If you can make awesome Pho in the slow cooker, why not a pressure cooker? And this Pressure Cooker Pho tastes so good! Packed with fresh herbs and strips of succulent beef, all in divine broth!
Why This Pressure Cooker Pho Is So Good
- An easy Instant Pot Pho recipe.
- Great for batch cooking.
- Packed with amazing Vietnamese flavors!
- You can control the spice levels to suit different tastes.
Ingredients For This Pressure Cooker Pho
- Spices: whole star anise, cinnamon, cloves, cardamom
- Coriander seeds
- Butter or cooking oil
- Fresh ginger
- Yellow onion
- Meat : Beef cross shanks, oxtails, beef brisket, beef eye of round roast
- Fish sauce
- Shirotaki noodles (Non-Paleo version: dried rice noodles)
FOR THE TABLE:
- Limes
- Jalapeño peppers
- Cilantro
- Thai basil (or regular Italian basil)
- Fresh mint
- Bean sprouts
- Sriracha sauce (store bought or 20 Minute Sriracha Recipe)
How To Make This Pressure Cooker Pho – Step by Step
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add all spices and toast until they become fragrant. Take care not to burn them! Place them in a coffee filter or piece of cheesecloth and tie it up. Place the sachet into the pressure cooker pot.
- In the same sauce pan over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon butter (or oil) and add onion and ginger pieces. Brown until there is a nice sear on them. Remove them from the pan and place them in the pressure cooker.
- Sear the meat in batches: add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan and sear the shank, oxtail and brisket. You’ll do this in batches, all in a single layer. Give everything plenty of space so that they SEAR and brown. Crowding the pan will not brown the meat. Sear each side, remove each meat from the pan and add them to the pressure cooker.
- Cover the contents of the pressure cooker with water or up to the fill line. Set your pressure cooker to cook for 60 minutes. This means it will cook under pressure for 60 minutes. It will take time to build up pressure (usually 30 minutes) and additional time to release pressure after cooking (usually 30 minutes).
- Approximately: 30 minutes to build up pressure + 60 minutes under pressure + 30 minutes to release pressure. Exact timing is really not that important – and also depends on your pressure cooker system. Follow manufacturer instructions.
- Once finished cooking and safe to open, open the pressure cooker and using a fine mesh or ladle, remove the top layer of fatty liquid that has accumulated on the surface of the broth and discard (there will be lots of it.) Remove the onion, ginger and spice sachet and discard. Remove the meat to your cutting board. Shred the brisket using two forks. Remove any other meat from bone.
- The resulting broth is a concentrate. Dilute the pho concentrate with 4-6 cups of water. Season the Pho broth with fish sauce. Taste and add additional fish sauce if needed. Bring to a simmer on stovetop right before you are ready to serve.
Assemble the Pho Bowls:
Serve to order. In a large bowl for each person, add shirotaki noodles and meat (including the sliced eye of round). Pour the just-simmering hot broth into each bowl. Hot broth will cook the sliced eye of round. Serve with the remaining sides a la carte so each person can add whatever they’d like to their soup.
Using A Pressure Cooker For Pho
The only limitation of using a slow cooker or pressure cooker is space. Both appliances aren’t that big, and if I’m going to take the time to make Vietnamese Pho, I want to make a BIG BATCH of it! Well, enough to serve 4 people and some broth for the freezer too (freeze in quart containers or bags to make the best “instant noodle” broth ever.)
My solution for Pressure Cooker Pho is to treat the pressure cooker as a “pho broth concentrator” – the ingredients in the recipe are sufficient enough to create such a rich pho broth concentrate. You can add water to adjust after the broth is complete.
Paleo Friendly Vietnamese Pho!
Here’s a bonus. The recipe is Paleo friendly. Vietnamese Pho is generally Paleo friendly, as-is. The only ingredient substitution is the type of oil and noodles. Paleo grain-free “noodles” can be Shirotaki noodles (slippery little noodles made from Asian mountain potatoes – found in refrigerated section next to tofu at the store), Zucchini noodles (watch my video reviewing different gadgets to cut zucchini noodles), Kelp noodles made from seaweed.
What’s The Best Way To Cook Dry Rice Noodles
If you’re regular eatin’ folk, the traditional Vietnamese Pho noodles are rice noodles. You can find fresh rice noodles at Asian markets or you can get dried rice noodles at your grocery store. They come in different widths, just get one that you like. Generally, I can easily find the 1/4″ thick noodles very easily.
Dried rice noodles cook differently from the regular wheat-based Italian style pasta that you’re used to. The great news its that it’s faster! Dried rice noodles cook in as quickly as 1-3 minutes! If you overcook the noodles, they become mushy and pretty much inedible.
Here’s the best way to cook the dried rice noodles:
- Soak the dried noodles in hot water (not boiling water, just hot water from tap) for about 10 minutes. This will soften up the rice noodles. Drain.
- Bring a small pot of water to a simmer. You don’t really need a ton of water (like you do for pasta) – just enough so that all the noodles can be submerged in the hot water. Turn off heat.
- Add drained rice noodles to the hot water. Let it sit for 1 minute. Very thin noodles will be ready after 1 minute. Thicker rice noodles will need a couple of minutes. Drain.
Can I Cook The Noodles In Pho broth?
I know you’re gonna ask me: why not cook the noodles directly in the Pho broth? I never do this. Here’s why:
- Because the rice noodles cook so darn quickly, it’s so easy to over cook them. I don’t want to ruin a batch of hard-earned broth with overcooked noodles!
- Cooking any type of noodles releases starch. For example, when you cook noodles, the water becomes cloudy from the extra flour. I don’t want that in my Pho broth!
- Related to #1 is that because the rice noodles can get mushy if submerged in boiling water too long, I add the noodles to each personal bowl first. When everyone is ready to eat (at the table, all staring at me, impatiently tapping their chopsticks on the table) – I will pour the Pho broth INTO the bowls one by one and serve immediately. Basically, I make the bowls to-serve.
No Pressure Cooker? No problem!
Just follow all instructions and simmer the broth for 4 hours on your stovetop. Put all ingredients into a large pot. Fill with 2-1/2 quarts of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat so that the water is BARELY simmering – just tiny bubbles here and there. Simmer slightly covered for 3-4 hours. Skim surface of fats and stuff that floats frequently.
Top Tips For This Pressure Cooker Pho
- Dried rice noodles cook differently from the regular wheat-based Italian style pasta that you’re used to. They cook really fast – 3 mins.
- You can cook this recipe on the stove top too.
- Cooking any type of noodles releases starch. For example, when you cook noodles, the water becomes cloudy from the extra flour. So do not cook the noodles in the Pho broth.
- Serve with the remaining sides a la carte so each person can add whatever they’d like to their soup.
Vietnamese Pho Pressure Cooker (Noodle Soup) Recipe Video
Check Out These Other Delicious Vietnamese Dishes
- Vietnamese Iced Coffee (Cafe Sua Da)
- Vietnamese BBQ Tacos
- 20 Minute Sriracha Sauce Recipe – Paleo Friendly
- Cauliflower Fried Rice Recipe – > – Paleo Friendly
Have you tried this Pressure Cooker Pho recipe? Feel free to leave a star rating and I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!
Vietnamese Pho Pressure Cooker (Noodle Soup)
Ingredients
- 3 whole star anise
- 2 tablespoons whole coriander seeds
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 3 whole cloves
- 1 green cardamom pod
- 2 tablespoons butter divided (Non-Paleo version: cooking oil)
- 8 slices fresh ginger unpeeled, 1/2 inch thick
- 1/2 large yellow onion peeled
- 2 pound beef cross shanks 1-1/2 inches thick
- 1-1/2 pound oxtails
- 1-1/2 pound beef brisket
- 3-1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 pound beef eye of round roast very thinly sliced (keep refrigerated until ready to serve)
- 8 cups shirotaki noodles Non-Paleo version: dried rice noodles
FOR THE TABLE:
- 2 limes cut into wedges
- 2 jalapeño peppers sliced
- 1 bunch fresh cilantro
- 1 bunch fresh Thai basil or regular Italian basil
- 1 bunch fresh mint
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- Sriracha sauce store bought or 20 Minute Sriracha Recipe
Instructions
- In a large saucepan over medium-high heat, add all spices and toast until they become fragrant. Take care not to burn them! Place them in a coffee filter or piece of cheesecloth and tie it up. Place the sachet into the pressure cooker pot.
- In the same sauce pan over medium-high heat, add 1 tablespoon butter (or oil) and add onion and ginger pieces. Brown until there is a nice sear on them. Remove them from the pan and place them in the pressure cooker.
- Sear the meat in batches: add the remaining tablespoon of butter to the pan and sear the shank, oxtail and brisket. You'll do this in batches, all in a single layer. Give everything plenty of space so that they SEAR and brown. Crowding the pan will not brown the meat. Sear each side, remove each meat from the pan and add them to the pressure cooker.
- Cover the contents of the pressure cooker with water or up to the fill line. Set your pressure cooker to cook for 60 minutes. This means it will cook under pressure for 60 minutes. It will take time to build up pressure (usually 30 minutes) and additional time to release pressure after cooking (usually 30 minutes).
- Approximately: 30 minutes to build up pressure + 60 minutes under pressure + 30 minutes to release pressure. Exact timing is really not that important - and also depends on your pressure cooker system. Follow manufacturer instructions.
- Once finished cooking and safe to open, open the pressure cooker and using a fine mesh or ladle, remove the top layer of fatty liquid that has accumulated on the surface of the broth and discard (there will be lots of it.) Remove the onion, ginger and spice sachet and discard. Remove the meat to your cutting board. Shred the brisket using two forks. Remove any other meat from bone.
- The resulting broth is a concentrate. Dilute the pho concentrate with 4-6 cups of water. Season the Pho broth with fish sauce. Taste and add additional fish sauce if needed. Bring to a simmer on stovetop right before you are ready to serve.
Assemble the Pho Bowls:
- Serve to order. In a large bowl for each person, add shirotaki noodles and meat (including the sliced eye of round). Pour the just-simmering hot broth into each bowl. Hot broth will cook the sliced eye of round. Serve with the remaining sides a la carte so each person can add whatever they'd like to their soup.
Nutrition
Big thanks to Nom Nom Paleo Food for Humans Cookbook by my friends Michelle Tam and Henry Fong for another stellar recipe. LOVE this cookbook, I can’t recommend it enough and have purchased copies for my friends.
If you’re non-Paleo, don’t worry. I’m creating notes for Paleo and non-Paleo recipe the Vietnamese Beef Pho using the pressure cooker.
Did you try this recipe? Please leave a star rating in the recipe card below and leave a review in the comment section! I always appreciate your feedback and I know other readers do, too!
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nice post..
great noodle soup recipe , i used a fresh deer shank on this recipe and ive made it a few times , love it .
Thank you and God bless you!! After multiple flop attempts at cooking something as simple as rice, I cooked basmati rice today thanks to your step by step guide and it was perfect. Had perfect rice after such a long time! Best wishes your way
I grew up cooking pho on the stove. This is the second time I’ve made this recipe and the flavor remained bland. I’m not sure if it is a taste preference, but I found the flavor to be very lacking. I know to balance it with fish sauce, but just the base was missing more meaty flavor. I wouldn’t think it was because I used a smaller instant pot, as mine is the 6qt version. It was still packed full of seared meat and charred spices. This time I even doubled the anise seed, added fennel, black pepper, and an extra stick of cinnamon. Still bland! I’m not sure if it’s the cook time… Maybe even longer? Mine end result was about 8 cups, with the fat skimmed. I could have eaten it just like that. I’ll see how it is tomorrow with the “add water” version, but I don’t have high hopes. I was hoping for a pho broth concentrate that I could save and use later, maybe dehydrate it for my own instant pho broth. I’ll continue to tweak, but this seemed like a waste of good ingredients for minimal, okay broth.
Do you ever bake the bones? If not, why?
Hi Cindy – yes, we roast the bones sometimes when making Pho. It all depends on how much time I have available. For Pressure Cooker Pho, I created the recipe for quick, easy Pho (when you don’t have a lot of time) – Jaden
How large is your pressure cooker? I found the broth to this to be kinda lacking of flavor, but I know I’ve got a larger pressure cooker, so I wonder if I just added too much water. Thank you!
Just add fish sauce and sugar to adjust taste. A few dashes of fish sauce and a 1/2 tsp sugar until the broth is flavorful. Small adjustments is all you need!
This is brilliant! I never thought of making pho with a pressure cooker. But gotta be careful that don’t overdo the boiling of water or the meat won’t be the same. Overall, great recipe! Thanks for sharing!
This worked in a 6qt Instant Pot for those wondering. I diluted the concentrate with only 2 cups of water, but it ended up tasting very watery. I wish I had seasoned and tasted it straight from the Instant Pot–I probably wouldn’t have added any water. I’m Vietnamese and prefer delicate homemade pho over the salty/sugary restaurant pho, but this was quite bland compared to my previous attempts on the stovetop using traditional marrow bones. Definitely wins points for being easy though!
For those wanting Paleo noodles, another substitute are Kelp Noodles… we use them all the time. Rich in iodine. They seem stiff but soften when added to the broth in minutes.
Thanks for the tip!
Since this is a paleo recipe I notice you omit the yellow sugar. Does the broth taste much different without the yellow sugar?
Hi Halina – The sugar will balance out the flavor. For my Paleo friends, who don’t like sugar at all, they won’t miss it in this recipe. If you are not paleo, but would like an authentic Pho recipe, try this one: https://steamykitchen.com/271-vietnamese-beef-noodle-soup-pho.html
How large is your pressure cooker? I found the broth to this to be kinda lacking of flavor, but I know I’ve got a larger pressure cooker, so I wonder if I just added too much water. Thank you!
Hi Kira, I’m not sure of exact size, but anytime a homemade broth lacks flavor, the answer is always fish sauce 🙂 Just a few dashes, taste and adjust.
What do you do with the shredded cooked meat? Is it cooked out, like when I make a long cooking bone broth, only fit for dog treat? Or, is it still tasty, like pot roast?
I ask because I didn’t see you add it to the serving bowl of pho.
Hi Rachel – most of the flavor is now out of the meat. We like to save it for the dogs!
Thanks for the video! Do i need to clean the scrum off the OX tail or anything?
Clean oxtail in the harsh boil, just like all the other bones.
What about instant pot? What setting do you use? And time?
Hi Kare – I just use the “Soup” setting on the Instant Pot.
Hello there, There’s no doubt that your blog may be having
internet browser compatibility problems. When I look at your site in Safari, it looks fine however when opening in I.E., it’s got some overlapping issues.
I simply wanted to give you a quick heads up! Aside from that, fantastic blog!
Thanks for heads up!
Thanks for sharing this healthy recipe.
Vietnamese beef noodle soup—may be more popular in the states, but its cousin pho ga, made with chicken, is easier to make, and in my book, just as tasty. What if I told you that you could make a superb bowl of Vietnamese chicken noodle soup with rich, aromatic broth and fall-off-the-bone tender chicken, all in under half an hour? The pressure cooker comes to the rescue.
Just made this and it came out fantastic! I’m a big fan of Nom Nom Paleo, too. Thank you for adapting the recipe for the pressure cooker. I’ve got 2 quarts in the fridge and 2 more in the freezer for next week. So delicious!
Thanks for developing the recipe. I was trying to figure out how long to cook my meat bones in the pressure cooker. I have a sick husband and was going to make this to eat tomorrow. I still need to head to the Vietnamese store for my spices. I think I will be able to make it for dinner tonight using the quicker method. My friend found a packet of Pho spices all put together with the coriander seeds already in a muslin packet. I think they threw in some other spice as well which I do not recognize but it works.
Greeting from Scotland! I’ve tried this recipe now and it was yummy! A firm favorite with the family. I’d love to know where to purchase the bowls you have used?
Miss Vietnam 🙁
Hi jaden, as a Vietnamese i think the noodle must bigger, that noodle is for Bun not Pho.
If you read the recipe, this is a Paleo friendly recipe – using paleo noodles, not traditional rice noodles.
How is this Paleo friendly if it uses rice noodles??
You can use any type of “noodles” you want, or you can leave out the noodles. The basic recipe is Paleo friendly. Not everyone is strict paleo, so like to I create recipes that can be easily adapted.
Wow, it must be tasty! I hav not ate any Vietnamese pho. I have already got a 5qt pressure cooker. I do not want to get another one until it doesn’t work.
But thanks, that is a great recipe.
Just bought an Instant Pot from Amazon, Gold Box deal, for bone broth. Found your recipe, and family declared this the best Pho they have had anywhere, ever! I agree, it was delicious, and there is more broth for later. The only variation I made was to sear the beef separately in tallow, then add it to the broth with fish sauce after it was pressure cooked. So just knuckle bones, oxtail, spices, and onions into the pot. Thanks for posting this.
Oh! Your post is really great. I have eaten Pho some years ago while travelled to Hanoi Vietnam. It’s very good, and I never think that I can cook it myself. I’ll try it! Thanks!
Thanks for the recipe! Which pressure cooker do you use?
I’m now down to no pressure cooker – I’ve worn them all out!!! Fagor 3-in-1 Multicooker was my favorite, which I gave away a couple of years ago. Which one do you recommend? I like electric pressure cookers. Trying to find one that’s WIDE enough to fit a fat roast.
I would love to try this! What size or qt pressure cooker was used? Thanks so much! ^_^
I used a 10 quart model
Will this fit in the 6 quart instant pot?
how much water did you pour into the pressure cooker?
how much broth did it yield?
you said to add 4-6 cups of water to the yielded broth, but would like to know how much the broth yield was to understand ratio of concentrate to added water dilution.
thank you.
Where can we buy the bowl set.
Hi Robo – I bought this from a kickstarter project. https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1547088229/lantern-stacking-tableware
Hey jaden, I wanted to know, can I parboil the meats too?
Its been years since i have even thought of a pressure cooker.. too many childhood memories of that thing in the kitchen rattle away.. only to produce nuked vegtables which we had to endure.
But now we are paleo.. i’m on the lookout for as many ways to cook to keep my kids enthralled.. and it looks as if the old pressure cooker may have come on in leaps and bounds in the interviening years
got to get a pressure cooker and qive it a whirl
Fi
Get a pressure cooker that’s electric – much safer than stovetop.
This is Really nice Tips. Thanks to sharing wonderful Tips.
I Gina I love your blog! Thanks for the wonderful healthy recipes! These are lovely and playful and look delicious. Popping over from the pinning party…pinned!
I love Nom Nom Paleo! This looks like a fabulous recipe and another opportunity to use my Christmas gift to myself, my Instant Pot. Thanks!
I love this Pho recipe with the pressure cooker – must make soon! The bowl set is perfect for a lot of the Asian dishes that I make. You said you got it through Kickstarter, do you remember the name of the project? I would love to find them and buy some.
looking tasty…….
great recipe – how long does it take on a stovetop pressure cooker?
Same amount of time -60 minutes under pressure.
I absolutely love Pho. I remember the first time I ever had it, it was at a Vietnamese restaurant and it was so good. After I had it there, I had to try making it at home. I’m pretty much positive it was your recipe for Beef Pho that I used when I made it the first time. It turned out great. This post makes me want to give it a try again, however I’ll have to skip the pressure cooker since I don’t have one right now.
I love your site for recipes that are completely different from what I normally cook! I’m going to have to give this a try–thanks!
Great timing, as I’ve just gotten a pressure cooker and I’m still learning how to use it. And I love pho! Definitely going to give this a try.
where can i buy this bowl set?
Yet another reason that I need a pressure cooker! I’ve been dying to get one for ages, and this is a fabulous reason. Do you have any recommendations on what brand to buy? I’ve heard that some break pretty easily, which is lame.
Presto for the stove top stainless steel not aluminum .