Healthy Pho Recipe
by Sommer Collier — last updated on Dec 17, 2025 
When the weather turns cold, I always crave bold and brothy Vietnamese beef pho soup for dinner. I’ve made many variations over the years, but my warm and satisfying healthy pho recipe is simmered with low carb noodles to make it light and lean for any diet.
Vietnamese pho soup has got to be one of my family’s top three favorite meals collectively. Whenever we go out for dinner, one or both of the kids always suggests our favorite local Vietnamese restaurant for soup, and one or both parents always agree. Vietnamese noodle soup is so alluring; the deep spicy undertones in the broth and the pop of fresh cool ingredients added at the table make it hard to resist. Although traditional pho is pretty darn healthy on its own, today I’m sharing just a couple of small swaps to make this tantalizing beef soup fit your New Year’s diet. Like my clear soup recipe, it’s a hot, gratifying meal in a bowl that you can enjoy guilt-free.
Frank Mosher — ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Wow!! The first recipe I have ever seen from a blog (have to say your’s is my favourite) featuring “konjak” pasta, which is virtually carb-free! Your recipe for “Pho” is great also!! Cheers. You must have had a few bowls of it on your recent trip! Many thanks!
Table of contents
Sommer’s Recipe Highlights
Authentic Taste – Admittedly, my recipe requires more than a handful of ingredients. However, that is the only way to get the most authentic Vietnamese flavor. If you love restaurant-style pho, I’m showing you how to make it at home with ingredients you can find at your local grocery store, including the shirataki noodles.
Easy on the Hips – This hot, brothy soup is essentially healthy, herb-infused broth, lean beef, fresh vegetables, and healthy low-carb noodles. Similar to my chicken detox soup recipe, it’s a great recipe to make when you’ve got carb cravings but are trying to watch your macros.
Better with Age – In my opinion, all homemade soups get better with age. The longer you simmer the broth base, and the longer it sits, the better and deeper the flavor becomes. That makes this an amazing make-ahead to warm and serve throughout the week.
Key Ingredients and Tips
- Aromatics for the broth – A combination of ginger, onions, garlic, cinnamon sticks, star anise, cloves, cardamom, and fish sauce creates the rich, complex broth that gets better with age. In fact, making the broth in a crockpot while you are away at work is a fabulous idea!
- Flank steak – I like flank steak in pho because it’s easy to find, holds together when sliced paper-thin, and delivers a rich beefy taste. However, you can use a variety of proteins, including other cuts of beef, pork, chicken, or shrimp.
- Shirataki noodles – These noodles, also sometimes called Konjac, are grain-free and ultra-low carb, making them suitable for all types of diets. I find them in the pasta aisle at my local grocery store, but you can also buy them on Amazon.
- Fresh garnishes – Jalapeno slices, basil leaves, mung bean sprouts, and lime wedges are the most traditional. However, I think scallions and cilantro are also great add-ins!
How to Make
Find the full ingredient proportions, detailed instructions, storage tips, and a video tutorial in the printable form at the bottom of the post.
Sauté the vegetables and spices – I place the aromatic veggies and dry spices in a large pot with coconut oil, and let them sizzle. This helps release the flavors into the broth.
Slowly simmer the broth – The longer the broth simmers, the better the flavor! For this recipe, I simmer the broth for at least one hour. But you can turn the heat down very low and simmer it as long as you like. You can even make the broth a day ahead (like they do in restaurants) for intensified flavor.
Flash freeze and shave – Meanwhile, I freeze the steak for 30 minutes, so it’s slightly firm and easy to slice thin. It should be frozen on the outside, yet still mostly thawed on the inside. Then slice the steak against the grain into paper-thin ribbons.
Skim – Once the broth has simmered, I scoop out the veggies and spices, leaving the clean debris-free soup base in the pot.
Add the noodles and beef – The noodles and thin-cut beef cook quickly I add them to the broth just minutes before serving. The noodles go in first, then I turn off the heat, and stir in the beef. It will cook instantly.
Serve with fresh garnishes – Trust me, the toppings are everything! Serve your hot soup with fresh toppings like bean sprouts, Thai basil leaves, lime wedges, and sliced jalapeños. Adding the cool veggies and herbs at the end provides a bright pop of flavor.
Substitutions
- Fish Sauce – Fish sauce is a unique ingredient that creates a pungent, salty undertone in any recipe. It’s hard to replicate this flavor, but if you cannot find it, I suggest adding an equal portion of soy sauce or even Worcestershire sauce to the recipe.
- Flank Steak – Skirt steak, flap meat steak, or lean sirloin are good options. Slice and use as directed in the recipe.
- Palm Sugar – Palm sugar is a traditional sweetener used in Asian cooking. However, you can use white granulated sugar or light brown sugar in its place. I would personally go with brown sugar.
Storage
Store leftovers in an airtight container and refrigerate for up to 5 days. It’s best to let the soup cool completely before refrigerating. Warm the leftovers in a saucepot over medium heat.
Frequently Asked Questions
Flash freezing is a process of quickly freezing a piece of meat so that it’s firm enough to slice extremely thin. I find that when meat is at room temperature, it moves as you cut it, making it difficult to cut evenly. But if you pop it in the freezer for a few minutes, the exterior hardens, making it much easier to slice into uniform pieces.
Simmering the soup for a long time allows all of the aromatic herbs and vegetables to release their flavors and create depth and warmth in the broth. If you have time to make the broth a day in advance, I recommend it. The flavor will be even more full-bodied.
Yes, restaurants often put beef bones in their broth while simmering to create an ultra-rich beefy flavor. If you have beef bones on hand, throw them in!
More Asian Soup Recipes
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Healthy Pho Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 2 inch piece of fresh ginger, sliced
- 1 large onion, peeled and quartered
- 5 cloves garlic, smashed
- 5 cinnamon sticks
- 3 whole star anise
- 10 cloves
- 4 cardamom pods, smashed
- 12 cups water
- 2 cups beef broth
- 2 tablespoon fish sauce (gluten free)
- 1 tablespoon palm sugar (omit for keto)
- 1 pound flank steak
- 1 pound shirataki noodles
- 4 ounces mung bean sprouts
- 2 jalapeños, sliced
- 1 cup fresh basil leaves
- 1 lime, cut into wedges
Instructions
- Place a large stock pot over medium heat. Add the onion wedges, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, cardamom, and coconut oil. Sauté the onions and spices for about 10 minutes, stirring to brown the onions on all sides.
- Pour in the water, beef broth, fish sauce, and sugar. Bring to a simmer. Then lower the heat if needed, and simmer for at least 60 minutes. (P.S. Fish sauce has a funky aroma, but tastes amazing! Don’t skip it.)
- Meanwhile, flash-freeze the flank steak for 30 minutes. It should be frozen on the outside, yet still mostly thawed on the inside. Then slice the steak against the grain into paper-thin pieces.
- Use a skimmer to pull all the onions, and spices out of the broth. Then arrange the mung bean sprouts, sliced jalapeno, lime wedges and basil on a serving plate.
- Add in the noodles to the broth and cook for 2-3 minutes, or according the the package instructions.
- Turn off the heat and stir in the thin pieces of beef. They should be thin enough to cook in the hot broth without additional heat.
- Scoop the pho into bowls and allow guests to add their own veggie garnishes.
Notes
- If you can’t find shirataki noodles, you can add raw zucchini noodles instead.
- If “low carb” is not necessary for your diet, rice noodles are traditional.
- The longer the broth cooks the better. You can turn the heat down to low and allow it to simmer for 2 hours. Or make it a day ahead for intensified flavor, before adding the noodles and beef.
- Slow Cooker Pho Soup: Yes, you can make this recipe in a crockpot. Make sure to sauté the vegetables and spices on the stovetop first. Then slow cook the broth up to 12 hours on low, before moving on to step 4.
This is such a really comforting meal! We will make it again this weekend!
I like this recipe but I am allergic to coconut, is there another oil I can use?
Hi Ruth,
Sure! Light olive oil or avocado oil are good options.
These miracle noodles are just the best low carb noodles that I have ever tasted!
I love pho, but have only eaten it in a restaurant. I followed the recipe, and with all of the aromatics, I was sure it would be flavorful. I did the crockpot method, and there wasn’t much flavor. We could detect the cinnamon, cloves, and anise, but not much else. I plan to simmer it even longer and add more beef broth and less water. Because the broth lacked flavor, the flank stead did as well. I may attempt this again, but try the stovetop method. All of the textures in this soup are so fun, and I enjoy adding the items to my bowl. The presentation is so pretty. We did omit jalapeños, because we can’t handle raw ones.
We love this recipe! Delicious!
This Pho is AWESOME!!!
Where did you get the noodles that look like Chinese thin noodles made with wheat? I’m having a hard time finding shirataki noodles that are as thin, long, and straight like your photos. Thank you!
Hi Jia,
We have them at one of our local grocery stores, but I know you can find them on Amazon.
While an easy meal to prepare, I didn’t think this tasted anything like real pho, at least based on the pho I’ve eaten across 4 states (and this is unrelated to the noodles, I’m not low carb so I just used regular rice noodles). The broth lacked depth and wasn’t meaty at all, but that’s not really surprising when I’m trying a quick & easy version that doesn’t involve simmering the bones for hours, etc.
After adding some sriracha, Maggi sauce and other toppings I was able to enjoy it a bit, but not under the guise of pho. More like the beef version of chicken noodle soup.
Wow!! The first recipe I have ever seen from a blog (have to say your’s is my favourite) featuring “konjak” pasta, which is virtually carb-free! Your recipe for “Pho”is great also!! Cheers. You must have had a few bowls of it on your recent trip! Many thanks!
I absolutely LOVE pho and am so excited to try this low carb version! YUM!