Vietnamese food is very tasty fresh, and delicious. The Vietnamese soup Pho continues to be on the CNN list of 50 of the most popular foods in the world.

Pho without the rice noodles should be okay on keto, but you need to also check for any hidden sugars in the pho broth. We recommend making the pho broth yourself to ensure no hidden sugar is in the broth. Then you can add extra meat and vegetables to substitute for taking out the rice noodles.

Carbohydrates Count Of Vietnamese Pho Soup

The rice noodles in a 2 cup serving of Pho soup with rice noodles are too high for a Keto or low carb diet. The reason is that rice noodles are very high in carbohydrates.

Below are the estimated grams of carbohydrates for Pho soup with and without rice noodles. When you take out the rice noodles, the carbs go down significantly.

As you can see from the carbs of the rice noodles, there are a lot of carbohydrates in rice noodles. To add even a cup of rice noodles to your pho soup makes the carbs of the Pho very high.

But to take out the rice noodles significantly takes down the carbohydrates on the pho soup as the soup now is mainly broth, some meat, and vegetables.

About Rice Noodles

Vietnamese rice noodles are made from rice flour and water. Sometimes tapioca and corn starch can also be added to the noodles.

The rice flour used in rice noodles is from finely ground white rice. Because the base of the noodles is white rice, the rice noodles are high in carbohydrates as it is similar to eating white rice.

White rice is terrible for you as white rice has a GI or glycemic index of 64. That is high for a GI index.

The carbs in white rice will turn into blood sugar more rapidly than in other grains such as brown rice; eating white rice can be similar to eating high sugar foods such as a candy bar.

Many medical people feel that this may be why white rice has been associated with a higher risk of type 2 diabetes. When you look at white rice-eating countries in Asia, you can see their diabetes rate has increased significantly over the years.

In Vietnam, where rice noodles are considered a staple, the diabetes rate is alarming. Over the last 10 years, the diabetes rate has doubled, and it’s estimated that 1 of every 20 Vietnamese adults has diabetes.

The number of people who are pre-diabetes is also significantly larger. Many people contribute to the prevalent eating of carbohydrates like white rice and rice noodles in the Vietnamese diet.

Watch The Hidden Sugars In Vietnamese Foods

One of the things you must watch for in Vietnamese food, especially if you do not cook it yourself, are the hidden sugars. Vietnamese food, including some Pho recipes, may have sugars in it.

Pho that is healthy should be made with bone broth. The Vietnamese will cook the bones for a long time, usually, a day or so, to make the broth for Pho.

Vietnamese food, including Pho, calls for sugar to be used in the recipe, so Vietnamese food usually has some hidden sugars and depending on who is making the Pho, and what recipe they are using, the Pho can have a lot of hidden sugars.

Vietnamese food uses sugar because Vietnamese food has a sweet and sour taste. The sugars help to give it that sweet and sour taste.,

Make the Pho Yourself

We recommend that you try to make the Pho yourself if you want to have Pho. Get yourself some good bone stock and boil the bones for a long time.

The secret that many Vietnamese street food pho makers do is they make sure that the broth has been made from fresh bone stock, and they will cook the broth for a long time, even overnight or longer.

Many times the Vietnamese will add a bit of sugar to their broth. Use a low-carb or keto sugar like Monk Fruit Sugar if you want a sweet and sour taste.

We love Monk Fruit Sugar. It is a sugar that has been used in Asian medicine and as a sweetener for hundreds of years. Monk Fruit Sugar does not have an aftertaste.

We have found that Monk Fruit sugar works very well as a substitute for most sugars. Best of all, Monk Fruit sugar is allowed on a keto diet.

Substitute Meat & Vegetables for the Rice Noodles

One of the great things about being a Keto is that you can eat protein. Because of this, in your Pho, you can add more meat and take out the rice noodles.

I love Pho with chicken so that you can add more chicken.

You will not miss the rice noodles in your Pho with additional vegetables and meat. Pho does use a lot of fresh vegetables, so if you double and triple up on the vegetables, you will not miss the noodles.

Here are some of the vegetables that we recommend you can double or triple up on with your Pho:

• Fresh mint
• Sprigs of Thai basil
• Fresh cilantro
• Green onions (scallions)
• Sliced white or red onion
• Mung bean sprouts
• Sliced Thai red chiles

We also love to squeeze fresh lime on top of our Pho; it gives a nice sour taste.

Vietnamese Pho is a great dish and keto-friendly if you take out the rice noodles, cut out the sugars, and add more meat and vegetables. By doing this, you will get the same excellent Pho taste without all the carbs and sugars.

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