How to order the healthiest Vietnamese dishes: A menu guide (2024)

Vietnamese food is often considered a lighter alternative, with ingredients such as fresh seafood, vegetables andherbs, including cilantro, mint, lemongrass and basil as the focal point.

Many traditional Vietnamese dishes are incredibly nutritious and low-fat, with lean proteins. Still, Vietnamese has its share of deep-fried as well as salt- and sugar-laden dishes.

For the most part, however, it's fairly easy to keep things nutritious and delicious.

EAT FIT 101: A guide to ordering in Vietnamese restaurants

WHAT TO ORDER: Our top three picks for both taste and nutrition include the following:

• Ca Hap

KEY WORDS: When navigating the menu, there are a few cues to help select the better-for-you options. These are the top nutritious picks in Vietnamese cuisine, all centered on lean proteins and produce.

• Ca Hap

Know how it's prepared. Look for foods that are steamed (hap), grilled (nuong), roasted (rang), boiled (luoc) or stir-fried (xao), steering clear of those that are fried (chien).

What to steer clear of if you're watching your salt:

Sauces: Request dishes without (or with less) soy sauce or fish sauce, which are about 900 mg and 1,400 mg of sodium per tablespoon, respectively. Sauces like peanut sauce, hoisin and nuoc cham (classic Vietnamese dipping sauce) can add 1,000-plus milligrams of sodium per serving, and sugar is the main ingredient in hoisin sauce.

Pho. Nutritional stats vary, but on average, a bowl of pho tops 1,500 mg sodium. Not a big deal for athletes or others who may benefit from a dose of extra salt, but for those watching their blood pressure or who need to limit their sodium for other reasons, pho can cram a full day's worth of salt into that savory bowl.

Since restaurants make pho in large batches, it's nearly impossible to order a customized "low sodium" pho.

Tip: If you're craving a big bowl of pho, try having less of the broth. To make this a notch easier, ask for pho to be loaded up with fresh herbs and extra veggies like bok choy, cabbage, carrots, and bean sprouts, as well as lean proteins like shrimp, chicken, tofu or lean beef. Not only does this edge out some of the space for broth in the bowl, it also makes it more filling, and easier to leave behind some of the broth.

What to steer clear of if you're watching your carbs:

Rice and noodles. I know. It's the mainstay of Vietnamese cuisine. Brown rice, and even brown rice vermicelli are available at some Vietnamese restaurants, but as always, keep in mind that carbs and calories are essentially the same as the white versions.

Glass noodles. Made from mung bean starch, glass noodles are also referred to as mien or cellophane noodles. These translucent noodles seem like they would be a lighter option, but the nutrition stats are about the same as other types of white noodles, with minimal fiber.

Most Vietnamese restaurants will accommodate requests for less (or no) rice or noodles, replacing these with vegetables instead, serving the double benefit of cutting back on extra carbs and calories while boosting our veggie intake.

Vietnamese iced coffee (Ca phe sua da). Coffee with sugary condensed milk, this is more of a dessert than a coffee, with 20-30 grams of sugar per serving.

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Here are Molly Kimball's other dining out guides. Is there another cuisine you'd like for her to tackle? Let her know at eatingright@nola.com.

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Molly Kimball is a registered dietitian in New Orleans. She can be reached ateatingright@nola.com. Comment and read more atNOLA.com/eat-drink.Follow her on Facebook:facebook.com/mollykimballrdand Twitter: twitter.com/mollykimballrd.