Chicken Pho
Chicken pho is a comforting Vietnamese noodle soup with an aromatic chicken broth that has simmered for hours. This soothing, vibrant chicken noodle soup is made with rice noodles and garnished with fresh herbs, lime wedges, bean sprouts, jalapeno slices, and hoisin sauce.
Servings 12
Calories 770kcal
Ingredients
- 1 5- lb chicken quartered
- 1 onion skin intact, quartered
- 3 inch piece of ginger cut into 1 inch pieces
- 4 quarts cold water
- 1 tablespoon salt or fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1/4 cup fish sauce
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- freshly ground black pepper
- 1 lb dried pho noodles Vietnamese rice noodles
- 1 lb mung beans
- 2 scallions thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup basil roughly chopped
- 1/4 cup cilantro roughly chopped
- 2 limes sliced in wedges
- 2 jalapeños thinly sliced
- Asian chili garlic sauce and/or hoisin for serving
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, place the chicken, onion, ginger, water, salt/fish sauce, and sugar. Place the pot over medium-high heat and bring to a boil. Lower the heat to simmer and cook for 30 to 45 minutes.
- Remove the chicken and allow to cool for a moment, but let the soup stock continue to simmer on the stove. When the chicken is cool enough to handle, de-bone the chicken and shred. Place the shredded chicken into the refrigerator while the rest of the meal is cooking.
- Place the bones and the skin back into the soup pot and continue to simmer for about 3 hours.
- Strain the soup stock into a large pot or dutch oven, add the fish sauce, and cook over high heat until the liquid reduces to roughly 12 cups.
- Season to taste with additional fish sauce and freshly ground black pepper, if necessary.
- Soak the noodles in a bowl of hot water for 30 minutes, or until soft.
- Bring a pot of water to boil. Salt it generously, then drop in the softened rice noodles and cook for about 3 minutes. Drain. Do the same for the mung beans, blanching them briefly.
- Divide the rice noodles, mung beans, and shredded chicken into bowls, and ladle chicken broth into each bowl. Garnish with scallions, basil, cilantro, jalapeño slices and chili sauce. Serve immediately.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Chicken Pho, by Charles Phan on Food & Wine: Vietnam a la Cart, September 2005.
In Charles Phan's original recipe, he calls for roasting the vegetables for 30 minutes in a 400°F oven prior to adding it to the soup stock. When I make this soup in the summer months, or if I am short on time, I opt to not fire up the oven and simply start the stock on the stove. If you have a few extra minutes, consider giving the onion and ginger a few minutes under a broiler or charring them over high heat in the stock pot before you begin.
Nutrition
Calories: 770kcal | Carbohydrates: 58g | Protein: 53g | Fat: 35g | Saturated Fat: 10g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 14g | Trans Fat: 0.2g | Cholesterol: 170mg | Sodium: 749mg | Potassium: 976mg | Fiber: 7g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 461IU | Vitamin C: 13mg | Calcium: 103mg | Iron: 5mg
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