Easy Vietnamese Beef Pho (Noodle Soup)

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This Vietnamese Beef Pho (Noodle Soup) recipe is easy to make and has an aromatic broth that tastes just like the restaurant! This dish is made in an Instant Pot without the long hours of simmering. The beef is super tender and no flavors have been compromised in this short time of cooking. All you have to do is grill all the aromatics in the pot, and then add all the ingredients and press the button for delicious beef pho!

Bowl of beef pho with fresh herbs, beef slices, meatballs, and green onions in a clear broth.

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What is Pho?
Ingredients
How to Make Easy Instant Pot Beef Pho
Expert Tips
FAQs
More Delicious Beef Recipes
Easy Vietnamese Beef Pho (Noodle Soup)

What is Pho?

Beef pho (pronounced ‘Fuh’) is a traditional Vietnamese noodle soup featuring a rich, aromatic broth made from beef bones, rice noodles, and thinly sliced beef, served with fresh herbs and condiments. Pho originated in northern Vietnam in the early 20th century, influenced by French colonial cooking techniques and Chinese flavors. In Vietnam, Pho is usually eaten for breakfast as the beef bones have been simmering all night. Now, you can eat beef pho at any time and enjoy this comforting dish in less than 2 hours! If you love beef noodle soup, you can try my delicious soup recipes: Chicken Pho and Thai Noodle Soup!

The best part about Vietnamese Pho is that it is fully customizable. You can add your favorite beef toppings like rib eye slices or beef meatballs to tailor it to your taste. Add basil, bean sprouts, onions, hoisin, cilantro, and sriracha for your garnish!

Ingredients

Here’s a look at what you need to make this Vietnamese Beef Pho at home. The highlights are here but the full ingredient list and quantities of each are in the recipe card.

Beef Ribs and Beef Short Ribs – beef bones give the broth it’s delicious and fragrant flavor. You can use different beef bones (whichever you find in the store). I prefer to use beef short ribs and beef ribs because they are fattier cut and are more tender than brisket (leaner cut). Traditionally, you can add tripe, beef tendon, beef shank in the beef pho. If you do substitute with different beef parts, make sure the total quantity is around 1200 grams so the measurements for the water and spices make sense!
Aromatics – onion, shallot, ginger, garlic will be grilled or cooked on the ‘saute’ button until it’s brown to release it’s aroma. You can even leave the skin of the aromatics on, to give the soup more flavor. We will take it out of the broth before eating.
Spices – star anise, bay leaves, cinnamon stick, coriander, and fennel are the most common spices used in pho. Once the spices are toasted and boiled, they give the soup a fragrant and authentic Vietnamese pho broth taste. I recommend using a tea bag to keep the spices together so it’s easier to take out later.
Seasoning – simple seasoning like sugar and salt will be used. Fish sauce makes the sauce taste aromatic and umami, you can’t omit it! Restaurants use MSG for authentic flavor, I highly recommend adding a little bit to make your soup taste extra delicious! I used rock sugar but you can also use white sugar. The dried shrimp is optional but adds umami and depth to your broth!

Garnish:

Vietnamese pho is always paired with lots of fresh veggies and herbs. Add these at the end with super hot beef broth so the herbs don’t wilt. Here’s the traditional list:

Rice noodles or pho noodles – you can buy these noodles in the dry noodle section of asian grocery stores. They also make fresh rice noodles that you can find in the refrigerated section of Korean or Chinese grocery stores.
Thinly sliced green onions and white onions
Bean sprouts
Cilantro
Jalapeno (thinly sliced)
Thai basil
Lime
Sriracha and hoisin sauce

Substitutions and Variations

Different Cuts of Beef: Feel free to use oxtail or brisket instead of short ribs. You can add beef tendon, tripe, or other types of beef parts if you wish. Please make sure the whole recipe adds to 1200 grams of beef so the measurements for the recipe are correct (taste perfectly seasoned)!
Noodles: traditionally pho noodles are used. However, if you like yellow noodles (ramen), udon or shiitake noodles, you can use that too! Make sure to boil it separately from the broth so the soup doesn’t get thick!
Dried Shrimp: Adding some seafood in the broth brings an umami and taste to the broth. If you don’t have this, you can omit this. If you have uncooked shrimp, you can add 3-4 in the soup instead. Just make sure you don’t eat them, because it will have a rubbery texture.

How to Make Easy Instant Pot Beef Pho

Beef ribs and short ribs submerged in water inside an Instant Pot for boiling.

Step 1: Add 10 cups water, beef ribs, and beef short ribs so they submerge in the water. Set Instant Pot to ‘Saute’ on Custom Setting on High Temperature. Let it boil for 15 minutes to get all the impurities out.

Chopped onion, shallot, garlic cloves, and ginger on a wooden cutting board.

Step 2: While the beef is boiling, chop your aromatics such as onion, garlic, and shallot and cut them in smaller pieces.

Boiling beef ribs in water inside an Instant Pot with foam rising to the top.

Step 3: After 15 minutes of boiling, you will see that the water has become grey, and the impurities have risen to the top.

Rinsing boiled beef ribs under running water to remove impurities in a metal bowl.

Step 4: Pour out the water and rinse the beef ribs until they look clean and there’s no blood stuck to the beef. Set aside. Wash you Instapot so it’s extra clean too and wipe it dry.

Grilled onion, garlic, ginger, star anise, and cinnamon in a pot.

Step 5: Next, grill all aromatics and spices: onion, shallot, 4 inch ginger, 12 cloves of garlic or 1 bulb, 6 star anise, small cinnamon stick, coriander, and fennel. Grill until golden brown, it should take 5 or so minutes.

Beef ribs, onion, and spices simmering in broth inside an Instant Pot for pho.

Step 6: Then, add all the beef, dried shrimp and 10 cups water. Add your seasonings: 3 tablespoons fish sauce, 1.5 teaspoon rock sugar (5 small pieces) or white sugar, 1.5 teaspoon salt and ½ teaspoon msg (optional but recommended). Turn settings to pressure cook on low for 45 minutes (custom setting). Press start button.

Onions and spices simmering in rich pho broth inside an Instant Pot.

Step 7: Once your beef pho is done, open the pot and take out all the onions, garlic, corriander, fennel and spice bag. It’s very important to spoon out the oil at the top of the soup, it’s a lot of it!

Straining out dried shrimp and spices from pho broth using a metal sieve.

Step 8: Boil your broth by setting it on ‘high’ on the saute function. To assemble your bowl, add your noodles at the bottom of your bowl. Add some sliced rib eye, sliced short ribs and beef balls. Then, add your boiling beef broth on top. Garnish with bean sprouts, cilantro, onions, sliced jalapenos and squeeze of fresh lime.

How to Cook Noodles: There are 2 methods: 1. cooking them separately or 2. throw them in the pho broth. I prefer soak them in boiling water for 5 minutes and strain. Set noodles aside. This ensures that your noodles stay al dente and not too mushy versus putting the noodles in the pot while cooking the broth.

Chopsticks lifting rice noodles from a bowl of beef pho with fresh herbs.

Expert Tips

Rinsing the Beef: Make sure you boil the beef bones first! Then, you need to properly rinse the beef so there’s no beef blood or bone shards in your soup. Clean and clear broth is key to a good pho broth!
Boiling the Broth: Make sure the broth is boiling before ladling it over raw sliced beef to cook it instantly in your bowl.
Skim the oil at the top of pot after boiling your broth! There’s a lot of oil after cooking the bones and short ribs. If you don’t, your noodle soup will taste greasy! Pro tip: Set the oil aside and put in the refrigerator as the oil will solidify and you can eat your leftover broth later after scooping the solidified oil.

FAQs

How can I store leftovers?

Store the noodles and beef broth separately in closed containers in the fridge. When you want to reheat it back up, make sure to boil the beef broth on the stove. There’s no need to cook the noodles again, add hot boiling broth on them instead!

What is the Difference between Southern and Northern Pho?

Northern pho (Phở Bắc) features a clear, mildly seasoned broth with fewer garnishes, focusing on simplicity and the pure flavor of beef. Southern pho (Phở Nam) has a sweeter, richer broth and is served with a variety of fresh herbs, bean sprouts, and sauces like hoisin and Sriracha for customization. The noodles in the north are thinner, while southern pho uses wider noodles and offers more flavor add-ons.

Which rice noodles are best?

I recommend to use Vietnamese branded dry pho noodles. I choose the medium width and find that the noodles don’t soak up the broth too much and aren’t too thin. You can also purchase fresh rice noodles and place them in the broth (this will be northern style pho).

Which fish sauce should I use?

I recommend to buy the 3 crabs fish sauce for the best tasting one! You can find this at any Asian grocery store. It makes a huge difference in the taste of your broth.

What should I serve this with?

Beef Pho is already a very hearty meal by itself with lots of protein and carb. I recommend to serve with more vegetables to have a balanced meal or something crunchy. Try my Chinese Shrimp Toast or Crab Rangoon Egg Rolls for a tasty crunch and Chinese Cabbage Stir Fry for my veggies!