Nothing satisfies my deepest cold weather food cravings like a big bowl of piping hot pho. Unless you have a favorite Vietnamese spot nearby, however, it can be difficult to get your hands on a bowl. Which is why I developed and posted a full pho recipe on The Woks of Life back in 2015. For those looking for a quick an easy option, I also posted a quick 20-Minute Chicken Pho recipe.
It’s hard to beat the flavor of a beef-based pho broth, however. But alas, it can take at least 6 hours to make, or much longer if you simmer the broth overnight as some Vietnamese families do! Enter: The Instant Pot. Our new favorite kitchen toy, this programmable electric pressure cooker has been in use more and more these days, whether it was to whip up a quick dinner for a crowd over the holidays or to make wintry soups and stews in enough time for a weeknight dinner.
This Instant Pot pho has the satisfying flavor a long-simmered broth, but it can be made in less than half the time of pho broth simmered traditionally on the stove.
Now, tools like the Instant Pot (or its opposite, the slow cooker) aren’t necessarily always practical for making soup stocks and broths because size is a limiting factor. We have one of the larger Instant Pot models. That said, if you’d like to use a smaller Instant Pot for this and just make soup for 1-3 people, you can cut the recipe in half or by a third. Simply reduce all the quantities accordingly. For large single ingredients like the cinnamon stick, simply break it into a smaller piece.
Another quick note before we begin. You’ll notice that my broth looks darker than a traditional pho broth, which is generally clearer and lighter, while still being full of flavor. Pho broth is traditionally simmered very slowly, at a very light bubble (if bubbling at all). With the pressure cooker, however, the broth is cooked much faster. But I do believe that the flavor of the broth is still rich and delicious, and you can be slurping away at a bowl of noodles in much less time, which isn’t a bad thing!
If you’d rather go with the low and slow method, visit my original tried and true stovetop Pho recipe. But if you’d like to take your Instant Pot out for a spin and get the job done faster, then you’re going to love this version!
Start by charring your ginger and onions. Use tongs to hold the ginger and onions over an open flame, or place directly on an electric burner. Turn until they’re lightly blackened and fragrant about 3 minutes. Rinse away the blackened skins and set aside.
Place the bones and beef chuck in large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse. This process will give you a much cleaner broth.
Set aside your beef chuck in the refrigerator for use later. Transfer the bones to your Instant Pot, along with the charred/cleaned ginger and onions. Add the scallions, fish sauce, sugar, and salt.
Now toast the spices (star anise, cloves, cinnamon stick, black cardamom, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds) in a dry pan over medium low heat for about 3 minutes, until fragrant.
Use kitchen string to tie up the spices in a piece of cheesecloth, and add it to the pot.
Cover everything with 3 ½ quarts of water.
Seal the Instant Pot and place on the manual high pressure setting for 120 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally (15-30 minutes). Add the beef chuck and put back on the meat/stew setting for 30 minutes.
Use the Quick Pressure Release, and when the Instant Pot is once again safe to open, skim the broth for excess fat and impurities. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt, sugar, and/or fish sauce to taste.
To serve, boil the rice noodles according to package instructions. Add to a bowl. Place some slices/shreds of the beef chuck on the noodles. Cover with broth, and garnish with sliced onion, bean sprouts, and Thai basil, and be sure to squeeze some fresh lime juice over the top! You can also add some cooked beef balls or thinly sliced eye round if you like.
Instant Pot Pho
Ingredients
For the broth:
- 2 3-inch pieces ginger, cut in half lengthwise
- 2 medium onions (peeled)
- 4 pounds beef marrow and/or knuckle bones
- 1 1/2 pounds beef chuck
- 3 scallions (cut into 4-inch lengths)
- ⅓ cup fish sauce
- 2 ounces rock sugar (or 3 tablespoons granulated sugar)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 3 star anise
- 5 cloves
- 1 small cinnamon stick
- 1 black cardamom pod
- 2 teaspoons fennel seeds
- 2 teaspoons coriander seeds
- 3 1/2 quarts water
To assemble your pho:
- Dried pho rice noodles
- Thinly sliced onion
- Mung bean sprouts
- Thai basil
- Lime wedges
- Cooked beef balls (thinly sliced eye round, optional)
Instructions
- Start by charring your ginger and onions. Use tongs to hold the ginger and onions over an open flame, or place directly on an electric burner. Turn until they’re lightly blackened and fragrant about 3 minutes. Rinse away the blackened skins and set aside.
- Place the bones and beef chuck in large stockpot and add water to cover. Bring to a boil and boil for 5 minutes. Drain in a colander and rinse. This process will give you a much cleaner broth.
- Set aside your beef chuck in the refrigerator for use later. Transfer the bones to your Instant Pot, along with the charred/cleaned ginger and onions. Add the scallions, fish sauce, sugar, and salt.
- Now toast the spices (star anise, cloves, cinnamon stick, black cardamom, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds) in a dry pan over medium low heat for about 3 minutes, until fragrant. Use kitchen string to tie up the spices in a piece of cheesecloth, and add it to the pot. Cover everything with 3 ½ quarts of water.
- Seal the Instant Pot and place on the manual high pressure setting for 120 minutes. Allow the pressure to release naturally (15-30 minutes). Add the beef chuck and put back on the meat/stew setting for 30 minutes.
- Use the Quick Pressure Release, and when the Instant Pot is once again safe to open, skim the broth for excess fat and impurities. Adjust seasoning by adding more salt, sugar, and/or fish sauce to taste.
- To serve, boil the noodles according to package instructions. Add to a bowl. Place some slices/shreds of the beef chuck on the noodles. Cover with broth, and garnish with sliced onion, bean sprouts, and Thai basil, and be sure to squeeze some fresh lime juice over the top! You can also add some cooked beef balls or thinly sliced eye round if you like.
Nutrition
Jim says
Awesome pho recipe. Way better, easier and faster than the stove top recipe I’ve been using for the last 15 years. The broth is sweet and beefy. I’ll never go back to the stove top version again. The addition of beef in the broth is new for me and it turned out great since the instant pot cooks the beef flank till its tender and melt in you mouth.
Sarah says
Thanks so much, Jim! So glad you enjoyed this Instant Pot recipe!
G says
I have always made rare beef pho the traditional way in a huge stock pot boiling it for hours. This instant pot version saved so much time and tastes wonderful and full of flavor! Even without the cardamom and coriander seeds. We love tendons so i pressure cooked those for 1.5 hrs after pressure cooking the bones and before the shank. My family loved it! Thank you for sharing!
Sarah says
Yayyyy! You’re welcome!
Nathan Godfrey says
I have recently discovered your blog, and I am in love with it! Woks of life blog has significantly increased my screen time report 😀, competent navigation in our Asian market, and most importantly, time spent making delicious food! This is the first blog I’ve ever subscribed to!
Pho: Made this last night for the first time, and had a couple of questions…
Everyone who had it (8 of us) really enjoyed it, but agreed that it needed a bit of a “pop” to highlight the depth of flavor. I cook a lot, and usually a “pop”, or brightening of flavors, is achieved with an addition of good salt. Should I explore the further additions of fish sauce (I pretty much already doubled this, but didn’t want to push it too far), salt, and sugar?
My second question is, how necessary is the beef chuck? The meat ended up not looking that appetizing (grayish from the pressure cook), and I was wondering if was essential to the broth flavor, or if it was more about having cooked protein within the finished pho. Could I just add more bones for the high pressure cooking, then add raw sliced round for serving?
Lastly, I didn’t see a step for straining the pho. Is that implied at the end, or are you serving it by dodging all of the ingredients in the pot?
Thanks so much for your help. We absolutely adore pho, and I am committed to getting it right!
Sarah says
Hi Nathan, thank you so much for your kind words!
Yes, if you’d like more flavor in your broth, adjusting the fish sauce, salt, and sugar to your taste is important! I actually included that as a step, as everyone’s taste buds are a little different.
As for the beef chuck, you can omit it if you like, and as you said, add more bones and only serve with sliced eye round.
I generally just ladle out the broth without straining, but you can strain it if you like!
Nancy Perko says
What do you do with the bones that are left in the broth?
Sarah says
You can discard them after the broth has been completed––they’ve given all their flavor!
Sue says
OMG! I just made this. It’s amazing. We just moved to an area that required us to drive 45mins to a decent Vietnamese pho restaurant. Thank you for sharing!
Sarah says
You’re welcome, Sue! So glad this recipe could help bring pho closer to home. :)
Kat says
This recipe came out great and I honestly was missing the cardamom pod and cloves and was too lazy to char the onions and ginger. I just came across your blog a week ago, and it has been a huge turning point in my cooking life. I live in south Florida and good Asian food is hard to come by . You guys are doing an amazing job—keep up the great work.
Sarah says
That’s awesome! Only a week with that assessment already. :) We’re so glad that you found our blog, and that you enjoyed this Instant Pot Pho––even the “lazy” version haha.
Christopher Packard says
Great recipe! First time making. Followed recipe as written. Used 8 at. IP. Filled to max line without roast meat. Had to remove liquid to fit chuck.
Took about an hour to naturally release. Immediate release with meat had some liquid burst through release valve. Covered with towel.
End result this Phó is delicious! As good as Vietnamese restaurants I’ve eaten in where my son lives near LA
Thanks so much.
Sarah says
You’re welcome, Christopher! Thank you so much for sharing your cooking experience with us and other readers. :)