This is how to make oxtail pho, Vietnamese style on the stove in a Dutch Oven. We will first show you how to cook oxtails to fork tender, then use that tender beef with noodles to make this flavorful vegetable broth soup your family will love.
We love Korean oxtail soup and this is yet another way you can make it, Vietnamese style! With ramen noodles or udon noodles and vegetables in a light broth your family too will enjoy this for dinner throughout the year. Make it spicy or keep it mild, you can adjust and tweak it easily.
What is Pho?
Have you had this at a restaurant and loved it so much you wanted to know how to make pho (pronounced FU) at home?? This Vietnamese soup made is made with a flavorful broth, rice noodles, fresh herbs, and thinly sliced meat. Typically simmered for hours to create a rich, aromatic base. It is served with garnishes such as bean sprouts, Thai basil, lime, and chili, allowing each person to customize their bowl to taste.
What is ox tail soup made from?
You would start with the obvious, quite a few oxtail beef bones with some meat attached on there which will become so tender that it will pull away easily when done. It is easier served if you pull that off and discard the bones before serving. I have made smoked oxtail first and then made this when done too.
As for the seasonings you are going to want to go all out with traditional choices like minced ginger, Cloves ground, Pepper, fennel seeds, and coriander seeds ground and some like to add a star anise but that is my favorite flavor so I leave it out.
3-4 cups cold water or broth is better to give you even more flavor overall is how to make pho broth from scratch. Just keep with the same flavors like beef with ox etc…
What kind of vegetables are in pho?
As for the vegetables that are added we will stick with some Onion, radish, some heat with diced roasted jalapenos, carrots and green onions are great too. You can certainly add as many as you would like as long as they are submerged.
Choose firm varieties like we did in our oxtail boil recipe and not until the meat is starting to pull away from the bone. More delicate choices that need just a few minutes like bok choy should be kept and submerged just in the last minute.
How to Season
As far as the seasonings go that is up to you too but we used more traditional ones below in the recipe card. If you wanted to sway it more American or Southern in nature you could use other oxtail seasoning blends in that regard. Add heat to make this spicy, a little or a lot, the other options go on and on.
If you wanted to sway it in an Indian direction take a look at our oxtail curry and the flavors we used with that and use those for a sort of fusion. The first go around I would suggest following the step by step directions exactly as stated below. That will give you a good idea of how it works well and then you can make other versions beyond that.
What else can you add?
Just like with our oxtails and rice dish, this too is a complete meal right out of the pot. You will have meat, pasta and vegetables all in one bowl so you literally need nothing on the side. This is a list of what was used. If you don’t have something there is a link to all of them in the recipe card below to order online.
What type of noodles do you add to pho?
As far as the pasta goes in your Ox Tail Soup you should use rice noodles. They are added after the meat is perfectly tender and the broth is perfectly seasoned. Just like if you were to boil in regular water, you instead boil them in this amazing broth so they soak up all those flavors. Thinner and more delicate than spaghetti noodles, they don’t take very long to get just right so don’t walk away.
What is the spicy sauce in pho?
Thai bird chiles are traditionally added to give it a kick of heat but can be toned down with less, or with diced jalapenos instead. Fill bowls with your beef noodle soup, add oxtail meat, top with cilantro, green onions, fish sauce is good, diced chives and mild pepper slices.
Oxtail Pho Recipe
Equipment
- 1 dutch oven or large pot
Ingredients
- 1 lb oxtail
- 1 small onion
- 1-2 large radishes
- 1 large green pepper, mild or spicy
- 1 large carrot, peeled and cut into dials
- 1 tsp minced ginger
- 2 large green onions, diced
- 1 medium lime
- 1/8 tsp cloves, ground
- 1/2 tsp cardamom, ground
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp coriander, ground
- 1 tsp fennel seeds
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3-4 cup beef broth, or water
- 1 pack pho noodles
Instructions
- Trim fat from oxtails. Rinse and pat dry. Set aside. Chop onions, carrots, daikon radish, and thinly slice mild pepper. Set aside.
- In large cooking pot, add oil, heat onions, carrots, ginger, radish, and spices until onions are tender. Add oxtails. Pour in enough water to cover oxtails.
- Bring to boil, then reduce to simmer for 5 hours covered or until oxtail meat is easily removed from the bone.
- Strain soup liquid into a new pot. Set aside vegetables and oxtail. Add noodles to soup liquid and cook according to package directions until as tender as you'd like.
- Meanwhile, remove oxtail meat from bone. Add vegetables back to soup liquid with noodles. Fill bowls with soup, add oxtail meat, top with cilantro, green onions or chives and mild pepper slices.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Instant Pot Directions
Now that one above and in the recipe card at the bottom is made on the stove in a pot. If you want it done faster you can cook the meat using our Instant Pot ox tail recipe which cuts down the cook time to just 45 minutes!
You could use your Ninja Foodi or any other brand to make it this way, they are all basically the same. From there you then jump to making Instant Pot oxtail soup. The noodles are so delicate that you don’t use pressure at all for those. Instead you set to saute at the end, add them, and allow to bubble until al dente.
Alternatively you could make out Braised Oxtail Recipe the day before and with the leftover meat make this.
FAQ
I mean with your mouth is your best bet first off. 😉 More specifically it is easiest to consume when the meat is pulled off of the bones when served. Once it is tender after hours of boiling, it should be fork tender. Pull that off and add back into the pot with broth, vegetables and as you cook rice noodles.
It is an optional ingredient, yes. It’s traditionally used as a garnish with bean sprouts and lime wedges too.
This is quite nutritious, full of collagen and nutrients when made from scratch. With under 250 calories and 24 grams of protein this clear soup is wonderful if you’re feeling under the weather or looking for a kick of flavor for dinner.
Oxtail can be hard to cook well, but in this recipe it turned out perfectly! It was tender and flavorful, and I just wanted to slurp up all the noodles too!
This pho was a winner! So flavorful and easy to make!
I didn’t realize how easy it was to make pho at home! I’ll be making this one all the time. Thank you!
First time trying to make pho at home and it turned out so well! It was a lot easier than I thought to make!
There’s nothing quite like a steamy bowl of pho on a chilly day, and boy did this do the trick! Thanks so much for the recipe! It turned out beautifully and it was very easy to follow.