Instant Pot Pho Recipe

Instant Pot Pho is light, aromatic, and deeply flavorful. 🍜 Just like your favorite Vietnamese pho at a restaurant!

Course Main, Soup

Cuisine Vietnamese

Keyword beef pho recipe, instant pot beef pho, instant pot pho, instant pot recipes, Vietnamese beef pho, Vietnamese pho recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 45

Total Time 50

Servings

Calories 397kcal

1 lb. sirloin steak or other lean beef, such as flank steak, eye round, or london broil
2 lbs. beef soup bones
4 inches fresh ginger roughly chopped
1 large onion roughly chopped
1 star anise pod(s) 1-2 pods, to taste
2 cloves 2-3 cloves, to taste
1 Tbsp. cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick(s) 1-2 sticks, to taste
1 Tbsp. coriander seeds
2 tsps. brown sugar or Chinese rock sugar if available
2 Tbsps. vegetable oil or sesame oil, olive oil, or avocado oil

Toast 1-2 star anise pods, 2-3 cloves, 1 Tbsp. cardamom pods, 1-2 cinnamon sticks, and 1 Tbsp. coriander seeds in a skillet.
Roughly chop 4 inches ginger and 1 large onion.
Heat 2 Tbsps. vegetable oil in the Instant Pot on saute mode.
Cook the ginger and onion for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring often.
Switch off the saute function and add the toasted spices to the pot. Stir.
Add 2 pounds beef soup bones and 1 pound sirloin steak.
Fill with water just under the max fill line. Lock the lid in place. Set on manual high pressure for 45 minutes.
For more concentrated flavors, cook for up to 90 minutes.
When done cooking, remove the steak and slice it thinly against the grain.
Pour the broth through a sieve to remove the spices and any pieces from the beef bones.
Season the broth with 2 to 3 Tbsps. fish sauce, 5 to 6 Tbsps. soy sauce, and 2 tsps. brown sugar. Taste and season with salt as you like.
Add the broth to bowls and serve with rice noodles, lime juice, beef slices, bean sprouts, basil, mint, scallions, and jalapenos. Enjoy!

If you prefer, you can cook the beef separately from the broth and add it after cooking. This is a great way to use up leftovers, too!
Use a vegetable oil with a high smoke point. Sesame oil, olive oil, or avocado oil all work well!
For an even more flavorful pho broth, increase the cooking time to 60 minutes on high pressure. However, you may want to cook the steak separately if you do this.
If you want, to make the pho soup as lean as possible, let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours. Skim the fat off the top.