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A quick, flavorful Vietnamese-inspired low-carb pho subs zucchini for rice noodles.
Low Carb Beef Pho
So easy, the steak is sliced thin and cooks less than a minute in the ginger-garlic beef broth. Top this with fresh lime, basil, cilantro, jalapeno and scallions and you have one tasty faux pho!
This recipe is from the Whole30 Cookbook by Melissa Hartwig, I loved how simple and flavorful this is. It takes less than thirty minutes to make, and one bowl isvery generous and satisfying.
You can see more Soup Recipes here!
Asian Beef Zoodle Soup (Whole30)
Asian Beef Zoodle Soup is a quick, flavorful Vietnamese-inspired noodless pho which subs zucchini for rice noodles.
Yield: 4 Servings
Serving Size: 1 1/2 cups
Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon coconut oil
- 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
- 6 ounces fresh shiitake mushrooms, stemmed and sliced
- 2 cloves garlic, minced
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh ginger
- 5 cups Beef Bone Broth or Whole30-compliant beef broth
- 2 tablespoons coconut aminos
- 2 teaspoons Red Boat fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 2 medium zucchini
- 12 ounces boneless beef sirloin steak, thinly sliced across the grain (see Tip)
TOPPINGS:
- Fresh basil leaves
- Fresh cilantro leaves
- Sliced green onion Sliced jalapeño
- Lime wedges
Instructions
- In a large pot, heat the coconut oil over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, for about 3 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add the broth, coconut aminos, fish sauce, and salt. Bring to a boil; reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, uncovered, for 5 minutes.
- Meanwhile, use a spiralizer (or julienne peeler) to cut the zucchini lengthwise into long, thin strands (or use a regular vegetable peeler to cut the zucchini lengthwise into thin ribbons). Add the zucchini noodles to the simmering soup and cook until just tender, about 1 1/2 minutes. Add the sliced steak and simmer until just cooked, 30 to 60 seconds. Ladle the soup into bowls and serve with the toppings of your choice.
Last Step:
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Notes
Tip: Freeze the steak for 15 minutes for easier slicing.
Nutrition
Serving: 1 1/2 cups, Calories: 241 kcal, Carbohydrates: 19.5 g, Protein: 23 g, Fat: 8.5 g, Sodium: 870.5 mg, Fiber: 4 g, Sugar: 8 g
My whole family loved this. I used an inexpensive julienne peeler and it made perfect zoodles. Great for leftovers too.
Great Pho!!
This was my first time making/trying Pho, it was delicious, even my picky husband liked it! Aldi has all the ingredients except for the fish sauce! They even have beef pho broth! I used half spiraled zucchini and pho noodles!
i hate this it is so healthy i want to die
Amazing- better than any pho I’ve had in a restaurant. Whole family loved it 😍
what the heck is a coconut amino? 😉
A gluten free alternative for soy sauce. 🙂
I did not expect to love this so much because my husband and I get pho regularly but I’ve always been too afraid to attempt it. I’ve been trying to cut back on my sodium and eat healthier in general though, and it was stormy last night, so this seemed good. I used olive oil because I did not have coconut oil and I threw in a couple of star anise pods to simmer with the broth. YUM!
5 stars but haven’t tried it yet.
Hello, I’m trying this delicious looking ASIAN BEEF ZOODLE SOUP and have a question regarding WW Blue. Your recipe shows a 4 for Blue but when I do the actual recipe calculation I get a 6. Also, the nutrition listed does not show Saturated Fat.
Your help would be really appreciated. Trying the soup regardless because it looks so d— good!
Hi Jeannie, did you use the recipe builder? The only accurate way to determine any recipe’s SmartPoints® value is to plug the ingredients into the recipe builder on the Weight Watchers website (Click on “My Foods,” select “Recipe,” and click “Create a recipe.”) which does not count fruits and vegetables in recipes in the calculations as they are now 0 points.
The SmartPoints® calculator isn’t meant for recipes and will often give you the wrong points (usually higher) because it’s counting the fruits and vegetables. So if you see a recipe with a SmartPoints® value that’s different from what the calculator tells you, now you know why.
This was delicious! I was nervous about the bone broth and fish sauce…. because i never used either but i am so glad i followed the recipe. This was great! I sis cheat and used pre-spiralized zucchini.
Easy and delicious !!!
Hey!
I absolutely loved this soup! When I was looking at the nutritional info, I noticed the carbs and sugar sort of high for what’s actually in it. Do you know if the carbs are from the onion? The sugar I dont know. Thanks for any info 🙂
Delicious! Easy to prepare. I used baby Bellas in place of the shiitake and ground beef instead of steak because that’s what I had available. Also added a diced carrot.
Omg sooo good! Only thing different that I did was add in garlic chili sauce to that extra heat and flavor! Delish!!
Husband, my daughter and I loved this recipe. Wish I would have doubled the recipe!
Hi anyone
Soup on stove now and was confused when or if I put ride noodles in soup
Anybody know ? I poured boiled water separately over noodles to cook. Beef is already in the soup. It’s done
Should I keep the noodles separate and add when I’m making a bowl for myself? Tnx everyone 🙂
Hi Gina
Can I use any beef broth. They have a Campbell’s pho whicj I never tried yet. Bone beef broth , do you just buy anywhere prepared ? I heard bone broth great for us all 🙂
Tnx I love pho soup and would love to try this soon
Sue
Oh and mushroom question. I don’t love them but will buy if it adds a great flavour. Lmk if u can 🙂 tnx
I am kind of zoodled out but am doing low carb. Is there something else I can use as a noodle.?
I would try a different spiralized vegetable?
Absolutely delicious!!
Can u use beef instead of steak? Can u eliminate fish sauce and coconut aminos? Can u give me the the InstaPot directions?
you just took almost everything out of this recipe that is supposed to be in it. Just make a beef soup maybe.
Absolutely deliciously perfect!
Is the sliced steak cooked beforehand? if not how does it cook is 60 seconds?
It’s very thinly sliced, cooks right in the soup.
Just made this for dinner tonight, my 14 year old’s choice, and I we LOVED IT!!!! We use soy instead. Definately going to make this again real soon!
OMG! I just tried doing this since I really love this kind of asian soups but always feel super guilty because of the noodles, you ara a salvation!!
This soup is SO delicious! I’ve made it several times. Definitely a part of our regular recipe rotation.
So good! I used to have Pho all the time, and this recipe is delicious. I added a bit of hoison sauce and Sriracha to my bowl (hoison sauce upped the points, but because it’s so low in points, I was still on track). Another one to add to my rotation! Thanks, Gina!
Can you tell me if I want to make this and leave it in the crockpot on warm, can I put the zoodles in the crockpot? Or would it be better to leave them on the side and let guests add them as they make a bowl?
Just did not know if the zoodles would get soggy.
Thanks!
can I use the vegetable broth instead of the bee bone?
Hi, I’m home from work due to winter weather today and this was the perfect lunch. I will definitely make it again and I look forward to trying some of the variations people talked about in the comments, such as shrimp or chicken. The only thing I will do differently is to make more zoodles and to keep them set aside for leftovers so they don’t get soggy in my fridge. I am doing a Whole30 plan for the month of January and was pleased to come across this recipe. Thank you.
Thanks for leaving your comment. I was wondering how it would do for leftovers. I will follow your lead and keep my zoodles separate from what is leftover.
Hi Gina! Can I use noodles instead of zoodles? If so what do you recommend?
You can use whatever you prefer.
Thanks for the great recipe, I loved how quickly/easily this comes together.
For others wanting to cook this: we don’t ‘diet’ per se, just try to eat healthy. So this recipe works and tastes great using ‘regular’ ingredients too, i.e. soy sauce and regular beef broth – we just didn’t add the extra salt.
Where is the sugar coming from?
I made this but did Soy Sauce instead of Coconut Aminos, added siracha to the broth, and added some rice noodles in addition to the zoodles…less skinny but DELICIOUS!! Thank you for yet another great recipe 🙂
You’re welcome!
Seriously the best soup I’ve ever made in my life or eaten in my life. This was bursting with flavor. Added crushed red peppers but stuck with recipe other than that. Out-freaking-standing!
Hey Gina what can we substitute for the coconut oil? I’m allergic.
So delicious! I’m on Day 18 of my 3rd round of Whole 30 and this was just the ticket to keep food boredom at bay! And BONUS! Leftovers!
Great!
Does it stay well as left overs?
So I am liking the flavor of the soup itself, but mine is a far cry from the pho I know and love. The beef flavor completely overwhelms everything else, and usually it’s all the subtle extra flavors of pho that make it special, in my mind. Too much “stuff” in it, so maybe I just made too many zoodles. I like the broth more than anything! Not sure where I went wrong. I’d probably make this again, but only as beef noodle soup, not faux pho.
How would this taste like a pho soup, when all the classic ingridients like star anise, cinnamon and so on are missing? Quite obvious, that this is different…
I just made this and it was amazing. I think it’s my new favourite meal. So good, flavours were right on! Thank you!!!
Thank you Caroline!
Made this recipe last night and loved it! I am a huge fan of pho, so this was right up my alley, and it was so quick to make! I did add sriracha to my bowl, as I always do with pho, and that gave it a really nice kick. I might add bean sprouts in the future, and I prefer Thai basil to the basil I found in the grocery store, but it was still fine. I can’t wait to eat this again!
This was absolutely wonderful … definitely a keeper! Thank you!
Made it tonight… it’s fantastic! Thank you so much for the recipe!
I love Pho…and this Faux Pho is AMAZING! I made my usual beef stock..from soup bones…are we calling this bone broth now?? I am not on Whole 30 so used soy sauce and olive oil otherwise stuck to recipe. Served with squirt of Sriracha …yum, yum, yum, yum, yum!!!!!
I made a chicken version of this and it was delicious! Used soy sauce instead of the coconut aminos. Sliced thin chicken cutlets into slices and put in the broth before you simmer for 5 minutes. Perfectly cooked the chicken. Will definitely be making this again!
Incredibly delicious! I had to go with what I had on-hand for certain things (i.e., subbed coconut aminos with soy sauce, sliced bella mushrooms instead of shiitake, rice noodles instead of zucchini, beef broth instead of beef bone broth, and I had a different brand of fish sauce than what was listed here)–but even with the subs that I had on-hand, it was so delicious. I have tried to make Pho once before in my life and failed miserably; I felt redeemed with this. Thanks, Gina! As always, your recipes continue to be perfection. 🙂
Oh my goodness. This soup was so easy and so flavorful. I had done a Whole 30 in 2015 but didn’t have this cookbook. Thanks for recommending. Love your blog.
I made this soup. Delicious. However, the noodles seemed to “disappear” in it. Next time I will spiralize double the amount of zucchini and yellow squash. Everything I have made is excellent, and I am keeping my “belly” relatively flat for a woman who is 67! Are all of your recipes still 1500 calories or under. Additionally, your photographs are make me want to cook everything! Thank you.
I am a Weight Watcher and needed a filling yet low point dinner. This soup was just the ticket! Thanks Gina for great tasting recipes that have helped me get to my goal weight and that my husband has no idea are “Skinny”.
I won’t tell if you don’t lol!
Made this Pho yesterday. Got more compliments than I ever recall.. I used low sodium canned beef broth as I didn’t have Beef Bone Broth. I used vegetable oil as I didn’t have coconut oil. Did not have coconut aminos (didn’t think to look here) to find out a replacement. I do find as with other pho that I need two slices of jalapeno per serving and a lot of fresh basil and cilantro in the bowl… the longer it sits in the bowl, the better the broth gets. Thinking the next time I serve it I will add the jalapeno and cilantro and basil before serving.
Would this be ok to cook ahead and freeze for future meals?
This was delicious!!! Thanks, Gina!
Hello- Where do you purchase the beef bone broth? Is it the same thing as low sodium beef broth. Thanks!!
No, but that would work too.
Made this tonight, so good!! Will definitely be making it again! 🙂
Any ideas what I can subsititute for the fish sauce? I’ve got a family member with a fish allergy, but I really want to make this soup!
Leave it out, add more coconut aminos
I made this for lunch today. So good!
Gina, do you know of any NO salt low point recipes? I’m desperate and love to cook. Your recipes are the backbone of my cooking. You are fabulous. Thanx for all you’ve done for us cookers! The no sodium is doctors orders. Pleeeeze help me. Thank you thank you. Roz
Amazing!!! I used soy sauce for the coconut aminos and also added some dashes of siracha to the broth. So flavorful and delicious
Where can I purchase beef bone broth? Or can I just sub with low-sodium organic beef broth! Thank you in advance for your time.
Whole Foods
What can we use instead of coconut amino? I don’t wish to purchase an ingredient like this that I won’t use again. Thanks.
Soy sauce
Incredibly delicious! So flavorful. I will make this often!
LOVE IT, BUT CANNOT PRINT. PAGE IS BLANK. PLEASE CORRECT SO I CAN SAVE IN YOUR COOKBOOK! SOUNDS DELISH! AM ON THE WAY TO THE STORE TO BUY INGREDIENTS NOW!
And cholesterol?
Could you add the Saturated Fat grams?
Thanks!
This looks so good. Could you adapt it to a shrimp or fish meal in observance of lent?
This looks really interesting! I just started another Whole30 on March 1st (and this time I got my hubby on board). I went to my doc a couple weeks ago and when the topic came to weight loss, she strongly recommended a Paleo/Primal diet, so I am trying to transition.
I have only used the coconut aminos once before (in an eggroll soup) and I’m still getting used to the flavor…they are not quite soy sauce.
Hi! The carbs seem high in this recipe with no noodles. Is it due to the coconut aminos?
Is the measurement for soy sauce (instead of coconut aminos) the same?
This looks divine! Thanks. Love soup.
Going to replace the beef with shrimp maybe use a different broth as well! Can’t wait!
I don’t like Fish Sauce….so it’s not something I would buy. Is there a substitute for this or would you suggest I omit it altogether? Thank you! The recipe looks delicious.
me too– What can I sub for Fish Sauce?
Leave it out
Opps…spellcheck got me. Little Black Domicile
Good Morning!
Your updates to my mailbox keep me inspired to cook simple yet delicious meals most days.
Thank you,
Laurel
This looks like a great recipe that I would like to try, but the print button doesn’t seem to be working and hauling my laptop into the kitchen to follow the recipe is a bit cumbersome. Can that be fixed?
Will look into it.
Wouldn’t print for me either.
I made a change to the code, see if it works now.
The print button is working for me now that you’ve made the change. Thank you!
Thanks! Works fine now.
I love pho! This sounds amazing! Is there a sub for the coconut aminos?
Coconut aminos and liquid aminos are very different things actually. Coconut aminos contain no soy, while liquid aminos are a highly processed form of soy sauce that relies on chemical reactions instead of natural fermentation.
This recipe looks delish! Definitely bookmarking it to try later!
They are like liquid aminos which is a soy sauce substitute. I buy Dr. Bragg’s Liquid Aminos.
This looks awesome! My husband hates mushrooms, so can you suggest an alternative vegetable? Thank you!
Leave them out
Bean sprouts, bell pepper or more onions would be great.
This looks delicious, can’t wait to try. What exactly are coconut aminos? I found them online, but I am wondering what exactly they add to the soup and how else they can be used?
Thank you!
Just a substitute for soy sauce! You cannot eat soy during the Whole 30 so coconut aminos is a recommended substitution. I thought they tasted very similar so I continue to use coconut aminos over soy sauce in recipes. It’s available at Whole Foods as well
Coconut amigos are used as a soy free and vegan alternative to soy sauce.
They taste really similar to soy sauce. You can always sub that 🙂
Faux pho. Faux pho. Faux pho. Fun to say, and looks delicious!! I think this is the recipe that will finally convince me to get a better spiralizer.