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Banh Mi is a classic Vietnamese food that’s an absolute delight to your taste buds. Outside of pho, it probably the most well-known Vietnamese food out there. The banh mi is a perfect mix of sweet, sour, spicy, savory and salty stuffed into a buttery baguette, and topped with aromatic herbs. As one of our absolute favorite foods pre-keto, we just had to find a way to make a keto banh mi.
Having grown up on banh mi, my standards were really high. We also recently traveled to Vietnam for the real stuff, so we knew we had to pay attention to the details and not mess it up. Every ingredient contributes a little something, so you can’t forget things like cilantro (it’s not just a garnish!).
We experimented and found some substitutes for the higher carb ingredients that turned really great. The result is our keto banh mi recipe that is sure to satisfy even the craziest of banh mi cravings.
Key Ingredients for a keto Banh Mi
Fish Sauce
Though it might be tough to tell because of the saltiness, most brands of fish sauce actually contain some sugar. That’s why we exclusively use the Red Boat brand of fish sauce which does not contain any sugar, added MSG or preservatives.
Organic Soy Sauce
Another major player is soy sauce. This will be used as one of the ingredients to marinate the lemongrass beef. When eating soy products we 
try to stick to organic or non-gmo and the Japanese brand Kikkoman
is the best tasting and it’s only 1g net carb per serving.
Sugar / Sweetener
A couple of components in our recipe normally rely on added sugar.
- The daikon and carrots are generally pickled in a brine containing vinegar and sugar.
- The marinade for our lemongrass beef requires a little bit of sweetness.
To substitute for sugar, we simply use Sola sweetener. It’s the BEST low glycemic, one-to-one replacement for sugar we have found. You can’t taste a difference between Sola and sugar, which is exactly what we want. All the other keto sweeteners we’ve tried are either too bitter or too sweet. We love how Sola is a TRUE 1:1 ratio.
Mayo
We use Sir Kensington’s avocado oil mayo because avocado is low in PUFA (polyunsaturated fatty acids). Plus, out of all the avocado-oil based mayo brands, we have found Sir Kensington to have the best taste, hands-down.
Bread
The baguette is, for lack of a better term, the bread and butter of a banh mi. It needs to have a crunchy exterior and chewy interior with a rich, buttery taste and smell.
For a keto baguette, we use Solo Carb Country White Bread because it is low carb (3g net carbs per slice) and toasts up very well. We pan-grill the bread in butter infuse some flavor and get the bread nice and crispy.
It’s not a baguette, but it does a really good job as a stand-in, complementing the rest of the flavors of the banh mi perfectly.
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote
Keto Vietnamese Banh Mi
We've taken this traditional (and uber populate) Vietnamesesandwich and ketofied it!
Prep Time10 minutes mins
Cook Time15 minutes mins
Total Time25 minutes mins
Course: Main Course
Cuisine: Asian
Keyword: keto vietnamese banh mi
Servings: 4 Sandwiches
Calories: 854kcal
Ingredients
Pickled Daikon and Carrot Garnish
- 1/2 cup Daikon, Stick
- 1/2 cup Carrots, Sticks
- 1/4 cup Sola Sweetener Add more as needed
- 1/2 cup Rice Vinegar
- 1/2 tsp Salt
- 1/2 cup Warm Water
Meat
- 1/2 lb Thin Sliced Ribeye Have the grocery store slice it for you!
- 4 Teaspoons Sola Sweetener
- 2 Tablespoons Four Boat Fish Sauce
- 4-6 Cloves Garlic
- 2 Tablespoons Lemongrass
- 1 Tablespoons Organic Soy Sauce
- 2 Tablespoon Extra Virgin Avocado Oil Add in as needed when cooking
Bread
- 2 Solo Bread Slices
- 2 Tablespoons Butter
Toppings
- 1 Fried Egg (Optional but you should do it 😀
- 1/2-1 Cucumber (finely sliced)
- Jalapeno (chopped) (if you like spicy)
- Sir Kensington Avocado Oil Mayo (as much as you want!)
- Cilantro (chopped) (to your liking)
Instructions
Carrot and Daikon Pickling
Thinly slice the carrots and daikon into matchstick-sizepieces
Mix together the pickling ingredients in a medium-sized bowl - sugar, vinegar, salt, warm water. Let sit.
Boil 2-3 cups of water over high heat on the stove.
Once water is boiling take off heat place the carrots and daikon into the water for 3-5 minutes
Drain the carrots and daikon and then add them into thesugar and vinegar mixtureyou prepared. Allow it to sit for at least an hour before eating.
Ribeye
Add the thinly sliced ribeye and all the seasonings into a Medium-Large bowl. Mix together well and then let sit for 30 minutes to marinate.
Once ready to cook heat your skillet on medium-high heat. Add the meat to skillet once hot. Meat will cook for 2-3 minutes (browning it but not burning it!). If you are using a non-stick pan you will use less oil, if you are using a cast iron pan you will need more oil to fry up meat otherwise it will stick
Bread
Heat pan to medium or medium-high melt the 2 tablespoons of butter. Place the bread on the pan toast until desired crispiness.
Assembling
Take all your ingredients (bread, meat, carrots and daikon, fried egg, mayo, cucumber, cilantro, jalapeno) and assemble a sandwich!
Video
Notes
Majority of the carb (3g net per slice) is coming from the bread so you can have fewer carbs by using less bread or just make it into a banh mi bowl. BUT the sandwich is SOOO GOOD 😀
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