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5 Secrets to Authentic Thai Cooking
Tips, tricks, and recipes for perfect Thai dishes
FREE EMAIL BONUS:
5 Secrets to Authentic Thai Cooking
Tips, tricks, and recipes for perfect Thai dishes
What Is Thai Basil Chicken?
One of my favorite dishes at Thai restaurants is the spicy Thai basil chicken rice plate—perfectly steamed and fluffy jasmine rice coupled with ground chicken meat infused with aromatic Thai basil leaves.
Also known as Gai Pad Krapow, this basil chicken was delicious, with a fine balance of fiery, hot, and savory. I just love this dish.
Another similar dish is Pad Kee Mao or Drunken Noodles, which is precisely Thai basil chicken stir-fried with rice noodles.
Main Ingredients for Basil Chicken
- Ground Chicken
- Oil
- Garlic
- Thai Bird’s Eye Chilies
- Thai Basil Leaves (spicy basil)
- Fish sauce
Cooking Tips
For the basil leaves, if you can find royal basil leaves in your farmers market, use them. Otherwise, use Asian basil leaves with purple stems.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is It Healthy?
This recipe is decently healthy, with only 250 calories per serving.
Can You Use Regular Basil Instead of Thai Basil?
Thai basil is obviously the best basil leaf to use for this recipe. However, if necessary, you can also use sweet basil. You may be able to replicate the intensity of the herb by just using more of it than you would use the Thai basil.
Serve Thai Basil Chicken (gai Pad Krapow) With:
For a wholesome Thai dinner, make the following dishes.
Thai Basil Chicken
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 4 cloves garlic (finely chopped)
- 2 shallots (finely chopped)
- 10 oz (280g) ground chicken
- 6 bird's eye chilies (chopped and pounded with a mortar and pestle, or 1-2 fresh jalapeno cut into slivers)
- 1 1/4 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 teaspoon palm sugar or sugar to taste
- 1/2 teaspoon kecap manis or sweet soy sauce
- 1 bunch Thai basil leaves (lower stems removed)
- 3 dashes white pepper
Instructions
- Add the oil into a heated wok, follow by the chopped garlic and shallots. Stir fry the garlic and shallots until aromatic, then add the ground chicken into the wok.
- Use the spatula to quickly stir-fry and break the ground chicken meat into small lumps.
- When the chicken meat changes color, toss in the chilies, fish sauce, palm sugar, and sweet soy sauce. Stir to combine well. Add in the basil leaves and do a few quick stirs until the basil leaves wilted, and you smell the exotic fragrance of the basil leaves.
- Add the white pepper into the dish, do a final stir, dish out and serve immediately.
Notes
Nutrition
I made this for lunch today and it came out delicious. I only had some dried piquin peppers so I used those and it gave it some nice heat. I only needed one crushed because they are fire hot. I also used my own Thai basil that I grew. My advice on this is not to skimp on the basil. It is what gives this dish it’s amazing taste. My only thought is that it could have had a bit more sauce. Maybe next time I will add a little chicken broth.
Thanks!
I grow my own holy basil and sweet basil as well. The people who say this dish MUST have holy basil are 100%. Too many restaurants call this dish Krapow, but that is incorrect. If you are using sweet basil then the dish should be called Horapa.
Hello! Thanks for sharing this. I only had chicken breast, so stir fried marinated chicken breast first, then followed the recipe. Marinated with fish sauce, 1 TBSP flour, soya sauce and S&P. Hubs and I really enjoyed this!
That’s awesome!
Found & made a dish based on this recipe during the time of the Pandemic (May 2020), my wife & kids loved it. Recipe gets on the sweeter side if you use more of the ABC sweet soy sauce, I think I used a little extra to make the organic ground chicken breast darker. I substituted red onions for the shallots and skipped the sugar & thai chilles entirely (for the kids), used fresh basil could not tell the difference between home cooked & take-out
Awesome!
Made this quick easy dish tonight and my kids devoured it! I added more sweet soy sauce and fish sauce, used jalapeño, and only had black pepper, sweet basil and yellow onion instead of shallots, so worked with what I had. I’ve had this in a restaurant and it tasted different, but mine was still Super tasty. Paired it with jasmine rice and garlic sautéed with broccoli and carrots. Will be making this again for sure.
Awesome, thanks for trying this Thai basil chicken recipe.
I find myself loving this recipe more than in the restaurants because most restaurants where I live don’t make krapow with ground chicken and I prefer the texture and flavor that the ground chicken gives this dish more!
Thanks Monica, I am so glad you like my Thai basil chicken. Please try more recipes on my site: https://rasamalaysia.com/recipe-index-gallery/
Love Thai food but haven’t tried this one before but the recipe is simple, great to see the post, thanks
To make this right one needs to use Holy Basil, in English; Indian Tulsi, or Thai spicy basil. as the word krapow means. Fresh is best, dried is not nearly as good. This is the first recipe of yours I have been disappointed in. I must admit my expectations were probably a bit high after making many of your other recipes. This particular dish and Naem were my two of my favorite whilst living there and Laos. I was in Udorn Thani and elsewhere and marrieds to a girl from Laos for 12 years back here in the states. Most of the recipes you have are very close to tasting what I remember from the Esan Thai area and many are dead on.. This one is good but wrong.
Donald, I do not have holy basil where I am. All Thai restaurants here use Thai basil instead of holy basil and so they are all wrong??? I am not Thai by the way. I know my recipes are good, they all taste good, that’s the most important thing.
Thank you too much for the great recipe! Cooked it tonight and it is simply too much good. I also my favorite Japanese food. I think Koi restaurant Bangkok is the best Japanese food restaurant in Bangkok.
Just made this for dinner, yummy, used ground turkey and used regular basil as no Thai basil in our local stores, does Thai basil taste different. Also used jalapeno, last summer grew Thai chilis and they were incredibly hot, would try again with one of those (Tahoe very short growing season)
Made it this week – this was better than takeout, even the kids had seconds! New family favorite.
Hi Anna, thanks for trying my Thai Basil Chicken.