Quick and easy chicken pho recipe
Traditional pho takes over eight hours to prepare. But if you're short on time - then this quick and easy pho recipe still offers a spicy aromatic hit with all the right flavours. And all in under an hour.
Ingredients
- 1.5 litres good quality chicken stock
- 1 tsp coriander seeds
- 1 star anise
- 1/4 tsp Chinese five spice
- 4 cloves
- 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
- 5 slices peeled ginger
- 3 garlic cloves
- 3 spring onions finely sliced
- 2 red chillies finely sliced
- 1 tbsp honey
- 3 chicken breasts or skinless and boneless chicken thighs
- Salt and pepper to season
- 1 tbsp sesame oil
- 350 g dried white noodles
- 150 g beansprouts
- 1 handful fresh coriander
- 20 g Thai basil
- 2 limes
Instructions
- Add the chicken stock to a large pot. Add the spices - coriander seeds, cloves, star anise, and Chinese five spice to the stock. Then the ginger, spring onions, half the red chilli, fish sauce, garlic and honey.
- Give it all a good stir and bring to a boil, then turn down the heat to a simmer.
- While the pho soup is simmering, season the chicken breast or thighs well with salt and pepper. Then place the chicken into the soup.
- Cover with a lid and cook for around 25-30 minutes until the chicken is cooked.
- Once the chicken is cooked, take out and leave to cool.
- Once cool, shred the chicken.
- Cook the rice noodles according to the packet instructions [see note 1 below], drain and toss in some sesame oil.
- Get large bowls or noodle bowls. Divide the noodles into each bowls, then add the shredded chicken.
- Top with beansprouts, fresh coriander and Thai basil, then ladle over the soup. Making sure all the ingredients are submerged in the hot broth.
- Sprinkle with more red chilli and then squeeze some lime juice over the top before serving.
Notes
* Note 1: If you wanted to save even more time, you could cook the dried white noodles in the broth. However, having tried this myself, I find the noodles become quite sloppy and soak in too much of the soup - rather than retaining their bite. This is why I tend to cook them separately. There is no right or wrong way - I just prefer to do this.
Nutrition
Calories: 500kcalFat: 8gSaturated Fat: 1g