Canada's food guide
Pho (beef noodle soup)
This Vietnamese-inspired soup is well seasoned for every mouthful to be pure goodness. You can ask a butcher to thinly slice steak for you or use a sharp chef’s knife to get thin slices at home.
Prep time
15 min
Cook time
20 min
Servings
4
Ingredients
- 1 onion, quartered
- 3.5 cm (1 ½ inch) piece fresh ginger, peeled and halved
- 1 cinnamon stick
- 1 star anise
- 2 cloves garlic, whole
- Pinch hot pepper flakes
- 1 L (4 cups) lower sodium beef broth
- 250 mL (1 cup) water
- 125 mL (½ cup) matchstick or shredded carrot
- 1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced
- 15 mL (1 tbsp) lime juice
- 5 mL (1 tsp) lower sodium soy sauce
- 125 g (4 oz) brown rice vermicelli noodles
- 225 g/½ lb striploin steak, well-trimmed and very thinly sliced
- 250 mL (1 cup) bean sprouts
- 60 mL (¼ cup) fresh cilantro, mint and basil leaves, chopped
Directions
- In a deep non-stick skillet, brown onion and ginger on all sides over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and stir in cinnamon, star anise, garlic and hot pepper flakes. Add broth and water and bring to a boil. Simmer for 10 minutes. Using a small sieve, remove all the solid pieces and discard. Stir in carrot, red pepper, lime juice and soy sauce.
- In a saucepan of boiling water, cook noodles for about 2 minutes or until softened. Drain.
- Divide noodles among soup bowls and top with steak. Ladle hot broth over top of steak to cook. Top with bean sprouts and fresh herbs to serve.
Learn about food safety.
Recipe developed by Emily Richards, P.H. EC for the Heart and Stroke Foundation. Reproduced with permission from the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada.
Tips
- You can ask the butcher to thinly slice your steak for you or use a sharp chef’s knife to get thin slices at home.
- If you want your steak well done, stir it into broth and cook for about 3 minutes.
- Don't have star anise? Use 2 cloves instead.
- Involve your little chefs by having them divide noodles among soup bowls and top them with steak.
