Bo Kho is a spicy and flavorful Vietnamese beef stew that makes for a pretty epic bowl of noodle soup when you’ve maybe had your fill of pho or are looking for something a little different.
A Tasty, Complex Vietnamese Recipe
I’ve had Bo Kho at only a couple of places over the years, and they’ve been pretty wide-ranging in terms of quality. My favorite place to eat it is in the middle of New Jersey in the cafeteria of a Chinese grocery.
You fork over $7.50, and just a few minutes later, you’re enjoying a big bowl of spicy beef broth with braised carrots, rice noodles, and plenty of crunchy onion and cilantro over the top. After a tough (read: mind numbing) day at Saturday Chinese school there was nothing better!
It’s one of those dishes that seems simple—spicy beef soup, right?—but that you know must be more complex given how flavorful and delicious it is when you’re enjoying the best possible version of it.
And, indeed, Bo Kho is flavored with chili, five-spice, fish sauce, lemongrass, plenty of garlic, and tomato. Its familiar red color comes from the addition of fragrant annatto. You can use or make annatto oil if you can get your hands on it, but for this recipe, I’ve used ground annatto powder and my homemade chili oil to get that spicy flavor.
Stew or Soup?
Bo Kho at its most basic is considered a “beef stew,” given it can be prepared as a soup or a thicker stew, but to me, I always consider it more of a soup. It can also be served with rice or French bread, but we like it served with noodles!
You can use rice noodles (“rice sticks” if you’re familiar with Vietnamese restaurant parlance) or egg noodles, too, if that’s your preference!
Let’s start!
Bho Ko: recipe Instructions
First marinate the beef. Combine the beef with the garlic, ginger, fish sauce, five-spice powder, and brown sugar until each piece is evenly coated. Marinate for 30 minutes.
Next, heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add the stalks of lemongrass and allow them to infuse the oil for 1 minute. Next, add the minced lemongrass and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes.
Add the onions and cook until translucent.
Then add all of the beef to the pot, and brown evenly on all sides.
Add the tomato paste.
Stir and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Add the water, coconut water, star anise, ground black pepper, chili powder, ground annatto, and paprika. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.
After an hour has passed, add the carrots, salt, soy sauce, and chili oil. Simmer for another 40 minutes.
To serve, remove the large lemongrass stalks and any star anise pods you can fish out. Cook your wide rice noodles or egg noodles per package instructions, transfer to bowls, and ladle the soup over the top.
Garnish with cilantro, Thai basil leaves, and raw onion, and serve with some lime wedges on the side.
Try this delicious Bo Kho recipe. It’s an awesome Spicy Vietnamese Beef Stew Noodle Soup!
Bo Kho: Spicy Vietnamese Beef Stew with Noodles
Ingredients
For the beef:
- 2 to 2 ½ pounds boneless beef chuck or brisket (cut into 1½-inch chunks)
- 2 cloves garlic (minced)
- 3 tablespoons ginger (minced)
- 5 tablespoons fish sauce
- 2½ teaspoons five-spice powder
- 1½ teaspoons brown sugar
For the rest of the stew:
- 3 tablespoons oil
- 1 stalk lemongrass (cut into 3-inch lengths, after removing any tough woody parts)
- 2 stalks lemongrass (minced, after removing any tough woody parts)
- 8 cloves garlic (minced)
- 1 onion (sliced thinly)
- 4 tablespoons tomato paste
- 8 cups water
- 2 cups pure coconut water/juice
- 2 star anise
- 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
- 1 teaspoon chili powder
- 1 teaspoon ground annatto (optional)
- 1 tablespoon paprika
- 8 large carrots (peeled and cut on the bias into 1½ -inch chunks)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons soy sauce
- 3 tablespoons chili oil (or to taste)
- wide rice noodles or egg noodles
- ¼ cup coarsely chopped fresh cilantro leaves
- 1/2 cup Thai basil leaves
- 1/2 cup Thinly sliced raw onion
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- First marinate the beef. Combine the beef with the garlic, ginger, fish sauce, five-spice powder, and brown sugar until each piece is evenly coated. Marinate for 30 minutes.
- Next, heat 3 tablespoons of oil in a large stock pot or Dutch oven over high heat. Add the stalks of lemongrass and allow them to infuse the oil for 1 minute. Next, add the minced lemongrass and garlic. Cook for 2 minutes.
- Add the onions and cook until translucent. Then add all of the beef to the pot, and brown evenly on all sides. Add the tomato paste.
- Stir and cook uncovered for 5 minutes. Add the water, coconut water, star anise, ground black pepper, chili powder, annatto, and paprika. Bring the mixture to a boil, reduce the heat to medium low, and simmer, covered, for 1 hour.
- After an hour has passed, add the carrots, salt, soy sauce, and chili oil. Simmer for another 40 minutes.
- To serve, remove the large lemongrass stalks and any star anise pods you can fish out. Cook your noodles per package instructions, transfer to bowls, and ladle the soup over the top.
- Garnish with cilantro, Thai basil, and raw onion, and serve with some lime wedges on the side.
Oops. I missed the stars out from my previous comment! Sorry about that.
I’m doing this tomorrow with leg of pork. At the moment beef in the UK is expensive and actually the family prefers it with pork ( thank the Portuguese) . I’ll cook it and then fridge it to eat on Monday when my son and girl come round.
This was my first attempt at making Bo Kho. Like every other recipe i have tried from this blog it was absolutely amazing. I followed the recipe to the letter excluding the chili (i had only Mexican chili powder and wasn’t sure that this would be the correct one). I used coriander in its place. This had all the big flavor of my favorite local Viet restaurant and then some. I just had a bowl of the leftovers for breakfast and knew i had to leave a review!
Thank you so much, Alissa! Appreciate the kind words and the stars. And I’m sure others will be comforted to hear of your substitutions as well!
This is a great recipe. I have been making this for about 18 months, never fails. It has been remiss of me not to thank you. Absolutely marvellous. I have done it with, beef, pork and lamb, whichever is on hand, all work well. I make it all according to your excellent instructions and fridge it for at least 24 hours before we eat it.
Some may say it’s a bit of a fiddle, but if you love cooking beautiful food, the prep is a pleasure.
With thanks from a Brit
Thank you so much, Curt—you’re very welcome! ^_^ Interesting to hear that the recipe will flex to beef, pork, and lamb! I never thought of that. Sometimes you need a fiddly recipe to take your mind off of things.
I used to be the cook who had the pre-seasoned bo kho spice packet. This was my first time making bo kho from scratch and the flavors are phenomenal. It’s the kind of recipe that would make a guy marry you instantly!! Thank-you Kaitlin!!
Glad you loved it, Jade! I need to make a pot ASAP if that’s the case hahahaha
My beautiful girlfriend Julie made this she’s an amazing cook and it was sensational I can’t wait for her to make it again
Thanks so much, Tron! You’re lucky to have her :)
Hello,
Did it yesterday and it was my lunch today, it’s really good!
I followed the redipe pretty much as it is except for a few minor changes inspired by other variation I saw online (Bo kho powder for marinade, cut style of carrots that I tried for the first time, eating with banh mi bread instead of noodles). I used a mix of the beef bones / meat broth I prepared and used with my pho and lanzhou last week and it worked well (meat broth was a little flavored).
I have shared a few photos on instagram : https://www.instagram.com/p/CbGG1fvLna7/
Thank for the recipe!
Eric
Eric that looks amazing well done I’ll get photos next time Julie make’s it
do you think this can work in a pressure cooker?
I just made this in my instant pot – did the beef with the onions and garlic covered with liquid on high after sauteing. Then depressurized, added the carrots and remaining liquid and cooked again for another 10 min. The beef fell apart in the mouth – probably could reduce the 2nd cooking time. I added watercress at the end and did the noodles in a separate pot on the stove while waiting. Delish! (also cheated by using ‘pho’ broth from the store which was good because I didn’t have all the aromatics that the recipe called for.
Hi Emily, thanks for the rundown and the feedback! Cheers :)
Hi Karen, yes but I’ve personally not tried it!
I made this today minus the chili oil and it’s delicious. Thank you and love all your recipes!
Thank you, Megan!
This exceeded our expectations!! I love ordering Bo Kho and Bun Bo Hue at restaurants and wanted to attempt making something similar at home. After reading through many recipes online, I decided to try your Bo Kho. Wow! The complexity of the broth was wonderful, and the meat and carrots were so just melt in your mouth tender. Our local stores did not have fresh lemongrass, so I used about 3 Tbsp. lemongrass paste from a tube in the refrigerated section. Next time I think I would use a little more, as the lemongrass wasn’t as prominent as I would have liked. I could not find annatto so did omit that, but did everything else as written. This will be going into our regular rotation!
Also, I’m so glad that this recipe turned me onto your blog. Since trying this I have tried a couple other of your recipes and everything has been just fantastic and seriously restaurant quality. My husband has been very impressed with my sudden ability to replicate (or produce even better than!) our takeout favorites. So thank you! I can’t wait to try many more of your recipes.
That’s great , Shelley! I’m so glad you loved it. I had NO idea that they sell lemongrass in paste form. What a find! I’ll have to keep my eye out next time, though as you say, nothing beats fresh lemongrass. Thanks for cooking and reading! :)
Wow! I have yearned for a true Bo Kho recipe for years, and have tried so many! This tastes exactly like what I had in Vietnam at every vendor I found! Amazing job! Thank you for sharing!
In a side note, if you have a Bun Rieu recipe and would share it, I would be forever grateful!
Thank you so much, Terrie! :D Having never been to Vietnam myself–only restaurants stateside, this is both high and delightful praise. :)
Andrea Nguyen is a great source for Vietnamese cooking–she may have the bun rieu recipe you’re looking for.