Instant Pot Beef Pho
This Instant Pot Beef Pho is a quick and easy copycat of the classic Vietnamese soup! Instead of spending all day simmering on the stove, this rich and flavorful broth is ready in about an hour!
Easy Beef Pho Recipe
My husband is an excellent cook and one of his specialties is making easy copycat versions of restaurant dishes, such as this 30-minute chicken pad Thai recipe.
Beef pho is one of our absolute favorite meals in the entire world — we have a local shop that make the best beef pho I’ve ever tasted!
However, because we’ve been staying home this summer, we haven’t been able to enjoy our favorite Vietnamese restaurant lately. And pho is usually tricky to re-create at home because the broth takes hours to make!
The good news is that if you have an Instant Pot, you can make a pretty spot-on beef pho soup in a fraction of the time! We’re talking about an hour, compared to the up to 12 hours (or more) of a traditional broth!
This incredible Instant Pot Beef Pho recipe is so easy to make, and will taste like something from a restaurant! The broth is rich with flavor, and the beef is tender and delicious!
While this Beef Pho recipe only takes about an hour in total to make, it will taste like it’s been cooking for hours! This recipe is perfect for people who have never made Pho before, and are looking for an easy at-home version of this tasty Asian-inspired dish!
What is Pho Broth Made Of?
Traditional pho broth is beef broth based, especially if you’re making beef soup. Chicken pho may use chicken stock for the broth and vegetarian pho would likely start with a vegetable broth base.
It’s then simmered for hours with aromatic spices, onions, ginger, and a splash of fish sauce. The result is an complex flavor profile that’s both bold and delicate at the same time.
For your convenience I’ve included shop-able ad links to some of the products used to make this recipe; disclosure policy available here.
Beef Pho Broth Ingredients
- Sliced yellow onion
- Fresh minced ginger
- Whole cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, and coriander seeds.
- Beef broth or beef stock
- Soy sauce
- Fish sauce
Soup Add-Ins
- Thinly sliced sirloin steak
- Banh pho style rice noodles
- Mung bean sprouts
- Fresh cilantro, basil, green onion, and mint
- Sliced jalapeño pepper
- Fresh limes
- Sriracha chili sauce
Kitchen Tools Used
How to Make Beef Pho in Instant Pot
To make our broth, we start with our Instant Pot on the “saute” setting. We cook the cloves, cinnamon, coriander and star anise for just a few minutes to release the flavor and then remove them from the pot until later.
TIP: DO NOT CLEAN YOUR INSTANT POT, so the flavors released by the spices remain in the pot!
Add a Tablespoon of olive oil to the Instant Pot and cook ginger and sliced onions for about 5 minutes, still on the sauté setting.
Then we’ll add the beef broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, seasonings, salt, and pepper to the Instant Pot and cook on the high pressure setting for 30 minutes.
While broth is cooking, prepare your rice noodles according to the package directions. When finished, drain noodles and add to your serving bowls.
Use quick release on your Instant Pot. Add basil and mint to the broth and allow to rest for 5 minutes. If short on time, you can skip this step and add herbs at the end.
Strain the broth thoroughly into a large bowl or pot and then ladle into serving bowls with noodles.
Add sliced steak immediately to your soup, so it will cook in the broth.
TIP: You can also cook beef in your Instant Pot on the sauté setting a couple minutes if you like it well done.
Add bean sprouts and herbs to your soup, to taste. Garnish with jalapeño slices, lime juice, and Sriracha, as desired.
Should Pho Spices be Toasted?
When making a traditional stovetop pho broth, there’s no need to toast or sauté the spices beforehand. That’s because as they simmer in the broth for hours, the spices will naturally release their flavors over time.
Since our Instant Pot pho is a quick version, we toasted the cloves, cinnamon, star anise, and coriander to speed up the process. This makes our Instant Pot beef pho as flavorful as the original, without the long cooking time.
Can I Use Other Cuts of Beef for Pho?
Sure! We used sirloin, as that is what we often find served in our local restaurants. Sirloin is on the lean side, and a bit pricy at times, so feel free to go with a cheaper, fattier cut. The fat (marbling) adds a lot of flavor, so that’s actually a plus!
Some of the inexpensive cuts of beef that work well in pho include:
- flank steak
- chuck roast
- brisket (this one is popular here in Texas!)
More of our favorite Instant Pot recipes:
- Instant Pot Sweet & Sour Pork
- Instant Pot Apple Cake
- Angel Food Cake in the Instant Pot
- Instant Pot Firecracker Chicken
- Keto Beef & Broccoli (Instant Pot Recipe)
- Instant Pot Chicken Enchilada Dip (Keto)
- Dr. Pepper Instant Pot Meatballs
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Easy Instant Pot Baked Beans
Grab a free printable copy of our Instant Pot Beef Pho Recipe:
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Instant Pot Beef Pho
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
For the Broth:
- 1 Yellow Onion Sliced, skin removed
- 2 teaspoon Fresh Ginger minced
- 2 sticks Cinnamon Sticks
- 2 pieces Star Anise
- 3 Cloves
- 2 teaspoon Coriander Seeds
- 6 cups Beef Broth or beef stock
- 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Fish Sauce
- 1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Instructions
- Heat the Instant Pot to the “saute” setting
- Add the cloves, cinnamon, coriander and star anise to Instant Pot and stir until they become fragrant.
- Remove seasonings from the instant pot and set aside. Do not clean your Instant Pot.
- Add olive oil to Instant Pot.
- Add the ginger and onion and sauté for 5 minutes.
- Add beef broth, soy sauce, fish sauce, seasonings, salt, and pepper.
- Cook on the “pressure” setting (high) for 30 minutes.
- While broth is cooking in the Instant Pot, soak rice noodles in a medium saucepan with warm water for about 30 minutes (or according to package directions).
- After 30 minutes, bring water to a boil and cook noodles for 1-2 minutes.
- Drain the noodles and portion into serving bowls.
- When broth is done cooking, use quick release.
- Strain the broth thoroughly into a large pot or bowl, then use a ladle to scoop into your serving bowls on top of the noodles.
- Immediately add meat to bowls of hot broth; beef will cook in the broth. You can also sauté the beef slices in the Instant Pot for 1-2 minutes first, if your prefer your meat more well done.
- Add bean sprouts, fresh herbs, and jalapeño slices to bowl -- to taste.
- Finish with a squeeze of fresh lime juice and sriracha, as desired.
Notes
Nutrition
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Could I substitute Chinese five spice powder in place of the spices you have listed or do you think that would completely change the flavor profile? If yes, how much would you use?
I haven’t tried it, so I can’t say for sure. It probably would change the flavor a little.