Instant Pot Beef Pho

Whip up delicious homemade beef pho in an hour or less with my Instant Pot Beef Pho! It's easy, delicious, and packed with incredible flavor!

Course Main Dish

Cuisine American

Keyword beef pho recipe, easy beef pho, instant pot beef pho, pho recipe

Prep Time 5

Cook Time 45

Total Time 50

Servings servings

Calories 385kcal

Toast 1-2 star anise pods, 2-3 cloves, 1 tablespoon cardamom pods, 1-2 cinnamon sticks, and 1 tablespoon coriander seeds in a frying pan on the stove.
Roughly chop 4 inches of fresh ginger and 1 large onion. Heat 2 tablespoons vegetable oil in the Instant Pot set to the saute program. 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 for a few seconds, then add 2 pounds beef soup bones and 1 pound flank steak (or other lean beef, such as brisket or sirloin).
Fill with water not all of the way to, but just under, the max line. Close the lid and make sure the valve is set to the “sealing” position.
Set on manual high pressure for 45 to 90 minutes, depending on how concentrated you want the flavors of your broth to be.
When the broth is done cooking, remove the steak and slice it. Pass the broth through a sieve to remove the spices and any pieces from the beef bones.
Season the broth with 2 to 3 tablespoons fish sauce, 5 to 6 tablespoons of soy sauce, and 2 teaspoons brown sugar. Taste and season with salt as you like.
Dish the broth out into bowls and garnish with rice noodles, lime juice, beef slices, bean sprouts, basil, mint, scallions, and jalapeños as you prefer.

If you prefer, you can cook the beef separately from the beef bone broth. I recommend cooking it as we do in our Vietnamese steak salad recipe.

To make your soup as lean as possible, let it cool to room temperature, then refrigerate for 2 to 4 hours. Any remaining fat in the broth will rise to the top and you can easily remove it. This is not a necessary step to enjoy Vietnamese beef pho.

If you have access to it, you can also use Chinese yellow rock sugar in place of the brown sugar in this recipe. Asian supermarkets stock Chinese rock sugar.

For stronger flavor, allow your pho broth to cook for longer in the Instant Pot. While it will be ready in 45 minutes, you can leave it for up to 90 minutes for a strongly flavorful broth.
Be aware that if you cook the beef in the pot with the broth, you may not want to go beyond 45 minutes of cook-time.