With your slow cooker, you can make your own Vietnamese noodle soup! Our Crock Pot Chicken Pho is our take on this classic with an incredibly flavorful broth but with a little added nutrition from fresh bok choy. Making this Asian chicken noodle soup at home is easier than you may think!
I will repeat, Crock Pot Chicken Pho. I know. And you're welcome. Hands down, this is one of our favorite soups to make. While I'm not claiming that this Vietnamese noodle soup is 100% authentic, (Hi, Korean Pollack over here), its flavorful broth definitely fulfills that pho craving, plus it wouldn't be a SFS recipe if we didn't sneak in a little added nutrition!
Ingredients Needed
Simple ingredients, but that add SO much flavor for the broth, which all pho lovers know, is truly the key!
- Chicken Breasts - Boneless or bone-in, we've use both. We've made it with boneless chicken thighs before too, but the white meat of chicken breasts is definitely our favorite.
- Bok Choy - We prefer baby bok choy because the leaves are more tender and have a slightly sweeter flavor than that of full sized, but both are delicious. You could also use spinach, too! Yes, I know, traditional pho does not add a green, but adding a little extra greeny is how we roll around here!
- Chicken Stock - Have you made your own, yet?
- Rice Noodles - There are a lot of rice noodle / rice stick options. Your local Asian market is going to be the best place to find them as they sell Pho Noodles or you could buy Banh Pho noodles. Your favorite rice noodle will work, just keep an eye on the package instructions for how long to allow them to cook in your crock pot.
- Brown Sugar - Light brown sugar is best - and if you don't have any, did you know you can make your own?
- Fish Sauce - This salty savory sauce adds a great umami flavor to the broth.
- Fresh Ginger - Sliced big enough to be able to easily remove from broth.
- Broth Flavoring - Whole cloves, star anise, a whole cinnamon stick, whole coriander.
You can also buy pre-made pho spice packs. Most Asian markets sell them, or you can find them here on Amazon.
While this is all the base of the pho, you can't forget the accompaniments, too!
- Our favorite add-ons are:
- Hoisin - Did you know you can make your own?
- Sriracha - For some heat.
- Chili Garlic Sauce - For some garlicky kick.
- Bean Sprouts - Fresh may be hard to find in your local grocery store, but you can usually find them in your local Asian market. Note: not they are not recommended to eat raw while pregnant.
- Basil - The perfect herbal touch.
- Sliced Jalapenos - For even more flavorful heat.
- Fresh Lime - A final squeeze over the top of it all adds just the right amount of acidity to tie it all together!
Step-by-Step Instructions
As with all of our Crock Pot meals, this one is no exception, it is EASY.
Step 1: Toast your spices. This really helps enhance their flavors.
Step 2: Add salted chicken breasts to pot with broth, sliced ginger, sugar, fish sauce, and toasted spices.
Step 3: Let your slow cooker do the rest of the work developing all of the flavors of the broth.
Once done, you'll want to remove all of the ginger and the whole spices. We use a fine-mesh sieve for that, like this one.
Step 4: Remove the chicken and give it a good shred.
Step 5: Return the chicken to the pot and then add your chopped bok choy. Cook on high for 20 minutes then add your rice noodles.
Be sure to keep an eye on the noodles and only add them for the cooking time noted on the package.
And done! Crock Pot Chicken Pho ready for a large bowl and to be topped with your favorite add-ons!
Serve With
This is totally up to you, but here are our favorites!
- A heaping pile of fresh bean sprouts.
- Ripped fresh basil.
- Sliced jalapenos
- A dollop of chili garlic sauce.
- A little homemade Hoisin.
- Drizzled Sriracha.
- Finished with a squeeze of fresh lime!
Once added, then of course we give all of that Vietnamese noodle soup goodness a solid mix with chopsticks...
...to be ready for the perfect Crock Pot Chicken Pho bite!
How can you not love a chicken noodle soup? And this Vietnamese version is ridiculously easy and so flavorful, which makes it even more loveable. Looking for another pho favorite? Check out our Crock Pot Beef Pho, too!
Enjoy! As always, if you make this recipe or any of my others, I love to hear what you think! Leave a comment below, email me, or you can find me on Facebook, Instagram, and Pinterest!
Crock Pot Chicken Pho
Ingredients
- 8 cups chicken stock
- 2 lbs boneless chicken breasts or bone-in would work too
- 1 1/2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 2 inch piece fresh ginger peeled and thinly sliced
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 8 star anise
- 2 teaspoons whole coriander
- 8 whole cloves
- 6-8 oz of pho rice noodles, banh pho 1/16 inch is the best, but whatever you can find will work!
- 3-4 cups baby bok choy chopped
- 1-2 teaspoons kosher salt
- bean sprouts
- fresh basil leaves
- sliced jalapeños
- lime wedges
- Sriracha
- hoisin
- chili garlic sauce
Instructions
- Heat a small pan on medium heat and add cinnamon stick, cloves, coriander, star anise, and cloves. Toast, stirring oftne, for about 2 minutes or until fragrant.
- Salt chicken breasts and add to a crock pot. Add chicken stock, fish sauce, and sliced ginger. Add brown sugar and give a little stir so it dissolves. Add toasted spices.
- Set to slow cook on low for 6-8 hrs on or on high for 3-4 hrs.
- Remove chicken from crock pot and shred. While chicken is removed, use a sieve to remove ginger and whole spices.
- Return shredded chicken to crock pot and add chopped bok choy. Turn crock pot to high, cover, and let cook for another 15 minutes.
- While bok choy cooks, prep your accompaniments by slicing jalapeños, lime wedges, and add basil and sprouts to a plate. Gather hoisin, sriracha, and chili garlic sauce.
- After the bok choy has cooked for 15 minutes, open lid and add dried rice noodles. Let cook submerged in the broth for 5-6 minutes, or whatever the cooking time on the package.
- Ladle pho into large bowls. Top with your choice of bean sprouts, jalapeños, basil. Top with sriracha, chili paste, and/or hoisin to taste and finish with a squeeze of fresh lime juice.
- Enjoy!!
Crock pot dishes are the best! Id like to add a little more ginger to this for its known health benefits. I hope the taste wont be as strong.
https://myeasychoices.com/health-benefits-of-ginger/
Great looking pho! I can smell it through my screen! I have been looking for soups that I can make for my grandmother, and this pho looks so good and easy for her to consume and digest. Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe, Tracy!
Thank you, Yang! I hope you and your grandmother enjoy it!
I love soups so every time I see recipes like this I want to try it. I'm definitely gonna try this on the weekend. Thank you so much!
That's great, Santini!! Enjoy!
Homemade stock for homemade pho is the stuff of dreams. It looks and sounds amazing!
Thanks, Kellie!
I love making recipes from scratch and this one looks so delicious! Thank you for sharing!
From scratch is the best - thank you!
My mouth started watering before I even finished reading the title! This looks so amazing!
I adore my slow cooker and I'm always on the lookout for new recipes to try in it. Thanks for sharing this.
Pho is one of my husband's favorite dishes. I totally need to make this for him, thanks!
Great Pho recipe. I can't wait to try this and have my house smell so good from all the spices.
Made this today, it was so good and a perfect way to celebrate a relaxed New Year!
That’s soooo wonderful to hear, Kate!! Happy New Year! Cheers to a 2019 with more pho in it! 😜
I made this today and it was amazing. Just like going to get it at a restaurant.!
That's great to hear Deb!! So glad you enjoyed it.
Approximately how many servings does this make?
Hi Ashley! It will make about 4 large bowls - which the way we eat pho, that's enough for about 4 people 🙂
Delicious!! I used store bought stock, so next time I’ll use less anise. But I cannot wait to make this again!! Thank you.
So awesome to hear, Amanda!!! Check out the new Crock Pot Beef Pho, too! 😀
This looks delicious! I made a chicken pho last night but I did not use star anise, sugar or the bok choy but I def will next time!!! 🙂
Can this recipe be done on the high setting?? How long would it take to finish??
Hi Nicole! Yup! I'd do it on high for 4 hrs. Enjoy!
You just mean 10 star anise pegs/segments. I only used one whole star and that was enough flavor for me. I found the spices to be nice and “warming” but almost too strong. I would probably use a small cinnamon stick and half as many cloves. Delicious, otherwise! Thank you for the recipe!
Hi Amanda! I'm so glad you tried it and like it! Actually, I did mean 10 whole star anise, but if you like it with less, that's great! That's the wonderful thing about recipes is that you can adjust them to your taste 🙂
Fantastic idea to have the chicken all day in that aromatic broth. I do love a good slow cooker meal, to come home too. i also want a bowl of this right now for the cold London weather.
I definitely do not use my slow cooker often enough, and this recipe is such incentive for me to get it out! I absolutely love star anise. The aroma of this cooking must be incredible in the kitchen. What a great dinner for a chilly night!
This pho looks phenomenal. I love the amazing flavors, and yes, it makes a huge difference to use really quality broth and homemade is always the best. And I love that it can be made in a crockpot!
I'm a sucker for any meal I can do in the crock pot really, but this one looks especially scrumptious. I just had pho for the first time last week and I'm already anxious to have it again. Thank goodness I've come across this recipe to make it myself! 😉
Considering there are no great pho places near my house (or any pho places), I think being able to make pho at home in my slow cooker is a win/win! And your pictures look so good. I'm hungry now! Could I use chicken thighs or legs instead of the breast meat? I really love dark meat in the slow cooker.
I love a good bowl of pho! I love that your recipe can be made right in the crockpot, makes it much easier for me to prep and forget. Thanks for sharing!!
I've been wanting to make chicken pho at home for so long now! This looks crazy delicious and quite easy. Can't wait to give it a go!
Shoot... It's already 1:00 -- too late to start making the pho for tonight... I'll have to put the chicken back in the fridge and get this into the crock pot tomorrow morning... I have everything but the star anise (yes -- even homemade stock, I just made), this looks and sounds so good. I can't wait for dinner tomorrow night!
I haven't had pho in at least a decade. We use to eat it a lot while at university. All the additions of star anise and ginger and fish sauce look like the broth is extremely flavourful. And I love that it's made in a slow cooker. What a wonderful idea
I love this easy Pho recipe. Noodle and brothy soups are definitely my weakness. Your step by step photos are very helpful so I am definitely saving this for later. Thanks for sharing your recipes.
Is this pho real?!? Lol. I adore pho, and we finally got a really great pho place here, BUT-- this sounds like a pho-nomenal idea! I neeeeeed!!!
I can barely stand all that fresh yumminess in one bowl! All that green makes such an inviting dish. It can be hard to beat favorite restaurant flavors but it’s an amazing feeling when we come close!
I'm addicted to pho and have been eating a bunch of chicken pho at restaurants lately. I'm so glad to have found you recipe so I can now easily make it at home! So happy to see you've made the stock from scratch! ?
This is such a great recipe. Who needs take out when you can make food like this at home. The leftovers would be amazing too. Homemade is best, tastes delicious and save you money too.
LOVE the step by step photos, this looks absolutely delicious!
YUM! Love everything about this. Pho is my fav soup -- and this homemade version looks perfect!
I love chicken pho and make it at least once a week these days. I never thought of doing it your way, but will try it next time. I think so I would try it with asian basil such as thai basil or sweet tulsi basil. =)
This actually looks super delicious! I've got to try this this weekend 🙂
I absolutely love Pho! It's one of my top favorite soups in the whole world - a lot more than ramen or uddon. Looks absolutely delicious and just perfect for this weather ♥
Hi Tracy, Traci here 🙂 I really need to use Star Anise in my pho next time I make it. I have some on hand but forget I have it. And I know I'm missing out, so thank you for the great recipe! I'll be sure to give it a go! 🙂
Your quantities are off between the step-by-step photos and the instructions. Also, your instructions at the bottom leave out what’s to be done with the ginger.
Hi Evad,
Thank you! Yes, you're right I had adjusted the brown sugar amount and clove count in my recipe and forgot to change the text! Thanks for pointing that out so I could fix it! The ginger was there hiding in the list of all the ingredients in the first step 🙂
All was well up until the green mustard stuffs. No, just no. Also missing grilled ginger and onion.
Looking forward to beef pho recipe.
Hi Joyce, thanks so much for stopping by! YES. I need to make a beef pho - it's been on my (looonngg) list but you've inspired me to move it to the top! Keep an eye out for it (hopefully) soon! 😀
This sounds great! I wonder if I could make this same recipe, but with pork? Do you think it would work?