How to Make Pho at Home in a Slow Cooker

Wini Moranville
·6 min read

Cure your comfort food cravings with pho—the Vietnamese soup made with rich broth, rice noodles, and add-ins—by following our step-by-step guide.

At its most basic, pho is a meat-and-noodle soup, but if you’ve ever tasted this Vietnamese specialty, you know it’s so much more, and you may want to learn how to make pho at home. The heart and soul of the dish is the rich and restorative pho broth—a long-simmered stock that absolutely must start with bone-in meats. Our recipe for slow cooker pho shows you how to make stock for pho with bone-in chicken thighs plus a bonus of two kinds of mushrooms for extra-savory, rich flavor. Once the stock is finished and perfectly flavored with sauces for pho and pho herbs and spices, you’re just baby steps away from bringing it to the table.

Related: 16 Noodle Bowl Recipes You Can Happily Slurp for Dinner Tonight

Step 1: Gather Your Pho Ingredients

The first step in learning how to make pho is buying the ingredients, including vegetables, fresh herbs, rice noodles, sauces for pho, and pho spices. The ingredients for this recipe can generally be found in most supermarkets; look for the specialty ingredients, such as fish sauce and pho sauces, in the Asian foods aisle.

Here’s what you’ll need for six servings of our Chicken and Mushroom Pho:

  • 6 oz. fresh shiitake mushrooms

  • 2 lb. bone-in chicken thighs, skinned

  • 1 32-oz. carton reduced-sodium chicken broth

  • 4 cups water

  • 1 cup sliced onion

  • ¼ oz. dried porcini mushrooms, rinsed

  • 1 3-inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

  • 2 Tbsp. fish sauce

  • 1 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

  • 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds, toasted

  • 4 cloves garlic, sliced

  • 4 whole cloves

  • 5 oz. dried rice noodles

  • Fresh cilantro leaves, slivered red onion, thin carrot strips, fresh Thai or Italian basil leaves, fresh mint leaves, thinly sliced fresh red chile peppers,* and/or pho sauces, such as srirarcha, for serving

  • Lime wedges (optional)



Warning

Chile peppers contain oils that can irritate your skin and eyes. Wear plastic or rubber gloves when working with them.



Sauce for Pho Primer

Sauces for pho, commonly served alongside the steaming noodle soup, include the following:

  • Hot Chili Sauce (made with ground chile peppers, vinegar, garlic, sugar, and salt): Sriracha, named after the Thai city of Si Racha, is one of the most common pho sauces. If you like a milder chile pepper-based sauce, look for one labeled “sweet chili sauce.” Another choice is chili-garlic sauce, which has a pronounced garlicky flavor.

  • Fish sauce: This is made from salt-fermented fish (such as anchovies); a few drops go a long way to add a lightly sweet, salty-funky-fishy flavor that many pho fans love. Others may consider it an acquired taste. Consider it an optional addition to your array of pho sauces.

  • Hoisin Sauce: Generally made from fermented soybeans and flavored with vinegar, sugar, garlic, and spices, this rich, dark Chinese sauce is more spicy-sweet than spicy-hot. It’s a good choice to add to your array of pho sauces for those at your table who love deep flavor but not loads of heat.

Step 2: Prep the Pho Spices and Flavorings

A few of the ingredients and flavorings needed when you learn how to make pho broth require a little extra know-how:

  • Ginger: This spicy root needs to be peeled before use. Fortunately, the thin skin easily comes off when you simply scrape it with a spoon. Once peeled, slice the ginger into thin disks with a sharp knife.

  • Coriander seeds: Toasting pho spices, such as the coriander in this recipe, helps impart a deep, intense spice flavor to the pho broth. Toast seeds in a dry skillet over medium heat, stirring often so they don’t burn. You’ll know they’re close to done when you can start to smell them as they brown. Watch carefully—they can go from toasted to burned in seconds!

  • Shiitake mushrooms: The stems of shiitake mushrooms are tough and woody. While they’re not meant to be eaten, they can add flavor to your pho broth. Separate the stems from the caps as directed in the next step. Use the stems to make the pho broth and the caps for the finished soup.

Related: 10 Types of Mushrooms You Should Know in Cooking

Step 3: How to Make Pho Broth

Here’s how to make pho broth the hassle-free way:

  • Pull the stems off the shiitake mushrooms; set aside. Thinly slice the shiitake mushroom caps. Cover and chill the caps until needed.

  • In a 5- to 6-quart slow cooker, combine the shiitake stems and the next 11 ingredients (through cloves). Cover and cook on low 7 to 8 hours or on high 3½ to 4 hours.

  • Remove chicken from cooker. Strain pho broth mixture through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth; discard solids.

  • Transfer the pho broth to a large saucepan; bring to boiling. Stir in noodles and sliced shiitake caps.

  • How to make pho noodles: Simply cook the rice noodles in the pho broth 3 to 5 minutes or just until they are softened.



Test Kitchen Tip

Don’t be tempted to skip the cheesecloth, which helps trap even the smallest solids. A great pho broth is not only rich and flavorful, but it should be clear, too.



Related: How to Clarify Stock to Create a Better-Tasting Base for Soups

Step 4: Shred the Chicken

While the noodles are boiling in the pho broth, remove chicken from bones; discard bones. Coarsely shred chicken using two forks.

Step 5: Serve with Sauces for Pho and Other Flavorful Extras

  • Ladle the pho broth and noodle mixture into shallow bowls. Top with piles of chicken.

  • Pass a large tray of cilantro, slivered onion, carrots, basil, mint, chile peppers, and desired pho sauces (such as chile pepper sauce, fish sauce, and/or hoisin sauce). If desired, serve with lime wedges and squeeze juice over each serving. Makes six servings.

Asian Recipes Filled with Flavor

If you love Asian food, make these delicious dumplings from scratch for a satisfying addition to any noodle recipe. Bring these appetizers to your next potluck for an international treat, or try this vegetarian Noodle Bowl with Tofu and Poached Eggs for non-meat eaters. If you're looking for Asian main dishes, we've got you covered with Thai Green Curry Chicken, better-than-takeout Beef and Broccoli, or Asian Style Fried Rice and Beans. Or stick with noodles with Japchae (KoreanStir-Fried Glass Noodles) or tummy-warming Teriyaki Chicken Noodle Soup.

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