These lacy thin bánh xèo with a crackly crisp are filled with juicy pork belly, shrimp, and bean sprouts. This Vietnamese crepe is the perfect dish to make for your next family dinner!
This bánh xèo recipe is an instant crowd-pleaser. It is crispy, savory, flavorful, and delicious. This savory rice flour Vietnamese crepes are stuffed with mung beans, shrimp, thinly sliced pork, bean sprouts and pan-fried until crispy.
Bánh xèo instantly brings me back to times when my extended family would come together, catch up and eat these brilliantly yellow crispy Vietnamese crepes. I would watch in awe as my mom pour the batter over a hot sizzling pan and see the batter bubble up as it turns golden brown with a very tender-crisp.
Now you can make these delicious Vietnamese crepes at home with this recipe. To serve, the crepe is wrapped in lettuce and fragrant herbs and then delicately dipped in a garlic and lime-infused nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce). If you love authentic Vietnamese cooking, check out my bun thit nuong (grilled pork noodles), thit kho (braised pork ribs), or bo luc lac (shaking beef).
Table of Contents
What is Bánh Xèo?
Bánh xèo loosely translates to the sizzling cake. It refers to the sizzling sound when the batter hits the hot pan. Bánh xèo is a very popular Vietnamese dish. It is basically a Vietnamese savory crepe that is made with turmeric and rice flour and is filled with thinly sliced pork, shrimp, mung beans, and bean sprouts. Vietnamese crepes are traditionally broken up into portions, wrapped in lettuce and fragrant herbs, and then dipped in a bright umami nuoc cham or Vietnamese dipping sauce.
🍽 Kitchen Equipment
- Mixing Bowl: You will need a large mixing bowl to mix the batter.
- Blender or food processor: you will need a blender or food processor to pulverize the mung beans with coconut milk.
- Wok or Large Skillet: you will need a wok or large skillet that is about 10-12 inches in diameter to cook the crepe.
🛒 Ingredients
- Mung Beans: you will need peeled, split, yellow mung beans. Make sure to clean the mung beans before soaking them for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Full fat coconut milk: make sure to use full-fat unsweetened coconut milk for the best flavor. My go-to is always Chef’s choice coconut milk. It hands down has the best flavor and consistency.
- Rice Flour: do not use glutinous rice flour. Rice flour is the base of this crepe. It will yield a soft and tender crepe. You can find rice flour online or at your local Asian grocery store.
- Cornstarch: the main ingredient that will make these crepes crispy.
- All-Purpose Flour: adds to the crispiness of the batter.
- Scallions: finely sliced scallions add flavorful aromatics to the batter.
- Turmeric powder: turmeric gives the batter that brilliant beautiful yellow color. A little goes a long way.
- Sugar: adds a subtle sweetness to the batter
- Salt: enhances the flavors of the other ingredients
Fillings
- Pork: you can use any cut you like, such as pork belly, pork shoulder, or pork butt. The pork just needs to be thinly sliced.
- Shrimp: I prefer to use larger shrimp but you can use any shrimp that you’d like.
- Yellow Onion: the onion will be thinly sliced and will add a sweet aromatic flavor to the pork and shrimp.
- Mung Beans: you will need to soak the mung beans overnight or for at least 2 hours and steam them to soften.
- Bean Sprouts: adds a subtle crunch to the Vietnamese crepe.
Herbs and Dipping Sauce
- Lettuce, Mint, Vietnamese Perilla: these are the most commonly used veggies and herbs.
- Nuoc Cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce): this dipping sauce is crucial to this dish. It is made with fish sauce, sugar, garlic, and lime juice and you can find the recipe here!
📝 How to Make Bánh Xèo
This banh xeo recipe is very easy to make with only a few steps. The hardest part is simply waiting for the batter to rest while it absorbs the liquids.
- Prepare the mung beans. In a small bowl, soak 1 cup of dried mung beans in water until softened about 1 hour or overnight. Drain the mung beans and blend a ½ cup with coconut milk until smooth. Set aside the other ½ cup for steaming.
- Mix the batter. In a large mixing bowl, add the mung bean mixture, rice flour, cornstarch, water, scallions, turmeric, sugar, and salt. Mix together to combine. The batter will be thin, with a heavy cream consistency. Let the crepe batter rest for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.
Fillings
- Cook the pork, shrimp, and onion. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok or a 10-inch nonstick skillet. Add the pork, shrimp, and slices of yellow onion. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute until the shrimp is pink and done cooking. Set aside.
- Steam the mung beans. In a steamer heat ½ of your steamer with water and bring it to a boil. Lay the mung beans over your steamer basket and steam for 15 minutes or until soft and tender. Set aside.
Assemble
- In the wok or large skillet on medium heat, add a few slices of pork, shrimp, and onion to one side of the pan. Stir the crêpe batter and pour ⅔ cup of it into the pan; tilt and swirl the pan to coat the edges until it is an even layer, making sure to cover the shrimp and pork. Scatter mung beans over the crepe and place the bean sprouts on half of the crepe with the pork and shrimp. Drizzle 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil around the edges. Cover the skillet and cook over moderately medium to steam the bean sprouts for 2 minutes. Then remove the lid and cook on medium-high until the bottom of the crêpe is golden and crisp about 5-7 more minutes. Then fold the crepe in half.
- Slide the crêpe onto a plate and serve with lettuce leaves, mint, and nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce). Repeat with the remaining ingredients, serving the crêpes as soon as they are cooked.
⭐️ Tips for the Best Bánh Xèo
- Use a scale to measure the flour. Using a kitchen scale will ensure a foolproof way to know if the banh xeo recipe was followed accurately. If you don’t have a scale, simply fluff up the flour with a spoon and gently drop it into your measuring cup. Do NOT pack the flour.
- Make the batter in advance. The batter needs time for the flour to absorb the liquids and fully reach its crispy potential. The minimum time the batter should rest is 2 hours but preferably overnight.
- Before cooking stir the batter. The flours will sink to the bottom of the batter so give the batter a quick stir before adding it to your hot skillet.
- Make sure your skillet is hot before adding the batter. A hot skillet will ensure the batter will be crispy. Make sure you use medium-high heat to prevent the crepe from burning.
- Cooking time will vary. The cooking times will vary depending on what pan you use, how hot your stove is and how many banh xeo you are making. It is important to keep an eye on the crepe to make sure you do not burn it.
- Drizzle oil along the edges of the crepe. This will ensure the edges are extra crispy as they pan fry in the skillet.
🥡 Storage Instructions
You can store the batter in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to a week. If the banh xeo is already made, you can store them in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. They will lose their crisp over time in the refrigerator.
💬 Frequently Asked Q’s & A’s
There are a few different ways that people like to eat banh xeo. It is purely based on your preference!
1. You can cut it into bite-sized pieces, wrap it in lettuce, mint, Vietnamese perilla and dip it into nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce).
2. You can eat it like a salad bowl, by cutting up the banh xeo into pieces and tossing it with shredded lettuce and herbs.
3. You can eat it like an omelet and drizzle the Vietnamese dipping sauce over it and have the herbs on the side.
Yes! You can make the Vietnamese crepe batter in advance and store it in an airtight container for up to a week.
Banh loosely translates to cake. Xeo is an onomatopoeia for the sizzling sound of when the batter hits the hot greased pan. Thus, banh xeo translates to "sizzling cake."
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👩🏻🍳 Recipe
Bánh Xèo (Vietnamese Crêpes)
Ingredients
Batter
- ½ cup split mung beans soaked overnight
- 1 cup coconut milk full fat, unsweetened and stirred before using
- 2 cup (240 g) rice flour
- 1 cup (122 g) cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon (10 g) all-purpose flour
- 4 cup water
- 2 green onion thinly sliced
- 1 ½ teaspoon (6 g) tumeric powder
- 2 tablespoon (25 g) sugar
- ½ teaspoon (2 g) salt
Filling
- 1 lb pork belly cut into ¼ inch slices
- 1 lb medium shrimp shelled, deveined and halved lengthwise
- 1 medium yellow onion thinly sliced
- ½ cup split mung beans soaked overnight
- 3 cup bean sprouts
Toppings
- Lettuce
- Mint
- Vietnamese perilla
- Vietnamese dipping sauce
Instructions
Batter
- Prepare the mung beans. In a small bowl, soak 1 cup of dried mung beans in water until softened about 1 hour or overnight. Drain the mung beans and blend a ½ cup with coconut milk until smooth. Set aside the other ½ cup for steaming.
- Mix the batter. In a large mixing bowl, add the mung bean mixture, rice flour, cornstarch, water, scallions, turmeric, sugar and salt. Mix together to combine. Let the crepe batter rest for at least 2 hours but preferably overnight.
Fillings
- Cook the pork, shrimp and onion. Heat 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil in a wok or a 10-inch nonstick skillet. Add the pork, shrimp and slices of yellow onion. Season with a sprinkle of salt and pepper and cook for 1 minute until the shrimp is pink and done cooking. Set aside.
- Steam the mung beans. In a steamer heat ½ of your steamer with water and bring it to a boil. Lay the mung beans over your steamer basket and steam for 15 minutes or until soft and tender. Set aside.
Assemble
- In the wok or large skillet on medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil, a few slices of pork, shrimp and onion one one side of the pan. Stir the crêpe batter and pour ⅔ cup of it into the pan; tilt and swirl the pan to coat the edges until it is an even layer, making sure to cover the shrimp and pork. Scatter mung beans over the crepe and place the bean sprouts on the half of the crepe with the pork and shrimp. Drizzle 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil around the edges. Cover the skillet and cook over moderately medium to steam the bean sprouts for 2 minutes. Then remove the lid and cook on medium high until the bottom of the crêpe is golden and crisp, about 5-7 more minutes. Then fold the crepe in half.
- Slide the crêpe onto a plate and serve with lettuce leaves, mint and nuoc cham (Vietnamese dipping sauce). Repeat with the remaining ingredients, serving the crêpes as soon as they are cooked.
Notes
- Use a scale to measure the flour. This will ensure a foolproof way to know if the banh xeo recipe was followed accurately. If you don’t have a scale, simply fluff up the flour with a spoon and gently drop it into your measuring cup. Do NOT pack the flour.
- Make the batter in advance. The batter needs time for the flour to absorb the liquids and fully reach its crispy potential. The minimum time the batter should rest is 2 hours but preferably overnight.
- Before cooking stir the batter. The flours will sink to the bottom of the batter so give the batter a quick stir before adding it to your hot skillet.
- Make sure your skillet is hot before adding the batter. A hot skillet will ensure the batter will be crispy. Make sure you use medium-high heat to prevent the crepe from burning.
- Cooking time will vary. The cooking times will vary depending on what pan you use, how hot your stove is and how many banh xeo you are making. It is important to keep an eye on the crepe to make sure you do not burn it.
- Drizzle oil along the edges of the crepe. This will ensure the edges are extra crispy as they pan fry in the skillet.
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