Chicken pho

Vietnamese noodle soup

270 min

We love all kinds of soups, and pho is one of our favorites when visiting a Vietnamese restaurant. This recipe tries to recreate the pho vibe without being too complex. What makes it different from a regular chicken soup with noodles is charred ginger and onions, a whole bunch of toasted spices, and fish and soy sauces instead of salt.

Ingredients

Yields 6 portions

1 onion
1 piece of ginger
1½ l of chicken broth
boiled chicken
1 star anise
4 cloves
1 cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
1 teaspoon of fennel seeds
1 teaspoon of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of fish sauce
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
360 g of rice noodles
limes
for serving
fresh chiles
for serving
scallions
for serving

Warnings

Soy sauce is likely not gluten-free and contains wheat.

You will need

two medium-sized pots
metal sieve
stainless steel skillet

Directions

Prepare the vegetables. Ginger: halve lengthwise (don’t peel). Onion: peel and halve.
Start warming the chicken broth.
On a dry (no oil) stainless steel skillet set at medium heat, char the ginger and the onion.
Reduce the heat of the skillet to medium-low, and toast the spices (1 star anise, 4 cloves, 1 cinnamon stick, 2 cardamom pods, 1 teaspoon of fennel seeds, and 1 teaspoon of coriander seeds) for about 3 minutes, until fragrant.
Deglaze the spices with a few tablespoons of chicken broth.
Scrub all the juice from the pan, and transfer all the spices, ginger, and onion to the pot with chicken broth.
Reduce the heat of the pot to medium-low, add 1 teaspoon of fish sauce, and 1 tablespoon of soy sauce, cover the pot, and continue simmering for another 4 hours.
Filter the broth using a metal sieve to remove the spices, ginger, and onion (you could discard them).
While the soup is cooking, shred the chicken.
When the soup is almost ready, cook the noodles (just enough for one meal — about 60 g per portion) separately, according to the instructions on the package.
To serve each plate: put some shredded chicken on the bottom of the plate, place the noodles, pour the broth, squeeze a bit of lime juice, and sprinkle with thinly sliced fresh chile and scallions.

Notes & tips

We usually make the broth from one whole chicken (with legs and wings removed), and then we shred all the meat.

This recipe is based on two recipes from The Woks of Life: 20-Minute Chicken Pho and Pho (Vietnamese Noodle Soup).

Explore ingredients

Ingredients explorer

Name	Kind	Contains
Cardamom pod	Vegan
Chicken	Poultry
Chicken broth	Poultry
Chile	Vegan
Cinnamon stick	Vegan
Clove	Vegan
Coriander seeds	Vegan
Fennel seeds	Vegan
Fish sauce	Fish
Ginger	Vegan
Lime	Vegan
Onion	Vegan
Rice noodle	Vegan
Scallion	Vegan
Soy sauce	Vegan	Gluten
Star anise	Vegan