Instant Pot Chicken Pho

I was introduced to Vietnamese pho a number of years ago. If you’ve never heard of it, it’s a flavorful broth with meat (typically beef), rice noodles, and various toppings. I’ve made pho on the stove cooking the broth all day, while it was amazing, the simplicity and quickness of the Instant Pot is a game changer and a time saver. The wonders of the pressure cooker also help to infuse a ton of flavor into a broth that is only cooked for a short time. When it comes to charring the onion and garlic, definitely don’t skimp on that part, it imbues a lot of flavor.

Instant Pot Chicken Pho

Servings – 6

Ingredients

• 20 ounces chicken breast or thighs (we used thighs skin-on, bone-in and removed the skin and bones after cooking. Both ways work.)
• 3 inch knob ginger, cut in half, you can leave the outer peel on
• 1 medium yellow onion, cut in half
• 1/2 bundle of cilantro
• 1 Tbsp fish sauce
• 1 Tbsp coridaner seeds
• 1/2 tsp black peppercorns
• 1-2 cloves
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 large clove of garlic, smashed
• 1 tsp salt
• 8 ounces rice noodles

Toppings

• Bean Sprouts
• Siracha
• Jalapenos
• Limes
• Thai or regular Basil
• Green Onion
• Hoisin
• Cilantro

Directions

1. Turn your Instant Pot to Saute. Once full heated, place onion and garlic cut side down. Don’t move and allow them to char slightly, aka get black on the edges and few more spots on the rest of the surface. If you search charring onions and garlic for pho, you’ll come up with some images that should help point you in the right direction, because I totally forgot to take a picture of that step of course.
2. Once the ginger and onions are charred add everything in the ingredients list EXCEPT the rice noodles, those get added after the broth is done.
3. Set your Instant Pot to High Pressure for 15 minutes, then let it naturally pressure release for 10 minutes, then carefully release any remaining pressure.
4. Cook the rice noodles according to the package directions. Usually there are 2 different directions on the package, one for stir fry and one for pasta. Go with the pasta option – aka boil the noodles for a short amount of time.
5. Once the pressure is released from your Instant Pot, you’ll need another large pot and a fine mesh strainer. Carefully drain the broth into the large pot, remove the chicken from the strainer, shredded, and adding it back into the broth. Add rice noodles. Stir till everything is combined. All the rest of the ingredients that you strained out are discarded and no longer needed.
6. Serve broth, noodles, and chicken into a bowl and top with your choice of toppings.
7. Enjoy!