Making Vietnamese Pho at Home.

While you may think Vietnamese pho is one of those dishes that’s so difficult to make that it’s best to eat in a restaurant, it is actually quite an easy noodle soup to make. Here is a simple Chicken Pho Recipe:

Lessons from the First Attempt

There are many recipes for chicken pho online. Some are more complicated than others. After comparing recipes and finding the simplest ones I created my own interpretation and further simplified my recipe. While this does call for many ingredients, most are actually all tossed into the pot at the same time – so easy!

Naturally, as this was the first attempt, there were trials and errors and great lessons for how to improve the recipe. So here is a Simpler Chicken Pho Recipe.

Read more about Chicken Pho:

Chicken Pho History: Controversial But Too Tasty to Deny
 
 

Chicken Pho Recipe

Serves 4-6 persons
Ingredients for Soup:

• 2 onions, peeled and halved
• 3-inch knob of ginger, peeled and halved
• 1 whole chicken, cut into parts (legs, thighs, breast, wings)
• 1 bunch cilantro, tied into a knot
• 5 anise pods
• 1 cinnamon stick (or 1 tsp cinnamon powder if you don’t have a cinnamon stick)
• 4 cloves (or 1 tsp clove powder if you don’t have whole cloves)
• 2 tsp fennel seeds
• 2 tsp coriander seeds
• 8 tsp fish sauce
• 6 tsp sugar
• 2-4 quarts water
• 1 tsp kosher salt

 
Ingredients for Noodles & Condiments:

• 1 pack rice noodles
• 1 bunch of raw bean sprouts
• 1 bunch of Thai basil
• 1 bunch of cilantro
• 1 bunch of mint
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• hoisin sauce
• sriracha

 
Kitchen Tools:

• large soup pot
• cooking utensils and ladle
• small bowl

 
1. Right off the bat, my first error occurred. I added oil to the pot and first cooked the onions and ginger.

INSTEAD, heat the large soup pot over high heat. Char the onions and ginger halves until nearly blackened.
 
2. Add the anise pods, cinnamon stick, cloves, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds. Toast in the pot with the onion and ginger for about 1 minute.

Note: most recipes do not call for this step, but it’s a technique used by curry recipes to further enhance the aromatics of the spices.
 
3. Add the chicken parts, 1 bunch of cilantro (Note: it is important that this is tied into a knot so that when you skim the broth later on the cilantro does not get in the way), fish sauce, sugar, and enough water to cover the chicken by at least 1-2 inches.

Remember, this is a noodle soup – so if you like broth it is important to add plenty of water early on so that the soup flavor builds from the start. If you add water later, the broth will be blander.
 
4. Bring the pot of soup to a simmer, and then lower the heat to low with the pot partially covered with the lid. Simmer for 1.5 hours.
 
5. About 10-15 minutes after you started simmering, scrape off the scum on the top layer of the liquid with a ladle or spoon. You will do this about 2 times.

Note: you may lose some spices and aromatics in the process. You can always add a pinch more of fennel or coriander seeds if you think you scrapped them out.
 
6. After about 1 hour, taste the broth if you need to add 1 tsp or more of kosher salt. Evaluate the flavors, you may want to add more teaspoons of fish sauce, too.
 
7. Once the chicken is so tender than the fork use easily pierces through, about 1.5 to 2 hours from the start of simmering, you are ready to prepare and serve the meal. Turn off the heat while keeping the pot on that residual heat to stay hot.
 
8. Soak and cook the rice noodles according to the package’s directions. Serve the noodles in a separate serving bowl or directly portion it into bowls.
 
9. On serving plates, layout the herbs, bean sprouts, and lime wedges. If you do not have limes, use your local sour citruses like calamansi.
 
10. In a separate serving dish, take out the chicken parts. Another error in the photo above shows how I served the chicken parts as is.

It is actually better to shred the chicken parts in the serving dish and throw away the bones.
 
11. Keep the pot on the heat, and serve the broth from there so it does not get cold. It is important that the broth remains piping how so it can further cook down the raw bean sprouts.
 
12. Eating Notes: Be sure to top your bowl with all the fresh herbs and a nice splash of lime. Then, remember to enhance every bite with hoisin and sriracha.
 
 
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