Vietnamese Rice Noodle and Beef Soup (Bún bò Huế)
Difficulty 3/5 Ingredients 19 Steps 13
Bún bò Huế is a popular Vietnamese noodle soup that originated in the old imperial capital of Huế.
Ingredients
Broth
- 4 tbsp Huế shrimp paste
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- Vegetable oil
- 2 fresh medium-sized pigs feet, cut into 1 cm pieces (discard the feet themselves)
- 2 stalks of lemongrass, cut into 5-inch pieces
- 1 kg beef shank with cartilage, sliced into 2 mm thick pieces and cut about 4 x 4 cm
- Nước mắm
- Sugar
- Red pigment powder (non-spicy, just for coloring)
- Chilli powder
Assembly
- 1 bunch of cilantro leaves, chopped
- 1 bunch of Italian (flat leaf) parsley leaves, chopped
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 1 kg thin rice noodles
Condiments
- Limes, cut into wedges
- Fresh chilli peppers, sliced
- Bean sprouts
- Banana blossom, thinly sliced
- Shrimp paste
Steps
Broth
- Add shrimp paste to a large 2.5 L bowl. Gradually mix in cold water, stirring vigorously, until almost at the rim; do not spill. Rest 1.5 hours to settle.
- Sauté small onion in 3 tbsp oil until golden brown.
- In a stockpot, combine cooked onion, pig feet and 2 L water. Slowly bring to the boil over medium heat.
- Add lemongrass. Slowly pour in only the clear shrimp paste liquid, not the settled silt.
- Add another litre of water to the residual shrimp paste. Stir. Let settle, then add the clear liquid to the stockpot.
- Simmer stock 20 minutes.
- Add beef. Skim broth occasionally for a clear liquid. Cook another 20 minutes, checking the beef is not overcooked.
- Add fish sauce and sugar to taste, balancing salty and sweet.
- While broth cooks, heat oil in a pan. Add red pigment. Cook until blended with oil. Add to stock. Repeat with chilli powder.
Assembly
- Combine chopped parsley and cilantro leaves with uncooked medium onion.
- Fresh noodles: add boiling water to heat. Dried noodles: soak in boiling water until soft, then dip in cold water to stop cooking. Do not overcook; dried noodles are already cooked.
- In a large soup bowl, place a handful of noodles. Top with a handful of parsley/cilantro/onion mixture. Ladle on steaming hot broth, with several pieces of beef and pork.
- Serve hot with condiments. Optionally add a squeeze of lime, chopped fresh chillies, or a small dollop of shrimp paste.
Notes from the original
- Rice noodles about the size of spaghetti No 5. are preferred.
- Shrimp paste is essential to this dish, and this cannot be considered bún bò huế without it. Different types of shrimp paste can be found all over Vietnam. Some are of better quality than others. Some purists believe that only Huế shrimp paste is acceptable for this dish as it is smoother and of superior quality than other pastes, which can have trace amounts of sand in them. Unfortunately, it can be hard to find outside of Vietnam, so an "inferior" paste may be substituted.
Source. Adapted from “Cookbook:Vietnamese Rice Noodle and Beef Soup (Bún bò Huế)” by Wikibooks contributors, revision of 2025-06-16, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Changes. Steps rewritten into short commands. Introduction shortened. Wiki formatting removed. This adapted recipe is shared under CC BY-SA 4.0.