This Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops (Cơm Sườn) lunchbox is the perfect solution if you are looking for a savoury, satisfying, and portable lunch idea. Traditionally served as a generous broken rice plate with grilled pork, a fried egg, shredded pork skin (bì), and steamed egg meatloaf (chả trứng), this simplified version focuses on the star of the show: the flavourful grilled pork chop-tender, caramelised and marinated to perfection.
To make it more lunchbox-friendly, this version pairs the pork with steamed jasmine rice, quick-pickled carrots and cucumbers for freshness and balance. It’s ideal for meal prep and easy to assemble in a lunchbox. The punchy nước chấm dressing is served on the side, ready to drizzle just before eating.
The pork is marinated in a classic mix of fish sauce, sugar, garlic, lemongrass, and shallots, giving it that signature sweet-savoury flavour with a charred edge from the grill. While this version skips the fried egg, bì, and chả trứng, you can certainly add them at home for a more traditional spread.
Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops (Cơm Sườn) are perfect for busy weekdays or anyone craving Vietnamese flavours without the full restaurant setup, this grilled pork chop lunchbox is proof that a simple meal can still be deeply satisfying.
Vietnamese Grilled Pork Chops
Ingredients
Pork chops
- 2 bone-in pork chops, flatten with a meat tenderiser or the back of a knife if you do not have one until chops are 1cm thick and make two slits so it remains flat when cooking.
- 1 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 1 tbsp sugar
- 1 tbsp garlic, minced
- 1 shallot, minced
- t tbsp lemongrass, minced
- 2 tbsp neutral oil
Quick carrot pickles
- 1 carrot, julienned
- 2 tbsp vinegar
- 1 tbsp sugar
- pinch of salt
Instructions
- Marinate pork for a minimum of 30 minutes with fish sauce, soy, sugar, garlic, shallot, and lemongrass. I recommend overnight marinading if possible!
- Make quick pickles by tossing carrots in vinegar, sugar, and salt. Let sit 15+ minutes.
- Grill the pork for 4-5 minutes on each side until you reach a deep caramelised colour, slight charring will be caused from the marinade.
- Assemble lunchbox with rice, sliced pork, pickles, sliced cucumber and a side of nước chấm.
