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My friend Simon says that there’s a lot of confusing and misleading online chatter about chicken phở these days. If you’ve had the original beef phở then you’re bound to want to explore the chicken version, which is slightly lighter in flavor, but delicious still.

Making noodle soup is an art form that take a bit of time, but most of the time is passive cooking. I encourage you to try making your own bowl so that you may savor and appreciate a well-crafted bowl. At Simon’s urging, I’m  sharing this chicken phở  recipe from my cookbook, Into the Vietnamese Kitchen (Ten Speed Press, 2006). Try it out and contribute comments so that we can build a nice body of content on this wonderful Vietnamese chicken noodle soup!

Chicken Pho Recipe (Phở Gà )

While beef phở may be the version that most people know and like, chicken phở is also excellent. In recent years, there has been a renewed interest in phở gà (pronounced “Fuh Gah”)within the Vietnamese American community, and a handful of restaurants are specializing in the delicate noodle soup. Some of them use free-range gà chạy or gà đi bộ (literally “jogging chicken” or “walking chicken”), yielding bowls full of meat that has a flavor and texture reminiscent of traditionally raised chickens in Vietnam.

If you want to create great chicken phở yourself, take a cue from the pros and start with quality birds. If you have never made phở, this recipe is ideal for learning the basics. It calls for fewer ingredients than other phở recipes, so you can focus on charring the onion and ginger to accentuate their sweetness, making a clear broth, and assembling steamy hot, delicious bowls. While some cooks flavor chicken phở broth with the same spices they use for beef phở, my family prefers using coriander seeds and cilantro to distinguish the two. To compare chicken with beef phở, see my beef pho noodle soup recipe.

Serves 8

Broth
2 yellow onions, about 1 pound total, unpeeled
Chubby 4-inch section fresh ginger, unpeeled
1 chicken, 4 pounds, excess fat and tail removed
3 pounds chicken backs, necks, or other bony chicken parts
5 quarts water
1 1/2 tablespoons salt
3 tablespoons fish sauce
1-inch chunk rock sugar* (about 1 ounce)
2 tablespoons coriander seeds, toasted in a dry skillet for about 1 minute until fragrant
4 whole cloves
1 small or 1/2 large bunch cilantro (bound stems about 1 inch in diameter)

Bowls
1 1/2–2 pounds small flat rice noodles (bánh phở), dried or fresh
Cooked chicken, at room temperature
1 yellow onion, sliced paper-thin, soaked in cold water for 30 minutes and drained
3 or 4 scallions, green part only, thinly sliced
1/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro, leafy tops only
Black pepper

Optional garnishes
3 cups bean sprouts (about 1/2 pound)
10 to 12 sprigs mint (húng) 10 to 12 sprigs Thai basil* (húng quế)
12 to 15 fresh culantro* (ngò gai) leaves
2 or 3 Thai or serrano chiles, thinly sliced
2 or 3 limes, cut into wedges