Recipes
Vietnamese Pho (Soup)
Serves 4
| Prep Time: 10 mins
| Cook Time: 5 mins
| Total Time: 35 mins
You may need: Vietnamese Pho
Discover The Recipe
Vietnamese Pho soup has become increasingly popular around the world with restaurants popping up to serve up heaping bowls filled with savory broth, chewy noodles, tender slices of beef, and pops of color and flavor from crunchy veggies and herbs. The only problem is that Pho is traditionally made by boiling beef bones and spices for 6-8 hours to make the signature broth. Not something to make at home, until now.
Our recipe delivers a quick and easy Vietnamese Pho with most of the flavor of a restaurant broth without tying you to the kitchen all day. The key to making a good Pho lies in creating a tasty broth. We tested a number of different recipes and ingredients to make a quick broth that has the necessary savory / umami flavors as well as the subtle sweet, warm spice notes that are unique to Vietnamese Pho. By using a store beef broth with a small amount of beef bone broth and adding our Vietnamese Pho spice packet, we can develop the rich, complex broth that you expect.
As with any soup, this dish is easy to customize. Our spice packet is naturally vegan, and we infuse umami flavors into the broth from Porcini mushrooms that are ground into a powder. So, if you want a vegan soup, sub in vegetable broth and mushrooms / tofu for the meat.
Ingredients
8 ounces of dried noodles (rice or udon)
4 cups beef broth
1 cup beef bone broth (optional)
3 cups water
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 lb of thinly sliced beef (sirloin, round eye, or London broil)
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
Handful of mint sprigs, leaves picked
Handful of cilantro, leaves picked
1 cup bean sprouts
lime wedges
Notes
An easy way to wash a lot of herbs at once is to fill a large mixing bowl with water. Then, soak the herbs and gently agitate to loosen any debris. Remove the herbs, then use a paper towel to pat and absorb the bulk of the water from the herbs.
This dish is pretty easy technique-wise. The key to tender beef is to use the thinnest cuts available. If you don't find some pre-packed in your supermarket, ask the butcher to slice some thin cuts for you.
It's easy to cook the beef to your taste by simply adding it to the hot soup broth and letting it sit longer. If you only feel comfortable eating your beef well-done, cook it before adding to the soup.
Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don't sweat it if you don't have them.
Instructions
First, cook noodles per the package instructions. Set aside. (you can use any type of noodles from shirataki noodles to spaghetti).
Meanwhile, heat a large soup pot on Med-High. Next, add the beef stock, bone broth, water, fish sauce, vinegar, Pho spice, and ginger. Stri and bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to Med-Low. Gently simmer for 5-10 mins.
Next, add the onion slices to pot and cook for 2 mins.
Immediately serve noodles in 4 deep bowls. Finally, add some bean sprouts, herbs, and raw beef to each bowl. Ladle piping hot broth over the beef into bowls. Broth will cook beef in 2-3 mins. Garnish with more herbs and lime wedges.
Alternatives & Substitutions
Vegans: Try our Vegetarian Tofu Mushroom Pho soup recipe instead.
If you're gluten free or just eating lighter, sub in shiritaki noodles. These Japanese "wonder" noodles are mostly fiber and have almost no calories. They're becoming easy to find in supermarkets and WalMart and are a perfect low-cal substitute for any noodles.
Use our Vietnamese Pho spice blend to make an uber-umami steak marinade in this Vietnamese Marinated Steak, or our Vietnamese Caramelized Fish recipes!
Not feeling like making the Pho soup? You can use the Piquant Post Vietnamese Pho spice in broth then use the broth to make other recipes. Here's a link to 10 alternate recipe ideas for broth to get your creativity started.
Don’t forget to leave comments and feedback on your meals and experiments in the comments for others to read.
Post pictures of your masterpiece meal on social media and tag us. We repost!
Vietnamese Pho (Soup)
Serves
4
Prep Time
10 mins
Cook Time
5 mins
Total Time
35 mins
Piquant Post spice you'll need: Vietnamese Pho
Ingredients
8 ounces of dried noodles (rice or udon)
4 cups beef broth
1 cup beef bone broth (optional)
3 cups water
1 tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp rice wine vinegar
1 tbsp fresh ginger, minced
1/2 lb of thinly sliced beef (sirloin, round eye, or London broil)
1/2 white onion, thinly sliced
Handful of mint sprigs, leaves picked
Handful of cilantro, leaves picked
1 cup bean sprouts
lime wedges
Instructions
First, cook noodles per the package instructions. Set aside. (you can use any type of noodles from shirataki noodles to spaghetti).
Meanwhile, heat a large soup pot on Med-High. Next, add the beef stock, bone broth, water, fish sauce, vinegar, Pho spice, and ginger. Stri and bring to a boil. Then, reduce heat to Med-Low. Gently simmer for 5-10 mins.
Next, add the onion slices to pot and cook for 2 mins.
Immediately serve noodles in 4 deep bowls. Finally, add some bean sprouts, herbs, and raw beef to each bowl. Ladle piping hot broth over the beef into bowls. Broth will cook beef in 2-3 mins. Garnish with more herbs and lime wedges.
Notes
An easy way to wash a lot of herbs at once is to fill a large mixing bowl with water. Then, soak the herbs and gently agitate to loosen any debris. Remove the herbs, then use a paper towel to pat and absorb the bulk of the water from the herbs.
This dish is pretty easy technique-wise. The key to tender beef is to use the thinnest cuts available. If you don't find some pre-packed in your supermarket, ask the butcher to slice some thin cuts for you.
It's easy to cook the beef to your taste by simply adding it to the hot soup broth and letting it sit longer. If you only feel comfortable eating your beef well-done, cook it before adding to the soup.
Optional ingredients add a little character and flavor but don't sweat it if you don't have them.
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