Vietnamese chicken pho recipe
Pho is a Vietnamese soup, often with meat, noodles, veg and herbs. Our easy chicken pho recipe really packs a punch, layering flavours like lemongrass, cinnamon, star anise and fish sauce to bring depth to a chicken stock base, brightened with fresh spring onions, red chilli and herby coriander.
See method- Serves 4
- 20mins to prepare and 35mins to cook
- 314 calories / serving
- Dairy-free
- Healthy
Ingredients
- 1tbsp sunflower oil
- 1tsp black peppercorns
- 1 lemongrass stalk, trimmed and sliced
- 1/2 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 5cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
- 600g chicken stock
- 2 skinless, boneless, raw chicken breasts, thinly sliced
- 1tbsp Thai fish sauce (nam pla)
- juice of 1 large lime
- 375g packet fresh rice noodles
- 250g pack Thai style stir fry
- 3 spring onions, trimmed and thinly shredded
- 1 fat red chilli, halved, deseeded and very thinly sliced
- small handful fresh coriander
Each serving contains
- Energy
- 1320kJ 314.0kcal
- Fat
- 7g
- Saturates
- 1g
- Salt
- 1.8g
- Sugars
- 4g
of the Reference intake
Carbohydrate 40.6gProtein 20.9gFibre 3.0g
Method
- Heat the oil in a large saucepan and add the peppercorns, lemongrass, cinnamon, star anise and root ginger and cook, stirring constantly for 1-2 minutes to aromatise the oil. Stir in the concentrated stock, 400ml water and chicken breast. Bring to the boil and simmer very gently for 25 minutes.
- Lift the chicken out of the stock using a slotted spoon and remove and discard any spices sticking to it. Strain the stock (discarding the spices) and return to a clean saucepan along with the chicken. Slice into the chicken at the thickest point to ensure that it is cooked through and showing no pink inside. Return to the heat and add the Thai fish sauce, lime juice, noodles and stir fry vegetables and simmer for 3 minutes.
- Stir in the spring onions and divide between 4 serving bowls. Scatter with the red chilli and coriander leaves and serve with an extra wedge of lime to squeeze over if liked.
- Tip: This soup works well with fish, beef or pork. Simply replace the chicken with 250g sirloin steak or pork fillet cut into thin strips and stir fry for 2-3 minutes over a high heat and add to the soup with the noodles. Or add a 200g raw peeled jumbo prawns (thawed if frozen). This recipe is not suitable for freezing.
- See more Soup recipes
- For top tips on protecting you and your family when preparing raw meat and poultry, visit Food Safety in the Home.
