Vietnamese Beef Pho with a Clear Broth
Pho is beef bones simmered for three hours with charred onion and ginger and whole spices — star anise, cinnamon, clove, coriander and cardamom. It's served over rice noodles with raw sliced beef that cooks in the heat of the broth, plus fresh herbs.
- Prep
- 25 min
- Cook
- 190 min
- Total
- 215 min
- Calories
- 450
Photo: Vyacheslav Argenberg — CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons
Pho is the best-known Vietnamese dish in the world, and all of it lives in the broth: clear to look at, light in body, deep in flavour. Charring the onion and ginger before they go in is the step most people skip.
Method
-
1
Char the onion and ginger
Blacken the onion and ginger directly over a gas flame, or in a dry pan, until charred on the outside. That char is where the depth of the broth comes from.
⏱ 12 min -
2
Clean the bones
Boil the bones for five minutes, then rinse them thoroughly and throw the water away — this is what gives you a clear broth.
⏱ 12 min -
3
Toast the spices
Toast the star anise, cinnamon, cloves and coriander in a dry pan for two minutes until fragrant, and tie them in a muslin bag.
⏱ 4 min -
4
The broth
Combine the bones with the charred onion and ginger, the spice bag and three litres of water. Simmer on the lowest heat for three hours without ever letting it boil hard, skimming the foam regularly. Finish with the fish sauce and salt, then strain.
⏱ 185 min -
5
Serving
Cook the noodles and put them in the bowl, lay the raw beef slices over them, and pour on the boiling broth — it cooks in seconds. Serve the herbs, sprouts and lime alongside.
⏱ 8 min
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Tips that actually matter
- Never let the broth boil hard — boiling clouds it.
- Freeze the beef for half an hour before slicing so you can cut it paper-thin.
- The herbs go beside the bowl, not in it, so everyone adds their own.
People also ask
My broth came out cloudy.
It boiled too hard, or the foam wasn't skimmed. Keep it at the barest simmer and skim constantly for the first hour.
Can I make it with chicken?
Yes — that's pho ga. Same spices, but an hour and a half instead of three hours.
How long does the broth keep?
Four days in the fridge and three months in the freezer. Make a big batch and freeze it in bags.
Cook mode
Vietnamese Beef Pho with a Clear Broth
-
1
Char the onion and ginger
Blacken the onion and ginger directly over a gas flame, or in a dry pan, until charred on the outside. That char is where the depth of the broth comes from.
-
2
Clean the bones
Boil the bones for five minutes, then rinse them thoroughly and throw the water away — this is what gives you a clear broth.
-
3
Toast the spices
Toast the star anise, cinnamon, cloves and coriander in a dry pan for two minutes until fragrant, and tie them in a muslin bag.
-
4
The broth
Combine the bones with the charred onion and ginger, the spice bag and three litres of water. Simmer on the lowest heat for three hours without ever letting it boil hard, skimming the foam regularly. Finish with the fish sauce and salt, then strain.
-
5
Serving
Cook the noodles and put them in the bowl, lay the raw beef slices over them, and pour on the boiling broth — it cooks in seconds. Serve the herbs, sprouts and lime alongside.
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