Banh cuon: Hanoi's steamed rice rolls

Below: what banh cuon is, how it's "painted" onto cloth over steam, what's inside and how it differs from banh xeo, where to eat the best in Hanoi with addresses and prices, plus a recipe to make it at home. Building a food route? Start with our guide to Vietnamese cuisine and the street food roundup.

What is banh cuon?

Bánh cuốn is a sheet of paper-thin, almost see-through steamed rice batter, rolled around a filling of minced pork and wood-ear mushrooms. It's showered with crispy fried shallots and served with slices of pork sausage (chả lụa), fresh herbs and a bowl of nước chấm dipping sauce.

This is a classic Hanoi breakfast. The real stalls open early and run until lunch — you eat banh cuon fresh, from 7 to 10 AM, while the vendor "prints" the sheets in front of you. Next to a heavy soup like pho it feels weightless: the rice sheet melts in your mouth, and there's just enough filling to satisfy without weighing you down.

For many travellers it's a revelation: in Vietnam breakfast isn't an omelette, it's delicate rice rolls with mushrooms.

How it's made — batter on cloth over steam

The magic of banh cuon is in the method. A thin layer of rice batter is poured not onto a pan but onto cloth stretched over a pot of boiling water. A lid goes on, and in under a minute the steam turns the liquid batter into a translucent, elastic sheet.

Then comes the sleight of hand. The vendor lifts the sheet with a long wooden stick, lays down the filling, and rolls it — all in a few seconds, movements smoothed by years of repetition. It's mesmerising: in five minutes a skilled cook turns out a dozen sheets without once tearing the delicate film.

The batter's secret isn't just rice flour. Tapioca starch is added to make the sheet elastic and slightly chewy so it won't tear when rolled. The batter rests for an hour or two so the starch fully hydrates.

What's inside — batter, filling, sauce

Let's break banh cuon down; each part has a job.

Batter. Rice flour plus tapioca starch and water. The starch gives elasticity, the rice flour a neutral, gentle base. Nothing extra — the filling and sauce do the flavour.

You need to grind your own rice flour to get the softness — that's not too chewy for a good bánh cuốn. The older the rice, the better results you'll getowner of Sup So Good (Perth), SBS Food, 2024

Filling. The northern classic is minced pork with wood-ear mushrooms, fried with shallots and seasoning. The mushrooms bring a light crunch and a woodsy aroma; the pork brings the substance. Shrimp goes in sometimes too.

Garnish and sauce. On top, crispy fried shallots; alongside, slices of chả lụa sausage, a plate of fresh herbs and, of course, nước chấm — a sweet-sour fish sauce with lime, sugar and garlic. The sauce ties it together; without it banh cuon is a touch bland.

It eats light, which is why it works as breakfast: satisfying, but not heavy before a long day walking around Hanoi.

Regional variations

Banh cuon is northern by birth, but the country has its takes. What follows is our observation, not a strict rule: fillings vary from stall to stall.

The Hanoi Thanh Trì style stands apart — a "bare" banh cuon with no filling. It sounds too plain, but that's the point: it's all about the pure taste of the rice sheet, folded in stacks, brushed with fragrant shallot oil and dipped in sauce. Purists rate it highest — there's nowhere to hide a bad sheet.

How to make banh cuon at home

You can recreate banh cuon at home, though the cloth over a pot is hard to match. The easiest route is to steam the sheets in a non-stick pan under a lid. A compact recipe:

Batter:

Filling: 200 g minced pork, a handful of soaked wood-ear mushrooms, 1 shallot. Sauce: fish sauce, water, lime juice, sugar, garlic, chilli. On top: fried shallots.

1. Whisk rice flour, starch, water, salt and oil into a smooth thin batter. Rest 1–2 hours.
2. Fry the minced shallot, add the pork and chopped mushrooms, season with salt and pepper, cook through.
3. Heat a non-stick pan, pour a thin layer of batter, swirl and cover for 30–40 seconds. The sheet is done when translucent.
4. Lift the sheet, add a spoon of filling, roll it up. Repeat until the batter's gone.

…too much oil will cause the batter to bubble and that results in a not so smooth texture… mum would use a paper towel, to dip into the oil and lightly wipe over the pan so that it's got a very thin coat of oilLe Vietnam, owner of DJ Lee, SBS Food, 2024

Top the rolls with fried shallots and serve with sauce and herbs. The batter must be genuinely thin — the thinner the sheet, the closer to the original.

Where to eat it in Hanoi

For the real thing, go to Hanoi — the dish has its legendary spots there.

• Bánh Cuốn Bà Hoành (Bánh Cuốn Bà Hoành): 66 Tô Hiến Thành, Hai Bà Trưng — 30,000–60,000 VND
• Bánh Cuốn Bà Xuân (Bánh Cuốn Bà Xuân): 16 Hòe Nhai, Ba Đình — Banh cuon only
• Bánh Cuốn Thanh Vân (Thanh Vân): 14 Hàng Gà, Hoàn Kiếm — Family-run, silky sheets
• Bánh Cuốn Bà Hạnh (Bà Hạnh): Ngõ Thọ Xương, Hoàn Kiếm — Thanh Trì style

The average bill is 25,000–45,000 VND (~$1–2) per person — a fresh breakfast made in front of you. Come early: the best spots sell out of batter and close by midday.

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Banh cuon or banh xeo — don't mix them up

Both are made of rice batter, but they're completely different dishes — travellers sometimes confuse them, so here's a quick comparison with our other hero, banh xeo.

Easy way to remember: banh cuon is the soft steamed breakfast roll, banh xeo is the crisp fried lunch crepe. Try both and you've grasped the two poles of Vietnam's "rice" cooking. And then there's banh mi — but that's a sandwich, a different story.

How much it costs, and quick phrases

Banh cuon is cheap even by Vietnamese standards. A serving at a good stall is 25,000–45,000 VND (~$1–2), up to 60,000 VND at Bà Hoành with add-ons. For comparison, a similar dish at a Vietnamese restaurant back home costs many times more, and won't be made in front of you.

Quick phrases for ordering

FAQ