Quick and easy dinner alert! This crazy delicious chicken banh mi flatbread should make it on your menu ASAP! The flavors are amazing (and those sauces – wow!).
If the words “banh mi” make you kind of nervous, instead replace them with “deliciousness my world has never known” and hopefully that should be enough to convince you to make this chicken banh mi flatbread. It’s not scary, I promise.
It’s crazy yummy. And super, super simple.
Quick terminology lesson (thanks Wikipedia): Banh mi is a Vietnamese term that means “bread” or “meat filled sandwich,” and often those sandwiches are filled with tangy pickled vegetables and savory, flavorful sauces. From what I’ve seen and read, there’s no one right way to do a banh mi; I’m guessing there are as many versions of a great banh mi sandwich out there as there are, say, chocolate chip cookie recipes.
I happen to love sandwiches more than life. Many years ago after undergoing radiation for a cancer treatment (and having to follow an extremely strict diet of eating…well…hardly anything for weeks), my first meal request post-radiation to my husband was this: please just make me a really, really good sandwich, like, the best sandwich ever. And he did. And I cried it was so delicious.
I’ve already declared this banh mi meatball sub to be my favorite sandwich ever (bold claim). While far from a traditional banh mi, I’m sure, I’m totally down with the simple banh mi flavors that are so easy to make at home (with easy-to-find ingredients).
Because of I love the flavors of that banh mi sandwich (and this Thai Chicken Crunch wrap – holy yum), it was just a matter of time before I did a Mel fusion-style banh mi on flatbread.
Spoiler alert: I really, really like flatbread, too. (My favorite homemade flatbread recipe here but Costco sells a killer stone baked naan that works fantastic in recipes like this.)
What makes this banh mi flatbread special is twofold:
1) the special sauces X 2 (double the fun and flavor)
and
2) the quick-pickled vegetables that are 100% mandatory if you want a complete explosion of flavor and texture (the tangy crunchiness with the tender flatbread, savory meat, and creamy + sweet/spicy sauces is basically one of my favorite food happy places)
Surprisingly, even with the varying components, this meal comes together so fast. Almost everything can be made ahead of time, too, which could make dinner time simply a matter of assembling and digging in.
You can eat these babies fork and knife-style, pick them up like mini pizzas, or fold ’em up like a taco. There’s no real right way to go about it…especially since I basically made up this recipe and the brain dump didn’t come with a handbook of instruction (probably also causing a lot of traditional banh mi-ists to cringe right about now).
If Asian-style, fusion-y, crazy delicious flavors are your thing, I think you’ll love this one. (And if it seems, at first, to be a bit out of your comfort zone, I encourage you even more to try it!)
Flatbread
Spicy (or not) creamy sauce
Grilled or cooked tender chicken
Tangy vegetable relish
Sweet and spicy hoisin sauce
Fresh cilantro
There’s a lot going on, which means there’s a lot to love. Count this as definitely one of those meals I could eat every day for the rest of forever and die a very happy woman.
One Year Ago: Cheesy Mexican Chicken Sweet Potato Skillet Meal
Two Years Ago: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting
Three Years Ago: 30-Minute Asian Garlic Noodles with Shrimp {or Chicken}
Four Years Ago: One Pot Creamy Tuna and Shells
Five Years Ago: Cream Cheese Banana Bread with Sweet Cinnamon Topping
Yield:
6 flatbreads
Prep Time:
30 minutes
Total Time:
30 minutes
Ingredients
Flatbread + Chicken:
Creamy Sauce:
- 1 cup mayonnaise or plain Greek yogurt
- 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lime juice
- 1 tablespoon (more or less to taste) hot sauce/sriracha or sweet Thai chili sauce
- 1 green onion or a couple chives, finely chopped (optional)
Vegetable Relish:
- 2 large carrots, peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
- 1 English/seedless cucumber, cut into thin matchsticks
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 1 teaspoon sesame oil (can use toasted sesame oil)
- 1/2 teaspoon coarse, kosher salt
Sweet and Spicy Hoisin Sauce:
- 1/3 cup sweet Thai chili sauce
- 1/4 cup hoisin sauce
- 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
Instructions
- For the creamy sauce, whisk together all the ingredients. Can be made several days in advance.
- For the vegetable relish, place the vegetables in a bowl or container. Whisk together the sugar, vinegar, sesame oil and salt. Pour over the vegetables and toss to coat well. Can use immediately but the relish tastes best if made at least an hour before and refrigerated.
- For the sweet and spicy hoisin sauce, whisk together all of the ingredients. Can be made several days in advance.
- To assemble, lightly warm the flatbread or naan to make it more pliable and soft (if needed, totally optional depending on the bread you are using).
- Spread a layer of creamy sauce over the flatbread and top with chicken, vegetable relish, a drizzle of hoisin sauce and fresh cilantro (optional but tasty).
Notes
These flatbreads are served like a room temperature sandwich (not hot/warm although you could experiment with that if desired).
Obviously the time stated in the recipe as “prep” is assuming the chicken is cooked and flatbread is made (if going the homemade route) – adjust the time expectation needed if accounting for either of those things. Leftover grilled chicken is super tasty on these (rotisserie chicken works great, too).
Also, as noted in the recipe, the relish can be used immediately, but it tastes better if made at least an hour in advance (or the day before). All of the components of this recipe can be made at least a day ahead of time.
Recipe Source: creamy sauce and relish slightly adapted from this favorite banh mi meatball sandwich recipe, sweet and spicy hoisin sauce from this detailed look at homemade banh mi sandwiches
