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 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 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.
nutrition facts
I was wondering how well this might store in the freezer. Making a huge batch and freezing quart size containers sounds like a wonderful bit of planning at the end of a long day.
It was really good. I added soy sauce in the marinated instead of fish sauce. Thank you so much for a delicious recipe.
I’ve been craving my mom’s bo kho but having to social distance myself I’ve been looking for recipes. Something my mom would add ever since I can remember was cuts of tendon. It would thicken the stew a little and I love eating the softened tendon with the bo kho. This is also good with French bread. We would also dip the carrots and meat with salt and pepper stirred into lime juice.
I’m glad you found us, Jesse! I hope you like it. The addition of tendon sounds tastyyy and I have seen that it’s often served with French bread! Sounds tasty with the lime juice too.
I’m curious about the inclusion of chili powder and paprika in this recipe. Are they common ingredients in Vietnamese cooking?
Also, I did make this last night, it did turn out well, although I omitted the chili powder. I just couldn’t bring myself to use an ingredient that I often use in Mexican dishes lol. I will also omit the paprika next time as I didn’t like what it did to the dish. It reminds me too much of a Hungarian goulash that I used to make. Is there another seasoning that would be more authentic that I could use in place of the paprika/chili powder?
Hi Chrissy, I am not sure how common those two spices are in Vietnamese cooking, though annatto is a key ingredient for this dish. That said, I added the chili and paprika to add color and flavor to the red broth as they’re easy for most folks to find.
That said, “chili powder” is a broad designation and many cultures have their own versions they prefer (e.g., Korean chili powder vs. Sichuan chili flakes vs. Arbol chili powder, etc.) so a generic chili powder is something that I generally view as a good all-purpose substitution in a pinch.
All that said, I would seek out Andrea Nguyen’s counsel. She’s the real expert on Vietnamese cooking. I just love bo kho and this is my version of the dish :)
https://www.vietworldkitchen.com/