Authentic Pho Soup. I’m about to show you the pho-shizzle pho-sure. I mean, this recipe is pho-nomenal. You will keep this one handy pho-ever. Un-pho-gettable. Pho-real. No pho-king chicken broth here. I’m other words, this authentic Pho Soup is the real deal, baby.
You will need cheesecloth or a fine-mesh sieve to drain your broth, so be sure to have one of these before making. This is an all-day recipe, so you’ll want to begin around 11 am for a 6 pm dinner.
Authentic Homemade Pho Soup
Bone Broth
- 5 pounds beef bones
- 1 medium yellow onion, peeled and cut in half or quarters
- 1 bulb fresh garlic, parted
- 3-4 tablespoons olive oil
- Sea salt
- Coarse ground pepper
- 5 quarts water
- 3 slices fresh peeled ginger
- 2 star anise
- 6 whole cloves
- 3 tablespoons fish sauce
Preheat oven to 425°F. Place the beef bones and onion onto a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt & pepper. Bake for 45 minutes.
Place all of the garlic cloves in the microwave for about 30 seconds and then peel off and discard the skins.
If you don’t see beef bones for soup available at your local grocery store, ask the butcher where they keep them. They are often frozen. You can also find them pretty easily at Asian markets.
Place bones, onion, garlic, and remaining ingredients into a pot and bring to a boil then turn the heat down to low and simmer for six hours with a lid partially covering the pot. The broth will slowly reduce to about half of the water you started with.
Lay about 4 layers of cheesecloth inside of a strainer. Remove all the items out of the broth and throw them away. Gently pour the rest of the broth over cheesecloth or a fine-mesh sieve and then return your bone broth back to the soup pot.
Pho Soup
- 7 ounces pad Thai rice noodles or rice sticks
- 2-3 pounds London Broil steak, very thinly sliced
- Sea salt
- 1 tablespoon coarse ground pepper
For the noodles, bring a pot of water to a boil. Add noodles and boil for as long as the package instructs – most likely about 3 minutes. Add a scoop of noodles to your bowls. The benefit of cooking noodles this way is they will remain a gorgeous white and they won’t soak in all of your broth, leaving you with just noodles. for this same reason, I recommend draining and storing leftover noodles and pho broth separately.
Lay strips of London Broil steak on top of noodles in your bowls. Pour the hot pho broth over your steak and noodles. The hot broth will cook the meat for you quickly. The meat will be a little pink in the center. Add toppings & sauces as desired.
Pho Toppings & Sauces
- Green onions, chopped
- Fresh bean sprouts
- Hoisin sauce
- Cilantro
- Fresh lime wedges
- Fresh basil, chiffonade
- Sriracha sauce
- Soy sauce
Everyone can enjoy the toppings they like best on their pho.
There’s nothing like authentic homemade pho soup. Making pho from scratch will make you a pho-natic. Good pho-you!