Pho Ga is a quick and delicious Vietnamese Chicken Noodle Soup, ideal for weekdays with just 1 hour of cooking time. This recipe features a whole chicken simmered with aromatic spices like cinnamon, star anise, and white peppercorn, served over fresh rice noodles and garnished with herbs.
1: In a 6 qt pot, add your cleaned whole chicken and fill the pot 3/4 full with water. Bring to high heat and wait for it to come to a boil.
2: Char the whole onion and ginger. Remove skin once cooled and wash off any remaining char.
3: In a separate small pan, over medium-low heat, toast the cinnamon sticks, peppercorns, and star anise. Once the peppercorns begin to pop, turn off the heat and cool. Add all the aromatics into a tea infuser or spice bag.
4: Once the pot with the chicken boils, remove the foam that collects at the top.
5: Add the onion, ginger, cinnamon sticks, and tea infuser with spices to the pot with the chicken. Add rock sugar and 1 tbsp salt. Lower heat to medium-low and cook for 1 hour.
6: After 1 hour, the chicken should be fully cooked. Remove the entire chicken and submerge in a bowl of cool water to prevent browning.
7: Remove leftover onion, ginger, and spices from the broth with a strainer. Toss them. Season the broth with 2 tbsp fish sauce.
8: Once the chicken cools, shred the meat into a separate container.
9: Cook rice noodles according to package instructions.
10: Assemble your bowl with noodles, shredded chicken, green onions, cilantro, and black pepper. Ladle the broth over the noodles.
11: Serve hot with a side of Thai basil, beansprouts, and lime for garnish.
