There is a sound every Vietnamese street stall cook listens for, and it's right in the name. "Banh xeo" means, roughly, "sizzling cake" — the batter hits a hot pan and goes xeo, a sharp hiss that promises the crepe will come out thin, lacy at the edges, and deeply golden. Get it right and the crepe shatters when you tear it. Get it wrong and you've made a floppy pancake.
This recipe walks through the whole thing: a turmeric-tinted rice batter that rests until it's silky, a quick shrimp-and-pork filling, bean sprouts for crunch, and the proper way to eat it — wrapped in lettuce leaves with a tangle of fresh herbs and a dip in nuoc cham. None of the steps are hard. The part that matters is heat management and patience with the batter, both of which this recipe spells out in detail.
What Is Banh Xeo?
Banh xeo is a savory Vietnamese crepe made from rice flour and water (or coconut milk), tinted yellow with turmeric and studded with green onions. The classic filling is shrimp, thinly sliced pork belly, sliced onion, and bean sprouts. Each crepe cooks alone in a hot skillet until the underside crisps and the edges turn lacy, then it's folded in half and served with lettuce, fresh herbs, and nuoc cham dipping sauce.
It shows up all over Vietnam with regional twists — the southern versions tend to be larger and richer with coconut milk, while central Vietnam makes smaller crepes, sometimes with rice paper folded in for extra crunch. The version here leans southern: generous size, coconut milk in the batter, and a filling that doesn't skimp.
The eating method is half the pleasure. You tear off a piece of the crepe, lay it on a lettuce leaf with some herbs and a few pickled bits if you have them, roll or fold it into a bundle, and dip it in nuoc cham. Eating it with a fork misses the point; the lettuce wrap is what cools and freshens each bite.
Ingredients
Serves 4 (makes 8 crepes) · Prep 25 minutes plus 1 hour batter rest · Cook 30 minutes
For the batter:
- 1 cup (160g) rice flour — not glutinous rice flour, not wheat flour
- 1/4 cup (30g) cornstarch
- 1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- 1 3/4 cups (420ml) water
- 1/2 cup (120ml) coconut milk
- 2 green onions, thinly sliced
For the filling:
- 1/2 lb (225g) pork belly or pork shoulder, very thinly sliced
- 1/2 lb (225g) medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
- 1 medium yellow onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 2 cups (about 170g) bean sprouts
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil (avocado or vegetable), plus more as needed
- Salt and black pepper
For the nuoc cham dipping sauce:
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1/4 cup fresh lime juice (about 2 limes)
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3/4 cup warm water
- 1 clove garlic, minced
- 1 Thai bird's eye chili, thinly sliced (optional)
To serve:
- 1 head butter lettuce or green leaf lettuce, leaves separated and washed
- A generous plate of fresh herbs: mint, cilantro, Thai basil, and perilla if you can find it
- Optional: steamed rice paper wrappers for an extra layer in each wrap
Instructions
- Make the batter. In a large bowl, whisk the rice flour, cornstarch, turmeric, salt, and sugar. Pour in the water and coconut milk and whisk until completely smooth — no lumps. Stir in the sliced green onions. The batter should be thin, about the consistency of heavy cream. Cover and let it rest at room temperature for at least 1 hour (or refrigerate overnight; whisk again before using).
- Mix the nuoc cham. In a small bowl, stir the sugar into the warm water until dissolved. Add the fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and chili if using. Taste it: it should be salty first, sour second, with a gentle sweetness. Adjust to your taste — some limes are sharper than others, so trust your mouth over the measurements.
- Set up your filling station. Thin-slice the pork and season it lightly with salt and pepper. Peel and devein the shrimp. Slice the onion. Rinse and drain the bean sprouts. Having everything within arm's reach matters because each crepe cooks fast and there's no pausing mid-pour.
- Sear the filling. Heat a 10-inch nonstick skillet or well-seasoned carbon steel pan over medium-high heat. Add 1 teaspoon of oil and swirl. Add 4–5 shrimp, 4–5 pork slices, and a small handful of onion. Sear, stirring once, for about 1 minute — you just want some color on the pork and the shrimp to start turning pink. This is the same kind of fierce, fast heat that makes a wok sing; our guide to wok hei explains why that blast of heat matters even when you're not using a wok.
- Pour and swirl. Give the batter a stir, then ladle in about 1/3 cup, tilting and swirling the pan immediately so it coats the bottom in a thin, even layer. Scatter a small handful of bean sprouts over one half. Cover with a lid and cook for 1–2 minutes, until the edges start to lift and the surface looks set.
- Crisp the underside. Remove the lid. Drizzle about 1 teaspoon of oil around the edges of the crepe. Cook uncovered for 2–3 more minutes, until the underside is deeply golden and the edges are lacy and crisp. You can peek by lifting an edge with a spatula — it should hold its shape and look browned, not pale.
- Fold and serve. Fold the crepe in half over the filling and slide it onto a plate. Wipe the pan clean with a paper towel between crepes (any browned bits will stick to the next one), re-oil lightly, and repeat with the remaining batter and filling.
- Wrap and eat. To eat, tear a piece of crepe, place it on a lettuce leaf with a few herb sprigs, roll it up loosely, and dip in nuoc cham. If you like the central-Vietnamese touch, add a piece of softened rice paper inside the wrap for extra chew.
Tips for Crisp Crepes
- Don't skip the rest. Resting lets the rice flour fully hydrate, which makes the batter smoother and the crepe more delicate. A just-mixed batter fries up thicker and gummier.
- Thin batter is the whole game. If your crepes come out soft instead of crisp, the batter is probably too thick. Whisk in water a tablespoon at a time until it flows like heavy cream.
- The pan must be properly hot. The batter should sizzle the instant it hits the oil. If it lands quietly, wait another minute. Too cool and the crepe steams instead of frying; too hot and it browns before it sets. Medium-high is the zone.
- Resist overfilling. A crowded crepe steams its own filling and never crisps. A sparse handful of each filling ingredient is plenty — the crepe itself is the star.
- Serve immediately. Banh xeo is at its peak in the five minutes after it leaves the pan. If you're cooking for a crowd, keep finished crepes warm in a single layer in a 200°F oven while you finish the batch. Stacking them traps steam and softens the crunch.
- The lid matters. Covering the pan for the first minute or two steams the top of the crepe so it sets; uncovering for the final minutes is what lets the underside go crisp. Both halves of that equation count.
Variations
- Vegetarian banh xeo: Skip the shrimp and pork. Fill with sliced shiitake or king oyster mushrooms, extra onion, bean sprouts, and a handful of shredded carrots. Mushrooms sear beautifully with the same technique.
- Seafood banh xeo: Add bay scallops or sliced squid alongside the shrimp for a coastal version. Keep the pieces small so they cook through in the short sear.
- Smaller appetizer crepes: Use an 8-inch pan and 1/4 cup batter per crepe. These make excellent party food — guests assemble their own lettuce wraps.
- Extra-crackly version: Some cooks add a spoonful of beer or sparkling water to the batter in place of some of the water. The carbonation isn't traditional, but the batter fries up a touch lighter.
Choosing Your Herbs
The herb plate is not garnish — it's an ingredient. Mint cools, Thai basil adds anise notes, cilantro brings brightness, and perilla (tia to) adds a distinctive earthy-minty depth. If you're staring down the herb wall at an Asian grocery and unsure what to grab, our Vietnamese herbs guide walks through what each one looks and tastes like so you can build the right plate.
Ingredients
Method
- Whisk rice flour, cornstarch, turmeric, salt, and sugar. Add water and coconut milk; whisk smooth. Stir in green onions. Rest at least 1 hour (or refrigerate overnight). Batter should be like heavy cream.
- Dissolve sugar in warm water. Add fish sauce, lime juice, garlic, and chili. It should be salty first, sour second, lightly sweet. Adjust to taste.
- Thin-slice pork; season lightly with salt and pepper. Peel and devein shrimp. Slice onion. Rinse and drain bean sprouts.
- Heat a 10-inch nonstick or seasoned carbon steel skillet over medium-high. Add 1 tsp oil; sear a few shrimp, pork slices, and onion for about 1 minute until pork has color and shrimp start to pink.
- Stir the batter; ladle in 1/3 cup, tilting and swirling to coat thinly. Scatter bean sprouts over one half. Cover; cook 1-2 minutes until edges lift and surface sets.
- Uncover; drizzle 1 tsp oil around the edges. Cook 2-3 more minutes until deeply golden with lacy crisp edges. Fold in half and slide onto a plate. Wipe pan between crepes and repeat.
- Tear a piece of crepe, lay on a lettuce leaf with herbs, roll loosely, and dip in nuoc cham.