Beef Pho
with sauteed bok choy
Even if you're not familiar with Vietnamese food, it's likely you've at least had a bowl of pho. Pho is beef noodle soup and you can find versions of it all over the country. Even on the hottest days, you'll find people sweating over bowls of this traditional meal. If the weather is hot, you can pretend you're in Ho Chi Minh sweating it out!
Smarts: Traditional pho broth is made from beef bones, but we're taking a bit of a shortcut by starting with store-bought.
Ingredients
- Onion - 1, halved
- Star anise - 3
- Cinnamon sticks - 3
- Cloves - 3
- Beef broth / stock - 2 quarts
- Fish sauce - to taste
- Baby bok choy - 8, halved ((Or sub 1 bok choy for every 2 baby bok choy))
- Garlic - 2 cloves, minced
- Jalapenos - 1 to 2, sliced thinly
- Bean sprouts - 1 cup, trimmed
- Cilantro - 1/4 bunch, leaves of
- Limes - 1, sliced into wedges
- Sirloin beef - 1 lb, sliced thinly
- Leftover noodles - ~4 cups
- Cooking oil - 1 Tbsp
- Thai basil (opt) - 1 bunch ((If you can't find this variety of basil, it's fine to skip))
- Sriracha - to taste
- Hoisin sauce (opt) - to taste
Nutrition Facts
Prep
- Make pho broth - Combine halved onion, star anise, cinnamon sticks, and cloves with beef broth in a large pot. Bring to a boil and simmer for ~20 minutes. Remove spices and onion. Season to taste with fish sauce if it’s not savory enough for you. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Bok choy / Garlic / Jalapenos / Bean sprouts / Cilantro / Limes - Prep as directed. (Can be done up to 3 days ahead)
- Beef - Slice as thinly as possible.
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Make
- Warm up noodles from yesterday in the microwave, ~45 seconds.
- If you made the broth earlier, bring it back up to a boil.
- Heat up a saute pan over medium-high heat. Add cooking oil and then bok choy with garlic. Saute for 4 to 6 minutes, until tender but still with a crunch.
- Assemble topping plates with jalapenos, bean sprouts, limes, and basil.
- Divide noodles into bowls. Top with beef, bok choy, and cilantro leaves. Ladle broth over noodles - the hot broth will cook the beef. Let everyone take what they want from the topping plate. Enjoy with Sriracha and hoisin sauce.
Nutrition Facts
Reviews
Ratings
26 reviews
We eat pho all the time and this version was very bland. So we are at a pho restaurant right now
0 HelpfulGreat simple pho. Used homemade chicken stock instead and it was still great. Added coriander seeds and pepper corns to the broth.
0 HelpfulI went ahead and made from scratch the beef bone broth. The hoisine sauce was really good in there! I am simply nuts about Asian noodle soups!
0 HelpfulWe thought this would be a mediocre imitation of restaurant-grade pho, but boy were we wrong! This was incredible. I highly recommend buying pre-cut beef (e.g., shabu shabu style) and chopping the bok choy into smaller (more bite friendly) pieces. We got 6 meals out of this one!
0 Helpful