Authentic pho ga takes some time. Takes some attention to detail. But it’s worth it. This is one of the world’s greatest chicken noodle soups.

I’m a bit of a pho addict. OK – maybe not just a bit. Card carrying member of pho lovers anonymous here. Now you know.

I read the Lucky Peach Pho issue cover to cover. That’s 160 pages dedicated to pho. The definitive pho manifesto. As far as I know, anyway.

This recipe is based on the Lucky Peach recipe. It has some glebekitchen embellishments but it’s in the ballpark.

Pho ga is the ultimate Vietnamese chicken noodle soup. - 1

I’ve also read about 100 recipes online. Some are more authentic than others. Some have me wondering if the author has ever eaten pho.

Are you getting that I am a pho addict yet?

Spoonful of broth over bowl of pho ga. - 2 Spoonful of broth over bowl of pho ga. - 3 Bowl of pho ga with chopsticks with hoisin and sriracha side dishes. - 4

authentic pho ga - vietnamese chicken noodle soup

Ingredients

The aromatics

  • 3 inch piece of ginger
  • 1 large yellow onion

The chicken

  • 1 3-4 lb whole chicken grain-fed, air chilled
  • 8 cups chicken stock homemade or low sodium
  • 1/2 inch piece of ginger not the roasted ginger
  • 4-5 green onions
  • 2 tsp kosher salt

The broth

  • 2 Tbsp brown sugar - more if you like it sweeter
  • The bones from the poached chicken
  • The roasted ginger and onion
  • 1/4 cup fish sauce - or more - you will need to taste to decide

Pho ga

  • 16 oz rice noodles
  • thinly sliced green onions
  • thinly sliced shallot

Garnishes

  • You can go in all sorts of directions here. Mint cilantro, sawtooth herb (culantro), red chili, lime, bean sprouts, hoisin sauce, Sriracha etc. Go with what you like. What you can get. It will work out.

Instructions

The aromatics

  • Pre-heat your oven to 350F.
  • Roast the onion and ginger for 1 hour.
  • Let cool. Slice the onion in half and the ginger into 1/2 inch pieces.

The chicken

  • In a 5-6 quart dutch oven or pot combine the whole chicken, 4-5 green onions, the 1/2 inch piece of ginger and the salt. Add 8 cups of stock plus enough water to cover the chicken. If you can’t quite cover the chicken start it breast side down.
  • Bring to a simmer and poach for about 20 minutes (breast side down if needed). Flip the bird and continue to poach until the chicken reaches about 155F in the breast and 165F in the thigh - about 10 minutes. Use an instant read thermometer - there’s no other safe way to do this. The chicken will continue to cook after you remove it from the broth so give yourself some room. You are going for a final internal temperature of 165F in the breast and 175F in the thigh.
  • Set the chicken aside to cool enough to handle. Remove chicken from the bones. You don’t have to be perfect. You have lots of chicken.

The broth

  • Remove and discard the 1/2 inch piece of ginger. Keep the stock and green onion in the pot.
  • Return the chicken bones to the pot along with the roasted ginger and onion.
  • Add the brown sugar.
  • Let simmer 3-4 hours, loosely covered.
  • Strain. You should have about 10 cups of broth. If you have less, add some water to make up for evaporation.
  • Refrigerate until ready for use. If you refrigerate you can skim the fat and reserve. That way you can add a tsp or so per bowl as they do in Vietnam.
  • When ready to serve heat the broth to just below a boil and add the fish sauce. This is where the final seasoning happens. Your broth may still under-salted. Decide for yourself. Start adding salt a half a tsp at a time. You want it pretty salty - adding in the chicken and the noodles blunts the saltiness some.

Pho ga

  • Do your prep. Slice or shred the chicken. Cut up some green onion. Prep your herbs. Slice your shallot as thinly as you possibly can. Slice some red chili. Cut up the lime. Pre-heat your bowls. Make sure your broth is good and hot. Have it all ready to go. Once you start things go fast and cold pho is not good pho.

Cook the noodles

  • Here’s a trick to cook rice noodles for pho that I found buried at the bottom of an Epicurious recipe. Soak your rice noodles in cold water for about 30 minutes.
  • At the same time, bring a large pot of water to a boil.
  • Put the soaked noodles in a big strainer and drop it into the boiling water.
  • Stir the noodles and start checking them for texture after about 30 seconds. They should be done in under a minute. You want them slightly toothy as they will cook a bit more in the broth.
  • When you have them how you want them, pull the noodles and divide into 4 bowls.
  • Top the noodles with the chicken and sprinkle with green onions and sliced shallots.
  • Pour 1/4 of the broth into each bowl.
  • Serve with the condiments on the table to let people flavour their pho as they like it.

Notes

Nutrition

Make chicken noodle soup from scratch at least once in your life. There’s something almost magical about it. Depth of flavour that brings you back to your childhood. Homemade chicken noodle soup is serious comfort food.

This has absolutely nothing in common with store bought soup. Chicken noodle soup from scratch is to store bought canned soup like perfectly grilled New York striploin steaks are to boiled hamburger.

Maybe I’m overstating it but you get the idea. It’s a totally different beast. And it’s so worth it.

Soup is good food

I love soup. It’s becoming a lost art. Nobody makes it anymore. It’s become instant food. Open a can and go. Don’t think. Just do. Sad.

It doesn’t need to be that way. Soup is not hard to make. And it makes a great starter for a dinner party. Total prepare ahead of time stuff.

It makes great leftovers too. Make a big batch. Have some for dinner. Then have it for lunch the next day. And the day after that. So good.

Homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch isn’t the easiest soup, mind you. Especially if you start with homemade stock. It’s a labour of love. So make it for people you love.

Table scene of homemade chicken noodle soup. Spoons, bread, napkins and ladle from above. - 5

Almost every culture has a chicken noodle soup

Chicken noodle soup is a global phenomenon. Think about it. The Chinese have won ton soup. Japan and Korea are mad for ramen. Indonesia has Soto ayam. Pho and mi bo pho in Vietnam. Tortollini en brodo from Italy. Thai khao soi. The list goes on and on.

Homemade chicken noodle soup is North America’s answer. It doesn’t seem exotic because it’s everywhere in the West. But I bet if you served it in Nepal they would go crazy for it.

If you are game to put the time into any of these more “exotic” soups, you owe it to yourself to make this classic. It is world class. Without a doubt.

Serving bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup from the front. - 6

Layer flavours for the best homemade chicken noodle soup

This recipe is all about layering flavours. This is how you make really special homemade chicken noodle soup.

Start with homemade chicken broth – Or use no sodium chicken stock. The kind that comes in a tetra pack. Just don’t use water. This is layer one.

Poach the chicken in the broth – Cooking the chicken in the broth gets more chicken flavour into your soup. Layer two. This really makes a difference. Let it cool and strip the chicken from the bones. You’ll use them next.

Make even better broth with the bones – Simmer the bones in the stock before you make the soup. Make double strength stock. Layer three.

Cook the onions, carrots and celery first – Sweat your aromatics in before adding the stock. Layer four.

Get the picture? Layer on layer on layer of chicken noodle soup goodness.

This is about chicken. Deeply flavoured chicken broth. Tender poached chicken. There’s no garlic. Barely any herbs. Just clean chicken flavour.

Bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup with bread. - 7

One secret ingredient makes this the best homemade chicken noodle soup

This one took me forever. I chased mouthfeel in my homemade chicken noodle soup for years. Couldn’t figure it out. I remembered it vividly from my childhood. Luscious. Ultimately satisfying. Wrap your tongue in magic delicious. Crazy good.

But I couldn’t make it. And it made me crazy. I tried all sorts of stuff. Nothing worked. Not close.

Now I know the secret. And it’s obvious once you know it.

Cornstarch. Yes. Cornstarch. Probably took me 15 years to figure it out. Not a lot of cornstarch. Just enough to thicken the soup ever so slightly. One easy step for amazing homemade chicken noodle soup.

I don’t even like cornstarch. Almost never use it. Makes me think of gloppy bad Chinese takeout. And too much much of it will kill this soup. But a little bit. Magic.

Homemade never goes out of style. This is real comfort food. Reach down inside and give you hug.

When you make homemade chicken noodle soup make a lot. Plan for leftovers. Enough to share. You will understand why when you taste it…

Bowl of chicken noodle soup with spoon from above. - 8 Serving bowl of homemade chicken noodle soup from above. - 9

chicken noodle soup from scratch

Ingredients

  • 4 lb whole chicken air-chilled
  • 12 cups chicken stock – homemade is best but good quality store bought works too
  • 1 tbsp kosher salt
  • 1 1/2 cups onion diced medium fine
  • 1 1/2 cups carrots diced or cut into rings
  • 2 stalks celery diced medium fine
  • 2-3 sprigs fresh thyme
  • 2 Tbsp olive oil
  • 6 oz broad egg noodles
  • 1 Tbsp cornstarch you may want a bit more
  • 2 tsp kosher salt to start – you will likely need more.
  • fresh thyme leaves to garnish (optional)

Instructions

Poach the chicken

  • Choose a pot large enough to hold the chicken and 12 cups of stock. Starting with stock is your first layer.
  • Heat the chicken stock to just simmering. Add one Tbsp kosher salt, then add the chicken, breast side down. Your pot is the right size if the broth almost covers the chicken.
  • Poach the chicken, covered, for about 25 minutes. Flip the chicken. Be careful. Hot liquid. Use tongs and a wooden spoon to stabilize. Continue poaching another 10-15 minutes or so.
  • You are going for about 160F in the breast and 170F in the thigh. Use your instant read thermometer. Don’t have one? Get one! It’s important. You’ll wonder how you ever survived without one.
  • Remove the chicken from the broth. Keep in mind the cavity is full of hot stock. Be careful. Let it drain.
  • Let the chicken cool until you can handle it. This takes a surprisingly long time. Remove the chicken from the bones. Discard the skin. Store the chicken in the refrigerator.

Make the stock

  • Return the bones to the stock. Simmer for 3-4 hours, loosely covered. This adds more chicken goodness to the stock. Another layer of flavour. Maximum chicken soup goodness.
  • After 3-4 hours let cool slightly. Strain into a large container. Wipe out the pot.

Make the soup

  • Pre-heat your pot over medium low heat. Film the bottom of the pot with olive oil.
  • Add the onion, carrot and celery. Sweat until the onions are translucent. Don’t let the vegetables brown. That’s not a flavour you want here.
  • Add the thyme and return the stock to the pot.
  • Simmer until the carrots are tender. I can’t tell you exactly – depends on how long you sweated them in oil and how big your dice is. Somewhere around 30-40 minutes is my guess.
  • While the soup simmers dice the chicken.
  • Once the carrots are tender add the noodles. Simmer until the noodles are cooked – about 8-10 minutes. Add the chicken and cook another 2-3 minutes.
  • Add salt – a tsp at a time until you have your salt in balance. It can take quite a bit. It depends on how you like your soup.
  • Add about 2 Tbsp of hot stock to the cornstarch. Mix to make an even paste then add another couple tablespoons of stock to dilute it. Return the cornstarch mixture to the pot. Stir and bring to a simmer. It will thicken just a little bit for that magic mouthfeel.
  • Taste it at this point. If you want a bit more texture in the broth repeat the cornstarch process with a second tablespoon.
  • Add a few fresh thyme leaves to add a little extra flavours if you like.
  • Serve and be ready when people ask for seconds…

Notes

Nutrition

Make homemade chicken noodle soup from scratch. - 10