Thai Basil Chicken Stir-Fry

TL;DR

Thai basil chicken is known as a fragrant street food dish in Thailand. Locally, it’s called Phat kaphrao kai or Pad Krapow gai. Phat means stir-fried, Kaphrao/krapow means Holy Basil and Kai or gai is the chicken.

It’s a simple flavor-packed stir-fry prepared with ground chicken, a sauce, Thai or Holy basil and a Fried Egg. Variations exist with pork, beef, and squid.

We frequently had this as a meal besides Pad Thai and Drunken Noodles when we visited Bangkok. I realized early on that it was simple to recreate it at home and thought you’d appreciate a recipe.

Use a wok or deep pan to prepare this dish and all ingredients need to be prepared and be in place because the cooking process is over high heat and the dish cooks literally within minutes.

Ingredient Notes

• Oil — A vegetable oil of your choice. Peanut oil and cooking sesame oil taste nice, but sunflower oil or canola oil are fine too.
• Egg
• Ground Chicken — Some regions call this chicken mince.
• Thai Chili — That’s the generic name outside Thailand, they are better known as Bird’s eye chili or Prik Ki Nu.
• Garlic
• Oyster Sauce
• Soy Sauce — Kikkoman style soy sauce or Thai thin soy sauce or mushroom soy sauce.
• Sugar — Plain sugar or palm sugar. I, personally, prefer dark palm sugar, but I will resort to regular crystallized sugar if that’s what I have in my pantry. Use what you have.
• Holy Basil or Thai Sweet Basil — Holy Basil is also known as Tulsi or Indian basil, it’s sweeter. Thai sweet basil is sweet but has a licorice taste. I prefer it with holy basil, but you I encourage you to explore both options if possible.

Process Overview

Step 1

Chop garlic, chop fresh basil leaves and chili pepper. Keep each separate aside.

Combine the stir-fry sauce ingredients, the soy sauce, oyster sauce and sugar.

Step 2

Fry for each serving an egg in a tablespoon of oil. Take out and keep aside.

Stir in the remaining oil, with the garlic and chili and stir-cook on a high heat for a minute.

Step 3

Briefly reduce heat, stir in your ground chicken and pour the stir-fry sauce over that.

Take back to full heat and stir cook for 1–2 minutes, breaking the chicken gradually apart.

Step 4

Add the chopped basil and continue to cook for another minute.

Take from the heat and serve up with the egg.

Serving

This dish is always served with steamed plain rice.

You can choose to add sautéed or stir-fried vegetables as a side, such as baby corn, spinach, and yard long beans.

Some people add these veggies also to the chicken during the cooking process, which is another option to add veggies to your dinner.

Storing

Leftovers can be stored in an airtight container and stored in your refrigerator for up to 2 days. Reheat in a pan, in a microwave or in the oven.

I don’t think it makes sense to freeze it because the dish is quickly prepared and it tastes better freshly made anyway.