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Instant-Pot Healthy Banh Mi Sandwich

This is one of those sandwiches I always want to order if it's on the menu... but it's actually so easy to recreate at home! And this way it's so light and healthy!
Prep Time15 minutes
Cook Time10 minutes
Total Time25 minutes
Course: Sandwich
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Servings: 1
Calories: 401kcal
Author: Lillie

Ingredients

For the Sandwich

  • 100 g instant-pot or slow cooker carnitas or other shredded pork leftover is great!- reheated in a pan with a little added garlic salt.
  • 70 g bolillo roll or other favorite sandwich roll baguette, or bun
  • 30 g pickled carrots recipe below*
  • 20 g pickled radishes recipe below*
  • 60 g thinly sliced cucumbers I used a mandolin
  • A good pinch of cilantro
  • Sliced jalapeno
  • 2 tbs spicy cilantro garlic mayo recipe below*

For the Mayo

  • 1/4 cup light mayo (mine is only 1g/fat per serving Best Foods with a green label.. your macros will be different with another but close.. you can also use greek yogurt or light/fat free sour cream.
  • 1 cube frozen garlic dorot .. or one clove
  • 1 cube frozen cilantro dorot .. or 1-2 tbs minced
  • 2 tsp sriracha

For the quick-pickled veggies

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1.5 tsp kosher salt
  • 1 tbs sugar
  • 2 carrots 100 g peeled, then shaved or grated. I sliced mine on a mandolin because it's pretty- ha! But I'll be honest it was awkward... a veggie peeler or just pre-grated would taste the same!
  • 3-5 radishes 100 g sliced thin on a mandolin or by hand is fine.

Instructions

For the quick-pickled veggies:

  • Combine water, vinegar, salt, and sugar. Stir together to make sure sugar has dissolved. Add sliced carrots and radishes and let sit for about an hour and up to a week. Drain to use.

For the Spicy Cilantro Garlic Mayo

  • You can microwave the frozen cubes for just 8 seconds or so to soften, or just let them sit in the mayo while you do other things until thawed. Stir all mayo ingredients together. DONE!

For the Banh Mi Sandwich

  • Just like I do for my every day turkey sandwich, I like to cut the bottom of the roll about as thin as possible and hollow out the top to cut carbs.*
  • Spray insides of bread with light mist of olive oil spray and toast in a hot skillet.. or if making several, spray and broil till toasty.
  • Spread both sides with spicy mayo (tricky when it's concave but you got this.)
  • Top with re-heated (from the pan) carnitas, pickled veggies, fresh cucumbers, jalapenos, and a handful of cilantro! If you're not a cilantro-lover I guess you can do that thing where you just put a few leaves.
  • Top with other half, slice and ENJOY!

Notes

If you log your food in MFP- here are a few thoughts: 
  • For logging in MFP just search "bolillo g" or whatever bread you use to find a good option in grams instead of trying to log "1 roll".
  • I used to stress about how to track the sugar in the veggies, but after weighing the liquid before and after the pickling, I realized that so little of it is soaked up, I've decided I'm considering it negligible! But if you're worried, feel free to log a little sugar, or remove it from the recipe altogether. I've had readers tell me that it turns out just fine but haven't tried myself.  I also noticed the weight of the veggies doesn't change much from raw... so I just logged fresh carrots and fresh radishes in my diary this time.
  • The mayo is another one I decided to simplify on. The additions are so negligible, the final numbers aren't much different than whatever base you use. So just log your mayo/yogurt/sour cream. Or feel free to create a recipe if you want it to be more precise!

Nutrition

Serving: 1sandwich | Calories: 401kcal | Carbohydrates: 52.7g | Protein: 34g | Fat: 6g | Saturated Fat: 1.1g