You can make your own Crock Pot Beef Pho From Scratch in your trusty slow cooker! You'll be surprised at just how much it tastes like Pho from your favorite Vietnamese Restaurant!
Guys. We finally did it. Years later, 2 moves, 1 kid, 1 kid in the slow cooker as we speak (!), and we finally made a Crock Pot Beef Pho From Scratch that we love even more than the OG Crock Pot Chicken Pho!
Ingredients Needed
The first step is to make the most important piece of a good pho - the broth. And to make a super flavorful and rich tasting sauce, you need the right ingredients.
- Beef Bones - My favorite to use are marrow bones but knuckle bones would also be great. You can get these at any of your local butcher or meat shop and ask.
- Fresh Ginger - Fresh is key. Ground ginger is not the same for this recipe.
- Onion - I prefer white onion but you could also use a yellow onion. Red onion is not quite right for this recipe.
- Cinnamon Sticks - Definitely use sticks, ground cinnamon wont impart the same level of cinnamon to broth.
- Spices - Whole cloves, star anise, fennel seed, cardamom pods.
Note: You can also buy pre-made pho spice packs. Most Asian markets sell them, or you can find them here on Amazon (#ad).
Then of course there are the other parts of the pho.
- Flank Steak - You could also use a London broil, sirloin or eye of round steak. The most important piece is that you slice it very thin.
- Bok Choy - Ok, I know a traditional pho does not have bok choy, but I like the added greens it brings to it. Totally optional though, if you want to be a Pho purist.
- Rice Noodles - There are a lot of options here. Most Asian markets sell Pho Noodles or you could buy Banh Pho noodles at 1/16 inch is the best, but whatever you can find will work! Just keep away from super fine angel hair like rice noodles, those wont hold up as well.
Step-by-Step Instructions
Step 1: Pre-boil your bones. This is crucial to cleaning the bones and it'll get all the impurities (grossness) off of your bones. If you don't do this, you'll have nasty bits and floating scum in your super greasy broth.
Tip: Keep in mind you don't want too much extra meat / marrow in your bones. The most meaty and marrow filled the bones still are, the longer you'll have to blanch them. Pictured here above is about 1.6 lbs of bones.
Step 2: Toast your spices until fragrant. This will help really bring out their flavor in the broth!
Step 3: Give you ginger and onions a quick saute in a pan. This also helps release the flavors.
Step 4: Add it all to your crock pot with some water. Then it's just letting your trusty Crock Pot do the work. High on 4 hrs or low on 8, whichever fits into your busy schedule. While it cooks, your house will smell AMAZING, be prepared!
Step 5: The last step is adding some bok choy (within 30 minutes before serving), really thinly sliced flank steak, and pho rice noodles (10 minutes before serving).
Tip: Check your steak and noodles after 5 minute because that may be all they need. It'll all depend on how thick your noodles are and how rare your want your steak. You can use any rice noodle you'd like, just be aware the the thickness of the noodle will vary it's cooking time.
Final Step: Serve and assemble! I pile my pho with fresh basil, fresh sliced jalapenos, a good drizzle of hoisin, sriracha, chili garlic sauce, and bean sprouts! (Bean sprouts are excluded from my bowl since it is recommended not to eat them while preggo).
See that broth? Oh yea. It is SPOT. ON. Pho-nomenal. Pho-bulous. Pho-king delicious. Ok I'm done...Pho-show.
How amazing does this look? Trust me, it smells and taste just as amazing. This is one of our favorite soups for the winter!
Other Favorite Soups
Crock Pot Broccoli Cheddar Soup From Scratch
Roasted Parsnip and Potato Soup
Other Asian Inspired Recipes
Homemade Crispy Sesame Chicken
Sweet and Spicy Sriracha Chicken Thighs
20 Minute Sweet and Spicy Noodles
Chicken and Broccoli Sesame Noodles
Sweet and Sesame Ginger Meatballs
Enjoy, Friends! As always, please let me know if you make this recipe and what you think! I love to hear from you on Facebook, Pinterest, and Instagram!
Crock Pot Beef Pho From Scratch
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 -2 lbs beef bones marrow or knuckles
- 1/2 - 3/4 lbs flank steak
- 2 whole cardamon pods
- 4 whole star anise
- 1 tsp whole fennel seed
- 2 tsp whole coriander seeds
- 4 whole cloves
- 2 whole cinnamon sticks
- 4 inch fresh ginger, peeled and sliced
- 1/2 white or yellow onion
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 8 cups water
- 1 bunch bok choy
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 1 tsp sugar
- 8 oz banh pho rice stick noodles
- fresh basil to taste
- fresh bean sprouts to taste
- fresh jalapeno, sliced to taste
- sriracha to taste
- hoisin to taste
- chili garlic sauce to taste
Instructions
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add beef bones. Boil for 10 minutes (may require longer if more beef on bones). Drain and rinse and then add to crock pot.
- Meanwhile, in a sauté pan on medium low, toast star anise, cloves, coriander, fennel, and cardamom pods, and cinnamon for approximately 2-3 minutes until fragrant. Add immediately to crock pot.
- Add oil to pan and cook onion and ginger until onion is browned and soft, approximately 5-7 minutes. Turn ginger over half way through. Add to crock pot.
- Add 8 cups of water, sugar, and fish sauce to the crock pot. Cook on high for 4 hours or low on 8 hours.
- With a sieve (or colander, but dependent upon colander size it may not capture all of the seeds) drain seeds, pods, etc. from broth from crock pot into another large pot them immediately return to crock pot.
- For the last 30 minutes, turn to high (or add 30 minutes to the 4 hours) and add chopped bok choy. Put flank steak in freezer for about 10 minutes to make slicing easier. Slice steak as thin as possible.
- In final 10 minutes add noodles and steak to crock pot (for rarer steak less time in the crock pot and for thinner noodles less time). Check noodles for desired done-ness at 5 minutes.
- Serve immediately and top with your favorite toppings!
Hey there! I have 3 pounds of lamb bones that I was planning to use.. If I use this amount, how crucial is it to measure out the spices and much water do you recommend I use to accommodate? I was hoping to have some left overs to hold me over in this pandemic!
Not crucial at all! It's not an exact science like baking. You could double the water and spices if you have a pot big enough, but if not, no biggie! When I freeze stock, I like to freeze it a little more concentrated anyway and then have it to dilute. It's better to have to add water than have a broth that's not flavorful enough. 🙂
Hey! How long are the seeds and pods in there before you drain it? Thanks!!
Hi! They're there for 4 - 8 hrs, dependent upon how long you cook it for in the slow cooker 🙂
OK, I don't cook much, but I definitely want to try this recipe! I don't have the bones on hand and would like to know if I could just use bone broth instead of the water? I also have chuck roast, and not flank steak. Should I make a trip to the store? Or can I use what I have? I think I know the answer!
Thanks!
Hi Kim!! YOu can definitely just use bone broth! But if it has sodium you may not need as much fish sauce. Also flank steak is going to be much more tender than chuck roast, but you could try it!
Thank you so much!
When do we add the fish sauce?
Oh gosh GREAT question, Deanna. I apparently missed that in the instructions! It's with the water before you cook! Thank you for pointing that out!
Is there a mistake in the recipe, says 4 inch garlic peeled & sliced, is this supposed to be ginger? If so, is there any garlic in it?
Thank you!
Oh my goodness YES you are so right - it's GINGER not garlic! My garlic loving brain just took over!! No garlic in this one - just ginger!! Enjoy and THANK YOU For catching that!!
I'm sorry you have been under the weather! This is the perfect way to get past that! And I'm with you - assembling the perfect bowl of pho is my favorite part as well! This is a great, diverse recipe to add to my go-to slow cooker collection!
This beef pho sounds like the absolute perfect reason to get my crockpot out of the pantry! Those toasted spices, and beef marrow bones, and gorgeous noodles ... be still my heart! That's my kind of bowl of comfort.
It never occurred to me to use bone marrow for beef broth. I love the idea. I usually roast the bone marrows and spread the actual marrow on a piece of toasted rye bread and add a sprinkling of salt. It's so good! Do you add the marrow from the bones to the stock once it's all cooked?
Oh, and buying 2 cardamon pods - haha, so funny 🙂
Have crock pot... Will pho! This is the recipe I've been waiting for, Traci. I love pho - but frankly 3 days of clarifying broth (called for in most recipes) is just too daunting, even for me. This looks easy and do-able. I can practically taste the pho now -- and I'm with you on the toppings, hot sauce, fresh basil, sprouts and jalapenos YUMMMY! I'm making it -- I'll let you know how it goes.
There's something extremely satisfying about making your own pho at home. I've done it with the bones and marrow before, years before going pescetarian, and now I've managed to recreate a veg-friendly broth that definitely boasts the flavor BUT… lacks that depth from the bones/marrow. So though, it works and is delicious, you're so right in saying that for a true beef pho broth, you can't just use regular old broth. You have to go full out. And it is oh-so-worth it!
I really need to make pho in my crockpot- I love that idea! And you're not kidding about the germs this year! They've been awful- I need a healthy soup to the rescue!
First let me tell you how excited I am about this recipe - I absolutely love Pho! I used to lived in Los Angeles were Vietnamese restaurants were plentiful. We relocated and we don't have any good Ethnic restaurants close by. The fact that I can make this in the slow cooker is a huge plus! Great recipe, thanks for sharing!
I love Pho, it has such a clean but flavorful broth with a lot of dimension. Yours looks terrific and I agree, perfect on cold days. I'm so ready for Summer. Thanks for the recipe!
This is such a great recipe. I have made pho like this and it is so delicious. A big bowl of noodle soup is a welcome meal any night of the week. This is so much better than takeout. Love all the flavours and spices in this tasty soup.