This is the perfect noodle soup to cook if you love pho & are looking for a quick home cooked meal that will be ready in a few minutes after a long day because with this recipe, you’ll be making a large batch of soup stock!

Prep time: 30 minutes

Cook time: 2 hours slow cooking over the stove, low attention required

Ingredients for soup stock

1 large white onion
1 knob of ginger
1 black cardamom pod
1 cinnamon stick
1 tsp green cardamom
5 star anise
15 cloves
1/2 tbsp fennel seeds
1 whole chicken, ~1.5kg or heavier
Fish sauce*
Rock sugar*
Water*

⬇️ Ingredients that I used in this recipe and want to highlight because I think they are great will be down below! ⬇️

Notes

*Adjust to taste, we did not measure the amount of water, but it’s estimated to be about 4-5L. The amount of water you’ll add depends on the pot you’re using as well, so add fish sauce & rock sugar accordingly
Rock sugar can be substituted with normal sugar that you have at home, but traditionally, rock sugar is used
Tip: If you are unable to find a large enough chicken, you can supplement with other chicken cuts like bone-in thighs.

Method

Char onion & ginger over open fire, grill or pan without oil. This step is optional if you wish to skip it, but traditionally, this is how it’s done.
Toast the rest of the spices in an empty pan until fragrant, this should take 3 - 5 minutes and the aroma of cinnamon, star anise and cloves should be prominent. Be careful not to use too high heat!
Let the toasted spices cool before adding them to a spice filter bag (tea bag, but for spices).
In the largest pot you have at home, descum the chicken. This is done by adding the whole chicken (& other parts if you have them) into room temperature water, and then bringing the pot to a boil. All the scum and impurities should float to the surface of the pot after a couple minutes of boiling.
Set chicken aside and rinse pot well before adding fresh water again. Then add the chicken back into the pot, along with the toasted spice bag and charred onion & ginger.
Let the pot come to a boil, then simmer for at least 2 hours to allow all the flavours & goodness to enmesh in the soup!
Take chicken out to debone and shred the meat into bite-size pieces.
Prepare your bowl of pho noodles, fresh cilantro, sliced white onions, basil & mint leaves, beansprouts and freshly cut limes & chillies ❤️ Add chicken & pour hot soup into the bowl to enjoy!

You should have many more servings that you can keep in the fridge for the week ahead! It’s as good as having instant noodles, but so much more nutritious and authentic:) Hope you like our Chicken Pho recipe!