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 (aka pad krapow gai) couldn’t be any easier! A quick healthy meal, ready in 30 minutes, that bursts with fantastic flavor. This is a reader favorite- just read all the 5-star reviews!
One reader, Kristen says: Delicious and quick for a weeknight meal. Our local Thai grocer had holy basil and I used 4 Thai chilis for the perfect amount of spice. Paired with jasmine rice and sautéed bok choy with ginger. Can’t wait for the leftovers!! Another winner from FaH! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All Hungry says: This Thai Basil Chicken recipe is fantastic! The flavors are incredibly authentic and vibrant. I love how easy it is to follow your step-by-step instructions. Thank you for sharing such a delightful and flavorful dish! Can’t wait to make it again. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Why You’ll Love This Thai Basil Chicken Recipe
- Easy to make– this dish really comes together fast, it is not complicated. Use 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.
Table of Contents
Thai Basil Chicken Ingredients
Thai Basil Chicken Ingredients
- 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
- Fish Sauce– for savory depth
- Thai basil leaves– or Holy Basil (Tulsi) if you can find it; regular basil will work too
- Shallots and garlic cloves
- Bell pepper
*See the recipe card below for a full list of ingredients and measurements.
Chef’s Tips
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.
Typically, this dish uses Thai holy basil, or tulsi basil, found fresh at some Asian markets. Thai basil is more accessible and works well in this recipe. You can also use regular Italian basil! When using that, I like to add a pinch of ground anise to the stir-fry.
If you enjoy spice, choose red Thai chilies. Fresno chilies have good flavor and, while not as spicy as Thai chilies, still provide a nice kick!
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 carbon steel 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 Recipe FAQs
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.
Thai Basil Chicken | 45-sec Video
Thai Basil Chicken Recipe
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 25 minutes
- Yield: 4 servings
- 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 strips and the shallot mixture. Cook for about a minute, just enough to warm, keeping the peppers tender crisp. Add basil leaves and turn the heat off.
- Serve over jasmine rice. Season with more soy sauce if desired.
Equipment
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
came out really yumm.
i used thin sliced chicken breast, instead of minced chicken, and also added shimeji mushroom and bok choy.
Glad you enjoyed!
Super easy and delicious! made it without the chilis or salt for my toddler and he gobbled it up!
Love it Erica!
Delicious and quick for a weeknight meal. Our local Thai grocer had holy basil and I used 4 Thai chilis for the perfect amount of spice. Paired with jasmine rice and sautéed bok choy with ginger. Can’t wait for the leftovers!! Another winner from FaH!
Awesome Kristin! Thanks for taking the time to review!
One of my family’s favorites. Perfect! A lot of picky eaters here always asking for seconds! I triple the tamari and fish sauce and use honey
So great to hear this!
I think there is an omission in this recipe. It appears that the red bell peppers should go in the pan with the shallots but the recipe only mentions shallots in that step.
The red bell peppers go in raw with the cooked shallots. We only cook them briefly. Tried to make that more clear in the recipe. Thanks for the comment!
Crowd pleaser and so easy!!
Great to hear! Yes, this one is super easy!
Another stellar recipe from Feasting at Home! I tried subbing ground super firm tofu for ground chicken and the flavor was outstanding but the tofu texture was a bit dry/fluffy. Next time I will try dicing up the tofu quite mall and oven roasting with a little evoo before adding it to the pan. Really loved the combination of flavors and gave me a chance to use that bottle of fish sauce in the fridge 😄
Glad you gave it a try! Would love to hear how the oven method works out.
This Thai Basil Chicken recipe is fantastic! The flavors are incredibly authentic and vibrant. I love how easy it is to follow your step-by-step instructions. Thank you for sharing such a delightful and flavorful dish! Can’t wait to make it again.
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!