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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OMG! This is absolutely amazing. I love this quick recipe. Definitely a keeper.
Be careful with the fish sauce. It is extremely salty. Start with a tsp. only.
Excellent broth. Thanks so much for the recipe!
This recipe is absolutely delicious
Fantastic recipe for pho inspired soup! I prefer shredded chicken in my pho as that’s how our local Vietnamese restaurant serves it. I put 1lb chicken breast in my instant pot with 1 cup chicken broth, a sprinkling of 5-Spice seasoning, and a splash of soy sauce. Pressure cooked on high for 15 minutes-natural release and then shredded the cooked chicken. I added the shredded chicken and stock from the instant pot to the broth, ginger, garlic, hoisin, and fish sauce mixture on the stove. Absolutely wonderful served over rice noodles with all the fixings.
This was delicious. I too used the Rositerrie chicken for short cut. My family enjoyed it. Thanks for another great recipe.
This is an excellent recipe. I think the hosin is a brilliant way of getting the star anise flavor without the house of cooking. Well done.
Great recipe thank you for sharing! This was my first time trying this. I followed the instructions as stated and it turned out great for me. I definitely recommend!
Delicious! I made my own chicken stock and used the chicken from that. It was very good, but I’m sure if you cook the chicken as the recipe states it’ll be even better, but given it was a weeknight I was trying to make things easy. I also added 1/4 tsp. of Chinese 5 spice, 1 T. of soy sauce, and a splash sesame oil as others recommended. I also added bok choy. Thanks for a great recipe! Everyone loved it.
Never made Pho of any sort before. Saw this recipe and thought it would be something different. It was a huge hit. My husband has never had it before. I did use a few ideas from some of the other reviews like adding coriander. I also added 5 spice to the chicken when I cut it up with just a dash of sesame oil and let it marinade for a bit. Very flavorful! And so easy to make. This recipe is a keeper.
I rly loved this recipe soooooooo much!!!! i didnt like the taste of fish sauce but i loved everything else. damn delicious you’ve done it again
This was delicious and so easy to make! For the broth I added in one star anise pod and let it simmer with everything else. My fiance kept saying how great it was and that I can make this weekly. 🙂
It actually taste pretty similar
100% would do it again!
This is dam delicious alright what a smart hack, the two sauces gives it the rich broth flavor.
So easy and delicious . Chicken took much longer than 2-3 minutes.
Absolutely delicious. I used vegetable Pho stock.
Made the broth and added star anise and some lime leaves. Turned out really well even though I didn’t have all the garnishes but added mushrooms and celery. Will try it again.
Delicious recipe! My husband and I don’t care for chicken thighs, we don’t like dark meat. So I use chicken breasts. This recipe is so good. In fact I’m making it for dinner tonight.
Quickly toasting a quarter onion, ginger, star anise, coriander seeds and cinnamon stick does wonders as well!
ADVICE NEEDED: I’ve tried multiple brands of pho noodles, soaked it 30 minutes prior cooking, rinsed it after cooking prior eating, however the noodles make the broth white.
Anyone with the same problem and solution?
The noodles are destroying my broth! 🙁
So instead of soaking the noodles prior, cook them separately according to the package instructions. But take them out a little early so they finish cooking in your broth. It will prevent the starches from changing the look of your broth
We always cook our noodles in a different pot than the broth. Helps it stay clear if you prefer the esthetics. But it still tastes the same regardless.
First of all….Fantastic!!! I have tried the baked bones and several other recipes to average results. For a quickie this one rocks. I added some green onion to the broth as well as one Thai chili…Just a bit of heat. And I broke off a small chunk of rock sugar and added it to the broth as it steamed away. Star anise is also a good addition.
Just a hint… I would go easy on the fish sauce. It’s strong so if that isn’t your cup of tea I would use it sparingly.
If you have the patience use fresh made noodles. It adds a certain creaminess to the dish that is very authentic.
This one is a keeper and I will make tweaks to it each time I make it.
Enjoy people. It’s awesome.