Vietnamese pho filled with shredded turkey and then topped with thinly sliced red onions, cilantro, and bean sprouts. This turkey pho is the perfect warm meal to chase away the cold.
There’s something about turkey and soups that I can’t seem to resist.
Just two days ago I posted spicy miso ramen using turkey, and today, we’re having chicken pho, but instead of chicken, we’re using leftover turkey from Thanksgiving.
Roasted turkey already has so much flavor on its own. But when they’re added to the soup, oh my god. The soup has so much more depth. I can eat this for days. For reals.
Traditional pho broth takes hours to make. You add spices, onions, ginger, and seasoning to the broth and allow the soup to simmer for hours so that the flavors have a chance to develop. I have no patience for that. I mean, if I want pho, I want it now. I don’t want to wait several hours before I get to eat it. By then, I probably have cravings for something else. So, this version of pho can be made in about 40 minutes. So simple to make and so very delicious.
I’m pretty sure this will become one of your go to recipes to keep warm this winter. =)
First, add chicken broth and water to a large pot. Add a medium sized onion, quartered, into the pot along with star anise and ginger. Allow the soup to simmer for about 20 minutes until the onion has softened and the soup has become very aromatic.
Add brown sugar, fish sauce, and a little bit of salt. Stir to incorporate the ingredients and allow them to simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
If you taste the soup, you’ll notice that it’s slightly bland. That’s done on purpose. The turkey that you’ll add into the soup will add additional flavor to the soup. If you add to much salt or fish sauce, your soup will become too salty. It’s easier to adjust your seasoning by adding more at the end then trying to fix a dish that is already over seasoned.
Add the turkey to the soup and turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
In the meantime, boil water in a small or medium sized pot. Once the water comes to a boil, place the pho noodles into a strainer and drop the noodles into the water. The noodles will cook in about a minute. I like to estimate portion sizes so that I can cook the noodles by individual portions. Once the noodles are cooked, all I have to do is place the noodles into the bowl. Use a ladle to pour soup over the noodles.
Top the noodles with bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, sliced jalapenos, or any other topping that you might like. I love my pho with Sriracha. If you ever eat pho with me, you’ll probably be shocked by how red my soup gets.
Serve the turkey pho hot. Because soups like this are meant to be eaten hot, not warm.
Enjoy!
- 4 cups chicken broth
- 1 cup water
- 1 medium sized onion, quartered
- 1 tablespoon ginger
- 2 anise stars
- 1 teaspoon brown sugar
- ½ tablespoon fish sauce
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup shredded turkey, more to your liking
- 2-3 cups dry rice noodles
- Cilantro, Jalapeno, Basil, Chili Peppers, Bean Sprouts for garnish
- Sriracha and Hoisin sauce, if desired
- First, add chicken broth and water to a large pot over medium to high heat. Add a medium sized onion, quartered, into the pot along with star anise and ginger. Allow the soup to simmer for about 20 minutes until the onion has softened and the soup has become very aromatic.
- Add brown sugar, fish sauce, and a little bit of salt. Stir to incorporate the ingredients and allow them to simmer for an additional 10 minutes.
- Add the turkey to the soup and turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
- In the meantime, boil water in a small or medium sized pot. Once the water comes to a boil, place the pho noodles into a strainer and drop the noodles into the water. The noodles will cook in about a minute. Place the cooked noodles into a bowl. Use a ladle to pour soup over the noodles.
- Top the noodles with bean sprouts, cilantro, basil, sliced jalapenos, or any other topping that you might like.
- Serve the turkey pho hot.
Yum, I have been looking for an easy and fast pho recipe. Using turkey is even better, thanks for sharing
Quick question: Do you strain out the star anise and onions before serving?
You can do either. It’s better to strain to avoid accidentally biting into the star anise. The first time I made this, I strained out the star anise and onions. The second time I got lazy and just ladled the soup over the noodles and avoided the star anise. But my family liked having the onions in their soup. Hope that helps!
You have just convinced me that using leftover turkey can be so much better than the original dish.
I want some!
This is such nice comfort food!
Dear Andrea
Thanks so much for visiting and liking some of my recipe posts at https://bakedtothebone.wordpress.com/ . I appreciate it alot especially since I am just starting out. This recipe by the way looks great and I can’t wait to try it out! If you please can. whenever you usually have giveaways, can you please next time do one on a kitchenaid artisan stand mixer. I want one very badly to help me pursue my culinary journey but it’s not financially suiting with my parents so I would like to at least enter in a giveaway on one if you ever do so. Thanks again for checking my blog out and I hope it is one day as successful and amazing as this one. 🙂