Teri's Slow Cooker Chicken Pho

Himself and I decided a fun (and tasty) thing to do this year would be to make a new soup each month.  Because one of our favorite meals out is to have Vietnamese Pho, that is what we decided to be our first soup of the year.

We had done a class at Whole Foods where a local chef made her pho recipe.  Very good but a ton of seasonings I don't regularly use... like fish sauce.  And it was on the stove simmering for a really long time.

So I did a search of various pho recipes that were made in a slow cooker.  One that did not use fish sauce used dark brown sugar to get that umami flavor.  That worked for me!  After that I basically winged it with ingredients.

Here's my version of chicken pho:

Teri’s Slow Cooker Chicken Pho

3 packages (32 oz each) chicken broth

3 T packed dark brown sugar

3 cloves garlic (good sized ones)

5 whole cloves

3 whole star anise

2 inch fresh ginger, peeled and sliced

2 inch long piece of young lemon grass

2 inch stick of cinnamon

½ cup cilantro leaves and stems

1 T whole coriander seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

½ of a small onion

*2 pounds bone in chicken

**1 package thin dry rice noodles

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Accompaniments

Bean sprouts

Sliced green onion

Fresh cilantro sprigs

Sliced jalapeno

Lime wedges

Sriracha hot sauce and/or hoisin sauce

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In slow cooker, combine first eleven ingredients.  Mix well.  Then add chicken and onion.  (For more flavor depth, lightly sauté onion in a separate pan.  Then add a bit of the broth, stir, and add to slow cooker broth.)

Cover and cook on HIGH for about 3 hours or LOW for about 5 hours... or until chicken is tender.

Remove chicken from slow cooker, set aside to cool.

Strain broth either in a colander lined with cheesecloth or a fine mesh strainer.

For quicker eating, I poured the broth into a pot and heated to a boil on the stove top.  Then as per directions, I added the rice noodles and cooked according to package time (about 5 minutes).  HOWEVER, next time I will cook the noodles in separate chicken broth.  The noodles clouded the beautiful chicken stock.

Slice chicken into bite size pieces for soup. 

To serve: First put noodles into bowl, and then add broth.  Add sliced chicken on top.  Then let each person garnish their soup from the accompaniments you have prepared.

*Chicken – I used thighs because it is what I had.  Best would be half white and half dark.

** Amount of rice noodles you cook is purely personal.  However~ only cook enough for one meal.  They don’t do well as leftovers.