Vietnamese Beef Pho

Basically, I have a recommendation for authentic vietnamese pho. Go to your local oriental/world food mart and buy the actual pho broth cubes. Just ask the cashier. They come in small packages of 6. This makes the pho taste authentic, rather than making your own broth or buying american beef broth. Happy eating!!

This is not pho. Don't be fooled into thinking this is pho. Pho is made from hours of cooking beef bones to soften the meat and draw out the bone marrow. What we have here is spiced swanson beef broth.

This is missing the many spices (Star Anise, Cloves, etc.) that makes Pho...Pho. The Lemongrass also throws it off. I've never seen lemongrass introduced in Vietnamese Pho. It might be in some other types of Asian noodle type soup but never in Vietnamese Pho.

Missing important star anise. Soup can't exist without it.

In response to the one person who classified the traditional ingredients for making this recipe, the anise seeds etc and traditionally used by the Vietnamese. Lemongrass is traditionally used by those of Cambodian and Thai origin which makes just as great a broth. Aside from the lemongrass, you can also add a dried pickled radish found in many Asian specialty stores. These taste really great tender. For added flavor, my family fries a little minced garlic ahead of time until they are golden (takes only a few seconds!) and garnish the pho with them.

Voon-da-bar. Darn good Pho. For those of you with difficulty slicing beef thin, try this: Pop your cut of beef into the freezer (suggest you plastic wrap it first)... 10-30 minutes and you'll be dancing - chilly beef makes for easy slicing (be sure to use a sharp knife as well). Bring to room temperature before finishing off in bowl.

This is an excellent recipe. As another user recommended, I found 'pho cubes' at an asian market and use them to make the broth. This makes a huge difference. I also use dried vermicelli noodles instead of rice noodles. I'm not a fan of fish sauce so I omit that.

This is a tasty base recipe. Ingredients are easy to find, preparation is minimal and spices can be adjusted to suit each person's taste. I decreased the broth to 3 Qt, added garlic, a couple anise stars, increased the cinnamon stick (2) and used colored peppercorns. Along with the fresh herbs/vegs's we just seasoned with chili sauce. This soup will be a staple!

So so so so good. As other reviewers have mentioned....definitely freeze the beef before slicing (the thinner, the better) & add some star anise and cloves. Quick and delicious!

This is a great pho recipe. The only variations I made were leaving out the basil and hoisin because I didn't have any in the fridge. I would definitely recommend putting the beef in the freezer for about 30-40 mins to make it easy to cut really thin slices. This will now become a regular on our dinner table.

Other comments are right that this recipe is missing a whole lot of authentic ingredients. It tastes okay as is (I made a small batch just to test), but it's not the same. Here's a few tweaks to make it more authentic: 1. Use beef STOCK instead of BROTH, if you can. Broth is beef stock with added vegetable stock and herbs. Pho is made from straight stock. 2. Add the following spices along with the peppercorns and cinnamon: 5 Star Anise (regular anise works as well. Both contain anethole, which is what gives it its flavor) and 5 whole cloves. 3. Other recommended spices you might add are: 1 cardamom pod, 1 tsp coriander or cilantro, dash of nutmeg, 1 tsp fennel seeds, 1 bay leaf. 4. Put your spices in a mesh bag or one of those reusable mesh balls used for loose tea, to make it easier to remove. 5. Many recipes recommend using shallots, a small, mild sort of onion with a somewhat garlicky flavor. Char them in the broiler first (about 10-15 mins, turning once), or on a grill, and then boil them along with the spice mesh. 6. Garnish with chopped scallions if you have some available. One last note: Lemon grass is very hard to find if you don't have an Asian grocer nearby. I checked 3 grocery stores and none of them carried it. I substituted with a few dashes of dried lemon peel I found in the spice section. Seemed to work okay.

Great recipe! I took a 10 & 12 year old with me to a Vietnamese grocery store and was able to get everything I needed. The trip there was an enjoyable adventure in itself. I would recommend that vs trying to find it all in a large commercial grocery store. Everything was easy to prepare...in fact the 10 year did most of the work. I grabbed a spice bag for pho and added it along with the beef 30 minutes before removing it from the simmer mode and added brown mushrooms. Adding sriacha, hoisan, & soy will give the dish a whole new flavor, but I wouldn't recommend dumping all three in there. I also added fresh thyme for one of my garnishes.

This is not the traditional Pho that my family makes (we are Vietnamese)! We definitely DO NOT use lemongrass or garlic.

When I make Vietnamese soup, I only put in this: Chinese Special Spice (in a clear bag with a steaming bowl and chopsticks rendered). Called: ~ Gia Vi Nau Plu~ The ingredient list of spices on the bag are: Star Anise, Fennel, Corriander, Cinnamon, Sugar Cloves. Made by: Thanh Lqi Corp. Santa Ana, California. Made in USA. If I'm using a package or container of purchased soup I don't add salt. If homemade, I do add Sea Salt. I only use Rice Noodles with this. I purchase this bag of spice at the local Asian Market. How I got the information of this spice was a friend and I had basically spent all our outings starting with Vietnamese soup and Vietnamese Coffee. Without my knowledge, starting with the first time we went, my friend slowly starting questioning the making of the soup, giving it high praise, and 'notice how often we're here". About 6 months went by, and the owner gave in and told my friend of the spice. We thanked him profusely, bought it, and it was perfect. The exact same aroma and taste. Note: We did not abandon our favorite Vietnamese Resturant and the kind, kind owner. We just have it always.

I made this version of Pho for my husband because I did not have the ingredients for a more traditional version. I put out a platter with Cilantro, green onions, Limes, bean sprouts, mushrooms, jalepinos and onions then set the table with Sriancha, fish sauce, and soy sauce. He loved this and wants it again soon!

I have been so excited about making pho for months now, the fresh ingredients are so amazing. I've looked at tons of recipes and just when I thought I had all of the ingrediants, I always ended up needing more! I used this recipe, I added cloves (2) and anise seeds to the recipe. I also cooked the large onion in the broth for its hour of cooking and then pulled it out. This dish was wonderful! Beef broth was just fine, if not great! Thank you so much! One cin. stick was just fine for us, two overpowered just a bit!

This soup tastes exactly like what we get when we go out for pho. I am so happy to finally be able to make the soup we love at home.

An excellent recipe! I added some of the spices other reviewers mentioned (star anise, cloves, nutmeg) and it smelled just like restaurant pho while it was cooking. I wasn't able to cut my meat as thin as I wanted, and the broth didn't stay boiling long enough to fully cook the meat, but a minute in the microwave got the soup hot again and cooked the beef fully. I'll be glad when I can make this again!

I disagree with the other comments. I did add the anise and left out the lemongrass. Simmered for much longer than called for. My husband says it's the best pho he's ever had. He's still talking about it.

I thought this was the perfect way to make Pho at home without making stock from scratch. I did add star anise becuse I love that flavor in Pho. Easy too!!

This recipe traditionally calls for the addition of ginger ,anise, and a whole nutmeg. no lemongrass.

Didn't change a thing in the recipe - was a big hit and a nice flavor change from the norm, as well as, very simple to prepare.

This was my first time making Pho. It was suprisingly easy and turned out great. I will make it again.

Very good. My first venture into Vietnamese cooking. It was great. Thanks

tasted great with my own alterations (used pho broth cubes, used slow cooker for first few ingredients and meat for 6-8 hours and then transferred to large pot and added rest of ingredients) Ate with fresh herbs and rice noodles. Go to an asian grocery store---it will help alot!

Tasted just like the beef pho from Pho Hana in California. My husband and just loved it. Yes it may not taste like the original Pho but it's a great alternative.

This is Not Pho

I have tried this a few times and find that the canned beef broth works the best. Homemade or the cubes just don't cut it. I usually serve with fresh spring rolls so half a serving is enough

The better broth you make the better the soup will be.

I was extremely happy with this recipe. I tried a variation, using chicken broth and cooking thinly sliced chicken during the last 10 minutes before serving. Everybody loved the meal.

Tasty. I didn't use beef broth which has tons of sodium, I just simmered the beef in water with the rest of the ingredients. I also used soba noodles instead. Exta lime, extremely flavourful!

I agree with the criticisms about the missing Star anise; if you want an exotic flavor try a few Kafir lime leaves rather than lemon grass. Also the noodles after soaking need to be placed in boiling salted water for about 30 seconds rather than go directly from soaking to the bowl.

Star Anise, fried chopped garlic is an absolute necessity in this recipe. And I totally agree to delete hoisin sauce, lemon grass and basil.

The best Vietnamese Pho recipe I have ever tryed. All my friends and relatives loved it and had to have the recipe the very first time I ever made it.

It wasn't like authentic pho, but it was really good considering we made this at home. Very easy to make. Thanks for the recipe!

I tried using homemade broth but it didn't really work too well. I'll have to try again using canned beef stock.

This recipe is awesome! My husband loved it!

I love this Pho!! I couldn't find Anise like others suggested and it was still great. I did add garlic.

A good pho proxy for when you don't have time to make the real stuff. Broth tastes like pho until you have it with the herbs--then it becomes clear that the broth is thin tasting because it loses out to the taste of the basil and cilantro. Still the real stuff takes hours and hours to make, so this is good if you want a quick dinner after work.

My wife and I, having eaten , many a bowl of Pho' soup found this to be one of the best recipes that we have come across. The taste is quite authentic. And will please even the most pickey Pho' expert's!

I was trying to find a recipe to make pho that would be as good as the pho shops in Northern Virginia...this recipe brought me a little closer to that goal.

This was really authentic tasting. Great for me bc I live in Eastern Europe where it is impossible to eat good asian food. I did omit the jalapeno peppers and hot pepper sauce. but I added peanuts and had to use ground ginger. great taste and nice presentation.

This was easy and extreemly tasty. Now that I can make this easily at home, my favorite take-out just got better. I reallly enjoyed the bean sprouts and the fresh herbs. Very refreshing. Make sure to have VERY thinly sliced beef, or it will not be tender. Excellent soup, and great as leftovers as well. I will definately be making this again!

Although since I've never had it before I can't vouch for the authenticity, everyone /loved/ it. I was very pleased with the effect of the lemon and curly purple (anise flavoured, kind of) basels, they work very well with this. I was a little paranoid about cooking the meat -- it looked really quite uncooked after I poured over the broth, but it really is great that way -- I cheated and put the leftover meat into the broth and it wasn't as good afterwards, so now I know to do it right the next time.

This is very good. I made a few changes (such as adding anise seed and only used half the amount of noodles). Definitely agree that the slicing is made much easier by freezing the meat for 10 min first. Also, this time I used canned broth, next time I will make my own because I think the soup will - obviously - be greatly improved if using homemade broth over canned.

Fabulous! Loved it.

Tastes great.

Needed more seasoning,.

just add star anise! :)

Absolutely delicious and healthy, too!

I spent part of my childhood in Bangkok, Thailand. This comes close to the soups that you could purchase from the street vendors! I used regular beef broth in this batch which I think lacked complexity, but was still pretty tasty. I’m about to try my hand at homemade bone broth, so I’ll give it another try once I can make it with that.

I used Harvest brand Vietnamese PHO Beef Broth Mix. Eliminated the lemon grass and a few of the spices. My son-in-law who is vietnamese, said that it was very close to the kind he is used to. Appreciate the recipe as it gave me something to start with.

The Pho' was great! We live in Williamsburg, VA...and there aren't any good places around here to get Pho', so we decided to make our own. Even though we didn't really follow the recipe, our soup came out very well...and now we're HAPPY!

Ok I love Pho. I love all the different tastes that dance in my mouth when eating eat. Most of all I love the broth and just the broth. This is a great broth to just heat up and drink. It's mild and sweet with a little bit of heat if you add a few drops of siracha to it when you heat it up. I also put the onion and spices in a spice bag. I also love that you can adjust the slices to meet your tastebuds. I love even more that this Pho takes no time at all and even tho it doesn't use beef bones it's still a great recipe. Thanks for sharing.

It was amazing! Me and my daughter enjoyed making it together. However, we made some minor changes, including adding Fish flakes. We also noticed that while they did include fish sauce in their ingredients, they didn't include it in their directions, also most pho places add cilantro to their pho, and that would've tasted good. But overall, I really enjoyed making this recipe and plan to make it many more times in the very near future.

Good overall. The broth definitely needed something more to boost the flavor.