Make your own Beef Pho From Scratch in your trusty Crock Pot! 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 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!
And let me tell you that it could not have come at a better time. Turns out that having one little one in daycare (also known as a giant cesspool of germs) while having another suppressing your immune system can make a pretty miserable winter cold and flu season. This month has been rough. Like even my husband’s Chicken Noodle Soup From Scratch didn’t really help, rough. Crock Pot Beef Pho From Scratch to the rescue!
Let me just say I’m down right embarrassed at how long it’s taken us to finally do a beef pho since the chicken pho is one of my most popular posts and I’ve gotten so many requests for beef! But what’s always hung me up is the broth. Because the most important part of pho is definitely the broth. And unlike the chicken pho that just used our from scratch chicken stock, I could’t just use our beef broth for the pho. It just didn’t work. But this broth… ohhh this broth is pretty darn spot on. I adapted this from a recipe I found here!
The key is toasting your spices: star anise, cinnamon, whole coriander, whole cardamon pods, cloves, and fennel seeds. Head to the bulk section of your grocery store where you can buy these in bulk and not having to buy the (more expensive) full jars. I was totally that person who bought 2 cardamon pods, which the cashier didn’t really know what to do with except charge me a penny for them because their weight didn’t even register… ha!
Then, and this is also really important, cook the onion and ginger to bring out their flavors. That, and blanching your beef bones, too. Don’t skip either of these steps – especially the blanching of the bones! It’ll get all the impurities (grossness) off of your bones. Otherwise you’ll have nasty bits and floating scum in your super greasy broth. Bleh. Also marrow and knuckles bones are going to be the best; any local butcher shop will have them. Mine had them already bagged up and frozen. Also 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 is about 1.6 lbs of bones.
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. The last step is adding some bok choy, reaalllyy thinly sliced flank steak, and banh pho noodles. Most likely you’re going to have to go to your local Asian market to find these. But really you can use any rice noodle you’d like, just be aware the the thickness of the noodle will greatly vary it’s cooking time.
Once your broth has cooked and made your whole house smell pho-king delicious, turn the crock pot to high (if it was at low) and toss in your chopped bok choy for another 30 mins to cook and the beef and noodles in within the last 5-10 minutes. How long will depend on how rare you want your steak and how thick your noodles are. I put both in for about 10 minutes for fully cooked steak and the thicker cut banh pho noodles. But check both after 5- that may be all they need!
Then it’s one of my favorite parts: assembling! I pile my pho with fresh basil, fresh sliced jalapenos, a good drizzle of hoisen, 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. 😉
Enjoy!!!
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
- fresh bean sprouts
- fresh jalapeno, sliced
- sriracha
- hoisen
- chili garlic sauce
Instructions
- In a saute pan on medium low, toast star anise, cloves, coriander, fennel, and cardamon 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.
- Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add beef bones. Blanch for 10 minutes. Drain and rinse. Add to crock pot and top with 8 cups of water, sugar, and fish sauce. 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.