Try this Chicken Pho recipe, or contribute your own.
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 cinnamon stick
- sliced green onions
- bean sprouts
- sriracha
- hoisin sauce
- 2 whole chicken legs (drumstick and thigh)
- 2.5 quarts of water
- 1 onion, halved
- 1 3-4 inch chunk of ginger
- 1/2 teaspoonâ whole coriander seeds
- 1/2 teaspoonâ whole cloves
- 2 whole star anise
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce or to taste
- 1 small zucchini per person for zoodles* or pho noodles
- roughly chopped cilantro
- thaiâ chilis
- sliced limes
- Carbohydrate 7.41860070377513 g
- Cholesterol 0.15 mg
- Fat 0.272918312291017 g
- Fiber 1.32887081328185 g
- Protein 1.10366372573049 g
- Saturated Fat 0.0532346970015915 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (65g)
- Sodium 1303.12098662964 mg
- Sugar 6.08972989049328 g
- Trans Fat 0.0316928865573115 g
- Calories 34 calories
Step-by-step
- Toast your ginger and onions in a toaster oven or oven on broil until the onions are sweaty and everything is nicely charred. Peel the ginger and onions and set aside until you’re ready to start your broth.
- Toast the coriander seeds, cloves, and star anise in a dry pan on low heat until they are aromatic, about 2-3 minutes. Tie the spices up in cheesecloth for easy removal from your soup.
- Fill a pot with about 2.5 quarts of water and add the chicken legs, ginger, onions, cinnamon stick, and spice packet. Bring to a boil and lower to a very gentle simmer. After one hour, remove the chicken legs, let cook and shred the meat off the bones. Place the bones back into the broth. Set the chicken aside in the fridge. Continue simmering the broth with the bones and skin. Simmer for as long as you can; reducing it will intensify the flavor, minimum 2 hours.
- After 2- plus hours, strain the stock and discard the solids. Skim the stock if needed. Keep the stock hot over medium-low heat and season with fish sauce and sugar. Add the sugar and fish sauce in increments until you’re happy with the flavor. Bring the stock to a roiling boil.
- If using zoodles, blanch briefly in boiling water. If using pho noodles, prepare your noodles according to the package and strain.
- Place zoodles/noodles in a large bowl. Add a generous amount of chicken (the stock should heat the meat up enough, if you want it piping hot, dip it into hot water to heat), top with broth, and garnishes. Enjoy!
Straining the stock after a two-hour minimum simmer is the exact juncture where flavor concentration peaks before bitterness from spent spices can leach into the liquid. Achieving depth in clear poultry broths relies entirely on thermal extraction and Maillard reactions. Charring the onion and ginger under a broiler alters the surface sugars, creating complex pyrazines that impart savory notes without muddying the broth's clarity.
Dry-toasting whole coriander seeds, cloves, and star anise in a pan for two to three minutes activates trapped essential oils like eugenol and anethole. Confining these spices inside cheesecloth prevents small particulates from clouding the stock, bypassing the need for extensive clarification steps later. Whole chicken legs provide both collagen from the bones and adequate meat for shredding, balancing gelatin release with protein yield.
Simmering the bare bones back in the strained stock for extended periods extracts residual gelatin, which lends a velvety mouthfeel without heavy fats. Adjusting the salt and sugar balance at the very end ensures the seasoning accurately reflects the reduced volume of the liquid. Adding fish sauce too early causes volatile amino acids to degrade under prolonged heat.
When substituting spiralized zucchini for traditional rice noodles, blanch the vegetables briefly in boiling water to release excess cellular moisture. Raw zucchini will quickly dilute the seasoned broth and alter the salinity balance of the bowl.
