed with the home cook firmly in mind. Honest, unfussy, and built around flavours that actually work.

I’m Bry, the food writer and recipe developer behind Cooking with Bry. I grew up in Western Sydney, where food was never just food. It was Aussie barbecues in the backyard, Middle Eastern bakeries down the road, and Mediterranean kitchens that treated every meal like an occasion. That upbringing shaped my palate in ways I’m still discovering.

I spent seven years living in the UK, across London and Glasgow, eating my way through some seriously good (and seriously cold) years. After that came Adelaide – markets, produce, wine – which ruined me in the best possible way. Now I’m based in Brisbane, which has its own incredible food scene and the added bonus of actually having sunshine.

All of that – Western Sydney, the UK, Adelaide, Brisbane, and everywhere in between – feeds into what I cook and how I write about it. My recipes pull from classic Aussie, British, Middle Eastern and Mediterranean traditions, the food that feels like home to me. Honest, unfussy, and built around flavours I actually crave.

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