Thai Basil Chicken (Pad Kra Pao)

A delicious, simple, quick, and easy, spicy Thai Basil Chicken recipe (Pad Krapow Gai) made with diced or ground chicken, yardlong beans, and fresh Thai basil tossed in a savory umami sauce made with fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar.

Table of Contents

• What is Pad Kra Pao?
• Ingredients for Thai Basil Chicken
• Thai Basil vs Thai Holy Basil (Tulsi) and its Substitute
• Chicken Chunks vs Ground Chicken (Minced)
• Tips & Tricks
• How to Make Thai Basil Chicken Stir Fry
• FAQs
• Thai Basil Chicken Variations
• How to Serve this Thai Dish
• More Thai Recipes You May Like
• Recipe Card

What is Pad Kra Pao?

Pad krapow gai (aka pad ka prao, pad grapow, pad kra prao) translates to Fried Thai Holy Basil Chicken but is most commonly known as Thai Basil Chicken in North America because Thai Basil is a lot more common and easier to find than holy basil.

Classic Thai basil chicken is a common street food dish in Thailand and a popular Thai restaurant takeout dish in North America. It's quick to make and packed with flavor, so it's hard not to love it.

If you're looking for something authentic, know that there are many variations of pad krapow, and everyone has their own spin and variation.

At its core, Thai basil chicken is made by stir-frying chicken with aromatics like garlic, and chili peppers with fresh Thai basil leaves and then tossed in a savory umami sauce made with fish sauce which is balanced with a bit of sugar. It is then served over a bed of white rice and topped with a fried egg.

It can also be made out of seafood, beef or pork as well, but this version here is made with chicken (gai).

If you're looking to make a quick and easy meal full of delicious spicy Thai flavors, this would be it. Using ground chicken, you shave off even more time and prep, allowing you to get this on the table in less than 15 minutes. (The rice will take longer to cook than this dish! haha)

Ingredients for Thai Basil Chicken

• Chicken - For this Thai basil chicken recipe, you can use either ground chicken or diced chicken chunks. If you are using chicken chunks, I highly recommend dark meat like boneless chicken thighs because it's easy to work with and has the most flavor and the best texture (I also like to keep the skin on for extra flavor). If you can't decide which type of chicken to use, I have a small write-up below to help you decide.
• Yardlong Beans - I like to use yardlong beans because of their tougher and chewier texture, but if you cannot find them (they are commonly found at Asian grocery stores), you can use regular green beans as well.
• Shallots - To give this dish another layer of flavor, I like to cook the shallots right with the chicken. You can substitute this with a small onion as well.
• Garlic - You want to make sure not to skip the garlic because it gives this dish a lot of flavors.
• Birds Eye Chilies - This ingredient gives Thai basil chicken its heat and spiciness. I like to use 2 Thai chilies for a mild spiciness, but you can add more if you like it spicier.
• Basil - For this Thai basil chicken recipe, my favorite basil to use is Thai basil because it is easy to find (you can usually find it at an Asian grocery store) and very flavorful. That being said, you can also use holy basil (aka tulsi), which has a bit more floral flavor. Holy basil is rare and harder to find, but you can sometimes find it at Indian grocery stores. If you cannot find Thai or holy basil, you can also substitute it with regular Italian basil. You must use fresh basil for the flavor of this dish to shine, and you will only be using the leaves as well.
• Oyster Sauce - The oyster sauce will give the Thai basil sauce its sweet, umami seafood flavor. That being said, if you cannot find oyster sauce, you can substitute it with fish sauce, but you will need to add a pinch of sugar to offset the saltiness.
• Dark Soy Sauce - this will give your final dish that nutty brown color; if you do not have this, you can substitute it with fish sauce or regular soy sauce, and you will only be missing the color.
• Sugar - to balance the sauce's flavor, you need to add a bit of sugar to sweeten it.
• Fish Sauce - this sauce is a must for this dish and should not be substituted. If you absolutely must substitute it, you can try using soy sauce, but if you do, you should definitely pair it with the oyster sauce to keep that fishy seafood flavor.

Thai Basil vs Thai Holy Basil (Tulsi) and its Substitute

Thai Basil

Thai basil is my go-to herb for this Thai basil chicken recipe. I find it a lot more fragrant than holy basil and it has a nice fresh anise flavor to it which definitely lightens up the dish.

You can find fresh Thai basil at most Asian or South Asian grocery stores.

Holy Basil (aka Tulsi)

I personally find holy basil a completely different flavor than Thai basil. It is a lot more floral and it has a lot less anise flavor. It also is less fragrant as well.

It's definitely more difficult to find from the two basils and if you cannot find it at an Asian or South Asian grocery store, you may be able to find it at an Indian grocery store but they might call it 'tulsi' instead of 'holy basil'.

Thai Basil Substitute

If you can't find either holy basil or Thai basil, you definitely can still substitute it with the standard green basil that is most commonly found in any grocery store. It doesn't have as strong of an anise flavor but it's still delicious and having any type of basil is better than having none since this dish's most predominant flavor is the basil.

Chicken Chunks vs Ground Chicken (Minced)

Ground Chicken

If you're looking to make this Thai basil chicken recipe and want less fuss, less mess, and finished from start to end in less than 15 minutes, then definitely use minced or ground chicken.

Ground chicken is already processed for you and there is no marinating involved in this dish so you are pretty much good to go right out of the package.

The only downside is you don't know if the majority of the ground chicken is dark meat or white meat and you can't pick how fatty it is (the fattier the meat, the better the flavor and texture) but if you're not picky about that then I highly recommend using it especially since it can save you a lot of preparation time and possibly less dishwashing.

Diced Chicken Chunks

If you want a Thai basil chicken dish that has a bit more texture (chew) and if you don't mind dirtying up a cutting board, and having the extra prep time of dicing the chicken then I would recommend using chicken chunks.

I highly recommend you use boneless chicken thighs (and keep the skin on for more flavor) because it is easy to work with and the dark meat gives this dish an incredible flavor and chewy texture.

How to Make Thai Basil Chicken Stir Fry

Step 1: Prepare the Thai Basil Sauce

Mix all the Thai basil sauce ingredients together into a small bowl and set it aside for later.

Step 2: Prepare the Aromatics

For this dish, you will need to mince the garlic and chilies finely and set them aside for later.

You will also dice the shallots (or small onion) and cut the yardlong beans (or green beans) into small bite sized pieces.

You will only need to use the Thai basil leaves for this dish, since the stems are usually tough and woody, so rip off all the leaves and set them aside and discard the stems.

Step 3: Prepare the Chicken (If You're Not Using Ground Chicken)

If you're not using minced or ground chicken, dice the chicken into small ½ inch pieces and set it aside.

Step 4: Cook Everything in a Very Hot Pan or Wok

Here is where the magic happens, and it happens fast.

You want to make sure you are setting your stove to high heat because this is a very quick stir fry and you don't want your chicken to 'steam' in the pan.

Add the shallots and chicken into the hot pan and cook the chicken until it is fully cooked.

The time it takes will vary depending on your stove's power and the pan's thickness, whether you use a frying pan or a wok. It took about 5 minutes for me to fully cook it on a gas stove with a thick carbon fiber frying pan.

You may also notice that your chicken may release water, and that's okay! This usually happens if your heat is not high enough or if you use ground chicken since it tends to have more water in it.

To remove the excess water, you just need to cook it for longer until all the water evaporates, and you are only left with browned chicken.

Once your chicken is fully cooked, add in the garlic, yardlong beans, birdseye chilies and sauce and cook it for about 3 minutes until the green beans are fully cooked but still have a bit of a crisp crunch.

Turn off the heat, and then mix in the Thai basil leaves. Keep mixing everything until the basil leaves wilt.

It's important to do this with the heat off, so that it retains the oils in the herb so that it doesn't lost any of its delicious and fragrant flavor.

Serve over white rice with a fried egg, or fried rice and voila! Thai basil chicken in the comfort of your home!

Thai Basil Chicken Variations

• Add More Vegetables - If you like a lot of vegetables in your dishes, you can add diced sweet red bell peppers, asparagus, or sliced mushrooms.
• Use Pork or Beef - If you don't feel like using chicken, you can use ground beef or pork as well, and it will turn out just as delicious. I have even used ground turkey to make a Thai Basil Turkey Fried Rice, which also came out delicious.
• Tofu - If you want to make it vegetarian, you can switch up the protein with tofu, but make sure you use firm tofu. Firm tofu will keep its shape better and can withstand stir frying better. If you want crispy tofu and are okay with the extra work, you can lightly coat each cube of tofu with cornstarch and lightly fry it to make it crispy before adding it to the stir fry.

How to Serve this Thai Dish

Thai basil chicken is traditionally served over a bed of white jasmine rice topped with a fried egg.

For a bit of contrast in flavor, this dish is also delicious when served with a Tom Kha Gai Soup (Thai Coconut Chicken Soup), or Yum Woon Sen (Thai Glass Noodle Salad) because of the sour flavor of these dishes.

More Thai Recipes You May Like

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