I've had many bowls of pho in my life, and then I had the one that blew everything else out of the water. It was made by Aunty Jacqueline, my mother in law's childhood friend from Vietnam where the two of them grew up together. Her beef pho (pho bo) recipe was so much richer, more flavourful and fragrant than everything I've had from a Vietnamese restaurant here.
Now, in her 70's, Auntry Jacqueline has been known for her pho amongst friends and family for decades, but she was the only person who knew how to make it; so I knew I had to preserve it. To my delight, she was happy to share ... and so I present to you, "Aunty Jacqueline's legendary beef pho" recipe!
I'm from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I loooove Vietnamese food, especially Pho. I finally decided it was time to learn how to make it myself. I used this recipe and it was the best I've ever had. Thank you! - Patrick Parker1
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Cultural Context: Traditional Vietnamese Noodle Soup
Pho is a noodle soup that is arguably the "national dish" of Vietnam; or at least it is the most well known dish from the cuisine. While you can make pho with different kinds of meat, the classic version, and one that is most popular in N. America, is made with beef, or phở bò.
The version I'm sharing here uses a few different cuts of beef, but the one that makes a real difference is oxtail. Rich in bone marrow and connective tissue, oxtail is responsible for the ultra rich beef broth. You can omit it, of course, but do follow my suggestions for substitutions to make sure you're not missing out on the richness!
Ingredients and Important Notes
There are two main components to making pho: the beef broth, and all the bits that goes into your bowl. For amounts and full instructions, see the recipe card below.
Pho Broth Ingredients
- Beef bones: joint or marrow bones preferred, as cartilage and marrow make for a rich, full-bodied broth. I get my beef bones from a Korean grocery store; and in general Korean stores have a good supply of beef cuts and bones.
- Stewing beef: such as brisket or chuck, which will be stewed until tender right in the broth.
- Oxtail: Aside from the marrow and connective tissue that results in a super rich broth, oxtail meat is also one of the best cuts for stew! Unlike other cuts that can become dense and dry with hours of stewing, oxtail meat braises tender and moist. If omitting, increase the amount of bones and stewing beef by about 30%.
- Fresh ginger
- Onion
- Daikon: I add daikon to all the stocks I make because it makes the soup naturally sweet. It's a must-have veg in Thailand when making any stock or broth!
- Cinnamon stick
- Green cardamom
- Star anise
- Coriander seeds
- Black cardamom: these look like oversized green cardamom pods, but the smell couldn't be any more different. It has an aroma reminiscent of leather and smoke. A little goes a long way, and it is beautiful when done right. We also use black cardamom in Thai khao soi!
- Salt
- Rock sugar: this is the traditional sugar used, but granulated sugar will work just fine and will not make a difference in this recipe (they are the same sugar compound, just in different forms!)
- Beef stock powder: a little bit of "fairy dust" that makes this extra special. Aunty Jacqueline swears by Dasida brand which she's been using for over 10 years, but other brands are also okay I'm sure. If you're anti-MSG, you can leave it out and add a little more fish sauce and sugar, but to be honest pho just won't taste like pho without a little MSG magic 😉
- Fish sauce: See my post on choosing a good fish sauce
Pho Bowl Ingredients
- Dry rice noodles: I use Erawan brand, size small. They need to be rehydrated for 20-30 minutes in room temp water until they turn an opaque white and are fully pliable. Drain after soaking as you don't want to over soak them! Size medium will also work if needed, but they will take up to an hour to soak, and personally I don't like them as much.
- Bean sprouts
- Raw beef slices: (Pictured under the broth ingredients by mistake!) This will be added raw to your pho bowl, and it will cook from the heat of the broth. Because the beef needs to be very thin, I recommend buying pre-sliced beef which you can get from Asian supermarkets in the "hot pot" section. If you're going to manually slice, do it when the beef is partially frozen as it'll be easier. Choose any cut of beef that fits your budget here; if it's sliced thin enough it won't be chewy. I used rib eye in my video but sirloin steak also works fine.
- Asian style beef meatballs (optional): (not pictured) I didn't use this in my bowl, but they're a classic if you like them. Buy them frozen or fresh at Asian supermarkets, or here's a homemade Asian pork meatballs recipe where you can simply substitute beef instead.
- Lime wedges: Technically optional but I think a little bit of acidity really makes a difference!
- White or yellow onion, thinly sliced: Soak the sliced onion in cold water and it'll soften their pungency and make them crisper.
- Fresh herbs - choose any of the following: green onions, cilantro, Thai basil, sawtooth coriander.
- Hoisin sauce and/or sriracha hot sauce: I don't think these are traditional and I don't add them, but wanted to mention them, as in N. America they are standard pho condiments. The hoisin sauce is used to dip your meat in, and the sriracha can be used as a dip or can be added to your bowl for a little heat.
Tools
There are a few tools you'll need to make pho (affiliate):
- Large stock pot - a minimum of 7 qt in volume; 8 quart is better
- Noodle strainer or a metal sieve for cooking the noodles. A noodle strainer makes it SO much easier to blanch the noodles, and a must have if you want to cook noodle soups regularly. A metal sieve works but it's a little awkward and you have to make sure it is small enough so it can be submerged into the boiling water.
- Soup infusion bags or cheesecloth to wrap the toasted spices. This makes it easy to remove the spices after they're done infusing.
- Fine mesh skimmer for skimming scum. This makes it really easy to skim off only the fat and scum without losing the broth along with it. I use mine all the time whenever I make stock!
How to Make Beef Pho
Here's a bird's eye view of the process, for full instructions, see the recipe card below; and if it's your first time I highly recommend watching the video tutorial first. I know I say this about every recipe, but this is especially true of this pho recipe because it has many steps and it can be hard to keep track of what happens when. It will be immensely helpful for you to see it all happen in a video first - trust me!
- Wash the bones and meat and place in the stock pot. Cover with 4L of water and bring to a simmer.
- Broil the onion and ginger for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are charred. Slice the broiled ginger into a few pieces.
- Toast the cinnamon stick, star anise, black cardamom, and green cardamom in a dry skillet over medium-high heat until the green cardamom pods brown slightly. Crush the cardamom pods until they break open.
- Reduce the heat to medium and toast the coriander seeds.
- Place all the spices in a soup infusion bag or wrap them in cheesecloth.
- Add the salt, sugar and beef stock powder to the broth. Simmer gently (don’t let it boil) for 1 hour.
- Skim off the scum and fat once a bunch has collected on the surface.
- Add the onion, ginger, spice bag, and daikon. Simmer for at least 2-2.5 more hours, or however long it takes for the largest piece of meat or oxtail to be fork tender.
- Soak noodles in room temp water for 20-30 minutes until fully pliable (don't over soak). Drain and separate into portions and place each portion into their own serving bowl.
- Once the broth is done, remove the spice bag, ginger, onion, and bones and discard. Pick off any meat or tendon attached to the bones as they're delicious!
- Final seasoning - add all of the fish sauce, then taste and add hot water as needed until it is no longer too salty. If you find that it actually needs more fish sauce, go ahead and add more fish sauce. You can also add more sugar.
- Slice the brisket into thin slices. Cut the daikon into smaller pieces. Leave the oxtail in the broth.
- Blanch the bean sprouts in boiling water for 5 seconds and fish them out with a slotted spoon or skimmer and place on a serving plate.
- Bring the water back to a rolling boil, place a portion of noodles in the noodle strainer and wiggle it in the water for 5 seconds. Place into serving bowl.
- Top the noodles with the raw beef slices. Make sure the broth is boiling and ladle it over the beef until the noodles are submerged.
- Top the noodles with the oxtail and whatever toppings you like and enjoy immediately!
Wait...you didn't blanch the bones?
If you follow old school recipes for pho, they will stress that it is absolutely critical to blanch the bones before using them to make the broth. The blanching water is then discarded, the pot scrubbed clean, and you start making the broth with fresh water. It's a hassle to be sure, but people do it in order to remove "impurities" (a term I take issue with...but that's for another day) and achieve a clearer broth. A clear broth is a desired characteristic of traditional pho.
I have always been skeptical of this practice because having made all kinds of stock all my life, including during my time at Le Cordon Bleu ... and I've never done this. And I always felt my stocks were fine.
So it was a sign of relief when Aunty Jacqueline told me ...
I used to blanch the bones, but it was a hassle, so I wondered if it was necessary! So I tried not doing it, and simply washed my bones and meat under hot tap water, and my broth turned out fine. I couldn't tell the difference. So I haven't done it that way for years.
There is my confirmation. Yay. I took it a step further though and I don't even use hot water because a brief shower of hot tap water isn't going to draw out anything that room temp or warm water doesn't. But let me explain why blanching is not necessary, and why this might have been necessary back in the day.
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Achieving Clear Pho Broth
When you boil bones and meats, you'll notice that there is a lot of scum that floats to the top of the broth. These "impurities" are basically coagulated proteins from the beef juices. It's totally edible, but it doesn't make for an appetizing bowl of pho. The parboiling or blanching of the bones and beef removes much of this scum.
The thing is...you can also just skim off the scum. A fine mesh skimmer makes a few minutes' work of this. Not to mention, even with the parboiling, you'll still have some skimming to do, so it doesn't really save you any steps. And you gotta wonder how much flavour is lost with that initial boil ... maybe it's nothing significant ... but maybe it is?
As you can see in the video, my broth is pretty darn clear by the end of it, so I don't see any reason to make this any more work than it already is to achieve something purely aesthetic.
You might notice that there are some bits of coagulated beef juice floating in the broth that didn't float to the top. This might have been reduced with the blanching step, but if these bits bother you (they don't bother me) you can run the broth through a fine mesh strainer after you're done, and it'll still be more convenient than blanching.
Why blanching might have been needed in the past (my theory)
Traditional cooking methods are rarely done without a good reason, but those reasons may no longer be applicable today. In Thai cuisine, I see other recipes that call for cooking beef in water first before putting it in a final dish. But Western stock recipes never call for this step ... so something is going on here.
My theory is that back in the day, without refrigeration in a hot tropical climate, by the time people get around to cooking beef, (a large animal that takes a long time to butcher and consume), it might eventually have started to smell a bit "off". I know this, because in rural parts of Thailand today meats are still sold without being refrigerated, and I have experienced this "off" smell personally. It hasn't gone bad to the point of making people sick; but it's not smelling fresh anymore.
So the blanching was likely key in getting rid of the "off" smell, which is mostly on the surface of the beef. This smell also would've affected the flavor of the broth, so this step was important. The impurities (the scum) that were removed in the process was a bonus, but because it is the visible part, it came to represent the "bad stuff" that needed to be removed.
Nowadays with refrigeration our beef no longer smells, but you can still SEE the scum, so the practice stuck. Again, this is my theory, but a pretty sound one if you ask me!
Tips for Advanced Prep
After having made this all in one go for the filming of the YouTube video ... I don't recommend doing it this way! It's much easier to spread the work out over a day, or even a couple of days. Here are some things you can do in advance:
- Soak the noodles in advance. Drain and keep the noodles in a sealed container in the fridge for up to 3 days. After draining, place the noodles on a tea towel to absorb excess water; you do not want the noodles sitting in a pool of water in the container.
- Prepare all of your toppings on a platter the day before or the morning of, so you don't have to mess with a million little things while you're trying to finish your broth. (But don't blanch the bean sprouts until serving time.)
- Make the broth in advance and it'll keep for up to 7 days in the fridge. The broth and the beef can also be frozen.
FAQ: Can Pho Be Made in an Instant Pot?
Yes, though experience with other stocks tells me that broths made stovetop vs in an Instant Pot never taste the same, and I much prefer stovetop broths. However, if saving time is important, it's possible. For timing and temperature, I would suggest finding a pho recipe designed specifically for the Instant Pot and follow that, and you can stick to this recipe's mix of seasonings and spices. I would use slightly less water to account for the lack of evaporation, so start with 3 L instead of 4.
Aunty's Signature Beef Pho Recipe
Equipment
- 1 Large stock pot 7 quart minimum
- 1 Noodle strainer or a metal sieve
- 1 Soup infusion bag or cheesecloth
- 1 Fine mesh skimmer for skimming scum
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Ingredients
Broth
- 1.5 lb beef bones, joint or marrow bones preferred
- 1 lb brisket or chuck, if using chuck, cut into 1-inch thick slabs
- 1.5 lb oxtail, optional, see note
- 4 L water
- 5 inches ginger
- 1 large onion, halved through the root end and peeled
- ¾ lb daikon, peeled and cut into 1-inch thick slices
- 1 pod black cardamom, aka tsaoko
- 6 inches cinnamon stick
- 3 pods green cardamom
- 2 pieces star anise
- 1 teaspoon coriander seeds
- 2 teaspoon fine grain salt
- 2 tablespoon sugar, or 30 g rock sugar
- 2 tablespoon beef stock powder, Dasida brand
- 4 tablespoon fish sauce
Pho Bowl
- 1 lb dry rice noodles, size small
- ¼ white or yellow onion, thinly sliced
- 7 oz beansprouts, or more to taste
- ¾ lb thinly sliced hotpot-style beef, cut of your choice
- 10 pieces Asian style beef meatballs, optional
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
- Any of these fresh herbs to your liking: green onions, Thai basil, cilantro, sawtooth coriander
Notes
FULL VIDEO TUTORIAL
All my recipes come with step-by-step video tutorials with extra tips not mentioned in the blog post, so make sure you watch the video to ensure success. If you enjoy them, consider subscribing to the YouTube Channel to not miss an episode. Thank you!
Subscribe to my YouTube ChannelInstructions
- Wash the bones, oxtail and stewing beef thoroughly under tap water and place into the stock pot. Cover with 4L of water and bring to a simmer. (If the water doesn’t fit in your pot, you can top it up later after it has reduced.)1.5 lb beef bones, 1 lb brisket or chuck, 1.5 lb oxtail, 4 L water
- Place the ginger and the onion halves, cut side up, on a baking sheet, and place under the broiler for about 10 minutes, or until the onions are slightly charred. Slice the broiled ginger lengthwise into a few pieces, or smash it with a pestle until broken.5 inches ginger, 1 large onion
- Toast the spices: Add the cinnamon stick, star anise, black cardamom, and green cardamom into a dry skillet and toast over high heat for a few minutes, moving the pan constantly, until the green cardamom browns slightly. Remove from the pan, then reduce the heat to medium and add the coriander seeds. Move the pan constantly until they darken slightly - this should take less than a minute. Remove from the pan.1 pod black cardamom, 6 inches cinnamon stick, 3 pods green cardamom, 2 pieces star anise, 1 tsp coriander seeds
- Crush the black and green cardamom pod with a pestle or something heavy until they break open, then place all the spices in a soup infusion bag or wrap them in cheesecloth.
- By this time your water should be close to simmering. Add the salt, sugar and beef stock powder and stir briefly. Let the broth simmer gently (don’t let it boil) for 1 hour, skimming off the scum after you see a bunch collected on the surface.2 tsp fine grain salt, 2 Tbsp sugar, 2 Tbsp beef stock powder
- After 1 hour of simmering, do a final skim of the scum, then add the onion, ginger, spice bag, and the daikon. Simmer for at least 2-2.5 more hours, or however long it takes for the largest piece of meat or oxtail to be fork tender. As the broth simmers, top it up with just enough water to keep everything submerged; do not add too much water however or you will dilute the broth.¾ lb daikon
- While the broth is simmering, prepare your pho bowl supplies. Soak noodles in room temp water for 20-30 minutes or until they turn an opaque white and are fully pliable; drain well. Prepare all your other toppings: cut the lime, soak the onion in cold water, and pick your herbs. Keep everything in the fridge until ready to use, and be sure the noodles are in an airtight container so they don't dry out.1 lb dry rice noodles, ¼ white or yellow onion, 1 lime, Any of these fresh herbs to your liking: green onions, Thai basil, cilantro, sawtooth coriander
- Once the broth is done, remove the spice bag, ginger and onion and discard. Remove the bones, and if you see any meat or tendon attached to them, pick them off before you discard the bones as they are delicious!
- Remove the brisket, and if serving right away, slice into thin pieces once it’s cool enough to handle then place on a serving platter. If not serving right away, soak it in cold water for 5 minutes to cool it down then refrigerate in a covered container; this will prevent it from drying and turning dark.
- Remove the daikon and cut them into smaller pieces and place on the same serving platter as the brisket. Leave the oxtail in the broth.
- Final seasoning of the broth: Add all of the fish sauce, and then taste the broth and add more hot water as needed until it is no longer too salty. If you find that it needs more fish sauce rather than more water, go ahead and add more fish sauce or salt. The broth should taste a little too strong right now, because it will be diluted once it goes over the noodles. You can also add a little more sugar if you think it needs it.4 Tbsp fish sauce
Assembly:
- When ready to serve, bring a large pot of water to a boil for blanching the noodles and beansprouts. At the same time, bring the broth to a boil. If serving meatballs, cut them in half and put them in the broth so they can heat up together.Meanwhile, separate the soaked noodles into portions and put these into their own serving bowls. Set out all the toppings for people to garnish their own bowl - that is the lime wedges, Thai basil, onion, green onions and any other herbs.7 oz beansprouts, 10 pieces Asian style beef meatballs
- Blanch the bean sprouts in boiling water for 5 seconds and use a slotted spoon or skimmer to fish them out and place on a serving plate. Put them out with the rest of the toppings.
- Bring the water back to a boil, then cook the noodles. (I recommend watching the video to view the technique). Place a portion of noodles in the strainer and wiggle it in the boiling water for 5 seconds. Lift the noodles out, and to heat the serving bowl, use it to catch the dripping water, then swirl the water around and pour it back out. Put the noodles into the bowl. Repeat with all portions.
- Top the noodles with the raw thin-sliced beef, making sure they are not on top of each other. Ladle boiling hot broth over the beef until the noodles are submerged. Place a piece of oxtail and meatballs (if you used them) in the bowl, and then at this point I hand the bowls over to people and let them put their own toppings on. This is so that the noodles don’t have to sit and swell for too long in the kitchen while you garnish everyone’s bowls. It’s also more fun for everyone!¾ lb thinly sliced hotpot-style beef
patrick C says
Finally made a pot, didn't have daikon and beef stock, but it takes pretty good, I just need to work on sweet and salty balance. Thank you.
Patrick Parker1 says
I'm from the Mississippi Gulf Coast and I loooove Vietnamese food, especially Pho. I finally decided it was time to learn how to make it myself. I used this recipe and it was the best I've ever had. Thank you!
Snow says
Interesting. Dasida stock powder is made in Korea using Australian beef bones.
Jack says
Haven't made it yet but I am going to replace the oxtail with beef necks. $4.00 a lb instead of $10.00 + dollars a pound. Will share my results
Eddy says
This was extremely close to what I get in restaurants, and I did the "budget" version where I skipped the oxtails and increased the marrow bones 30%. I did have to water it down more than I think the author intended. Maybe bringing my pot up to the 5-6 liter mark (with other ingredients removed). It was just otherwise too seasoned. I'm guessing I'm used to the the average strip mall pho joint that probably leans towards a watered down broth for economics.
For a recipie with bones, this is a bit on the cheaper end to make, presumably because the Dasida powder does some of the lifting. The powder straight does not taste bad, but i would describe it like a yeasty beef boullion. I was worried I would be able to pick up its distictive flavor - nope blended right into the background.
Highly recommend giving this a try. If you want to try something easier or cheaper, I think the next best thing is Quoc Viet's Pho base which gets you surprisingly close.
Rank Stranger says
Haven't made this yet, but doing the rough math, you have 3,158mg of sodium per person! 4TB fish sauce = 5,920, 2TB beef powder = 5,220, 2TS salt = 4,650. Are you sure these quantities are right? 2,300mg is recommended daily limit. I guess another way to ask is, are you sure this only serves 5?
Eddy says
For taste (not health) reasons, I ended up watering it down more, making enough for about 6-8 bowls.
I did not do any math, but you can feel the salt the few hours after you eat it. I would compeltely believe it contained over your DV.
Ayanna says
This is my first time ever even trying or cooking Pho and let me say it was delicious!! My 3 year old sister (who is a picky eater) absolutely loved it. I even got my midwestern grandma to try and she loved the broth. The broth was extremely clear and unfortunately could not find cardamom anywhere but I substituted for a couple teaspoons of cloves and it came out just fine. Also if anyone is skeptical about the fish sauce do not skip it!! I personally hate fishy flavors but the sauce really isn’t bad in fact in enhanced the flavors of the broth beautifully! Oh and definitely do not skip out on the daikon, if you haven’t had it before it’s basically a potato with a very slight peppery flavor. Anyways, I will definitely be making this again in the future. Thanks!! 🙂
Eike says
Ok, I‘m going for a 5-star rating, even though I‘m still in the middle of making it. So here‘s why:
After roughly 3 hours in the pot simmering and removing the excess fat floating on the top, the flavor is already good. Well, it will need some adjustments, but the base broth is delicious as it is. It‘s not listed as an ingredient, but I've added some cilantro roots to it because I couldn’t get any daikon, and I had it 😉.
On the downside, I have to mention the price tag that comes with it because over here in Germany quality meat is expensive. For the 1kg marrow bones, 700gr oxtail, and 600gr filet mignon, I’ve roughly spent about 35 USD. At a restaurant, I spend about 10 USD for a decent Pho so I assume they substitute the beef parts with cheaper cuts to make it affordable/profitable. But and there's always a but, it has more depth already in taste, and I assume it’s the oxtails flavor.
One thing that confuses me is the smell versus the actual taste. The smell is beefy with very present aromas of cinnamon, star anise, and cardamon but the broth tastes completely different.
Long story short, I already like it 😁
Mickey says
I'd recommend swapping out the filet for a cheaper/a bit fattier cut, due to cost-efficiency, how its texture is affected by this type of cooking, and what it adds to the broth; 600g of raw filet mignon from a non-asian grocery/butcher would cost me about $30 on its own in Seattle, whereas you can get a cut like brisket/chuck/bottom or top round for closer to $7ish dollars for the same weight; filet has a low fat content that doesn't add much to the depth of the broth, and this mode of cooking doesn't do any favors for a lean mean like filet for the same reason- it often comes out tough when low-and-slow cooked due to the lack of fat/collagen breaking down alongside the protein. Brisket, chuck, or bottom round are much cheaper here, and they have a higher fat content that result in more tender meat and more depth in the broth- I pay about $7/500g for bottom round, which also usually has a good bit less fat than chuck and brisket, but substantially more than filet. I'm also not skimping on the quality of the meat- it's absolutely worth it/going to make a big difference sourcing from a good butcher, or a vendor at a farmer's market, for this stuff.
I know you posted this comment over a year ago, but I hope this finds you, or helps inform other folks about their meat choices. It seriously makes a huge difference.
Michael Sakey says
How many servings does this recipe make?
Adam from HTK says
Hi Adam here, and that info is in the recipe card here https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/beef-pho/ Cheers!
Ray says
I made this yesterday.. At least a very close version of it.
I wasn't sure I'd find Oxtail so I got 2 thick bone in shank steaks.
I later found Oxtail , and bought a package .. makes expensive Pho so I would probably not use it again.
I bought 3 packages of Bones as well.
I did not blanche , removed foam, and yesterday did not remove fat
Made the meal according to times here. I found it less good than I wanted ..
This morning I removed a fair amount of fat .. more in there than I realized. I also strained the broth in a strainer covered with cheesecloth.. the broth was super clear
and it tasted better without the fat. I made up another pouch of herbs/spices and simmered for another hour and a half.. very aromatic. Today it was superb..as good or better than I ever had.