Banh Mi Bowl (Paleo, Whole30)
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This Banh Mi Bowl is like your favorite banh mi sandwich, but healthier! The base is made with cauliflower rice, then it’s topped with veggies, a sticky-sweet pork and a simple sriracha mayo.
Remember when I named a banh mi restaurant one of my favorites in Pittsburgh? Yeah well the other day I found myself craving banh mi but I didn’t want to leave my house. Enter: this homemade (and healthy!) banh mi bowl.
The best part about banh mi is the variety of flavors. Since this isn’t a typical banh mi sandwich and it is on the healthier side, I wanted to make sure the meat was marinaded perfectly, aka that it had tons of flavor. Let me tell you–this recipe is pure perfection, such an easy lunch recipe and it comes together in less than 15 minutes! I always say that 30 minute meals are my favorite, but 15 minute meals are even better.
Why this banh mi bowl is the best
- It’s made with healthy ingredients, like cauliflower, cucumber and carrots
- The marinade for the pork is insanely flavorful
- Anything with sriracha mayo is a winner in my opinion, including this bowl!
- It’s ready in just 15 minutes
Step-by-step instructions
This bowl comes together from start to finish in less than 15 minutes, so when I’m really not joking when I say it’s EASY.
Step 1: Cook the pork. Add pork to a skillet and cook it over medium heat until it’s no longer pink.
Step 2: Slice the vegetables. While the pork is cooking, prep the veggies–cucumber, carrots, and jalapeño–by slicing them. For this recipe, I bought shredded carrots, but you can also buy carrot sticks and slice them yourself if you prefer.
Step 3: Cook the cauliflower rice. Pro tip: buy pre-made cauliflower rice! Seriously, it makes life a lot easier. I like the frozen bags that you can microwave, but you can also buy the refrigerated kind that cooks over the stove.
Step 4: Make the marinade. Whisk the coconut aminos, arrowroot and ginger together in a bowl.
Step 5: At this point, the pork should be fully cooked. Add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes or until the garlic is fragrant, then reduce the heat to low, then pour the marinade over top and stir everything together for about 1 minute until the pork is fully coated the sauce gets kind of sticky.
Last, make the spicy mayo by stirring mayo and sriracha together, then drizzle it over top of the assembled bowl.
FAQs and Tips
Ingredient substitutions
Want to make a few changes? No problem. Here are a few that I think would work well:
Vegan: If you want to keep this vegan-friendly, simply use your favorite vegan “meat” substitution. Personally, I’d use either fried tofu or seitan.
Traditional: Use white rice! Traditional banh mi bowls are made with white rice instead of cauliflower rice, so if you want to go that route, I think it’ll taste delicious.
Isn’t traditional banh mi made with pickled vegetables?
Yes! Pickling vegetables is absolutely an option when making this bowl; however, it requires a little more prep work, and I wanted this bowl to be as quick as possible, so I opted to use raw veggies. Feel free to pickle the carrots ahead of time if you want it to taste truly authentic.
More Whole30 recipes
Banh Mi Bowl (Paleo, Whole30)
Ingredients
- 1 lb. ground pork
- 3 garlic cloves, minced
- 1/4 cup coconut aminos
- 1 tbsp arrowroot
- 1 tsp fresh ginger, grated
- 12 oz. cauliflower rice*
- 1/2 cup cucumber, sliced
- 1/2 cup shredded carrots
- 1 jalapeño, sliced and seeds removed
- cilantro for garnish
for the sriracha mayo:
- 1/4 cup mayo**
- 2 tsp sriracha***
Instructions
- Start by cooking the pork in a skillet over the stove.
- While the pork is cooking, slice the cucumber and jalapeño, and measure out the carrot sticks. Next, make the marinade by whisking the coconut aminos, arrowroot and ginger together in a bowl.
- Make the cauliflower rice according to the package instructions.
- At this point, the pork should be cooked. Add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Reduce heat to low, then pour the marinade overtop and stir together for 1 minute or until the pork is completely coated and the sauce is slightly sticky.
- Divide the cauliflower rice into 2 bowls then top it with the pork and veggies. The final step is to make the sriracha mayo: simply whisk the mayo and sriracha together, then drizzle it over the bowls. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
Made this with Tattoo Chef Asian Cauliflower Rice. This recipe was delishious!
Thanks Sarah — I’m glad you enjoyed the bowl!
Made this for the first time tonight – was absolutely delish. A simple dish that really packed the flavor in – will definitely be making again. We chose to roast the jalapeno with the cauliflower rice. Not sure it made much difference but for some reason I didn’t want it just “fresh”. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so happy you enjoyed the recipe!
Thank you for sharing, my hubby and I love Banh Mi’s and this recipe is perfect!! One of my fav recipes ☺️
I’m so glad you both enjoyed it!
I followed the recipe, but it was way too salty with 1/4 cup of coconut aminos. Any suggestions for reducing the saltiness without losing the flavor?
Hmm.. honestly I’d probably just use less coconut aminos. Coconut aminos is less salty than soy sauce, but using a different ingredient would alter the flavor too much.
Your recipe says to divide among 2 bowls but the servings at the top of recipe says 3. Which is it?
Whoops, my mistake! Technically it probably *should* be 3 servings (and the nutrition info is for 3 servings), but when I make this my husband and I usually end up eating the whole thing in 1 sitting.
We all loved this dish. The raw veggies make this dish spectacular. Thanks for a great recipe. We will be eating this many times more!
I’m so happy everyone liked it!
Can you use powdered ginger spice?
I think I’d just omit the ginger if you don’t have fresh ginger
I’ve made this several times now and I just have to tell you how much I love it! This time I roasted cauliflower florets and used rice (properly soaked) that I cooked in bone broth as the base instead. I’m full but want seconds, haha.
This makes me so happy! Glad you like it so much (it’s one of our go-to recipes, too!)
Loved this, I used impossible burger instead of pork and it was great!
Great idea! I’m glad you liked the recipe 🙂
This was amazing! I bought a well-raised pig and have quite a bit of ground pork and have been trying a lot of new recipes and this did not disappoint. I layered it all in a small casserole dish with the jalapeños and sauce on the side so everyone could get what they wanted and make it as spicy as they wished. I will definitely be making this again.
Love this idea — I’m happy to hear everyone enjoyed it!