Mom's Homemade Chicken Pho Recipe

Growing up with immigrant parents, we didn't have a lot of money to spare. So eating out was a luxury, which was fine with me since my mom is an amazing cook. She always made chicken pho for us at home, and tried teaching me when I was young, but I never cared to learn. So finally, now that I am a foodie-in-training, I asked her for the recipe. She wrote out for me her best rendition of a recipe because my mom does not measure anything when she cookes. It's like a 6th sense. And so I made it for the very first time!! I even decided to document it. This recipe makes about 4-5 servings.


There is a package you could buy from the Asian supermarket that has all of the spices that one would need for pho: star anise, cinnamon, and round cardomom seed.

It also conveniently comes in a small bag made of cheesecloth for easy removal since you don't want little spices floating around in the broth. To substitute, my mom also uses about 2 tbsp of chinese five spice and places them into coffee filters and ties it up, similar to the baggie.

Throw ten cups of water, half a medium-sized onion, 1tablespoon (tbsp) of thinly sliced ginger, and the baggie of pho spices into a large pot and bring to a boil.

The pot with the baggie inside

There are many variations of pho. The most common is beef, but my mom always used chicken for some reason. When using chicken, many times Asian recipes call for thighs because of the more flavorful meat. But to keep things healthy, I used skinless boneless chicken breasts.

After some time has elapsed, throw the chicken in the pot. Let simmer on low for about 10 minutes or until cooked all the way through. Cooking times will vary depending on heat. After the chicken is cooked all the way through, remove the chicken from the pot and let cool.

After removing the chicken, add to the broth 1 1/2 cubes of chicken boullion, 1 teaspoon (tsp) salt, 1 tsp onion powder, and 1/2 tsp Splenda. Simmer for about another 10 minutes to allow all the flavors to combine.

After it has cooled somewhat, shred the chicken breasts.

Chop up some fresh cilantro and green onions for garnish/flavor.

Boil some pho noodles according to package directions. When your noodles are ready, drain, rinse in cold water to stop them from cooking. And for those of you on lo-carb diets like myself, Tofu Shirataki noodles will be your best friend.

These noodles are made of tofu, thus they are low in carbs. One serving is 4 oz., 20 calories, .5g fat, 3g carb, 1g protein, 2g fiber. Each of these little baggies come with two servings and need to be refrigerated. They are a little chewy so if consistency is a big issue for you -- I'd pass. You can find them at some specialty stores such as Whole Foods and at Gelson's markets in the refrigerated tofu section. You can even buy them online. Cooking them is super quick and easy as well!

With your pho, a squeeze of lemon (or lime traditionally), some hoisin sauce for a salty and sweet kick, and sriracha chili sauce for those of you who like it spicy.

Another healthy, and traditional, addition are bean sprouts. Bean sprouts are high in protein, semi-low in carbs, full of fiber, and carry a good amount of Vitamin C.

A perfect bowl of chicken pho on a cold winter day!

Vietnamese Chicken Pho

• 10 cup water.
• 3 chicken breasts or thighs
• 1 tbsp fresh ginger, sliced thin
• 1/2 onion, unsliced
• 2 tbsp chinese five spice powder placed into a coffee filter and tied with thread
• 1 Tsp sugar.
• 1 1/2 Tsp salt.
• 1 1/2 cubes of chicken boullion
• Green onion, chopped for garnish
• Cilantro, chopped for garnish
• Bean sprouts

Place water, onion, ginger, five spice baggie in a large pot and bring to a rolling boil. Reduce heat to low and place chicken in pot. Simmer for about 10-15 minutes untill chicken is cooked through. Remove chicken out and continue to simmer for another 10 minutes then add sugar, salt, chicken boullion. Let simmer for 10 minutes. Shred the chicken once cooled.