Bo Kho
Vietnamese beef stew with lemongrass and star anise.
Ingredients
- 1000 g Beef chuck
- 3 Carrot
- 2 Lemongrass
- 3 Star anise
- 2 tbsp Tomato paste
- 4 tbsp Fish sauce
- 1 Onion
- 1 Ginger
- 3 tbsp Neutral oil
- 1 tsp Salt
Method
- Cube the beef; chop the onion and ginger and bruise the lemongrass.
- Brown the beef in oil, then add the aromatics, tomato paste, and star anise.
- Add water and fish sauce and braise until the beef is tender, about 80 minutes.
- While the braise simmers, chop the carrots into bite-sized chunks.
- Add the carrots for the last 20 minutes until soft.
- Serve with bread or noodles.
Tap “Start cooking” for live timers that flag what to get ahead on while something simmers.
About Bo Kho
Bo kho is a Vietnamese beef stew that sits at the crossroads of French braising technique and Southeast Asian aromatics. Chuck is browned and then simmered low and slow with lemongrass, star anise, ginger, and a base of tomato paste and fish sauce until the meat turns fork-tender, usually well over an hour. The result is deeply savory and fragrant rather than heavy: fish sauce lends the funky, salty depth that stands in for a Western stew's beef-stock backbone, while star anise and lemongrass give it an unmistakably Vietnamese perfume.
On the plate, bo kho is a russet, spice-laced broth studded with soft chunks of beef and sweet carrot cooked just until tender. It reads as warming and aromatic, with a gentle sweetness from the carrot balancing the salt of the fish sauce and the licorice note of star anise. In Vietnam it's a beloved breakfast and street-food dish, ladled over a crusty baguette for dunking or served with rice noodles to soak up the broth. Browning the beef first and giving the aromatics time to bloom in the fat before the liquid goes in is what builds its layered flavor, so don't rush those early steps.
Bo Kho: frequently asked questions
How many calories are in Bo Kho?
A serving has about 489 calories — 32.3g protein, 8.8g carbs, 36.9g fat, 1.6g fiber. Figures are estimated from the ingredient amounts and will shift with your portions and brands.
Is it high in protein?
Each serving has about 32.3g of protein, roughly 26% of its calories.
Is Bo Kho gluten-free?
Based on its ingredients, Bo Kho has no gluten-containing components, so it's naturally gluten-free — as always, check that any packaged ingredients you use are certified gluten-free to be safe.
How long does Bo Kho take to make?
About 120 minutes start to finish, but only around 25 of those are hands-on — the rest is largely unattended cooking time you can step away from. In the Homecooked app the timers and parallel steps are sequenced for you so the hands-on part feels even shorter.
How many servings does Bo Kho make?
This recipe makes 6 servings. In the app you can scale it up or down and the ingredient amounts adjust automatically.