Thai Basil Chicken (Pad Krapow Gai)

The fastest way to get great tasting Thai food is to make it in your own kitchen with this aromatic, flavorful and healthy Thai basil chicken recipe.  {Gluten-Free Adaptable}

I love the wonderful aromatics that always hit you front and center when you walk into a Thai restaurant. They tingle all the senses with spicy, sweet, fragrant, and exotic notes all at once. And when you eat Thai food, you have the textural sensations to go along with the flavors. It’s really such a beautiful style of cuisine.

Thai cooking seems to really intimidate people which is why I’m sharing my easy Thai basil chicken recipe. This recreation of an authentic Thai dish is so easy and simple, you can get this ready in less than 20 minutes. Once you start eating it, it will probably disappear from your plate in 5 seconds. It’s got all the zest of Thai cuisine, simplified to be made any night of the week.

Thai basil chicken ingredients

Fresh herbs are the key

To get the best taste out of the aromatics, I chop the garlic and bird’s eye chili pepper together:

1. Crush the garlic using the side of your knife so it’s super easy to peel
2. Pile the chili pepper over the crushed garlic
3. Mince the garlic and chili pepper
4. I like my aromatics super fine so they fully release their fragrance

Which ground meat to use

My Thai basil chicken recipe calls for ground chicken, but feel free to use any other ground meat if you’d prefer. Ground beef and ground pork all work well in this recipe.

Set up

Your table should have these ingredients when you’re ready to cook:

• Ground meat of your choice
• Basil
• Chopped onion
• Chopped green beans
• Mixed sauce
• Minced chili pepper and garlic
• More sliced chili pepper for garnish

Cooking process

1. Saute the aromatics
2. Brown the ground chicken
3. Add the sauce and mix
4. Gently cook the veggies to preserve their crunchy texture
5. Stir in the basil
6. Give it a final stir to wilt the basil and you’re done!

To contrast with that meaty texture, the onions and green beans are lightly cooked so that they’re crunchy. The basil is what gives it that robust and memorable flavor. Once you’re done cooking, it’s wonderful to top onto steamed rice along with a fried egg.

The smells that will soon come from your kitchen as you make Thai basil chicken will have you salivating. If any is left over, you’ll have a wonderful lunch ahead of you too. With light and vibrant flavors coming together, I love it for spring and summer especially since basil tends to be extra fresh during this time, and more affordable too. This dish takes no time to cook, which is a bonus on a hot summer day.

If you’re craving Thai food but are hesitant to eat out and don’t want to wait for takeout to arrive, try Thai basil chicken tonight!

More easy Thai recipes

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Thai Basil Chicken (Pad Krapow Gai)

To make the dish gluten-free, use tamari to replace soy sauce. Use a gluten-free oyster sauce.

Author: Maggie Zhu

Course: Main

Cuisine: Thai

Keyword: homestyle

Prep Time: 15 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes minutes

Total Time: 20 minutes minutes

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) ground chicken (other ground meat works, too)
• 4 to 6 Thai bird’s eye chilis chopped (depending on spice level desired) (Footnote 1)
• 6 cloves garlic smashed

Stir Fry

• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/2 yellow onion diced
• 1/2 cup (4 oz/115 g) green beans cut into 1” (2.5 cm) pieces
• 1 bunch basil stems removed (Footnote 3)
• Fried eggs (Optional)
• Lime wedges (Optional) (Footnote 4)

Instructions

• Mince the chilis and garlic together until a rough paste forms (see the blog post above for step-by-step pictures). You can also blend both together in a small food processor or use a mortar & pestle.

• Combine the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and stir until the sugar is dissolved.

• Add the oil and garlic-chili paste to a large skillet and heat over medium-high heat. Cook until the aromatics are fragrant and the garlic is just barely starting to brown.

• Add the ground chicken. Move the aromatics onto the chicken using your spatula to prevent the aromatics from burning. Spread out the chicken and let it cook without disturbing for 1 minute, to let the bottom brown. Break apart the chicken, let cook, stirring occasionally, until the chicken is almost cooked through and the chicken juices have cooked off, 2 minutes or so. I prefer to keep some larger chunks of chicken without breaking them into a million pieces.

• Pour in the sauce and stir to mix well.

• Add the onion and green beans. Cook for another minute or two, until the sauce is distributed and slightly reduced.

• Turn off the heat and add the basil leaves. Toss until the leaves are wilted.

• Serve hot over rice with a crispy fried egg and a squeeze of lime juice.

Notes

1. Using 4 chili peppers will yield a low- to medium-spicy dish. For the authentic Thai experience, you should use 6 chili peppers. For extra spiciness, you can slice extra chili peppers to garnish the cooked dish later. Note, the chili peppers will become milder during the stir fry, but will taste very spicy eaten raw.
2. Add the fish sauce for an extra kick and the authentic Thai experience. For a milder (and low sodium) version, or if you don’t like the pungent smell, skip the fish sauce. If you decide to use fish sauce, I highly recommend you squeeze a generous amount of lime juice at the end to balance the taste.
3. Holy basil is the best, Thai basil works great, and regular basil works just as well.
4. Lime juice is a must if you use fish sauce in the dish.

Video

Nutrition

Serving: 1serving, Calories: 279kcal, Carbohydrates: 22.8g, Protein: 27.8g, Fat: 9.7g, Saturated Fat: 2.1g, Cholesterol: 71mg, Sodium: 410mg, Potassium: 906mg, Fiber: 3.7g, Sugar: 11.3g, Calcium: 68mg, Iron: 4mg