Simple Authentic Vietnamese Chicken Pho Soup (Phở Gà)
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When the leaves start turning colours and sweater weather is in full effect, there is nothing more comforting than a piping hot, hearty bowl of soup. Vietnamese Chicken Pho (Phở Gà) is the ultimate cold-weather comfort food, layered with chewy rice noodles, shredded chicken, and a deeply fragrant, restorative broth.
While Beef Pho is famous for taking up to 48 hours to simmer, its chicken cousin is beautifully simple. Because chicken does not require hours to break down, you can create a magical, authentic, large-batch broth in just one hour! This recipe easily serves 8 to 10 people, making it an incredibly affordable and wholesome meal to serve a crowd (or to meal-prep for delicious leftovers the next day).
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- Quick Authentic Broth: By charring the aromatics and utilizing a whole chicken, you get a deeply complex broth in just 60 minutes.
- The “Star” Spice: We keep the spice blend incredibly simple so the star anise truly shines.
- Highly Customizable: Serve the garnishes on a side platter so every family member can build their own perfect bowl!
Ingredients You Will Need
You will need a large 15L stockpot for this recipe, along with a few specific Asian grocery store staples.
For the Phở Broth:
- The Chicken: 4 ½ lbs of poultry. Traditionally, a free-range stewing chicken (hen) is used for a chewier texture. However, a regular whole chicken, or a mix of thighs, drumsticks, and breasts, works perfectly!
- Filtered Water: 10 Litres.
- The Aromatics: Large yellow onions (cut against the grain) and whole fresh ginger roots.
- Star Anise: ½ cup of whole star anise. This is the only whole spice we use to ensure its flavour isn’t overpowered!
- The Seasonings: Premium fish sauce, chicken bouillon powder, Kosher salt, and yellow rock sugar (substitute white sugar if needed).
The Noodles & Protein:
- Bánh Phở (Flat Rice Noodles): 2 packages of medium, dry, flat pho noodles.
- Quail Eggs (Optional): 2 cans of cooked quail eggs. You can also use freshly boiled and peeled quail eggs, or substitute with half a boiled chicken egg per bowl.
The Essential Garnishes:
- Fresh Herbs: Thai basil and finely chopped fresh cilantro.
- The Crunch: Fresh bean sprouts and thinly sliced white onion.
- Heat & Acid: Jalapeños (or red Thai chilis) and fresh lime wedges.
- The Sauces: Hoisin sauce and Sriracha for dipping and seasoning!
How to Make Chicken Phở (Step-by-Step)
Phase 1: Start the Chicken Broth
- Fill a large 15L stockpot with 10L of water. Cover with the lid and bring to a rolling boil over high heat.
- Rinse and pat the chicken dry. Carefully add the chicken and 1 Tablespoon of salt to the boiling water.
- Reduce the heat to medium-high and leave the pot uncovered. As it cooks, use a ladle or skimmer spoon to continuously skim off any foam or impurities that float to the surface. Reduce the heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer.
Phase 2: Char the Aromatics
- Toast the Spice: Heat a large skillet over high heat. Add the ½ cup of star anise and stir continuously for about 3 minutes until fragrant and lightly charred. Remove and set aside in a bowl.
- Char the Onion: Add 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil to the hot skillet. Place the halved yellow onions cut-side down and roast until heavily charred. Flip and char the other side. Remove and set aside.
- Char the Ginger: Place the halved ginger roots in the skillet and roast on both sides until charred. Remove and let cool for 5 minutes. Using the flat side of a meat tenderizer, lightly pound the ginger halves to flatten them and release their juices.
Phase 3: Simmer and Shred
- Add the charred star anise, onions, and smashed ginger to the simmering chicken broth.
- Stir in the fish sauce, chicken bouillon powder, and rock sugar. Simmer on medium-low heat uncovered for exactly 1 hour (the chicken is fully cooked when it floats to the surface).
- Carefully remove the whole chicken from the pot and immediately plunge it into a cold water bath for 10 to 15 minutes. (This stops the cooking process and makes it cool enough to handle). Debone and shred all the chicken meat. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
Phase 4: Prep Noodles and Assemble
- Soak the Noodles: Immerse the dry pho noodles in a large bowl of lukewarm water for 15 to 20 minutes.
- Quick Boil: Bring a large saucepan of water to a rolling boil. Portion a handful of soaked noodles into a large mesh strainer and dunk them into the boiling water for just 3 to 5 seconds, stirring with chopsticks. Shake off the excess water and place in a serving bowl.
- Assemble: Top the noodles with sliced white onion, shredded chicken, quail eggs, bean sprouts, Thai basil, green onions, cilantro, and chili peppers (optional). Pour the boiling hot broth over the top (filter it through a mesh strainer as you pour for a perfectly clear soup) and serve with lime wedges! If you have picky eaters, serve the vegetables on the side for easy customization, and serve the noodles simply with broth, chicken, and eggs.
💡Pro Tips for the Best Broth
- How to Get a Clear Broth: The secret to a beautiful, translucent restaurant-quality broth is two-fold: you must diligently skim the foam off the top during the first 15 minutes of boiling, and you must simmer the soup uncovered and on low to medium-low heat. Putting a lid on a simmering broth will cause it to turn cloudy!
- The Ice Bath is Crucial: Plunging the fully cooked chicken into cold water immediately after removing it from the boiling broth stops the residual heat from overcooking the breast meat, ensuring your shredded chicken stays moist and tender.
- Why Only Star Anise? Many recipes call for cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, cardamom, and coriander seeds. While delicious, I find that too many spices overpower the delicate chicken flavour. Using only toasted star anise makes it the true, fragrant star of the broth!
The DIY Garnish Platter
If you are hosting a large family dinner, do not assemble the bowls completely yourself! Instead, place the hot noodles, chicken and eggs in the bowls, pour over the broth, and create a massive platter in the center of the table loaded with the bean sprouts, Thai basil, jalapeños or Thai chilis, and lime wedges.
Set out bottles of Hoisin and Sriracha so everyone can customize their perfect bowl.
Looking for an appetizer to serve before the soup? Try these:
Frequently Asked Questions
Where can I find quail eggs?
Most Asian grocery stores sell both fresh and canned quail eggs. For pure convenience, I highly recommend buying them in a can! They are already boiled and peeled; all you have to do is drain, rinse, and drop them into your soup.
What is the best way to store leftover Pho broth?
Let the broth cool completely. You can store it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or freeze it for up to 3 months! Genius hack: Freeze leftover broth in ice cube trays so you can pop out individual “broth pods” to use in your weeknight stir-fries!
Why soak the noodles instead of just boiling them?
Boiling dry pho noodles directly in a pot of water often leads to a mushy, broken mess. Soaking them in lukewarm water first hydrates them gently. Then, a quick 3-to-5-second blanch in boiling water yields the perfect, chewy restaurant bite! If you want to learn more about this technique in detail for different noodle sizes, you can read about it here.
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Simple Authentic Vietnamese Chicken Pho Soup (Phở Gà)
Ingredients
- 10 litre water
- 4½ pound whole chicken or a combination of chicken thighs, drumsticks or breasts
- 1 Tablespoon kosher or sea salt
- ½ cup star anise
- 1 teaspoon vegetable oil
- 3 large yellow onions peeled and halved (against the grain)
- 2 medium ginger roots (whole) peeled and halved, lengthwise
- ½ cup fish sauce
- 3 Tablespoons chicken bouillon powder
- ½ cup yellow rock sugar or 1/3 cup white sugar
- 2 packages medium, dry, flat, pho noodles (Bánh Phở) soaked in lukewarm water* (see notes)
- 1 large white onion peeled, halved & sliced thinly
- 2 bags bean sprouts or 1/2 cup per soup bowl
- 2 cans cooked quail eggs (optional – 2x 400mL cans) drained & rinsed** (see notes)
- 6 sprigs fresh Thai basil
- 1 cup green onions (4 stalks) finely chopped
- 1 cup fresh cilantro (leafy part) finely chopped
- 2 large jalapeno peppers (optional) or 3 red Thai chili, sliced thinly
- 2 whole Limes cut into wedges
- 1 bottle Hoisin sauce
- 1 bottle Sriracha sauce
Method
- Boil the Chicken: Fill a 15L stockpot with 10L of water and bring to a rolling boil over high heat (covered). Rinse the chicken and carefully add it to the boiling water along with the salt. Reduce the heat to medium-high. Skim the surface to remove foam and impurities. Reduce the heat to medium-low to maintain a gentle simmer, uncovered.
- Char the Spices and Aromatics: Preheat a large skillet over high heat. Add the star anise and stir continuously for 3 minutes until fragrant and lightly charred; set aside. Add 1 tsp vegetable oil to the skillet. Place the onion halves cut-side down and roast until charred; flip and char the other side; set aside. Roast the ginger halves until charred on both sides. Let the ginger cool for 5 minutes, then pound lightly with a meat tenderizer to release the juices.
- Simmer the Broth: Add the charred star anise, onions, and smashed ginger to the simmering chicken pot. Stir in the fish sauce, chicken bouillon powder, and rock sugar. Simmer on medium-low heat, uncovered, for 1 hour until the chicken is fully cooked (it will float to the surface).
- Shred the Chicken: Carefully remove the whole chicken from the pot and immediately plunge it into a cold water bath for 10 to 15 minutes to cool. Debone and shred all the chicken meat. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside.
- Prep the Noodles: Immerse the dry pho noodles in a large bowl of lukewarm water for 15 to 20 minutes. Bring a separate large saucepan of water to a rolling boil. Portion a serving of soaked noodles into a large mesh strainer and dunk them into the boiling water for just 3 to 5 seconds, stirring with chopsticks. Shake off the excess water and place in a serving bowl. Repeat this step for the remaining bowls.
- Assemble and Serve: Top the cooked noodles with shredded chicken and quail eggs.For picky eaters: Stop here, pour the broth, and serve the vegetables on a side platter!For fully loaded bowls: Add the sliced white onion, bean sprouts, Thai basil, green onions, cilantro, and chili peppers (optional).Filter the boiling hot broth through a mesh strainer directly into the bowls. Serve immediately with lime wedges, Hoisin, and Sriracha!
