Fragrant Thai Basil Chicken is simple, fast and flavorful! Perfect for weeknight dinners, ready to serve in under 30 minutes. Video. Looking for more? Check out our 40+ Best Chicken Breast Recipes and our 50+ Easy Dinner Ideas! ✨
Re-examine all that you have been told… dismiss that which insults your soul.
Walt Whitman
This Thai Basil Chicken stir fry is couldn’t be any easier! It’s common on most Thai restaurant menus (aka pad krapow gai) but can easily be made at home. This is the kind of food I am craving lately, tasty and satisfying but doesn’t take much effort.
Using ground chicken (or ground turkey) makes this recipe even faster. You could certainly chop up whole chicken thighs or breasts if you prefer, or use crumbled tofu. Traditionally this is made with Thai holy basil which is also known as tulsi basil, and is available fresh, at some Asian Markets. Thai basil is easier to come by and works great in this recipe. And yes, you can use regular Italian basil! TIP: When using regular basil, I like to add just a pinch of ground anise to the stir fry. If you love it spicy definitely go for the red Thai chilies! Fresno chilies have great flavor and though not as spicy as the Thai chilies, they still have a good kick!
Thai Basil Chicken | 45-sec Video
Table of Contents
Why You’ll Love Thai Basil Chicken
- Easy to make– this dish really comes together fast, it is not complicated. Use ready ground chicken for quick prep. Dinner can be on the table in under 30 minutes.
- So tasty– the combination of ingredients just give the perfect balance. Your taste buds will be delighted 🙂
- Healthy– making it yourself leaves the potential for clean ingredients! We like that.
Ingredients in Thai Basil Chicken
Thai Basil Chicken IngreDient Notes
- Chilies– fresno or Thai (spicier!)
- Ground chicken-or sub ground turkey , ground beef, or crumbled tofu
- Sweetener– coconut sugar or honey, or sugar
- Soy sauce- or tamari, or GF Liquid Aminos
- Thai basil leaves– or Holy Basil (Tulsi) if you can find it; regular basil will work too
See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
How to make Thai Basil Chicken
STEP ONE: If serving with rice, start that now. Chop all your veggies.
STEP TWO: Heat up a skillet or wok to med-high heat. Add oil and shallots, and stir for 2 minutes.
Add garlic and hot peppers and stir for 2 minutes more until shallots are lightly brown on the edges. Scoop out into a bowl and set aside.
STEP THREE: Without cleaning out the pan, add oil, turn the heat to high, and add ground chicken, black pepper, and salt. Stir fry a couple of minutes until the chicken is cooked and starting to brown.
Sprinkle coconut sugar, soy sauce, and fish sauce over the chicken and stir until incorporated.
STEP FOUR: Add the red bell pepper and the shallot mixture. Cook about a minute, just enough to warm everything and just barely soften the red bell pepper slices. Mix in the basil leaves and turn the heat off.
Serve over jasmine rice. Season with more soy sauce or chili flakes if desired.
Leftovers will keep up to 4 days in the refrigerator, and can be reheated in a saute pan or microrwave.
Thai Basil Chicken
We haven’t tried it, but scrambled tofu or Crispy Tofu would probably be pretty tasty in place of ground chicken!
They are from the same family but Thai basil has a strong flavor with underlying tones of anise and spice where as sweet basil has a sweet, pungent, peppery flavor.
Ground chicken is made from both breast and thigh meat and also may contain some skin. You can finely chop chicken yourself from both thigh and breast meat.
More Recipes You May Enjoy
- Instant Pot Thai Curry Chicken
- Thai Fish Curry
- Coconut-Poached Thai Chicken Salad
- Thai Pineapple Curry
- 20 Delicious Easy Thai Recipes!
Hope you enjoy and let us know what you think!
Love this recipe? Please let us know in the comments and leave a 5-star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below the recipe card.
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Thai Basil Chicken
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings 1x
- Category: Dinner
- Method: Stir-fry
- Cuisine: Thai
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Fragrant and savory this Thai Basil Chicken recipe is simple, fast and flavorful! Perfect for weeknight dinners or an easy delicious lunch. Ready to serve in under 30 minutes.
Ingredients
- 3 shallots, cut in thin slices
- 5 large garlic cloves roughly chopped
- 3–6 Fresno chilies or Thai chilies (spicier!), cut into thin rings
- 2 tablespoons avocado oil or peanut oil, divided
- 1 pound ground chicken (or sub ground turkey, or crumbled extra firm tofu)
- 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons coconut sugar or honey, or sugar
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce or GF Liquid Aminos
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1 red bell pepper sliced in bite-sized strips
- 1 cup Thai basil leaves -or Holy Basil (Tulsi) if you can find it, regular basil will work too
- pinch of ground anise seeds if using regular basil (optional)
Instructions
- If serving with rice, start that first.
- Heat up a pan or wok to med-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon of oil and the shallots, stir for 2 minutes.
- Add garlic and hot peppers stir for 2 minutes more until shallots are lightly brown on the edges. Scoop out into a bowl and set aside.
- Without cleaning out the pan, add 1 tablespoon of oil, turn the heat to high, add ground chicken, black pepper, and salt. Stir fry a couple of minutes until the chicken is cooked and starting to brown. Sprinkle coconut sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce over the chicken and stir until incorporated.
- Add the red bell pepper and the shallot mixture. Cook for about a minute, just enough to warm. Add basil leaves and turn the heat off.
- Serve over jasmine rice. Season with more soy sauce if desired.
Notes
To make vegan, try crumbled tofu or make this Crispy Tofu.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 511
- Sugar: 6.8 g
- Sodium: 924.3 mg
- Fat: 17.1 g
- Saturated Fat: 3.6 g
- Carbohydrates: 63.6 g
- Fiber: 4.9 g
- Protein: 31.7 g
- Cholesterol: 96.3 mg
So quick and tasty – this is going in our regular weeknight rotation. I might add another pepper to increase the veg content, but it really doesn’t need any changes. I did use a few Serrano peppers instead of Fresnos because that’s what I could find…
So glad you enjoyed!
Can I sub the basil for dried basil? If so, how much?
You are not going to get the bright flavor profile with dried basil. But if you want to give it a try, maybe a tablespoon? Just guessing.
This dish turned out delish!! I didn’t have the exact chilis nor did I have Thai Basil, but I just went with what was at the store. I was pleasantly surprised by the taste! Easy to make and honestly tasted yum!
Awesome Jen, glad you gave it a try!
Loved how simple but flavourful this was. I has asparagus so added that and it was a nice addition.
Great to hear!