Instant Pot Venison and Zucchini Pho

Pressure Cooker  ·  Vietnamese-Inspired  ·  Wild Game

A Narrative RecipeWild Game  ·  Soup  ·  Year-Round

Before the lid even comes off, the smell tells you something happened in there — star anise and charred ginger rising in a dark, resinous cloud, something deeper underneath, the particular mineral richness that only venison broth develops when it’s been pressurized into submission. The moment you crack the seal on an Instant Pot Venison and Zucchini Pho, the kitchen becomes a different room.

Pho is one of those dishes that carries the weight of long labor — the twelve-hour bone broth, the careful skimming, the slow conversation of spice and collagen over low heat. What this recipe does, without apology, is compress that conversation. The Instant Pot’s sealed pressure environment drives the extraction of gelatin, marrow fat, and aromatic compounds at a speed that open-pot simmering cannot approach in the same time window. The result is not a shortcut version of pho. It is pho made by different means, and in the bowl — layered with rice noodles, tender venison, and thin coins of zucchini that have kept their edge — it is unambiguously itself.

Why this particular bowl earns its place

Venison is not salmon. It does not need a gentle hand and a warm pan and five minutes of cooking. It needs time, acid, and the kind of heat that breaks down connective tissue into something yielding. Pho broth gives it all three: the pressure cooker provides the heat, the charred aromatics provide the bitterness that offsets venison’s iron edge, and the long spice line — cinnamon, cloves, coriander — rounds out a flavor that might otherwise read as simply gamey to unaccustomed palates.

The zucchini is not decoration. Added in the final minutes, sliced thin on a bias, it holds its shape while absorbing broth along its cut edges. It brings a freshness — watery, grassy, mild — that keeps the bowl from becoming entirely a thing of winter weight. This is a pho that works in September when the hunting season opens and the zucchini has been overstaying in the garden. It also works in January, when you open the freezer and find a venison haunch that has been waiting for exactly this kind of treatment.

“The Instant Pot’s sealed pressure environment drives extraction at a speed that open-pot simmering cannot approach — the result is not a shortcut version of pho. It is pho made by different means.”

What goes into it

For the broth

900 g (2 lbs)venison bones or bone-in venison shankask your butcher to split them

1 largeyellow onion, halved through the root

8 cm (3 in)fresh ginger, sliced into coins

3 wholestar anise

1 cinnamon stick(about 8 cm / 3 in)

4 wholecloves

1 tspcoriander seeds

1 tspblack peppercorns

2 tbspfish sauce

1 tbspcoconut sugar or palm sugar

1.5 litrescold water

1 tspsalt

For the bowl

300 g (10 oz)venison loin or tenderloin, very thinly slicedpartially freeze for easier slicing

2 mediumzucchini, sliced 3 mm on the bias

200 g (7 oz)dried flat rice noodles (banh pho, medium width)

4spring onions, thinly sliced

Garnish plate

handfulfresh bean sprouts

handfulfresh Thai basil or regular basil leaves

handfulfresh coriander

1lime, cut into wedges

2–3fresh red chilies, thinly sliced

hoisin sauceand sriracha, at the table

On the venison: Two types of venison are doing two different jobs here. The bones and shank go into the broth for full pressure cooking — extracting collagen and marrow over 35 minutes. The loin goes in raw at service, cooked only by the boiling broth ladled over it in the bowl. For this to work safely, the broth must be at a rolling boil when it hits the meat, and the loin slices must be no thicker than 2–3 mm. If you are uncertain about the quality or sourcing of your venison, cook the loin slices briefly in the hot broth before serving rather than relying solely on carryover heat.

On substitutions: Beef bones work in place of venison bones, and the method is identical. The broth will be richer and less mineral. Wild boar is the closest flavor parallel to venison if game is unavailable. For the zucchini, thinly sliced bok choy stems or napa cabbage can substitute without disrupting the bowl’s internal logic — but avoid anything that releases significant water under heat, which will dilute the broth.

Building the broth, bowl by bowl

1. 1 Set your oven broiler to its highest setting, or heat a dry cast iron skillet over the highest flame your stovetop will produce. Place the halved onion and ginger coins cut-side down and leave them completely undisturbed for 4–5 minutes. You are looking for char — not browning, not caramelization, but actual blackening at the edges. This is what puts the smokiness into pho broth; pull them too early and the broth will taste sweet and flat. When the surfaces are charred and fragrant, remove and set aside.
2. 2 In a small dry skillet over medium heat, toast the star anise, cinnamon, cloves, coriander seeds, and peppercorns together for 2–3 minutes, shaking the pan frequently. The spices are ready when the coriander seeds deepen to a nut-brown and the cloves begin to release their oil — you will smell the shift before you see it. Remove from heat immediately; residual pan heat will continue the toast.
3. 3 Place the venison bones into the Instant Pot insert. Pour enough cold water to cover, press Sauté, and bring to a boil. Let it go for 3 minutes — grey foam will rise to the surface in sheets. Drain completely, rinse the bones under cold running water, and wipe the insert clean. This parboiling step removes blood and bone dust that would otherwise cloud the broth.
4. 4 Return the cleaned bones to the insert. Add the charred onion and ginger, the toasted spices, fish sauce, sugar, salt, and 1.5 litres of cold water. The liquid should come no higher than the Instant Pot’s maximum fill line. Seal the lid, set the valve to Sealing, and cook on High Pressure for 35 minutes. Allow a natural pressure release for 15 minutes, then carefully switch to Quick Release for any remaining pressure.
5. 5 Strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve lined with cheesecloth if you have it, or a clean kitchen towel. Do not press the solids — this is what keeps the broth clear rather than murky. Discard the bones and spent aromatics. Return the strained broth to the pot on a Sauté setting and bring it to a hard boil. Taste it now: it should be deeply savory, lightly sweet from the spices, with a smoke note from the charred aromatics. Adjust with more fish sauce for salt, a few drops of lime juice for acid if it feels flat.
6. 6 While the broth comes to a boil, soak the rice noodles in cold water for 10 minutes until pliable, then cook briefly in boiling water according to package directions — typically 1–2 minutes for medium-width noodles. Drain and rinse with cold water to stop cooking, then divide among four deep warmed bowls.
7. 7 Drop the zucchini coins into the boiling broth and cook for exactly 90 seconds — they should be cooked through but still hold their shape cleanly when lifted with a slotted spoon. Remove immediately and divide among the bowls over the noodles. Lay the raw venison loin slices flat across the top of each bowl. They should be nearly translucent, as thin as you can manage.
8. 8 Ladle the boiling broth directly over the venison slices from a height — the turbulence helps cook them evenly. The broth must be at a full rolling boil when it hits the meat; anything less and the venison will not cook through in the bowl. Scatter spring onions over the surface, and bring the garnish plate to the table alongside.

The moments most people rush past

The parboil in step three is the most skipped step in home pho, and it costs the broth more than anything else. Raw bones going directly into the pressure cooker without blanching release their blood proteins into the broth during pressurization, and because pressure cooking suppresses the rolling boil that would normally skim those proteins off, they remain suspended. The broth comes out cloudy and faintly metallic. Three minutes of blanching and a rinse is all it takes to prevent this.

The second moment is the broth tasting and adjustment in step five. Pho broth is a balance of four things: salt from the fish sauce, sweetness from the sugar and cinnamon, bitterness from the charred aromatics, and depth from the collagen. Tasting it before service and adjusting — more fish sauce if it needs salt, a squeeze of lime if it needs acid, a pinch more sugar if the char is dominant — is what the bowl becomes. Serve it unseasoned and the bowl will taste generically like spiced meat broth.

Finally: warm the bowls. Run them under hot water and dry them, or set them in a low oven for 5 minutes. A cold bowl drops the broth temperature by several degrees the moment it hits porcelain, which is enough to leave the venison undercooked and the noodles cold before the garnishes are even arranged. It is a small thing that costs nothing.

Where this soup loses its way

The broth is muddied and tastes flat. Almost certainly caused by skipping the parboil, or by pressing the solids when straining. The former cannot be fixed after the fact; the latter can be partially addressed by re-straining through a fresh cloth and letting the broth rest so sediment settles before ladling.

• The zucchini is falling apart in the bowl. Overcooked — 90 seconds at a full boil is the ceiling, not a suggestion. If your zucchini is very large and old (thick skin, large seeds), peel and seed it first; the flesh will cook at the same rate as the younger variety.
• The venison is rubbery rather than tender. The loin slices were too thick, or the broth was not at a full boil when ladled. Thin slicing and truly boiling broth are non-negotiable here; there is no recovery from a missed boil temperature in the bowl.
• The broth tastes aggressively of star anise. Whole star anise varies significantly in potency by freshness and source. If your spices are very fresh, start with two rather than three. The anise note should be present and round, not dominant; it should make the other spices taste more like themselves, not substitute for them.
• The noodles are gluey and clumped in the bowl. Rinsing them with cold water after cooking and before adding to the bowl prevents sticking. Add them loose, not in a compressed nest; the broth should be able to flow through them immediately on contact.

Ways to pull it in a different direction

• Add mushrooms to the broth aromatics: Two or three dried shiitake mushrooms added to the pot with the spices contribute additional glutamate depth and a faint earthiness that suits venison particularly well. Remove with the other spent aromatics when straining.
• Use rice paper rolls instead of noodle bowls: The strained broth served as a clear dipping soup alongside rice paper rolls filled with the venison loin and herbs converts this into a lighter, more interactive meal suited to warmer months.
• Brisket-style venison shoulder instead of loin: Cook a venison shoulder directly in the broth during the pressure cook stage — it will shred into the liquid and produce a richer, more unctuous result. Pull and slice at the end instead of adding raw loin. This version is better for cold weather and does not require the careful thin-slicing technique.
• Swap zucchini for fennel: Thinly sliced fennel, added for the same 90 seconds, introduces an anise note that echoes the star anise in the broth while contributing a completely different texture — the fennel stays slightly firm at the core and gives a cleaner, more aromatic bowl. Use only the bulb, not the fronds.

Putting it on the table

Pho is not plated — it is built, and that building is communal. Set the garnish plate in the center of the table: bean sprouts, herbs, lime wedges, sliced chilies, hoisin, and sriracha. Let people customize their own bowls according to how they eat and what they need from the broth that particular night.

The Instant Pot Venison and Zucchini Pho works as a standalone meal for four people with no accompaniments required. If you want something alongside, keep it minimal: a plate of steamed jasmine rice for people who want more bulk, or a cold cucumber salad dressed with rice vinegar and sesame oil, which works well against the broth’s richness without competing with it.

Serve with deep, wide bowls that hold heat. The meal should feel generous rather than architectural — filled high with noodles and broth and then brought to the table still steaming. It is not a dish that waits.

Keeping it and bringing it back

The broth stores beautifully and improves by the next day, as the spice compounds continue to diffuse through the cooled liquid overnight. Store it separately from all other components — noodles, meat, and vegetables should never sit in broth that is not going to be served immediately, or they will become waterlogged and textureless.

Broth keeps refrigerated in an airtight container for 4 days, or frozen for up to 3 months. When frozen, the gelatin content will cause it to set into a firm jelly — this is a sign of a well-made broth, not a flaw. Reheat from frozen gently over medium heat, never in a microwave, which heats unevenly and can partially boil the broth before it is fully thawed.

For leftover noodles stored separately: rinse with warm water and drain before adding to reheated broth. Do not try to reheat noodles in the broth — they absorb liquid and soften beyond recovery within minutes. Keep them cold and hydrate them fresh each time.

Approximate nutrition per serving

All values are approximate estimates for informational purposes only. Calculated per deep bowl including noodles, venison loin, zucchini, and strained broth. Garnishes, hoisin, and sriracha are not included. Venison is a lean protein; values will shift if beef or another game substitution is used.

There is a particular kind of cooking that asks you to trust processes you cannot see — to believe that a sealed pressure cooker is doing more than producing steam, that charred onion and a handful of spices will become something with genuine depth in 35 minutes. The Instant Pot Venison and Zucchini Pho asks for that trust, and it returns it with a bowl that carries the logic of a dish centuries older than the appliance used to make it.

What it gives the person who makes it is not just dinner — it is the specific satisfaction of understanding a technique rather than just executing it, of knowing why the broth tastes the way it does because of what you deliberately did and deliberately did not do.

Some meals explain themselves only when you eat them; this one explains itself while you cook it, and that is the better kind. Narrative Kitchen Wild Game  ·  Pressure Cooker  ·  Vietnamese-Inspired