Easy Vietnamese Beef Salad Recipe

You are going to love this easy rice noodle salad! Vietnamese Beef Salad is thinly sliced steak over a bed of healthy rice noodles with an aromatic, zesty lime Asian salad dressing and colorful fresh veggies.

With its nutritious ingredients and bright flavors, including a pop of mint, this Asian beef salad is guaranteed to put a smile on your face. It will be your new favorite steak salad recipe!

The Best Rice Noodle Salad with Steak

Salads are so much better when you add a little extra “something, something” with vibrant, fresh ingredients. Asian flavors tend to be aromatic and spicy, like in my favorite spicy Chinese chicken recipe and our Keto Beef and Broccoli, which makes for the best green salads!

My favorites always have a pop of flavor that sets them apart, like sweet fennel in orange and fennel salad, fragrant basil in Italian pasta salad or fresh coriander and chili in mango and avocado salad. These are the kinds of flavors that will make you want to eat a healthy salad dinner.

For this vermicelli bowl with steak, the zesty flavors work perfectly in a simple Asian marinade for thinly sliced beef. Plus, an easy Asian salad dressing with fresh lime for drizzling on top! What could be better?

Vietnamese Salad Recipe Ingredients

To make rice vermicelli noodles salad for 4 people, you will need the following ingredients for the steak salad, steak marinade, and Asian salad dressing.

Asian Steak Salad Ingredients

• 2 8 oz. sirloin steaks
• 2 medium carrots, peeled and cut into julienne strips
• 1 large cucumber, sliced into ribbons with a vegetable peeler
• 1 head butter lettuce or 2 baby gem lettuce*, roughly chopped
• Handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 10-15 fresh mint leaves, torn
• 1 red chili, finely sliced with seeds left in
• 1 cup dried rice noodles

How to Cut Cucumbers into Ribbons

1. Using a knife, cut off both ends of a whole cucumber. Discard the ends.
2. Carefully slice the length of the cucumber into long, thin ribbons using a vegetable peeler.
3. When you reach the seeds, turn the cucumber a quarter of the way and repeat. Do this as many times as necessary to cut the cucumber entirely into ribbons.

You can use a straight vegetable peeler or a Y-peeler, whichever you have on hand. Cucumber ribbons are great for salads like this vermicelli noodle salad or even for recipes like Korean Beef Bulgogi.

What is gem lettuce?

Gem lettuce, also known as Little Gem Lettuce and Baby Gems Lettuce, is a miniature variety of Romaine lettuce. It is like a mix of Romaine lettuce and butter lettuce in texture and flavor.

You can find it the produce section of your grocery store, and it looks like a tiny version of Romaine lettuce. It’s sweet like butter lettuce but crisp like Romaine, and so delicious!

What is the best cut of beef for Vietnamese beef salad?

Tender, juicy beef steaks like sirloin steaks pan fry in minutes. They’re perfect for delicious strips of beef to top Vietnamese vermicelli salad!

Asian Beef Marinade Ingredients

• Juice of 2 limes
• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• 1 tsp. garlic ginger paste*

Garlic Ginger Paste Substitute

If you have trouble finding garlic ginger paste, you can make your own by mixing equal parts minced garlic and ginger. Add a little olive oil if the paste is too thick.

Vietnamese Salad Dressing

• 2 Tbsp. sesame oil
• Juice of 1 lime
• 1 tsp. fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp. honey

The Asian salad dressing for this Vietnamese noodles salad uses just four ingredients. For that classic sweet and sour flavor, simply combine sesame oil, lime juice, fish sauce and honey. Mix well.

Asian salad dressing tip: The dressing will separate if left to sit – so remember to give it a final stir before pouring over your Vietnamese salad.

Easy Asian recipes like this are quick and simple to make thanks to the short cooking time and prep! This simple salad with beef is great for serving up a quick and easy meal.

How to Make Beef Vietnamese Salad

1. In a small dish, make the steak marinade by mixing together the juice of 2 limes, 1 tsp. fish sauce, and 1 tsp. garlic ginger paste.
2. Pour the steak marinade over 2 room temperature 8 oz. sirloin steaks. Cover, and allow to soak for at least 20 minutes.
   
3. Cook 1 cup dried rice noodles by placing them in a bowl and covering them with boiling water. Leave them to sit for 1 minute, then carefully drain and rinse under cold water.
4. Peel and cut 2 medium carrots into strips. Slice 1 large cucumber into ribbons using a vegetable peeler.
   
   Roughly chop 1 head butter lettuce or 2 baby gem lettuce heads, a handful of fresh coriander, and 10 to 15 fresh mint leaves. Finely slice a red chili with the seeds left in.
   
   Finally, place these salad ingredients in a large bowl.
   
5. Add the cooked rice noodles to the bowl with the salad ingredients, cover, and place in the fridge.
6. Place a griddle pan or skillet over medium heat. When the pan is hot, carefully add the marinated steaks. Cook on each side for 3 to 4 minutes for a pink middle. For a less pink middle, add another minute for each side.
7. Remove the steaks from the pan and wrap them loosely in foil to rest for at least 8 minutes before slicing and serving.
   
8. In the meantime, prepare the Asian salad dressing. Mix together 2 Tbsp. sesame oil, the juice of 1 lime, 1 tsp. fish sauce, and 1 Tbsp. honey. Mix well.
   
9. Assemble the salad by removing the salad bowl from the fridge. Toss together to mix with the noodles. Divide the salad evenly between four bowls (if feeding four).
10. Unwrap the steak from foil and transfer to a cutting board. Thinly slice the steak and place the beef strips on top of the salad in each bowl.
11. Pour over the Vietnamese salad dressing, serve, and enjoy!

Tips for Making Asian Beef Salad

• Remove the steaks from the fridge and place them in a bowl at least a half an hour before you plan to cook them. This allows time for the marinade to soak in and for the steaks to come up to room temperature.
• Don’t move the steaks or flip them during the 4 minutes on each side cooking time. If they begin to smoke a lot, reduce the heat slightly.
• It is very important to let your steaks rest after pan frying. Keep them loosely wrapped in foil for the 8 minutes of resting time. This will keep them hot but allow them to rest as necessary.
• The Asian salad dressing will separate if left to sit. Give it a stir before pouring it over your salad.

Is Asian Beef Salad Gluten-Free?

Use rice or rice noodles in this zesty salad and the entire salad is gluten-free.

What to Serve with Asian Beef Salad

Vietnamese beef salad goes deliciously with other easy Asian recipes like Blistered Shishito Peppers and Shrimp Shumai. Sushi Rolls and Thai Sausage Rolls are a delicious choice to pair it with, too!

If you like, you can swap out the vermicelli rice noodles in this Asian salad recipe with other noodle varieties. Thin noodles like Chinese egg noodles and Japanese ramen noodles work well.

Or, you can leave the noodles out altogether and add extra vegetables, such as bean sprouts or herbs like parsley and Thai basil. You could even make it a rice bowl and serve it over a bed of perfect fluffy rice.

No matter how you put this easy beef salad recipe together, it’s going to be delicious!

Let us know what you think of our Vietnamese beef salad!

We would love to hear what you think of this easy Asian salad recipe. Leave a comment and a rating below! You can save this recipe on Pinterest too: Vietnamese Beef Salad. You can even save the video!

More Asian Beef Recipes You’ll love

• Keto Beef and Broccoli
• Instant Pot Beef Pho
• Easy Pepper Steak Stir Fry Recipe

And try our Portuguese Beef Lettuce Wraps!