Vietnamese chicken vermicelli bowls
Grilled chicken over rice vermicelli with cucumber, carrot and cabbage, finished with a sweet and salty dipping sauce. Light, fast, and good cold the next day.
Notable for: vitamin C, fibre, vitamin A
Ingredients
- 730 gchicken breast
- 250 grice vermicelli noodles
- 200 gcarrots, matchsticks
- 1telegraph cucumber, matchsticks
- 0.5green cabbage, shredded
- 2limes
- 30 mlfish sauce
- 30 ghoney
- 15 gcrushed garlic
- 2spring onions, sliced
- 10 mlolive oil
Method
Toss the chicken with half the garlic, a squeeze of lime and the oil, then sear it in a hot pan for 6 minutes a side until charred and cooked through, and rest it before slicing.
Cook the vermicelli according to the packet instructions, usually just a soak in boiling water, then drain and rinse it in cold water.
Whisk the fish sauce, honey, the rest of the garlic, and the rest of the lime juice with 2 tablespoons of water for the dipping sauce.
Build the bowls with vermicelli, carrot, cucumber and cabbage arranged in sections, the chicken on top, and the spring onion scattered over.
Pour the dipping sauce over just before eating, or serve it on the side.
Rinse the noodles in cold water
Vermicelli keeps cooking in its own residual heat after draining. A rinse under cold water stops it going gluey and is what gives the bowl its light, separate strands rather than a clump.
Storage
Keeps two days in the fridge with the dressing kept separate.
Good cold, straight from the fridge - this one isn't meant to be reheated.
Cost per serving is indicative, based on New Zealand supermarket prices as at September 2026. Batch prices your own week against your own store on the day. Nutrition figures, including calories, are estimates rather than label readings, so always check the packet if you have an allergy. "Notable for" reflects well-established qualities of the ingredients used, not a lab measurement of this exact dish.