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Turkey Pho
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- Total Time
- About 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 2medium yellow onions, halved and peeled
- 1(4-inch) piece of fresh ginger (do not peel)
- 12cups turkey or chicken stock, preferably homemade
- ¼cup fish sauce, plus more to taste
- 1star anise
- 2tablespoons brown sugar
- 1(1-pound) package dried rice vermicelli
- 12ounces mung bean sprouts (about 3 cups)
- 1small bunch Thai basil sprigs
- 3jalapeños, stemmed and thinly sliced
- 2 to 3limes, quartered, to taste
- 4cups shredded cooked turkey (about 1 pound)
- Kosher salt, to taste
- 1½cups coarsely chopped cilantro leaves and tender stems (about 1 large bunch)
- 1cup thinly sliced scallions (about 1 bunch)
Preparation
- Step 1
Cook onions and ginger directly over open flame of a gas burner for about 5 minutes, turning them occasionally, until they are charred on all sides. (If you don’t have a gas stove, heat broiler and set onions and ginger on a foil-lined baking sheet. Broil, turning occasionally, for 15 to 20 minutes until charred on all sides.) Allow charred ginger to cool, then slice it into ½-inch coins.
- Step 2
In a large Dutch oven or similar pot, combine onions, sliced ginger, stock, fish sauce, star anise and brown sugar. Bring to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer for 45 minutes.
- Step 3
In the meantime, cook rice noodles according to the instructions on the package. Drain and set aside.
- Step 4
Arrange mung bean sprouts, sprigs of Thai basil, jalapeños and limes on a platter and set on the table.
- Step 5
Remove onions, ginger and star anise from the pot. Add shredded turkey to the pot, and return it to a simmer. Taste the soup and adjust seasoning with additional fish sauce and/or salt, if needed.
- Step 6
Divide rice noodles, cilantro and scallions evenly among large soup bowls, then ladle hot stock over the top, making sure each bowl gets a healthy serving of turkey. Serve immediately, accompanied by platter of garnishes.
- Step 7
Cover and refrigerate leftovers, keeping noodles separate, for up to 3 days.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
This was good. I found it useful as a blueprint: I liked the trick of broiling the onion and ginger ahead of time and felt it gave depth of flavor. I did without the star anise and used five spice powder. Used serrano chiles instead of jalapeño as that was what I had. Added finely sliced carrot and cooking greens. It's a great soup for leftovers--not just the turkey.
You could freeze homemade chicken stock and then thaw to continue with the recipe with the charred onion and ginger Steps 1 and 2. You can freeze chunks of turkey meat separately and defrost and shred before adding to the broth (I froze several packages of turkey meat yesterday to use in various dishes in the future).
Today I made the pho exactly to the recipe using previously frozen rich homemade chicken stock and leftover turkey meat kept refrigerated overnight. Really delicious.
Can you make and freeze?
I made this the Friday after Thanksgiving (I made the stock on Wednesday). It was the most amazing, authentic, fresh, and wonderful meal to eat after Thanksgiving utilizing leftovers -- everyone loved it, and I will make it every year! Definitely the best homemade pho I've ever had.
I also added some vegetables we happened to have around, bok choy and mushrooms. We left in the pieces of ginger because we think it's a great treat to find and eat one.
This was honestly the best Pho I have ever had! I made it exactly as the recipe said with broth made from Thanksgiving Turkey carcass. I had always been told that making pho was difficult, but this was easy!
As a Vietnamese I found this a bit too much to stomach. It's a travestry of Pho. But at least the spices and fresh vegetable are authentic. Pho, as an old chef in Vietnam said, only need good beef bones, good beef and nuoc mam (fish sauce). The only spices are ginger, onion or shallot and star anise. The most important is star anise. I also found it disturbing that people do not use enough nuoc mam. Anyway, it's a nice instant pho. By the way you can freeze pho stock. They last forever.
You can just do without it. It won't taste exactly the same, but try some mix of mint, italian parsley, and/or fresh basil. It will be fine.
This was marvelous!! We ended up doubling the star anise, and adding a stick of cinnamon to the broth. We thought that brought the flavor closer to what we'd had at our local Pho restaurants. Our garnishes also included Sriracha and Hoisin.
I used homemade turkey stock, doubled the star anise, and followed the rest of the recipe exactly. I’ve eaten pho in Ho Chi Minh City and other cities around the world, and this pho ranks right up there.
I don't know how to edit comments but thinking about the flavors, adding cinnamon, cloves and cardamom would be too strong for turkey which is probably why you only add it for beef pho.
This recipe is one of our all time favorites, made just as the recipe is written. We now look forward to it just as much (or more!) as we do our Thanksgiving feast. Not to be missed! And yes, easy to freeze.
Line a pan with tin foil and broil on the highest rack of your oven. You can also use a torch and do it by hand.
Incredible use of leftover Samrin Nosrat buttermilk brined turkey breast. I undercooked my turkey a tad, and this was the perfect way to reheat it. 3 star anise, 1 cinnamon stick, a fistful of cilantro stems added to the soup, and just 1/8 cup of fish stock. Only had regular basil; was a great substitution. Stock was Better Than Bouillion No Chic broth, so vegetarian family members could eat the Pho. Whole family very pleased.
This was delicious! I made the following alterations: no star anise (accidentally), no mung bean sprouts and no basil at the store (!). And I am going to admit a further alteration that goes with my Northern California location: I added chiffonaded kale to the plate with the jalapeños and limes (I needed kale after this holiday!). The broth was homemade from the turkey carcass, and it was really delicious to begin with -- the charred onions and ginger were next level. The kale really worked!
I shredded chicken off a half eaten rotisserie chicken, then put the carcass into the simmering pot for some extra flavor for the broth. I also added a cinnamon stick as I had some super fresh ones form the Indian grocer., plus some galangal I had on hand along w/ the ginger for it’s earthiness. served with all the above plus hoisin sauce. MMMMMMMM!
Great recipe, we will be making it again!
Add soft tofu, spinach, and baby mushrrooms
This was one of 4 leftover turkey recipes I used from NYT, and definitely a favorite - I intended to make this to freeze, so I only used 6 cups of broth. For half the broth, I used more star anise (3) and about 1/8 teaspoon of white pepper. I also still used the same amount of onion and ginger to amp the flavor (if I was using a full 12 cups of stock, I likely would have doubled the amount of onion, ginger, and star anise - and added bit more white pepper). YUM!
Yes, but. The char was off-putting. Halfway through the first boil I took all out and removed as much char. The fish sauce was salty…I’d back off in that, and the br sugar was too much. I’d reduce down to a quarter. But I get its role! Very very nice!
Making this broth has become an annual weekend-after-Thanksgiving ritual in our house. I make the recipe just as written and it’s perfect.
We smoked a turkey so our broth was rich and amazing. I never would have thought to make pho with it, but it was great! A few changes: for the broth, I added a few pieces of Chinese cinnamon and one small cube of instant pho broth; I also added paper-thin slices of half a red onion over the cooked noodles; then just laid cold shredded turkey on top and let the boiling broth heat it. Big success!
We make this every year with the leftover turkey carcass! It has become our favorite go to freezer meal. Make up the broth, toss in the turkey chunks and freeze. When you reheat, you put in the noodles and greens. It’s awesome.
Followed the recipe and it was perfect for the Sunday post "too much to eat" Thanksgiving. Thank-you
Excellent
Made this with Roasted Turkey Stock on cooking.nytimes.com. A really winner. Couldn’t fine bean sprouts at 4 grocery stores in Santa Fe, NM (including WF) so used choy sum….really, really good.
Fantastic
This is becoming my annual tradition the Sunday after Thanksgiving. This is my third time making it. I may add a sausage meatball this year as I don’t have a lot of shredded turkey left.
Excellent idea and recipe! We smoked our Thanksgiving turkey and the broth was divine in the pho. I added a few pieces of Chinese cinnamon, and an extra piece of star anise. If you can find the instant pho cubes they also help. I added 1 small cube. What I love is that this is a giant departure from the 100 Merican chow we've had the last 3 days. Had a bit of trouble charing the onions which fell apart. But I also saved a few pieces and put then back in the broth. Served with hosin & sirracha.
Looks wonderful! Going to try this tonight using rotisserie chicken instead of waiting for leftover Thanksgiving turkey. My questions: Are the onions halved lengthwise or crosswise? Are the root ends left on or off before and after charring?
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