Bò Kho (Vietnamese Beef Stew)

Bò Kho is a hearty Vietnamese Beef Stew that uses a homemade broth simmering in spices! It’s comfort food with fall-apart beef and vegetables, perfect for weekend dinners or family celebration banquets. Serve it hot with your favorite noodles or crusty Vietnamese baguettes!

A hearty Winter warmer

Every time Winter comes, I love making a huge pot of Bò Kho to last for DAYS. The beauty of this dish is that the broth flavor intensifies as time passes and works wonderfully as a leftover meal.

Plus, if I have any unused baguettes, I can stuff them with Vietnamese meatballs – how perfect for easy weeknight dinners and packed lunches!

Along with Wonton Egg Noodle Soup (港式云吞面), Bò Kho is actually one of Dad’s favorite noodle soups, so I do love making it for him to eat. Here’s why it’s his number one: you get a rich tomato kick that perfectly balances all the earthy spices. The meat is slow cooked until buttery and melt-in-your-mouth tender, deeply infused with aromatics.

But that’s not the end of it! We love to dunk crusty baguettes into the stew to soak up every hearty drop, then slurp it up with soft rice noodles.

Just look at how the noodles are so generously coated!

Should you eat it thick like a stew or thinner like a noodle soup?

I grew up eating our homemade Vietnamese Beef Stew as a noodle soup. Grandma would always make it on the thinner side so we would get some real slurping action going on.

But I’ve come to learn that like Mum’s Satay Beef Noodle Soup (which she used to make before she became a vegetarian), it can also be enjoyed on the thicker side, much like a stew. It’s made fairly concentrated so you won’t need to fill your bowl up with a lot of the soup like you would other noodle soups.

Eating Bò Kho this way reminds me of Japanese Tsukemen (つけ麺), where the flavor is exceptionally rich and a little goes a long way.

To get this consistency, just use less liquid or let the soup reduce for longer until it thickens. Then bring out the noodles and bread for a delicious Winter warmer the whole family can love!

Why this recipe works

• Roasting the onions and ginger adds a smoky flavor to the stew for extra depth.
• Bò Kho spice marinade intensifies the meat essence with very little effort.
• Using coconut water keeps the soup naturally sweet without the need for too much sugar.

What you’ll need

For the stock

About the stock

We prefer to make our own beef stock because we can control the flavor and ingredients, but you can certainly use store-bought ones for convenience.

For the marinade

About the ingredients

Store-bought Bò Kho seasoning is simply a very concentrated dry mix of beef, stock, carrots, aromatics and tomato paste. If you can’t find it at Asian supermarkets, just use more of the recipe ingredients or add Chinese five spice.

For the soup

About the coconut water

Fresh coconut water straight from a coconut is ideal, but if that’s not easily available then the bottled version will work too.

For the tendons

About the tendons

We buy tendons from our local butcher. Different tendon batches will have different textures, which affects cooking time. You’ll find some are softer and some are naturally firmer.

For the noodles and garnish

Noodle substitutions

This Bò Kho recipe uses Vietnamese rice noodles (bánh phở) but it can also be enjoyed with egg noodles or clear noodles (hủ tiếu). You can also get Vietnamese baguettes to soak up the soup make the most of the dish.

How to make this recipe

Start by cutting the beef into 6cm (2.4″) chunks. Marinate the meat with the Bò Kho spices, garlic and 1 finely chopped onion for a minimum of 20 minutes.

To make the stock, bring a pot of water to a boil and add the bones in along with the peeled ginger. Let it simmer on a low-medium heat for at least 3 hours.

Meanwhile, char the remaining onions and ginger until the outside is black and the juices just start to bubble from the inside.

Remove the skin under running cool water, then add the aromatics into the stock along with the coconut water, rock sugar, salt and chicken bouillon powder. Let it simmer on a low heat as you work on the other ingredients.

Cut the lemongrass into 5cm (2″) segments along their length and use a meat mallet or knife to crush them until they begin to split.

Heat up a wok on medium heat and add 5 tbsp oil in. When hot, throw in the lemongrass and tomato paste, then stir for 10 seconds.

Turn the heat up to high and pour in the marinated beef. Cook for 1-2 minutes or until all sides are seared.

Tip: To avoid boiling the meat, divide and cook the beef, lemongrass and tomato paste in 2-3 batches.

Bring the heat up to high for the stock and add the cooked meat in.

Wash and peel the daikon and carrots, then cut them into 4cm (1.6″) segments or to preference. Add them into the soup and let it simmer for another hour or until the meat is soft.

Note: Keep the vegetables on the larger side as they will soften and break apart if too small and simmered for long.

As the stock is cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the tendons for 2 minutes to remove any odors. Drain, scrape off any impurities and add them into the stock to cook for another 3 hours or until soft on your preferred texture.

Remove the tendons from the soup and cut into smaller segments, then leave aside in a bowl to eat with the stew.

Serve the Bò Kho hot with noodles, baguette, fresh herbs, chili and a squeeze of lemon juice!

Recipe FAQs

Tips for the best results

• Marinate the beef overnight. Let the spices infuse into the meat for longer so that your Bò Kho is deeply fragrant. Make sure to take it out of the fridge at least 20 minutes before cooking so it has time to come to room temperature.
• Double boil the stock. This is a technique we use for all of our soups to ensure we get a clear and naturally sweet broth with fewer impurities.
• Toast all the aromatics. Give the star anise and cinnamon bark a light toast to bring out their fragrance.
• Sear the vegetables. You can simply throw the carrots and white radish into the soup, but searing the sides with tomato paste as you would have with the beef helps to add more flavor.

More Winter warming dishes

• Bánh Canh Gà (Vietnamese Chicken Tapioca Noodle Soup)
• Bánh Canh Chay (Vegetarian Tapioca Noodle Soup)
• Bún Bò Huế Chay (Vegetarian Spicy Noodle Soup)
• Banh Canh Cua (Crab Tapioca Noodle Soup)
• Vietnamese Chicken Curry (Cà Ri Gà)
• Chinese Roast Duck Noodle Soup (雪菜鴨絲湯米)

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This post was originally published on 15/10/19 and updated with new photos in November 2021.

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