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Pho is a Vietnamese traditional dish made with rice or tapioca noodles, broth, herbs and spices and meat. It is really a very flavorful one pot dish. I love one pot dishes and I have been making chicken noodle soup using sweet potato noodles. So the thought of making a pho version came to mind. Using lots of fresh herbs like mint, ginger and cilantro, this is really a dressed up version of chicken noodle soup! I used ground chicken this time but you can also use shredded chicken or any other meat like pork or beef. I also used bone broth for the base making the soup really flavorful!
To make it really convenient, I like to use the Instant Pot for this recipe but you could also make it on the stove top in a large cooking pot. I like using this brand of sweet potato noodles.
- 1 lb ground chicken, thawed to room temperature
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or coconut oil
- 1 onion, medium sized, thinly sliced
- 2 celery stalks, chopped
- 2-in by 1-in piece of fresh ginger, peeled and grated
- 2 whole cloves
- One 1-in piece of cinnamon stick
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- 4 cups chicken or beef bone broth (homemade or AIP-compliant store bought - see notes)
- 4 cups filtered water
- About 1 teaspoon of sea salt or as needed
- One 12-oz pack of dried sweet potato noodles
- ½ cup of fresh mint leaves, roughly chopped
- 1 cup of fresh cilantro leaves, finely chopped
- Press the saute button on the Instant Pot and when heated, add the oil. Next add the onion and celery and saute for 2 minutes. Next add the fresh ginger and the whole spices. Next add the ground chicken, the ground ginger and the bone broth. Add the water. Stir everything and check for salt. Add salt as needed. Close the lid and press the 'cancel' button. Press 'Pressure Cook' button and manually change the time to 10 minutes. Make sure the valve is in the 'sealing' position.
- After pressure cooking time is done, let the pressure release naturally.
- After all pressure is gone, open the lid. Again press 'cancel' button and then hit 'saute' mode. Drop the sweet potato noodles into the pot. At first they will not be fully immersed but as the bottom part softens they will all slide into the pot (about 2 minutes). After that make sure there is enough liquid (add more water if needed) and then cook for 4 more minutes or until the noodles are cooked through. Press the 'cancel' button again to turn the heat off.
- Now add the fresh herbs (cilantro and mint) and let sit for 2-3 minutes before serving the pho. You can discard the whole spices and herbs while serving.
Also, if using bone broth, make sure to check the seasoning before adding more salt.
3 comments
This sounds really good but I do have a question about the process. The directions say “Next add the ground chicken, the ground ginger and the bone broth. Add the water. Stir everything and check for salt.”, surely you are not tasting for salt with raw ground chicken in the broth? Is the chicken suppose to browned before adding the broth and water, or perhaps add the broth, water, and ground chicken, taste for salt, then add the raw ground chicken?
I had the same question, Melissa. It seems very risky to be advising folks to taste raw chicken water for salt. I just added a modest amount of salt (1/2 tsp) and skipped the tasting step until the soup was done. 🙂 I did not brown the chicken.
I also did not let the raw chicken get to room temperature. Frozen chicken should always be thawed in the refrigerator or under cold water, and there’s no need to let chicken get to room temp before putting it in an Instant Pot, imo.
The soup was DELICIOUS!!! Thank you, Indira, for this tasty recipe!
Do the noodles hold up OK as re-heated leftovers?