The fish sauce is for salt and flavor of the broth it is not really optional for authentic pho. I usually use a few more spices such as 1 black and 2-4 green cardamom, 5 star anise, 4 cloves, 1 Chinese cinnamon stick and I char the onion garlic and ginger. This broth takes time usually 24 hour or more. I also add two bay leaves. I will bring to a slow simmer and finish it in the oven with a lid on at 250 until the next day. Strain it and return strained broth to a pot and simmer on low to keep warm until I am ready to eat.

Didn't really taste like authentic pho, but it was ok.

Wonderful I never knew Pho could be so easy!

Very good! Added shiitake mushrooms.

Great recipe easy to follow. Great thing about pho is you can customize to your taste. Everyone really enoyed it.

Good and easy to make. Had to substitute the star anise and Thai basil for regular basil but still delicious

This is delicious I substituted garam masala for all the independent spices and used a roast chicken instead of beef.

Great!!! My family love it!!

Great flavors. Need more fresh veggies at the end.

It was very good. I know it's not as healthy but I think it would've been good with a little salt to bring out more flavor in the broth. I followed the recipe exactly and everything turned out nicely except if you want it a little hotter you probably need to put the noodles and your garnishes in first and then pour the soup because it got cold pretty quickly.

I added some allspice, and didn't have any fish sauce but had a few fresh shrimp which I let float in the broth for 2 minutes & voilà, the recipe is DELISH! Great job!