Vietnam
Phở Hải Sản Recipe: Vietnamese Seafood Pho

Phở Hải Sản Recipe: Vietnamese Seafood Pho

Hanna Tran Hanna Tran | Updated October 16, 2026

Say pho and most people think of beef or chicken. Phở hải sản keeps the pho spices and the pho noodles but tops the bowl with seafood: shrimp, cuttlefish, white fish and, if you like them, basil clams. The broth is made with chicken bones and the liquid the seafood was cooked in, which gives it a natural sweetness.

Phở Hải Sản Recipe: Vietnamese Seafood Pho

Time: once the spices go in, the broth simmers for 40 minutes.

    Ingredients

    • 1.5 litres vegetable stock
    • 1 onion, sliced
    • 500 g pho noodles (bánh phở)
    • 2 tablespoons coriander
    • 300 g shrimp, cuttlefish, white fish, basil clams (optional)
    • 50 g field mushrooms
    • 2 tablespoons chopped coriander
    • Chicken bones
    • Vegetables and lime, to serve

    Pho spices

    • Black cardamom and green cardamom pods
    • Cinnamon
    • Star anise
    • Coriander seeds
    • Fennel seeds
    • Cloves
    • Sea salt

    How to make phở hải sản

    1. Cook the seafood

    Peel the shrimp. Slice the cuttlefish and the white fish into small pieces. Boil the shrimp, cuttlefish and fish well. If you love basil clams, you can add them too. Lift the seafood out and set it aside for the bowls, and keep the cooking liquid: it’s the base of the broth.

    Shrimp, cuttlefish, white fish fillet and clams

    2. Build the broth

    Cut the onion in two and fry it first. Then put the chicken bones, the onion and the field mushrooms into the seafood cooking liquid.

    Mushrooms and halved onion in the broth

    Add the black cardamom, green cardamom, cinnamon, star anise, coriander seeds, sea salt, fennel seeds and cloves, and simmer for 40 minutes.

    Pho spices: cardamom, cinnamon, star anise, cloves, fennel and coriander seeds, and sea salt

    3. Prepare the noodles

    Dip the pho noodles into boiling water to soften and rinse them, then drain.

    Pho noodles in a basket

    4. Assemble the bowls

    Put the noodles in deep bowls and ladle the broth over them. Add the seafood you cooked in step 1, then scatter some coriander and onion on top. Serve with vegetables, lime and more coriander on the side.

    Two bowls of seafood pho with lime, chilli and sliced onion on the side
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