What Toppings Should I Serve With Chicken Pho
Part of the Pho soup experience is the toppings! It would not be Pho if it wasnt for all the toppings. Fresh herbs is a staple of Vietnamese cuisine and a must when having this noodle soup. Here are some topping ideas:
- Chiles if you cant find Thai chiles, jalapeños or serranos can be used.
- Condiments: In addition to the toppings, condiments can be added for extra flavor. Fish sauce, soy sauce, chili oil, chili paste.
What Is Yellow Rock Sugar
Yellow Rock Sugar are irregular hard lumps of crystallized sugar made from unprocessed sugar cane. Theyre not the same as White Rock Sugar.
Its commonly used in Chinese cuisine for making marinades, sauces, soups, traditional Chinese medicine, dessert soups, and in tea.
Since Yellow Rock Sugar is not as sweet as white sugar, it works well to balance flavors in Chicken Phos delicate broth by imparting a mild sweetness.
Where to Buy it? You can find them in Asian supermarkets or
*Fun Tidbit: When I was a kid, I often sneaked in the kitchen to hunt for hidden chocolate or candies. If I couldnt find any snacks to satisfy my sweet cravings, my last resort would always be the Yellow Rock Sugar in the yellow paper box wrapped with cellophane. hehe~ I would make my way through the huge hard lumps to find some tiny ones I can suck on.
Easy Pressure Cooker Pho Recipe
There’s no doubt that my Instant Pot is currently my favorite kitchen tool. I love the versatility and precision that comes with it. But I may be the only person that refuses to sacrifice quality for time’s sake. I would much rather spend a few more minutes and end up with a meal that is amazing than cut corners and just barely enjoy my dinner.
That being said… this recipe will take a while to cook. While the prep is very easy, there’s about 2-hour total cook time. It will take your IP about 20 minutes to come to pressure, then a 30-minute cook time, and finally 30 minutes of natural pressure release. So this is not an everyday type meal. But, when you’re ready for something special, it’s worth every minute!
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How To Make Pho In An Instant Pot
- Char your spices and aromatics. Ideally with a blowtorch so you can char all the spices at once, but if you have a grill, broiler, or cast iron pan, just char the onion/shallots, ginger, and cinnamon.
- Load everything up in the instant pot along with 4 quarts of water. If you want to do this the easy one pot super fast way, just throw it all in. If you have a little more time, leave out the sugar and topping meats to braise slowly later.
- Cook. Cook the broth on high pressure for 35 minutes. Do a quick release once done. If you intend to eat right away, prepare the rice noodles, meats, and garnishes while the broth is cooking.
- Season. Add sugar and fish sauce until the broth is just about overseasoned. Itll balance out once you add the noodles.
- Build. Add rice noodles and sirloin in your bowl, then fill the bowl up with about 2 cups of pho soup. Top with onion and cilantro, then at the table, let everyone add thai basil, bean sprouts, chilies, hoisin, and sriracha to their liking.
Instant Pot Oxtail Beef Pho
Published: Sep 17, 2021 by Kaylie This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
This Instant Pot Oxtail beef pho is irresistibly delicious and can be made in less than two hours. Its an easy recipe where the Instant Pot infuses all the amazing flavors of the beef bones, aromatics and Vietnamese spices into a savory broth. Its a restaurant-quality bowl of noodle soup that will leave you wanting more after every slurp!
Pho is one of the most popular Vietnamese dishes. Its a noodle soup, with a stock made from chicken or beef bones, and served with rice noodles, meat and fresh herbs. Restaurant oxtail pho usually simmers for hours on the stove, as the spices, ginger, onion and beef bones release their flavors, becoming a rich and complex broth. With the magic of the Instant Pot, you can make this dish in a couple hours instead of tending to a simmering pot all afternoon.
Dont be intimidated by the ingredients and cooking technique, just like my Instant Pot chicken soup, this traditional oxtail pho recipe is super simple to put together, I promise!
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How To Make Pho In The Instant Pot
What Can I Add To Instant Pot Pho
While the add-ins I listed in this recipe are delicious, pho is incredibly customizable and versatile. Feel free to play around with your add-ins. Here are some other ideas:
- Protein: Beef is great, but other proteins are delicious as well. Try chicken, pork, shrimp, or even tofu.
- Veggies: I keep it simple with bean sprouts and hot red pepper slices, but you can add any soup-friendly veggies you like. Try sliced shiitake mushrooms, snap peas green onions, bok choy, edamame, shredded carrots, broccoli, you name it. When adding these veggies into Pho, I like to steam them first!
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Instant Pot Pho Recipe + Video
This recipe for Instant Pot Chicken Pho makes traditional pho in a fraction of the time with the help of your pressure cooker. This delicious pho recipe results in a flavorful broth and tender chicken. Combined with rice noodles, toasted spices, and fresh herbs, this soup packs so much flavor!
PS Obsessed with brothy soups? Youve got to try my Instant Pot chicken broth too!
You all probably know my kitchen obsession by now The Instant Pot.
Like, I seriously sit at my desk all day thinking up new ways to use this little pot. Tonight, Im dreaming of Red Beans & Rice, for Taco Tuesday, Instant Pot Chicken Tacos, and Wednesday Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana is exactly what needs to happen.
If you havent heard of the Instant Pot yet, let me introduce you. Its like an electric pressure cooker that has all these handy little buttons on it for cooking different things:
As handy as it is for all the above, the main reason I bought the Instant Pot was to make Pho.
How Do You Thinly Slice Beef For Pho
To easily cut steak for pressure cooker pho, remove it from the broth after cooking, then slice thinly against the grain. It should be tender and cut easily.
If you want to slice it before cooking, freeze your beef for 15-20 minutes, then cut it thinly against the grain. Freezing it makes it much easier to slice.
Another option is to buy hot pot beef slices from your Asian supermarket, or even shaved beef sirloin sold for cheesesteaks!
You can also use leftover beef. Instead of adding it to the pressure cooker when cooking the broth, save leftovers to add to the end. Slice thinly and add to the broth when serving.
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Using An Electric Pressure Cooker At High Elevation
Speaking of pressure, fortunately, there’s a tool here that helps mitigate all those problems, letting me cook in Bogotá’s thin air and get results the same as if I were back home at sea level in San Francisco. A pressure cooker traps expanding vapors inside thereby effectively increasing the pressure on the liquid, allowing it to heat to a higher temperature before boiling. While stovetop pressure cookers add pressure relative to the atmospheric pressure of their surroundings , many electric pressure cookers will hold their pressure independently of their surroundings.
You could cook in the near vacuum of Mars’ atmosphere with an electric pressure cooker and your soup would come out just fine. They use them for everything from beans to broth here, but today I’m doing something a little different and serving my in-laws a Vietnamese pho ga.
Instant Pot Pho Recipe Instructions
Start by charring your ginger and onions. Use tongs to hold the ginger and onions over an open flame, or place directly on an electric burner. Turn until theyre lightly blackened and fragrant about 3 minutes. Rinse away the blackened skins and set aside.
Place the bones and beef chuck in large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse. This process will give you a much cleaner broth.
Set aside your beef chuck in the refrigerator for use later. Transfer the bones to your Instant Pot, along with the charred/cleaned ginger and onions. Add the scallions, fish sauce, sugar, and salt.
Now toast the spices in a dry pan over medium low heat for about 3 minutes, until fragrant.
Use kitchen string to tie up the spices in a piece of cheesecloth, and add it to the pot.
Cover everything with 3 ½ quarts of water.
Seal the Instant Pot and place on the manual high pressure setting for 120 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally . Add the beef chuck and put back on the meat/stew setting for 30 minutes.
Use the Quick Pressure Release, and when the Instant Pot is once again safe to open, skim the broth for excess fat and impurities. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt, rock sugar, and/or fish sauce to taste.
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How To Eat Pho
Add a squeeze of fresh lime on your pho to add a nice zip of acidity, and to brighten the broth. Hold a soup spoon in one hand and with the other hand, use chopsticks to scoop up some noodles, meat, soup and herbs into the spoon. Dip some meat and noodles into the hoisin and sriracha sauce mixture and enjoy!
How To Make Instant Pot Oxtail Pho Soup
Roast the ginger and onion under the oven broiler. Or you can roast it over an open burner flame. Then rinse the burnt parts off.
Roast the ginger and onion under the oven broiler. Or you can roast it over an open burner flame. Then rinse the burnt parts off.
Toast the pho spices, add it to a filter bag. Then add all the ingredients with water into the Instant Pot and cook for 45 minutes!
Toast the pho spices, add it to a filter bag. Then add all the ingredients with water into the Instant Pot and cook for 45 minutes!
Once the broth is done cooking, remove the oxtail and drain the broth into a clean pot. Add fish sauce to taste.
Once the broth is done cooking, remove the oxtail and drain the broth into a clean pot. Add fish sauce to taste.
Add extra meats, such as beef tendon meatballs and thinly sliced sirloin to the broth. Garnish with fresh herbs.
Add extra meats, such as beef tendon meatballs and thinly sliced sirloin to the broth. Garnish with fresh herbs.
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Why You Need To Make Instant Pot Chicken Pho
There are so, so many things to love about this recipe. Its gluten-free and can be made-ahead, making it a perfect weekend project that needs very little hands-on cooking. Diners can customize each bowl just the way they like it, so my spice-averse daughter can skip the spicy toppings but I can load up on them. The broth is nourishing and warming, but delicate at the same time.
It also makes enough for two dinners for my family of three. After we have it the first night, I freeze some chicken directly in the remaining broth to keep it from drying out and make sure I have some dried rice noodles in the pantry for when we need a quick weeknight meal. Oh, and did I mention our dog is also super-happy when we have chicken pho for dinner? She waits at my feet as Im taking the chicken off the bones, knowing that a few tasty morsels will find their way to her if shes patient enough. Its a win-win, chicken dinner for all.
Pressure Cook Chicken Broth
Pour in ½ cup cold water and fully deglaze the bottom of the pot with a wooden spoon.
Add in the toasted spices, 15g yellow rock sugar, 1 small bunch fresh cilantro, 2 tbsp fish sauce, ½ tsp fine table salt.
Pour in 3½ cups cold water.
Carefully add in the whole chicken with a kitchen tong. If your chicken comes with neck and feet, add them in as well.
Pour in 4 cups of cold water.
*Pro Tip: Try not to pour the water directly at the chicken as it can splatter chickens germs outside of the pressure cooker. Make sure the chicken is at least 90% submerged into the liquid.
Close lid and pressure cook at
- Pressure Cooking Method: High Pressure for 10 minutes, then 20 minutes Natural Release
After 20 minutes, turn the venting knob to venting position to release the remaining pressure.
Open the lid carefully.
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Pressure Cooker Broth: The Color Is Different
Youll also notice that my broth looks darker than a traditional pho broth, which is generally clearer and lighter, while still being full of flavor. Pho broth is traditionally simmered very slowly, at a very light bubble .
With the pressure cooker, however, the broth is cooked much faster. But I do believe that the flavor of the broth is still rich and delicious, and you can be slurping away at a bowl of noodles in much less time, which isnt a bad thing!
If youd rather go with the low and slow method, visit my original tried and true stovetop Pho recipe. But if youd like to take your Instant Pot out for a spin and get the job done faster, then youre going to love this version!
A Quick Note On Instant Pot Size
Now, tools like the Instant Pot arent necessarily always practical for making soup stocks and broths because size is a limiting factor. We have one of the larger Instant Pot models.
That said, if youd like to use a smaller Instant Pot for this and just make soup for 1-3 people, you can cut the recipe in half or by a third. Simply reduce all the quantities accordingly. For large single ingredients like the cinnamon stick, simply break it into a smaller piece.
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How To Make Pho On The Stove
- Char your spices and aromatics. Ideally with a blowtorch so you can char all the spices at once, but if you have a grill, broiler, or cast iron pan, just char the onion/shallots, ginger, and cinnamon.
- Boil the bones and meats for 5 minutes to remove most of the scum, then drain. Ideally, wash the pot again too.
- Fill up the pot with the parboiled bones or finger meat, tendons if using, aromatics, and spices along with enough water to cover. Bring to a very gentle simmer and hold it there for 4-6 hours. If you have flank or brisket, add it in 2 hours before the broth is finished cooking.
- Prepare. Just before you intend to eat, prepare the rice noodles, meats, and garnishes while the broth is cooking.
- Season. Add sugar and fish sauce until the broth is just about overseasoned. Itll balance out once you add the noodles.
- Build. Add rice noodles and sirloin in your bowl, then fill the bowl up with about 2 cups of pho soup. Top with onion and cilantro, then at the table, let everyone add thai basil, bean sprouts, chilies, hoisin, and sriracha to their liking.
Wine Pairings For Pho:
- Gewürztraminer and dry-Riesling are both great options because they will compliment the sweetness in the pho while downplaying its spiciness.
- Try a Sparkling Rosé The bubbles will play nicely with the rich broth and balance nicely with the fragrant spices.
If you loved this instant pot recipe I would appreciate it so much if you would give it a star review! Also, be sure to snap a picture of your finished dish and share it with me on using the hashtag #platingsandpairings and tagging me @platingsandpairings.
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