• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
  • About Me
  • Portfolio
  • Contact
  • Copyright

Picture the Recipe

Real Recipes. Real Pictures. Made Real Easy

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Appetizer Recipes
    • Soups
    • Salads
    • Main Course/ Entrées
      • Poultry- Chicken/Turkey
      • Meat
      • Seafood
      • Vegetarian
      • Rice and Pasta
    • Sides and Condiments
    • Sweets and Desserts
    • Drinks & Cocktails
    • Cuisines
      • Indian
    • Seasonal Recipes
      • Spring/ Summer
      • Autumn/Fall
      • Winter
    • Special Occasions
      • Game Day Snacks
      • Valentine’s Day
      • 4th of July
      • Thanksgiving
      • Christmas
  • Videos
  • Tips ‘N Tricks
  • Recipe Index
  • Life
  • Love

October 6, 2017

Instant Pot Chicken Pho with Zoodles

This quick Chicken Pho uses an Instant Pot to get all the flavors a long simmer would give you. It’s so healthy, easy and delicious you’ll be making this recipe PHO-EVER! There’s nothing quite as comforting as a bowl of soup when the weather starts to cool down drastically. I happen to love clear broth style soups and Vietnamese Pho…is way up there with some of the best broth soups. It has a developed complex flavor of charred spices with rich beefy goodness. The broth is traditionally made by slow simmering beef bones with marrow & the tougher cuts of meat along with fire charred onion, ginger and spices like star anise, cloves and cinnamon for a long-long time. The bitterness of the charring is balanced out with sugar and fish sauce for a more rounded flavor. The pipping hot clear broth is then poured over rice noodles and topped with an array of garnishes like, green onions, bean sprouts and hot chilies. Bright vibrant fresh herbs like cilantro, mint and thai basil bring the soup to life and a very generous squeeze of fresh lime juice completes the perfect bowl of soupy-noodle goodness!

You want some Pho now, don’t you? But you don’t want to wait 8-12 hours simmering a broth to extract all that flavor, now do you? That’s where this instant pho comes in. Granted it’s chicken pho (known as Pho Ga) and not pure beefy goodness pho….but it’s still packed with the same traditional Pho spices and flavors, but only takes 30 minutes tops to make in a pressure cooker or Instant Pot.  You can make it paleo like I did using zucchini noodles instead of rice noodles and customize the garnishes and topping to your tastes.  It really is a cheat version getting a ton of flavor from the meat by pressure cooking it, in a fraction of the time it would take to simmer. In my books, it’s the perfectly easy and quick weeknight dinner that you’ll be making Pho-ever once you taste it.

Here’s how you can make my version of Chicken Pho (Pho Ga) with Zoodles and as always…please do comment below if you like or try out this recipe. Also I would love to see your dishes on Instagram and Facebook so tag me @noreen_picturetherecipe (instagram) and share them on https://www.facebook.com/PictureTheRecipe/ or simple tag them with #picturetherecipe.

Chicken Pho with Zoodles (Pho Ga)
2017-09-25 17:07:11
Serves 4
This quick Chicken Pho uses an Instant Pot to get all the flavors a long simmer would give you. It's so healthy, easy and delicious you'll be making this recipe PHO-EVER!
Write a review
Save Recipe
Print
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
30 min
Prep Time
5 min
Cook Time
25 min
Total Time
30 min
Ingredients
  1. Ingredients: (Serves 4)
  2. * 4 Chicken Thighs
  3. * 4 Green Onions
  4. * 1/2 onion
  5. * 1 inch Ginger
  6. * 4-5 Garlic cloves
  7. * 1 Cinnamon Stick
  8. * 4-5 Star Anise
  9. * 8-10 Cloves
  10. * 1 Tbsp Corriander Seeds
  11. * 2-3 Tbsp Coconut Sugar/ Sugar
  12. * 1/3 Cup Fish Sauce
  13. * Cilantro Stems
  14. * Thai Basil Stems
  15. * Salt, to taste
  16. * 2 Tbsp Olive Oil
  17. * 6 Cups of Water
For the Add-Ins & Garnishes
  1. * 2 Zucchini
  2. * Fresh Cilantro, roughly choppes
  3. * Thai Basil, leaves
  4. * Mung Bean Sprouts
  5. * Green Onions, sliced
  6. * 1-2 Jalapenos, sliced
  7. * 1 lime cut into wedges
Instructions
  1. - Take half the green onions and slice into big pieces for the broth, keeping the roots intact. Finely slice the remaining green onions and set aside for garnishing.
  2. - Take a handful of cilantro & thai basil and tear off the leaves and set aside, saving the stems for the broth.
  3. - Cut the lime into wedges and finely slice the jalapeno for garnishes
  4. - Slice the ginger into thick strips & cut the onion into wedges
  5. - Spiralize the zucchini/squash into noodles and set aside.
  6. - Set instant pot to Saute mode and once hot drizzle olive oil and brown the chicken thighs skin-side down
  7. - Add the diced onion and sliced ginger and allow them to char without stirring much.
  8. - Then add the big sliced green onions, garlic cloves, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, coriander seeds and saute for 2-3 minutes for the spices to release their flavor
  9. - Place the chicken thighs over the spices
  10. - Add the coconut sugar/sugar, fish sauce, water, cilantro & thai basil stems to the pot. Add salt to taste.
  11. - Cover, set vent to sealing position and set on manual mode- 8 minutes- high pressure and allow to natural release.
  12. - Once the float valve sinks, open the lid carefully and take out the chicken pieces.
  13. - Peel the skin off the shred the chicken taking it off the bone. Discard the bones & set the meat aside.
  14. - Strain the broth
  15. - Place the zoodles in a bowl, add some of the chicken pieces and pour the hot broth over it.
  16. - Garnish with cilantro, sliced green onion, mung bean sprouts, thai basil leaves, sliced jalapeno and generously squeeze lime juice over the whole soup.
Notes
  1. Serve with extra lime wedges & garnishes on the side.
By Noreen Hiskey (PictureTheRecipe.com)
Picture the Recipe https://picturetherecipe.com/
Print Friendly, PDF & EmailPrint Recipe

Related Recipes & Posts

  • Beet and Chicken Soup (Borscht)Beet and Chicken Soup (Borscht)
  • Sweet Corn Chicken SoupSweet Corn Chicken Soup
  • Turkey and White Bean ChiliTurkey and White Bean Chili
  • Chicken Tortilla SoupChicken Tortilla Soup

Filed Under: Autumn/Fall, Recipes, Seasonal Recipes, Soups Tagged With: Chicken pho, chicken pho with zoodles, chicken soup, gluten free, gluten free recipes, healthy recipes, healthy soups, instant pot chicken pho, instant pot recipes, instant pot soups, Paleo, paleo chicken pho, paleo recipes, pho, Pho ga, picture recipes, soup recipes, step by step picture recipes, step by step recipes, zucchini noodle chicken pho

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. maryamu GIVENS says

    September 18, 2019 at 12:00 pm

    I LOVE YOUR RECIPES! I love spiral vegetables and I LOVE PHO…THANK YOU…

    Reply
  2. Michele says

    September 24, 2019 at 5:00 pm

    This looks so delish! In the written recipe you failed to note to take out the seared chicken thighs to then brown the onion and aromatics. Another thing that may help out is when adding the liquids to the IP add a small amount first and use a wooden spoon or rubber spatula to scrape up the browned bits at the bottom to avoid getting the burn warning.

    I’m excited to try this carb free recipe!!

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Primary Sidebar

Search

About Me

About Me

"You eat with your eyes first" ...Hi! I'm Noreen. A huge foodie. I love to cook, eat, read cookbooks, watch cooking shows and talk a whole lot about food. Food to me is an endless topic. I could learn, eat and talk about food every day of my ...

Read More

Stalk Me (I like it!)

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube




Recent Posts

Butter Chicken

Grilled chicken in a luscious tomato-based spiced ...

[Read More...]

Vanilla-Cardamom Kulfi with Citrus Rose Syrup

A creamy frozen treat similar to ice-cream paired ...

[Read More...]

Palak Paneer

Indian cottage cheese over a vibrant green spiced ...

[Read More...]

Rogan Josh (Mutton/Lamb in a Kashmiri chilli pepper gravy)

Succulent pieces of Goat or Lamb braised in gravy ...

[Read More...]

Popular Posts

Balsamic Glazed Steak Rolls - PitcureTheRecipe.com

Balsamic Glazed Steak Rolls

Posted on March 18, 2013

Spicy Firecracker Shrimp

Posted on July 22, 2012

Game Day Snacks: Football Pizza Pockets

Posted on January 29, 2012

Footer

PTR

  • About Me
  • Contact

Connect

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Instagram

Load More...Follow on Instagram

Never Miss A Recipe

Get the latest recipes straight to your inbox!

Copyright©2011-2020

All writing, recipes and photography is copyright © 2011-2020 by Picture The Recipe and Noreen Hiskey unless otherwise indicated. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of this material without express and written permission from this site’s  owner is strictly prohibited. Small excerpts (not entire recipes nor photos) and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to [Noreen Hiskey] and [PictureTheRecipe.com] with appropriate and specific direction to the original content.  I maintain the right to withdraw that permission, and request my material/photos be removed from another site, for any reason. I also reserve the right to charge a license fee for unsolicited use of my photos.

Copyright© 2023 · Brunch Pro Theme by Feast Design Co.