Rau Ram substitute

Best substitute

Cilantro plus Fresh Mint (2:1)

Use the same amount by total leaf volume as the rau ram you are replacing

Best for goi salads

Close match

Two common supermarket herbs combined to cover the two halves of rau ram's flavor.

Other rau ram substitutes

Ranked, with the exact amount to use

2Culantro (Ngo Gai, Sawtooth Herb)
Different texture
Use the same amount sliced thin
Long, serrated, very fragrant leaf usually sold beside rau ram in Asian markets.
What changes
Best for
pho, hot and sour soup, goi, beef dishes
A much louder version of the cilantro note, so it covers the aromatic side better than anything else, but it has no pepperiness at all and the leaves are tough, so slice them into thin ribbons rather than serving whole. If your store has this it almost certainly has rau ram too, one aisle over.
3Thai Basil
Different taste
Use the same amount
Purple-stemmed, anise-scented basil sold in large bunches.
What changes
Best for
pho, chicken salads, noodle bowls, table herb plates
A good herb doing a different job. The licorice and anise notes make a chicken salad or a bowl of pho taste sweeter and more perfumed, and distinctly Thai rather than Vietnamese, with none of rau ram's peppery bitterness. Works best in dishes that already have star anise or cinnamon in them.
4Cilantro Alone
Close match
Use the same amount
Plain fresh coriander leaf, stems and all.
What changes
Best for
salads, soups, wraps, everyday cooking
The right family of aroma but softer and sweeter. A goi made only with cilantro tastes green and pleasant but flat, because nothing is cutting through the fatty pork or duck the way rau ram's peppery finish does. Use the stems too; they are the more pungent part.
5Fresh Mint Alone
Different taste
⅔ the volume of rau ram
Spearmint leaves, torn rather than chopped.
What changes
Best for
fresh spring rolls, salads, herb plates
Clean and cooling, but with no citrus and no pepper the dish reads bright and simple instead of complex. Mint also takes over quickly, which is why you use less of it than the recipe's rau ram quantity rather than matching volume for volume.
6The honest answer: no single herb matches it
Different taste
What to expect when you accept a compromise.
What changes
Best for
goi vit, hot and sour dishes, snail and shellfish dishes
The advice you will see most often, just use mint, throws away the reason rau ram was specified: a peppery, faintly bitter finish that no mint or cilantro has. For goi vit, duck salad, or hot and sour dishes the least-bad option is cilantro plus mint plus a pinch of black pepper. The dish will still be good, just milder and rounder.

What is Rau Ram?

Rau Ram is A pungent Southeast Asian herb with narrow, pointed leaves marked with a dark blotch, eaten raw with salads, soups and grilled meats, and sold as Vietnamese coriander, Vietnamese mint, laksa leaf, Cambodian mint or hot mint.

Cooking tips

Add it at the very end or at the table. Rau ram's aroma collapses in under a minute of simmering, so stir it into soup off the heat or lay whole leaves on top of the bowl.
Strip the leaves off the reddish stems. Unlike cilantro, rau ram's stems are stringy and taste noticeably harsher and more bitter than the leaves.
It roots from a cutting in a glass of water on a windowsill within a week or two, which is often faster than tracking down another bunch. One purchase from an Asian market can turn into a permanent supply.
Store the bunch stem-down in an inch of water on the counter, loosely covered with a bag. In the cold of the fridge the leaves blacken within a couple of days.
Use less than you would cilantro. Rau ram is roughly twice as assertive, so a cup of rau ram and a cup of cilantro are not equivalent amounts of flavor, which is why cilantro substitutions often taste underpowered.

Frequently asked questions

Can I just leave rau ram out?

Yes. It is a raw finishing herb, so nothing in the recipe depends on it structurally and the dish will cook normally. What you lose is the peppery lift that cuts through fat, which matters most in rich dishes like goi vit or a fatty pork bun. Compensate with a little more of whatever other herbs you have plus a grind of black pepper.

Is rau ram the same as mint?

No, despite being sold as Vietnamese mint. Rau ram is Persicaria odorata, a knotweed relative, and it is not related to mint or to cilantro at all. It tastes like cilantro crossed with black pepper, with a bitter edge. Mint tastes cooling and sweet, so swapping directly changes the character of the dish.

Is rau ram the same as Vietnamese coriander?

Yes, those are two names for the same plant, along with laksa leaf, Cambodian mint, hot mint and daun kesum. If a recipe calls for any of those, rau ram is what it means. It is not the same as ngo gai or culantro, which is a different herb also common in Vietnamese cooking.

Can I use dried rau ram?

Honestly, no. The flavor lives entirely in volatile oils that disappear on drying, and dried rau ram tastes of dusty hay. Cilantro and mint mixed fresh will get you far closer than dried rau ram will, and this is one case where fresh-or-nothing is genuinely the right rule.

Where do I find rau ram?

Vietnamese, Cambodian and Chinese grocers keep it in the refrigerated herb section, usually in a bunch labelled rau ram or Vietnamese coriander, often stacked next to Thai basil and ngo gai. Ordinary supermarkets almost never carry it, which is why the substitute question comes up so often.

Related substitutes

More spices & herbs substitutes

Rau Ram substitute

Other rau ram substitutes

2Culantro (Ngo Gai, Sawtooth Herb)

3Thai Basil

4Cilantro Alone

5Fresh Mint Alone

6The honest answer: no single herb matches it