Vietnamese-style caramel pork

Name: Vietnamese-style caramel pork
Prep time: 8 min
Cook time: 14 min
Total time: 22 min
Yield: 4 servings
Cuisine: Vietnamese
Ingredients: 1 ½ tbsp Ground Nut Oil; 500g Pork Shoulder Steaks; 2 chopped Shallots; 1 tablespoon Ground Ginger; 1 chopped Red Chilli; 75g Brown Sugar; 1 tablespoon Fish Sauce; 2 tsp Chilli Sauce; 4 Spring Onions; Steamed Rice; To serve Pak Choi

By The Spice & Simmer Kitchen · Published May 3, 2026

A one-pot Pork recipe with Vietnamese flavors, built for busy weeknights when you want real food without a sink full of dishes. Comes together in roughly 44 minutes, serves about 4, and uses ingredients you can find at any normal grocery store. The technique is simple: build a base in your pot, layer in the main ingredients, simmer until everything has had time to talk to each other, and serve straight from the pan. If you're cooking for picky eaters, this one tends to land — the flavors are recognizable, the texture is comforting, and there's nothing weird hiding in the ingredient list. Perfect for the kind of evening where you want dinner on the table by 7pm and the kitchen empty by 7:30.

Ingredients

Makes 4 servings · 22 min total

1 ½ tbsp Ground Nut Oil
500g Pork Shoulder Steaks
2 chopped Shallots
1 tablespoon Ground Ginger
1 chopped Red Chilli
75g Brown Sugar
1 tablespoon Fish Sauce
2 tsp Chilli Sauce
4 Spring Onions
Steamed Rice
To serve Pak Choi

Step-by-step instructions

step 1.
Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok over a high heat and stir-fry the pork in batches until browned all over. Remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.
step 2.
Turn the heat right down and add the remaining oil, then stir in the shallots, ginger and chilli. Cook over a low heat for a couple of mins until just starting to soften. Add the sugar, fish sauce and 200ml water to the pan and stir everything together. Bring to the boil, stirring, so that the sugar dissolves, then return the pork to the pan. Bubble vigorously for 8-10 mins until the sauce thickens to coat the meat and become glossy. Taste and stir in a little more fish sauce, if needed, along with the chilli sauce. Sprinkle with the spring onions and serve with steamed rice and pak choi.

Why this works on a weeknight

Vietnamese-style caramel pork genuinely fits a 30-minute weeknight window, which is why it earned a spot in our Stir-Fry collection. The technique is forgiving, the ingredient list is grocery-store standard, and the active cooking time is short enough that you can answer a text message in the middle without ruining dinner.

Cleanup notes

This is a single-pan recipe, so the cleanup is exactly one pan, one cutting board, and one knife. While the dish rests, fill the pan with hot soapy water — by the time you are done eating, the residue lifts off with a single pass of a sponge. Skip the steel wool on cast iron; a stiff brush and warm water are all you need to keep the seasoning intact.

Make-ahead and leftovers

Leftovers keep covered in the fridge for up to three days. Reheat in a dry pan over medium-low with a splash of water or stock to loosen the sauce. Vietnamese-style caramel pork actually improves overnight as the flavors keep talking to each other, so doubling the recipe and packing tomorrow's lunch is a high-leverage weeknight move.

Filed under 🥢 Stir-Fry Pork Vietnamese ⚡ 30-Min Dinner