Grilled Steak Banh Mi–Style Sandwich Recipe

Sweet-and-salty marinated steak stars in these fresh and crunchy Vietnamese-style sandwiches.

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated February 22, 2021
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I went a little overboard when buying fish sauce for nuoc cham—two large bottles of Three Crabs. Not that it will go bad anytime soon, but with so much in the house, I feel a need to use it now. A marinade for beef seemed like an excellent choice.

Mix the fish sauce with sugar, shallots, garlic, and black pepper to make this sweet and salty marinade, which imparts a lot of flavor on thinly sliced sirloin tip.

I originally intended to eat the beef wrapped in lettuce with vermicelli and nuoc cham, but the idea of using it for a banh mi–inspired sandwich instead was irresistible.

I topped toasted baguettes with the steak, along with pickled carrots and daikons, cilantro, and Sriracha mayonnaise, to make one killer sandwich.

Recipe Details

Grilled Steak Banh Mi–Style Sandwich Recipe

Active 60 mins
Total 2 hrs
Serves 6 servings

Ingredients

  • 2 pounds beef sirloin tip, sliced into 1/8-inch strips

  • 1/3 cup fish sauce

  • 4 tablespoons sugar

  • 2 tablespoons finely minced shallot

  • 6 cloves of garlic, minced

  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

  • Six 6 to 8-inch baguettes, sliced in half

  • Sriracha mayonnaise

  • Pickled carrots and daikons

  • 1 bunch of cilantro, very coarsely chopped

Directions

  1. In a small bowl whisk together fish sauce, sugar, shallot, garlic, and black pepper. Place beef slices in a large resealable plastic bag, pour in marinade, seal bag and toss to coat well. Place in refrigerator and marinate at least 1 hour, or up to 24.

  2. Light one chimney full of charcoal. When all the charcoal is lit and covered with gray ash, pour out and spread the coals evenly over entire surface of coal grate. Set cooking grate in place, cover grill and allow to preheat for 5 minutes. Clean and oil the grilling grate. Grill beef over high heat until browned on both sides, about 2-3 minutes per side.

  3. Place baguette slices on grill, cut side down, and toast until browned, about 1 minute. Remove from grill and evenly divide beef on bottom slices of bread; top with pickled carrots, daikons, and cilantro. Spread sriracha mayo on top slices of bread, arrange on top of assemble sandwich and serve.

Special Equipment

Grill

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
1001 Calories
39g Fat
98g Carbs
62g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 6
Amount per serving
Calories 1001
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 39g 51%
Saturated Fat 13g 66%
Cholesterol 149mg 50%
Sodium 2427mg 106%
Total Carbohydrate 98g 36%
Dietary Fiber 5g 18%
Total Sugars 18g
Protein 62g
Vitamin C 12mg 61%
Calcium 134mg 10%
Iron 10mg 57%
Potassium 913mg 19%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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