Cheater Pho (Asian Noodle Soup)
With this simplified version, you can have homemade pho on your table in 30 min or less. It doesn’t get any easier!
Pho is a super popular Vietnamese noodle dish. It’s also one of those amazing hangover foods that comes in particularly handy during your college days.
But pho typically takes hours and hours of simmering, which is simply too long for those busy weeknights. Now with this cheater version here, you’ll still have homemade pho, made from scratch of course, in 30 min or less.
And if rice noodles are difficult to find in your area, feel free to substitute any other kind of noodles here to your liking – ramen, udon, angel hair pasta, etc.
Quick dinners are meant to be exactly that. Quick and easy, not leaving you with crazy ingredients that you can’t find at your local grocery store.
So there you have it – this cheater pho is quick, comforting and just so darn easy.
Cheater Pho (Asian Noodle Soup)
Ingredients
- 8 ounces dried rice noodles
- 2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
- 1 pound boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into 1-inch chunks
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 tablespoon freshly grated ginger
- 6 cups chicken stock
- 2 tablespoon hoisin sauce
- 1 tablespoons fish sauce
For the garnishes
- 1 onion, thinly sliced
- 2 cups bean sprouts
- ½ cup fresh cilantro leaves
- ½ cup fresh mint leaves
- 1 jalapeno, thinly sliced
- 2 limes, halved
Instructions
- In a large pot of water, cook rice noodles according to package instructions; drain well and set aside.
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large stockpot or Dutch oven over medium heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper, to taste. Add chicken to the stockpot and cook until golden, about 2-3 minutes; set aside.
- Add remaining 1 tablespoon oil to the stockpot. Add garlic and ginger, and cook, stirring frequently, until fragrant, about 1-2 minutes.
- Whisk in chicken stock, hoisin sauce and fish sauce. Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes.
- Serve immediately with rice noodles and chicken, garnished with onion, bean sprouts, cilantro, mint, jalapeno and limes, if desired.
Did you make this recipe?
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Delicious! Quick prep and cook time for anytime of the day!! The broth is flavorful and my add-ons kicked it up a notch!
This recipe is great! We used steak instead of chicken and added some Napa cabbage to the broth. We also cooked our rice noodles right in the broth and it was amazing!
I have made this recipe a few times and it is delicious. I have not changed a thing, but this time when I make it I am going to use a little sesame oil as suggested by another reviewer.
Great simple recipe!
This was absolutely delicious! I did take the liberty of using shrimp instead of chicken and used green onions and mushrooms as well . The whole family enjoyed it so much! Thank you.
This is a really solid recipe if you are dying for an Asian noodle soup in a hurry. I would recommend adding 1/8 teaspoon of Chinese 5 Spice powder and siricha sauce to your personal taste before eating.
For a Pho thos quick, the recipe is great! Its a little flavor lacking but I literally eat my pho with hoison sauce so it doesn’t bother me! The recipe can serve more than 4 in my opinion, but the recipe itself IS GOOOD!
I add a half teaspoon of ground clove to this and it makes it taste just like our favorite pho restaurant. Great stuff
Really good! I added lime leaves and the flavour popped
We use this to warm up in winter and to cure colds — it really works! I prefer to use a little sesame and canola oils in place of olive oil, and I generally have a bag of frozen chicken breast tenderloins in the freezer so I use those. But this soup is a fave here and one of these days I’m going to double or triple the recipe and have a pho feast with friends.
I was craving phó & since I didn’t want to drive 2 hours I googled for a cheat recipe and Tada! This recipe is simple and quick, I used thin slices of beef instead of chicken & it was so good. There is phó broth now available in Terrapacs & I used that w all fresh ingredients!
@Christina. What kind of beef did you use? Just any thinly sliced piece and just cook directly in broth when serving?
This was amazing. Super easy taste perfect.
My husband and I loved this! We often get Pho at restaurants and it was nice to eat it at home, plus cheaper and healthier. I’ll be making this regularly! I didn’t make any changes.
Quick, easy and tastes great. I added a tbsp of soy sauce and sesame oil. I left everything else the same. So much flavor. Thumbs up my picky teen. I will make this again!
I don’t know if it is possible to crave something you’ve never tried but I have been craving pho for a while now. Looking forward to trying this recipe!! I have loved the others of yours one tried so I have no doubt this will be amazing, too.
Just made this for the first time. It’s gotten me excited about cooking and I can’t wait to make it again!
I absolutely loved it. I am going to try to make the beef version but my husband is requesting meatballs. What ingredients would be in Vietnamese meatballs ? I have only made Italian!
What a great idea! But unfortunately, without having tried this myself, I cannot answer with certainty. As always, please use your best judgment when making substitutions and modifications.
Lemongrass, some basil, garlic and instead of beef, I would use a pork and beef mixture. Super late reply, might not matter anymore !
This was amazing. Didn’t have chicken on hand or fish sauce and made my own Hoison and wow – I impressed myself. Thanks for a great, quick recipe.
Way to improvise!
The pho recipe was so nice. I added a scant half teaspoon of 5-spice powder.
Love that!
How can I make this vegetarian and still be damn delicious.
Hi Nina, I would suggest following the recipe as closely as you can when it comes to spices and the already vegetarian ingredients. Then you can use veggie stock instead of chicken and replace the meat with tofu or something to that effect, or omit it completely. Hope that helps!
I was thinking the same thing, making it meatless. I’ll check my local Asian markets for shiitake mushrooms but plan to still use all of the other ingredient list, including Bok choy.
When should you add the bok choy?
You can add the boy choy during the last few minutes of step #4.