If there’s one dish that captures the soul of Vietnamese cuisine, it’s beef pho or Phở Bò. While working on recipes for my book The Curry Guy One Pot, I ate it every day on my month trip through Vietnam. It’s aromatic, comforting, and deeply satisfying. Beef pho is more than just a noodle soup. It’s a fragrant symphony of spices, slow-cooked broth, tender meat, and fresh herbs. In this post will guide you through the art of making beef pho from scratch. It’s not quick—but it’s worth every minute.
What Is Beef Pho?
Phở Bò (pronounced “fuh”) is a Vietnamese noodle soup made with a rich, aromatic beef broth, served with rice noodles, sliced beef, and topped with herbs and condiments. Its roots trace back to northern Vietnam in the early 20th century, but today it’s famous around the world.
Traditional beef pho takes hours to make, but don't let that stop you. Most of the time is hands-off, allowing the bones and spices to work their magic.
Ingredients
Make thing easy on yourself and get all of the beef pho stock ingredients ready before starting.
- Onions
- Ginger
- Brisket
- Oxtail
- Beef marrow bones
- Water
- Star anise
- Cardamom pods, seeds only
- Cloves
- Coriander seeds
- Cinnamon sticks
- Palm sugar
- Fish sauce
- TO SERVE
- Beef fillet
- Dried rice pho noodles
- Thai sweet basil, coriander (cilantro), bean sprouts, green chillies, cut into rings and lime wedges.
- Sriracha sauce (optional)
See recipe card for quantities.
Step by step photos
You will see from the photos below how to accomplish a really clear beef pho broth. As mentioned above, it takes some time but it's so good.
- Step 1: Place the marrow bones and oxtail in a large pot and cover with water.
- Step 2: Bring the water to a boil and cook the bones and oxtail for 10 minutes.
- Step 3: As the bones have their 10 minute boil, they will release loads of gook. You need to skim this off. That helps make a clear stock.
- Step 4: You will get a lot of foam and other stuff floating to the top! Just skim it off into another bowl and discard.
- Step 5: After 10 minutes of boiling, pour out the dirty water and clean each bone and oxtail piece under water so that they are really clean. Rinse the pot well and return the bones to it.
- Step 6: This step is optional but I usually do it. If you have a gas burner, place the onions and ginger over the flame to char.
- Step 7: You can also do this in the pot. I usually spray it with a little oil spray if I use this method.
- Step 8: Place the brisket on the bones and add the spices, ginger and onions. Cover with water and bring to a simmer. In order to achieve a really clear stock, it is important that you don't bring the stock to a really fast simmer. It should literally just be bubbling a tiny bit. Also, don't stir as it cooks as the bones will release impurities into your broth.
- Step 9: After three hours of simmering, remove the brisket. This will taste amazing in your beef pho. If you have any leftovers, just freeze it. Allow to cool and then slice it thinly.
- Step 10: Continue lightly simmering the stock without the brisket for another hour and then run through a fine sieve and cheese cloth. Pour the prepared stock back in the pot and bring to a boil. Add the fish sauce and sugar. Depending on how much stock you are heating, you might want to adjust the amount of fish sauce and sugar to taste.
- Step 11: To serve, place some noodles in your bowls. Top with raw fillet which cooks in the broth and thinly sliced brisket.
- Step 12: Add the hot broth and top with the veggies of your choice.
Tips for the Best Beef Pho
- Use a mix of bones: Marrow bones provide body; knuckles give you collagen-rich silkiness.
- Skim diligently: A clear broth looks and tastes better.
- Don’t overdo the fish sauce: It’s meant to enhance, not dominate.
- Freeze broth: Make a big batch and freeze portions for quick pho anytime.
- Keep it traditional or make it your own: You can add extras like soft-boiled eggs, mushrooms, or tofu for variety.
Substitutions
If you want to try a good pho but you don't want to spend 4 hours making the broth, try some of these alternatives:
- Shop-bought beef broth - You can use a shop-bought broth but it will have a different flavour and won't have the same homemade flavour. Follow the recipe to cook the meat and be sure to add the aromatics like onion and ginger and also the spices and essential fish sauce.
- Try Chicken - Chicken pho is also delicious and can be prepared in a fraction of the time. Here's a good chicken pho recipe.
- Try Duck - No where near as famous but equally as good. Try this duck pho recipe.
Storage
Store the leftovers like meat, noodles, herbs and broth separately. All should keep for a good few days in the fridge. Then just reheat the amount of broth and other ingredients you need.
FREEZING: The broth and any leftover meats you have will freeze well for up to three months. Be sure to freeze each in convenient sized portions so that you can enjoy homemad beef pho whenever you want it. Be sure to label and date the containers before freezing.
Top Tip
Clean those bones!: The cleaner you get the bones, the clearer your stock will be. I recommend getting a brush and rubbing off all the impurities after the first 10 minutes of boiling.
FAQ
If your broth is cloudy, it is either because you didn't boil and then clean the bones thoroughly or because you let the broth boil too rapidly. Both of these mistakes will result in a cloudy broth.
Yes but you will lose some of the complexity of homemade beef broth. Also, most shop bought broths are prepared with roasted beef bones instead of boiled and cleaned bones. If you are using a shop bought broth, be sure to add all the different spices and aromatics like ginger and onion to it.
Related
A good Vietnamese starter or snack will help make any Vietnamese meal. In fact, sometimes they can be THE meal! Here are a few you should try soon:
Vietnamese Main Courses
You will find many more main course in the Vietnamese section of my site. Here are a few of my favourites...
Have you tried this beef pho recipe?
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Beef Pho Recipe
Beef Pho
Ingredients
- 2 large onions, quartered
- 200g / 6oz ginger, sliced thinly down the centre
- 1.5kg (3 lbs) brisket
- 1kg (2 lbs) oxtail
- 1.5kg (3 lbs) beef marrow boned, sliced into pieces to expose the marrow
- 5 litres water
- 15 star anise
- 5 cardamom pods, seeds only
- 5 cloves
- 2 generous tbsp coriander seeds
- 4 x 5cm (2 inch) cinnamon sticks
- 1 generous tbsp palm sugar, more or less to taste
- 70ml (1/4 cup) fish sauce
- TO SERVE
- 1 x 170g (6 oz) beef fillet
- 200g dried rice pho noodles
- Generous portions of Thai sweet basil, coriander (cilantro), bean sprouts, green chillies, cut into rings and lime wedges.
- Sriracha sauce (optional)
Instructions
- The first part of this recipe is optional. If cooking on a gas burner, place the quartered onions and sliced ginger right on the flame to char on all sides. If not cooking on gas, spray your pot with a thin coating of cooking spray and char them in the pan. This makes the flavour of the onions and ginger a little milder but you can skip it if necessary. Set aside for later.
- Place the bones and ox ail in a large stock pot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and then boil for 5 minutes, skimming off any unsightly bubbles and gook that float to the top. It takes a good 15 minutes to bring that much water to a boil and you will need to skim as it heats up. Doing this will get you a beautifully clear stock for you pho.
- After five minutes of skimming, pour the water out of the pot into the sink and then rinse each bone and oxtail piece under water to ensure they are as clean as you can get them. This also helps achieve a clear stock.
- Return the bones and oxtail to the pot and cover with fresh water. Add the brisket, onions, ginger and spices and bring to a light simmer and then reduce the heat to simmer lightly for three hours. You don’t want a lot of movement in the stock or it will get cloudy. It will still taste good though so no big worry there.
- After three hours, remove the brisket from the broth and transfer to a plate to cool. Continue simmering the bones for another hour. Then pour the stock through a fine sieve lined with a cheesecloth into a large bowl. You can continue and serve your pho almost immediately or cover the stock and place in the fridge along with the cooked meat and finish off your pho within two days or freeze it all.
- If you place the broth in the fridge, the fat will rise to the top and harden. Remove this before heating again for an even clearer stock.
- To finish, soak the noodles in boiling water for about 15 minutes or follow the instructions on the packaging. I find that soaking the noodles for 15 minutes does the job just fine regardless of brand. If not using immediately, mix in about a tablespoon of oil so that the noodles don't stick together.
- Pour the prepared stock back in the pot and bring to a boil. Add the fish sauce and sugar. Depending on how much stock you are heating, you might want to adjust the amount of fish sauce and sugar to taste.
- To serve, place four large serving bowls on the table and fill each with a good mound of soaked noodles. Top the noodles with thinly sliced brisket and fillet and pour the hot beef broth over them to fill the bowls.
- Everyone at the table can then top their bowls of pho with the garnishes of their choice. How much of each garnish really is up to them. Remember, if you have any meat or broth leftovers, they freeze really well.
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brushjl says
Super delicious and the instructions were clear. However, brisket is now $20/lb and beef bones weren't cheap either, I drew the line at oxtail, as the cost of the dish was already over $70! Maybe next time I'll only do a pound of brisket.
Dan Toombs says
You could certainly use cheaper cuts if you like such as brisket. My butcher gives me beef bones for free and oxtail is by no means a necessity for the recipe.
Thanks
Dan