Simple and delicious homemade pho! This delicious Vietnamese beef noodle soup is made with oxtail, beef slices, and beef bones. The radish added to the soup brings the sweetness of the broth. Broth is important for any noodle soup and this recipe will provide you all the information you need to make great pho!
What Is Pho?
Pho is a very popular Vietnamese beef noodle soup that consists of beef broth, rice noodles, herbs and spices, meat, and toppings. The broth requires many hours of simmering to bring out the rich beef flavor. The broth is one of the most important part of the dish because it takes the most amount of time and effort in making it. Some people like the broth to be sweeter and some enjoys a more savory broth.
How To Make Pho Broth?
Pho broth is arguably the most important aspect of what differs from good pho from the average since the broth takes the longest amount of time to make. The broth can take anywhere from 5-6 hours or more depending on how rich you want the broth to be. The key to making good pho soup is to be patient with it. Give the soup the time it needs to bring out its richness of the beef flavor. The more time you allow it to simmer, the more beef flavor it will have. One reason for the long simmering time is because the water level will reduce as you cook which makes the flavor more concentrated.
It is also better to under season in the beginning as it is easier to make corrections later on than over seasoning it and overpowering the taste of the beef which would be more difficult to fix. If you want the broth to be more rich and creamy, adding beef tendon would help. If you would like a sweeter broth, you can simply add a bit more rock sugar or add onion and radish for its natural sweetness.
What To Do With Leftover Broth?
We recommend taking out the black cardamom pods before putting the broth away. The cardamom flavor will be very strong the next day if you leave it in the broth for too long. You can either leave the broth in the fridge but it is best to finish the broth as soon as possible. Or you can freeze it so that the broth can last longer.
Pho Recipe
Broth
- Blanch oxtail and beef bones in a pot for roughly 10 minutes.
- Strain the hot water out from the pot and rinse off any scum on the bones and oxtail.
- Place oxtail and beef bones back into a pot and fill it with water and bring it to a boil. Add salt once it begins to boil. Leave it on a rolling boil for 30 minutes.
- Peel and slice the radish.
- Rinse cinnamon sticks and star anise. Soak the black cardamom pods in a small bowl of water. Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and radish into the broth after it has boiled for 30 minutes.
- Bring the pot to a simmer and add whole onion.
- Add fish sauce, soy sauce, rock sugar to the pot.
- Rinse the beef tendon and put it into the pot.
- Let the broth simmer for 4-6 hours. Check up on the broth once in awhile and skim out any oil or fat on the surface.
- After simmering the broth for 3 hours, check on the tenderness of the tendon. If it is tender, take out tendon to cool and cut into small pieces for topping.
- Within the last 2 hour mark, add the black cardamom pods to the broth.
Toppings
- When the beef tendon is ready, take it out of the broth and cut it into bite size pieces.
- Cut beef balls in half and warm up the beef balls by adding it into the broth 10 minutes before serving.
- Wash and cut the lime into small wedges. Wash mint, perilla, and bean sprout.
- Wash and finely chop the cilantro and green onions and cut the yellow onion into thin strips.
- Quickly blanch the beef tripe until tender.
Noodle & Plating
- For fresh pho noodles – blanch for 5-10 seconds in boiling water.
- For dried packaged rice noodles – cook noodle until soften or to the firmness of your liking.
- Bring the broth to a boil before serving. This will help cook the raw toppings when the broth is added to the bowl.
- Add broth to noodle. Add toppings.
- Serve with hoisin sauce, sriracha, bean sprout, lime, mint, and perilla on the side.
How To Cook Pho Noodles?
If you are using fresh pho noodles, these noodles only need to be blanched for 5-10 seconds in boiling water to be ready. If you are using dried packaged rice noodles, then cook noodle until soften or to the firmness of your liking. The noodle will keep getting softer once you add the broth to your noodle so remember to account for that. The picture above is the fresh pho noodles we used.
Ingredients for Pho
- Oxtail
- Beef Bones
- Tendon
- Radish
- Cinnamon Sticks
- Star Anise
- Whole onions
- Salt
- Soy Sauce
- Fish Sauce
- Black Cardamom Pods
- Rock Sugar
- Rice Noodle
See below for the ingredients for toppings.
What Toppings Are Served With Pho?
The best part of making homemade pho is having the full control on how much toppings you want to add! Toppings include:
- Raw Beef Slices
- Beef Balls
- Beef Tendon (used from the broth)
- Bean Spouts
- Yellow Onion
- Green Onion
- Cilantro
- Lime
- Fried Shallots or Garlic
- Beef Tripe (Optional)
- Hoisin Sauce (Optional)
- Sriracha Sauce (Optional)
- Perilla (Optional)
- Mint (Optional)
Where To Buy Ingredients For Pho?
If you are in the Vancouver, BC area, here are the places we shopped for our ingredients:
- We got most of our ingredients and groceries at the 88 Supermarket on Victoria Drive and East 32nd Ave. They sell a variety of Asian groceries and food. Although there are other supermarkets that have the ingredients we use, we find 88 Supermarket generally has it for a slightly cheaper price and have all the ingredients we need to make pho! Other places you can also get the ingredients are at T&T, Superstore, etc.
- For the raw beef slices we used, we got it at Han Kook Meats butcher shop on Kingsway. From our experience, they sell the best hot pot and Korean meat around the area and for the best prices! We love going to Han Kook to buy meat (especially for hot pot)! We got the flat iron beef.
- If any of you Vancouverites know a good supermarket or butcher shop other than the ones we mentioned above, please reach out or leave a comment below to share with everyone!
Other Recipes That You May Like:
Happy Cooking!~
How to Make Homemade Pho, Vietnamese Noodle Soup Recipe
Ingredients
Ingredients for Broth
- 8 litres water
- 2 lbs Oxtail
- 2 lbs Beef Bones
- 1 lbs Tendon (or 2-3 tendons)
- 1-2 Radish
- 2 Cinnamon Sticks
- 5 Star Anise
- 2 Whole onions
- 1 tbsp Salt
- 1/4 cup Soy Sauce
- 1/4 cup Fish Sauce
- 4 Black Cardamom Pods
- 50 grams Rock Sugar
Noodles
- 2 packs of Rice Noodle
Toppings (Portion size to your liking)
- Raw Beef Slices
- Beef Balls
- Beef Tendon (used from the broth)
- Bean Spouts
- Yellow Onion
- Green Onion
- Cilantro
- Lime
- Fried Shallots or Garlic
- Beef Tripe (Optional)
- Hoisin Sauce (Optional)
- Sriracha Sauce (Optional)
- Perilla (Optional)
- Mint (Optional)
Instructions
Part 1 – Broth
- Place the oxtail and beef bones into a pot and fill water to cover them. Bring it to a boil and blanch for roughly 10 minutes.2 lbs Oxtail, 2 lbs Beef Bones
- Use a colander and strain the hot water out from the pot and rinse the bones and oxtail with water and clean off any scum on the bones and oxtail.
- Place oxtail and beef bones back into a pot and fill it with 8 litres of water and bring it to a boil. Add salt once it begins to boil. Leave it on a rolling boil for 30 minutes and continue skimming off any scum that rises to the surface if there are any.1 tbsp Salt
- While the broth is boiling, wash and peel the radish and slice them into roughly 1 inch thick pieces. In addition, give the cinnamon sticks and star anise a quick rinse and soak the black cardamom pods in a small bowl of water. Add the cinnamon sticks, star anise, and radish into the broth after it has boiled for 30 minutes.1-2 Radish, 2 Cinnamon Sticks, 5 Star Anise, 4 Black Cardamom Pods
- Bring the pot to a simmer and peel 2 whole onions and add into the pot.
- Add 1/4 cup of fish sauce (depending on the fish sauce brand you have, you may want to add a bit more or less of the portion), 1/4 cup of soy sauce, 50g of rock sugar to the broth. Do not over season the broth right now as you want to focus on getting the flavor of the beef out first. Seasoning flavor can be adjusted near the end, if needed.1/4 cup Soy Sauce, 1/4 cup Fish Sauce, 50 grams Rock Sugar
- Rinse the beef tendon and put it into the pot. The beef tendon will add creaminess to the broth from its collagen. Once the tendon is more tender at a later point in time, it is then ready to be cut.1 lbs Tendon (or 2-3 tendons)
- Let the broth simmer for 4-6 hours. The longer the duration the stronger the beef flavor will come through. Check up on the broth every 1-2 hours and skim out any oil or fat on the surface. Give the broth a quick stir once in awhile. As you simmer the broth longer, the water level will decrease. Make sure your broth level is maintaining around 7 litres (with the ingredients in the broth). Add extra water to the broth, if necessary, to maintain the 7 litre mark.
- After simmering the broth for 3 hours, check on the tenderness of the tendon. Place the tendon in a ladle and shake the ladle. If the tendon shakes like a jello then the tendon is ready to be cut into small pieces for toppings. If you'd like the tendon to be more soft or would like the broth to be more creamy, then keep the tendon in the broth for longer before cutting it.
- Within the last 2 hour mark, add the black cardamom pods to the broth and give the broth a quick stir.
- Within the last 1 hour mark, do a taste test and tweak flavor to your liking by adding more salt, fish sauce, or rock sugar.
PART 2 – Preparing the Toppings
- When the beef tendon is ready, take it out of the broth and cut it into bite size pieces and leave into a bowl as toppings. See step 9 for broth to know when beef tendon is ready.
- Cut the beef balls in half and warm up the beef balls by adding it into the broth 10 minutes before serving. Heating it up in the soup also adds extra beef flavor to the broth.
- Wash and cut the lime into small wedges. Wash mint and perilla.
- Wash and finely chop the cilantro and green onions and cut the yellow onion into thin strips.
- Wash the bean sprout. Optional – if you prefer cooked bean sprout, simply microwave it for about 1 minute.
- Quickly blanch the beef tripe until tender then place it on a side dish.
PART 3 – Noodles & Plating
- If you are using fresh pho noodles, these noodles only need to be blanched for 5-10 seconds in boiling water to be ready. If you are using dried packaged rice noodles, then cook noodle until soften or to the firmness of your liking. Place noodle in your serving bowl. The picture below is the fresh pho noodles we used.
- Bring the broth to a boil before serving. This will help cook the raw toppings when the broth is added to the bowl.
- Add the thinly sliced raw yellow onions on top of your noodle and then add broth to your bowl.
- Add raw beef slices, tendon, beef tripe, beef balls, cilantro, green onions, and fried shallot or garlic to the bowl.
- Serve with hoisin sauce, sriracha, bean sprout, lime, mint, and perilla on the side.
Thank you for checking out our how to make homemade pho recipe! We hope you enjoyed it. Leave a comment below or tag us on Instagram to let us know how it went for you! 🙂
Wow love the addition of daikon. I’ve never done that. Great tips in there that I will be following next time for sure. Thank you!
Thank you Tiana!! We hope you like our pho recipe, definitely excited for you to try it! Let us know how it turns out. 🙂