Simple & Easy Bun Bo Hue Recipe (Without Beef)

Besides bún bò huế, Hue is known for being the home of Cơm Hến, Bánh Bèo, Nem Lụi Huế, and Bánh Khoái – all of which I was luckily able to try at least once on my visit. I had checked into the Hotel La Perle, a boutique hotel located in the heart of Hue, in a quiet alley just 2 two-minute walk away from the city’s walking street. Compared to the other ‘walking streets’ in Vietnam, this was certainly one of the more tame ones.

The check-in staff would be victims to my constant questions for local eats. Where could I find the best X, Y, Z? Bún bò huế was on the list, and to my surprise, they mentioned that it was typically eaten for breakfast. So, with their list of recommendations, I set off to gorge on this amazing bowl of spicy, sweet, salty noodles every single morning.

The recipe below is what I’ve hoped to capture the essence of this amazing dish, without the usage of beef (as my wife is allergic to it), so you can try this ‘delicious slurpy stuff in a bowl’ for yourself at home.

Ingredients of Bun Heo Hue

I tried to keep my bun heo hue as simple as possible. You’ll need:

• 2lb pork shoulder
• 1lb pork hock, cut
• 1lb pork balls (optional)
• 1 onion, halved
• 2 star anise
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tbsp ginger, minced
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon powder or 1 cinnamon stick
• 3 tbsp fish sauce
• 2 tbsp rock sugar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp lemongrass powder or 1 lemongrass stalk, minced
• 1/2 lime squeezed for juice
• 3 tbsp chili paste
• 3L water
• 1.5 lb rice noodles (bún)
• Toppings: Fresh herbs (cilantro, lettuce, green onions, onions sliced), lime wedges, and sliced chili

Preparing and Cooking Bun Heo Hue

While prepping the meat cuts and vegetable toppings, bring a pot of water to a boil.

Once boiling, put the pork butt and hock in water to blanch/clean. Leave for about 5 minutes on a rolling boil, leaving the lid off. Remove and scrub off any excess gunk after draining. Keep this meat off to the side.

In the same pot, now empty, char the onion for 5 minutes. Add in the star anise after and leave for about 1 minute. Don’t need to add oil here, as the point is to char the ingredients to get a layer of flavor out. Afterwards, add in the garlic, ginger, cinnamon stick and lemongrass stalk (if you have them). Leave for 3 minutes.

After letting the aromatics settle, add back the meat. Cover with 3-4L of water. Add sugar, lime, powders (cinnamon and lemongrass if you’re using those), and chili paste.

Bring to boil, covered.

After arriving at a boil, reduce heat to simmer, uncovered for at least an hour. You can take this time to make the noodles off to the side and adjust cooking time based on the instructions of your noodles (mine take ~15 minutes).

Skim the soup of excess fats and scum at the top. You don’t have to, though. The strainer at the end will get rid of the scum, and oil-wise this is usually fine as well. To your preference.

Right before the soup is done simmering, add pork balls either into the pot or a separate pot to cook. These are often precooked and only need a few minutes to heat back up.

After simmering, take out the meats. Pour the soup through a strainer as you add broth to bowls (or strain the entire pot into a separate pot).

Presentation of Bun Heo Hue

I normally have all bowls lined up, placing the noodles in first, adding all vegetables in after, leaving plenty of chilis, cilantro, onions, and lettuce off to the side as well. Leave lime wedges out of the bowl. Add in meats, and finish off by straining the hot soup into the bowl. Add chili paste or chili oil again at the end.

That’s all! Enjoy the taste of Vietnam with this delicious slurpy stuff in a bowl.

If you’ve simmered it long enough, the pork hocks should’ve released a fair deal of collagen into the soup, and any leftover soup will turn into a gelatinous texture in the fridge. This is (really) good. I like the soup overnight ideally, as you get to skim off any excess fats/oils if desired.

Thanks for Reading!