Cauliflower Banh Mi

This is SUCH a delicious recipe, so customizable, and probably my partner and I’s favorite dish of yours! We’ve made this dozens of times as-is, and it is superb. We decided to try it as a ‘bowl’ with rice, and I included faux beef (added it after taking the cauli out of the oven) with a little bit extra ‘marinade’ and it was superb. It’s hard to mess this recipe up. 10/10

This is just delicious! It’s the first time I can follow a recipe to a tee flavor wise. No need to sprinkle in a little extra garlic or cayenne. It is visually impressive and just as filling. Made for the second time today and it’s just soo good. Perfect for lunch the next day-the cauliflower even tastes good cold. The only thing I did differently was skip the baking after cooking the cauliflower in the pan because it was already cooked and I didn’t want the extra processing. Definitely do the works with the recommended garnishes! Thank you so much for posting!

So delicious! This is a weeknight staple at our house and one of only a few veggie meals my boyfriend loves.

This is one of my absolute favourite recipes to come back to, both in its original sandwich form, but also modified in to a rice or noodle bowl. The cauliflower is so richly flavoured, I could eat just bowls of it as a meal!

Great recipe! For me, the nostalgia of Banh Mi has always been the pickled veggies. I piled it on my sandwiches (and reused the vinegar broth by cutting/adding fresh veggies and saving for later). To balance the strong vinegar flavor, I used hummus on its side of the baguette (when I ran out of hummus, I used the Thug Kitchen’s tahini dressing). For the “meat” side, I did use the aioli sauce and added fresh basil to enhance the “spicy” flavor without making it hot. Because I don’t like spicy foods, I did not add any chili garlic sauce to the cauliflower (I did add panko & cornmeal for extra crunch before baking). On the sandwich, I topped the cauliflower with baby spinach for added texture (and more nutrients). Delicious! I have already substituted the cauliflower with air fried brussel sprouts (in only oil/balsamic vinaigrette/salt) which is tasty/preferable and vegan “chicken” strips ( meh – tastes like a regular sandwich). Thank you for this recipe! We had Banh Mi sandwiches all weekend.

So good! Definitely recommend. This should be your next dinner!!

Winner winner have THIS for dinner!!!!! This recipe is phenomenal. Filling and flavorful I’ll be sharing it with vegan and non vegan friends alike.

So delicious! I loved the flavor of the cauliflower. I don’t have chili garlic sauce, so I just put in minced garlic and chili flakes. I had the perfect amount of marinade, but I did end up with lots of extra pickled veggies (I’ll just put them in salads). Cauliflower is one of my favorite veggies and I’m always looking for new ways to use it. This was a winner for sure!

I made these tonight. I backed off a bit on the chili oil and made up the difference with hoisin and a little dollop of gochujang paste to keep the heat within my wife’s tolerance levels. For my pickles I used carrot, Easter egg radishes, jicama, and green cabbage. Otherwise I followed the recipe as written.

They were insanely good! The flavors and textures were everything we wanted in a banh mi. The cauliflower itself was heaven.

I was astonished at how much four cups of cauliflower florets shrank as they cooked, but it was the perfect amount for our two sandwiches.

We’ve made several recipes from Minimalist Baker now, and every one has been a smashing success. When we’re searching for new recipes, finding one from here gives us great confidence that it’ll be a winner.

This is one of the most delicious meals I have eaten!!

Outstanding recipe! I have a bottle of sriracha mayo so didn’t make that. We love cauliflower and now we love this new way of eating it! Served on toasted whole wheat bagels as they were a bit softer than baguettes. Worked well and have plenty for a second meal for two. Thanks for getting me out of my tofu comfort zone and embracing cauliflower in a sandwich!

Loved this recipe and how easy it was to make! Even my husband who doesn’t like cauliflower much enjoyed the banh mi. I didn’t have any radish, so I used pickled carrot only. I used the vegan mayo recipe to make the aioli. The proportions seem to be off. The amount of aioli and carrots leftover was a lot compared to the amount of cauliflower. Next time, I might double the cauliflower or halve the pickled vegetables and aioli. I’m adding this to my recipe book, and I definitely plan to make it again!

Make these all the time! Sometimes use yeast rolls if I don’t have bread. Thinking tonight I will make on tortillas as tacos! Such an awesome recipe

This is AMAZING! I will make this recipe again and again. In fact, I made it last night and I’m already craving it again today! :)

I doubled the recipe for a family of 4 (two hungry tweens/teens) and everyone loved it. My notes: Next time I would take down the chili in the marinade (too spicy for our taste, even though we generally all love spicy food). Also, because I was doubling the recipe I found it easier to skip the stovetop and just roast the cauliflower on a sheet pan for 35 minutes at 425 until crispy/caramelized (stirring often).

I cook every day and this is the best thing I’ve made in weeks. WINNER! Thank you!

This was so delicious! And very easy! I have been making meatless meals a lot more lately and you have some of the very best recipes. Thank you!

So good! I love banh mi but was having trouble finding a satisfying non-meat version. To keep the vinegar flavor of the quick pickled radishes and carrots from being overwhelming, I squeezed out the excess liquid with a towel before adding them to the sandwich. Definitely adding this to my monthly recipe rotation :)

Recently moved and haven’t been able to find a good banh mi, so I tried this and HOLY MOLY it is absolutely amazing! Thank you, Dana!

My husband and his family are Vietnamese and we make banh mi a lot at home. We’re trying to eat less meat so we tried this recipe and IT’S AMAZING! We loved it!The only change I made is that I used lightly toasted Portuguese buns instead of baguette because it’s easier to chew.

Absolutely delicious and easy and quick to make!!! Thank you, Minimalist Baker, for making amazing simple recipes that don’t compromise on flavor!

I love this recipe! It’s such an unexpected combination of flavors, but everything works together beautifully. I did add red onions to the pickle and mixed greens to the sandwich. The creaminess of the vegan mayo is really nice. This will be a regular dish at our house. I need to see if I can find a good local GF bakery.

Wow, this recipe was spot on. So so delicious. It gets a little messy to eat in the baguette but so worth a lil mess. Yum yum yum! Thanks, Dana!

This turned out amazing!! I feel like a real cook. I appreciate the addition to our dinner rotation. I am impressed.

This is easily one of my favourites on the blog. I’ve even substituted tofu for the cauliflower and it’s turned out great as well. To make it easier I just went straight to the oven with the cauliflower and marinade and didn’t make a difference in how it turned out. So satisfying and simple to make!

Ok I never write comments for recipes but I HAD to on this. This sandwich is AMAZING. My wife and I make these at least once a week and have done so for the past several months. We have a traditional Banh mi place nearby. This is better. I went to a very popular vegan restaurant in Atalanta that has a sandwich with cauliflower as the meat. This is better. I wanted to send them this recipe lol. Make this, you won’t regret it. Absolutely amazing.

This has become a staple in our house. We have it every week. My BF (who’s an omni) even loves it. If you do everything the recipe recommend it’s the best.
Thank you!

This recipe is so full of flavor and sooooo amazing!!! I’m making it again this week.

Wow. So much flavor. So delicious!

This was amazing. I used ciabatta rolls, crispy fried jalapeños, and goji curry dressing.

Delicious! We’ve made several times and keep coming back. I’ve found that a cast iron skillet really does make a (positive) difference for the texture of the cauliflower.

Amazing, wouldn’t change a thing!

Hi Dana!

I made these yesterday and served them with your crispy shallot spring rolls and I am IN LOVE. Banh Mi is my favorite food, and having recently moved from Austin to small town Texas where there are zero vietnamese restaurants, I’ve been going through banh mi withdrawal.

I usually have tofu or meat substitutes in my banh mi and I was a little skeptical of using cauliflower. But holy smokes…that was SO flavorful and SO satisfying. My carnivorous boyfriend was obsessed…We’ve been making your recipes regularly lately and he’s given up purchasing meat and dairy when we grocery shop altogether (thanks for helping me with that!).

Another killer recipe. Can’t wait to make your pot pies tomorrow!

This was probably the best sandwich I have ever made. My husband and I loved it but I didn’t serve it to our kids due to the spiciness. I think next time I’ll just serve theirs with plain vegan mayo.

This will be a recurring dinner in our house for sure – thanks for sharing!

I was kind of skeptical about this recipe being good but it was AMAZING! The cauliflower tasted just like the real flavors of bahn mi. The extra sauce was great on the sandwich and this all reheated super well the next day. Definitely will be making again!

Delicious!! Didn’t want my sandwich to end!

Made this for the first time tonight using pretty much the same recipe except for substituting shoyu for tamari. It is FABULOUS! My husband has been working nonstop for the past couple of weeks to meet his deadline and the banh-mi brought a smile to his otherwise stressed face.

My meat eating, pork bahn-mi loving husband absolutely loved this recipe (as did I!). The flavors are spot on and really capture the essence of a classic bahn-mi. Will definitely make again and again!

This was the bee’s knees! Super easy to make and extremely flavorful. Everything was so well balanced between savory, sweet and spicy. My husband loved it also!

I followed the recipe exactly and it was delicious: VERY SPICY, very flavourful. The next time I make it, I will keep all of the marinade aside and serve it as one of the condiments. But if you like it spicy, go for it. This recipe is a keeper!

This was a quick cooking and really flavorful dish. Almost four months meat free and dishes this full of flavor really hit the spot!

This was delicious! I made this for a Sunday evening with my boyfriend. He is not vegetarian but I am. I always like to make us food that is very flavorful. This was great! He couldn’t stop eating! He wanted more. I loved it too. It was very spicy which I love but I know spice can be hard to handle for some people. But it was just great.

These are amazing! I think my favorite of your recipes so far. Just as good, maybe better, than the Bahn Mi joint I have steps from my apartment. I added mushrooms in with the cauliflower. Yummmmmmm!!!!

Oh man. Made this recipe tonight. Flavor bomb! Thanks!

Can’t forget the peanuts! ??

Honestly this recipe is so good that I’ve started using the sauce for all sorts of other dishes. It has so much flavor and I was super impressed with how it turned out.

I never leave reviews, but I feel like I HAD to say something about this incredible recipe. It is to die for! The combination of flavors is overwhelmingly delicious, and although I often tweak recipes to my taste, there isn’t a single thing I would change in this sandwich. My husband and I love making this because there is always enough for us to have it for dinner two days in a row…score! We just refrigerate the leftover cauliflower and veggies and assemble them on french rolls again the next day! Mmmmmmmmm. Thank you so much for your creative, beautiful recipes. You’re my fave!

I have made this sandwich a few times and love it!! I decided to get creative and add the ingredients to a pizza instead of a sandwich. I leave off the radishes because I am not a fan. I added Miyoko’s vegan mozzarella cheese. It was seriously the best pizza I have ever had!!!!

Incredible! Every part of this complemented the other. It so so flavorful! I can’t wait to make it again.

I was looking for a non-tofu filled Banh Mi and here it is! I had to tone down the spiciness (and my kids won’t eat the cauliflower for some reason), but my husband and I thought it was delicious! My favorite part is pickling the veggies. This is one of those recipes that once you do the initial time investment, it’s pretty easy to whip it out again. Thanks for your awesome recipes!

Made this for the first time tonight. My family DEVOURED it and we will make it a regular meal for sure. Could have eaten 2 more helpings if we hadn’t run out of rolls! One of the best vegan dishes I’ve ever had.

Holy Wow!! So delicious! I’ve never had a Banh mi sandwich before but I know I will again & again! I didn’t have chili garlic sauce so I subbed with sriracha & minced garlic w/splash of vinegar & pinch of cane sugar. I highly suggest doubling the recipe and thennn some. As directed we topped with raw thinly sliced cukes, jalapenos & added in thin onion pieces. We absolutely loved it and wanted more! All the flavors go so well together, very impressed. My 12yr old son ate as is (even thanked me) and my younger daughter (somewhat picky) left off the pickled veggies, jalapenos & onions but enjoyed it with cukes and plain mayo. All the fam complimented me. Yayy :)

Awesome, awesome, awesome ?? ?? ?? ?

We tried and loved this. Outstanding flavours. The sriracha mayo and the pickles are amazing. For those that like a little less bread or don’t like baguette, we also tried the same ingredients in a wrap. That worked great too.

This came out SO GOOD! It’s hard to find new vegan sandwich recipes that don’t call for tofu. I’m so glad I found this one. I was a little nervous about the chili sauce as I typically find your recipes to be a little too hot/spicy but it ended up being fantastic.

I ran out of soy sauce making this recipe but it worked well with 1/2 the amount in the recipe. I will definitely be making this again.

this was so delicious! that marinade is to die for… lick the spoon good! i only ended up using half a head of cauliflower to get the 4 heaping cups, but there was enough marinade and aoli to double the amount of cauliflower. And it was so good I wish there were leftovers so next time I’d use a whole large head of cauliflower, and probably double the pickled vegetables because it would be nice to have extra on hand for other stuff throughout the week. I also used gochujang instead of sriracha, because i dont really like sriracha. Great recipe thanks!

This was so delicious, Dana, that I’m hatching a plan to have these all month and make them in large batches. Frozen, at some point, somehow. Before the saute? Really. These are incredibly satisfying and delicious. I never bought coconut aminos before but now they may be my go-to, so thanks for the tip. I couldn’t quite make them in 30 minutes this first time, but maybe with more planning and practice I could.

This is one of the best things I’ve ever made! It tastes almost EXACTLY like my favorite vegan restaurant’s Bahn Mi but with cauliflower of course. I don’t react well to too much soy so I try to stay away from it when I can (except for my love for soy milk). It was seriously delicious and not too hard to make. I can’t wait to take it for lunch tomorrow!

OFF THE CHAIN! Holy wow this sandwich rocked it! It’s my new fav recipe. My husband absolutely loves this sandwich and requests that it is in the weekly rotation. I made the recipe 3 times in the past week, and passed the recipe onto my friends with a note “you MUST make this for your next meal”. I followed the recipe to a T on the first batch, subbed tamari for the amino acid on the second, used radishes because I was out of carrots on the third. It’s all good, trust me, but my favorite is exactly like Dana suggests. I avoid oil so I did not not use the aioli on the second and third sandwich, still absolutely delish! Thank you, thank you, thank you Dana! I so very much appreciate your cooking style, quick but delicious. I no longer scour the web for vegan recipes (and I’ve been vegan for 6 years), I go straight to your website. Thanks again, you rock!

We made this for dinner last night and it was so good! We added some cayenne to the cauliflower and also used a whole grain bread, but it’s all about the flavors from the sauce, pickled carrots, and the cauliflower! Yum! Also loved how easy it was to make the mayo. Vegan mayo can be hard to find or expensive.

My husband and I recommend your site to people looking to cut down animal products. We appreciate that you don’t use too many obscure ingredients and that every recipe we try always tastes amazing!

This was super delicious and flavorful – the spice builds with each bite, in a good way. Thank you!

I made this tonight for dinner and OMG!!!! The flavoring was AMAZING! You never cease to amaze me with your delicious recipes!!

Hey great recipe- just had this for lunch today. Changed it a little by using normal mayo as I am not actually vegan and added some raw red skin peanuts to the cauliflower process. I am going to reuse the pickled veg liquid mix again as it crisped up my veg mix beautifully.

This was delicious! My husband who is a meat eater loved it too and went back for another half sandwich. I didn’t have coconut aminos so I subbed Bragg’s (not sure how different the flavors are, I’ll have to find coconut aminos before I make it next) and I subbed sweet chili sauce (which does have garlic in it) for the chili garlic sauce. I think next time I’ll skip sautéing the cauliflower and just toss in the sauce and roast in the oven. I’m definitely going to have to make this again later this week. Soooooo goooood!

This is delicious! Seriously. I was a bit nervous with 2 tbsp of garlic chili AND the spicy aioli but DANG it all came together so nicely. With the pickled carrots and radishes and cucumber, it cut the heat just enough that all the flavors came together great. I made the recipe for 2, but I’m pretty sure I’ll end up with 3-4 meals when all’s said and done. I’m so happy with how this recipe turned out – I will definitely be making it again soon!! I think next time I will thinly slice my carrots and radishes, I only have a one size grater, so my pickling turned them more into a paste versus clearly defined veggies. It still tasted fantastic, so I’m not complaining!!!

Made this last week, making it again it was that good! Your recipes are the few I make for friends without testing them first, I know it’ll come out great. Thanks!

This was fantastic! It received rave reviews from my husband, 10 year old and myself. We will definitely make this again.

O my!! Made for dinner tonight and DE-LISH!!! ????????♥️

I just finished eating this and am still speechless. I subbed the cauliflower for soy curls (trying to use what I had on hand!) and it was incredible. My husband requested that we add this to the weekly rotation and then insisted on cleaning the kitchen. Bless you!!

I made this for dinner and we all loved it, my 12 year old, 16 year old and her boyfriend. I made it exactly per the recipe, used commercial veganaise, purple cauliflower (super pretty, wish I had taken a picture but it was devoured so fast), and I slices the cucumber super thin with a regular veggie peeler. Thanks for posting. This one’s a keeper. Kids are asking for it in their lunches…I’m not that much of a morning person though.

I made this recipe with my friend and it was SO AMAZING. I couldn’t believe that we had made it ourselves! The taste was amazing, the sandwich itself was so beautiful. I can’t wait to make this sandwich again.

I’ve always felt like I’ve been missing out on the Bahn Mi sandwich craze since I don’t eat pork – this was so delicious! Thank you from South Africa. I didn’t have vegan mayonnaise and so I whipped an avocado instead and it tasted fantastic. Thank you again! I use your recipes all the time, though never comment! ;)

I just made it and its AH-MAZING. I was skeptical about how the pickles would turn out but they were perfectly tangy..juuust might add the jalapeños into the mix next time. The cauliflower was my favorite part though, juicy and packed a lot of flavor! I was out of vegan mayo and sriracha so I ended up subbing it with hummus and adding lots of chili flakes. YUM.

This was soooo good! Nice and spicy! I made extra of the pickled veggies and aioli to use on other sandwiches. I can never get my cauliflower really crispy, but it still came out great. Definitely a keeper

ohhhhhmahhhgawwwdddd. I just made this for a late lunch and it was TOO DIE FOR! Seriously so, so good! Thank you for this recipe!

I just made this for dinner tonight and we absolutely loved it! De-LICIOUS! My husband LOVES bahn mi sandwiches and now that we’re vegan he hasn’t had it recently. I saw this recipe in my inbox this morning and immediately went to TJ’s to get the goods. Everything was perfect on the recipe and made for a delicious dinner. Thank you again for filling our bellies with healthy eats!

Just so good! Made as written. We will be having this again!

Wow. Easy. Delish. Only sub I did was didn’t have radish so added thinly sliced red onion and some packaged Cole slaw mix to my pickled Veg. Will definitely make again.

So delicious and satisfying! I was literally dancing in my seat as I ate it. Thank you for making life that much better, all the time!

Run don’t walk to the kitchen. This was incredible. My husband who is a picky newly vegan demolished his sandwich and went back for a second! My only issue was that there was not enough! Perfect combination of salty and sweet. So many flavors that compliment each other perfectly!

Dana this was amazing! I had to use soy sauce instead of aminos, so I felt the sauce was a little wet but gladly put the rest in a jar to pour over rice and veggies later ;) SO tasty. My boyfriend frequently eats Viet pork rolls and smashed his baguette of this in under 5 minutes. Keep killing it!

Just did the recipe tonight and that was super yummmyyy !!! Thanks ?