Pho (Chicken)

Michael Eisenwasser

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Chicken pho built from homemade broth, toasted whole spices, and garlic-free fish sauce — no onion, no hoisin, no sriracha.

Prep 20 min

Cook 45 min

Serves 4

Gluten-freeDairy-free

Ingredients

Broth

• 8 cups (1.9 L) low-FODMAP chicken broth
• 3-inch (7 cm) piece fresh ginger, halved lengthwise
• 3 whole star anise
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 4 whole cloves
• 3 green cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 1 tablespoon coriander seeds
• 1 lb (450 g) boneless skinless chicken breast (or 1 lb sliced beef sirloin for a variation — see Tips)
• 2 tablespoons Red Boat fish sauce (garlic-free)
• 1 tablespoon gluten-free tamari
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• Salt, to taste

Bowls

• 8 oz (225 g) flat rice noodles (pho-style, banh pho)
• 1/2 cup scallion greens, thinly sliced
• 1/2 cup fresh Thai basil leaves
• 1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 cup mung bean sprouts
• 1 lime, cut into wedges
• 1 red Thai chili or jalapeño, thinly sliced (optional)

Instructions

Char the Ginger

1. Hold the halved ginger over an open gas flame with tongs, or press it flat on a dry cast-iron pan over high heat. Char 3 to 4 minutes per side until the cut faces blacken in spots and the kitchen smells toasty.
2. This step is not optional. Charred ginger is what gives pho broth its depth when you can't use charred onion.

Toast the Spices

1. Warm a dry skillet over medium heat. Add the star anise, cinnamon stick, cloves, cardamom pods, and coriander seeds. Toast 2 to 3 minutes, shaking the pan, until fragrant.
2. Tip the spices into a small square of cheesecloth and tie it off, or drop them loose into a tea ball. Loose is fine too — you'll strain the broth at the end.

Simmer the Broth

1. Combine the chicken broth, charred ginger, and spice bundle in a large pot. Bring to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
2. Slide in the chicken breasts. Simmer uncovered for 18 to 22 minutes, until the thickest part reads 165°F (74°C). Skim any foam that rises.
3. Lift the chicken onto a cutting board. Rest 5 minutes, then slice thin across the grain.
4. Keep the broth at a simmer for another 15 minutes to pull more flavor from the ginger and spices. Stir in the fish sauce, tamari, and sugar. Taste and add salt a pinch at a time until the broth tastes full and slightly sweet-salty.
5. Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a clean pot. Discard the ginger and spices. Keep hot.

Cook the Noodles

1. Bring a separate pot of water to a boil. Cook the rice noodles per the package, usually 4 to 6 minutes, until tender but still springy. Drain and rinse briefly under cold water to stop the cook.
2. Portion the noodles into 4 deep bowls, about 1 cup cooked per bowl.

Assemble

1. Lay sliced chicken over the noodles in each bowl. Ladle the hot strained broth directly over the chicken — the heat finishes warming everything through.
2. Top with scallion greens. Serve with Thai basil, cilantro, bean sprouts, lime wedges, and sliced chili on a plate at the table so each eater builds their own bowl.

Tips & Substitutions

• Red Boat is the fish sauce brand to trust. Most supermarket fish sauces (Three Crabs, Tiparos, some Squid brand SKUs) list garlic or garlic extract. Red Boat is two ingredients: anchovies and sea salt. Son Fish Sauce and Megachef are also clean options worth checking on the label.
• Leave hoisin and sriracha off the table. Both are traditional pho condiments and both are a problem on low-FODMAP. Almost every hoisin contains garlic and often high-fructose corn syrup; most sriracha brands list garlic first or second. Extra lime, sliced chili, and a drizzle of garlic-infused olive oil cover the heat and umami.
• Do not use pho bouillon cubes or pastes. Every commercial pho base (Quoc Viet, Por Kwan, Lee Kum Kee) is built on onion and garlic. The whole point of this recipe is the scratch broth — if you shortcut the base, you lose the dish.
• Scallion greens only, no whites. The dark green tops carry the aromatic punch and stay low-FODMAP as a garnish. The white bulbs carry fructans and behave like onion in the gut.
• Beef pho variation. Swap the chicken for 1 lb (450 g) sirloin or eye of round. Freeze the beef for 30 minutes, then slice paper-thin across the grain. Lay the raw slices in the bowl on top of the noodles — the boiling broth cooks them in 30 seconds as you pour.
• Rice noodle serve size. Portion noodles evenly at about 1 cup cooked per bowl. Rice noodles are typically low-FODMAP at moderate serves — check Monash for your specific brand and noodle width if you're in elimination.

Why This Works

Charred ginger does the work onion can't. Traditional pho is built on charred yellow onion and shallot for sweetness and depth. Both are off-limits. Charring a large knob of ginger over an open flame builds the same dark, toasty backbone, and fresh ginger has no Monash-tested FODMAP ceiling.

Whole spices are all low-FODMAP. Star anise, cinnamon, clove, cardamom, and coriander seed are aromatic compounds with no fructan or polyol load. They carry the signature pho flavor without any of the risk that comes with pre-mixed pho seasoning packets.

Fish sauce brand matters here. Fish sauce itself is just fermented anchovies and salt — no FODMAPs. But most commercial brands add garlic or garlic extract, which can push a single tablespoon high-FODMAP fast. Red Boat's two-ingredient label is why it shows up in so many low-FODMAP Southeast Asian recipes.

No hoisin, no sriracha, no shortcut broth. These three ingredients are what make supermarket pho impossible on a low-FODMAP diet. Removing them and rebuilding the broth from a scratch base is the only path to a bowl that tastes like pho and stays under the fructan threshold.

Storage

Store the strained broth, sliced chicken, and cooked noodles in separate sealed containers in the fridge at 40°F (4°C) or below for 3 to 4 days. Rice noodles turn gummy when they sit in broth overnight, so always keep them apart. Freeze the broth alone for up to 3 months. To reheat, bring the broth back to a simmer, warm the chicken in the hot broth for 30 seconds, and assemble fresh bowls with just-cooked noodles and fresh herbs.

Not sure about an ingredient? FODMAP Tracker includes a database of 1,000+ foods with FODMAP ratings to help you cook with confidence.