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 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.
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
Had this last night really enjoyed
We’re so happy you enjoyed this Stella!
Question: Does the calorie count include rice or just the Thai Basil Chicken?
P.S. Should have started with this….we love this and make it all the time. Tempted to eat all of it myself lol.
So glad you are enjoying! Nutritional panel does not include the rice.
I’ve made this so many times. It’s delicious! I use ground turkey 😋
Great to hear!
Loved this! I never see Thai peppers at regular grocery store and don’t see Fresno regularly either. Found Thai chilis at Asian market and used 5, which was very spicy! So delicious. Instead of ground chicken I chopped up chicken breasts very small and it worked great. Thai basil also hard to find. Will definitely make this again, but might take the chilis down to 3.
Sounds good Kathy!
This was a wonderful meal. It was quick and easy and had wonderful flavor.
Great to hear Teri!
Loved it!! Tasted super authentic and unbelievably easy to make. Will definitely go into my close rotation.
So happy you liked this one!
Delicious and easy. A keeper for sure.
Thanks Charlotte!
Could I use ground beef?
Yes, absolutly!
This recipe is amazing. It was easy and delicious. I did use onions instead of shallots. This was the perfect recipe for the Thai basil I was growing. I will be making this again.
Glad you enjoyed this one David!
I’ve made this twice and am in love with this recipe. It’s easy and brightly-colored and so flavorful–and gone in a few minutes. It would help in the recipe to say you don’t have to be super obsessive about chopping the garlic or shallot finely–I didn’t figure that out until the end. But no complaints. It’s fantastic.
Thanks Cynthia! I will note the recipe. 🙂
I made this last night and it was delicious. The Thai basil made it! I added chopped water chestnuts for crunch and not being a fish sauce fan, omitted that. I served it in red butter lettuce leaves.a keeper!
Sounds perfect in the lettuce cups!
Simple and fresh – like Thai food should be!
Thanks Amanda!
Both my husband I loved this stir fry. It’s now a go-to recipe regularly! I cut up chicken breast and it comes out wonderfully. I can’t believe how well this comes out considering it’s so easy!
Awesome Kim! So happy you gave this a go!
Thanks for this oh so quick and simple recipe! It was delish! I actually questioned how good it would be because it seemed so simple. But I followed the recipe to the T (using ground turkey breast, thai chilis and thai basil) and was amazed at how much balanced flavor could be achieved using so little. It got all four votes from our fam of four! It’s officially on the weeknight rotation 🙂
Awesome Lysa! Great to hear. I love when simple meals taste so good!
Hey, Sylvia~ always love your recipes!
Since I’m veg., is there a good replacement for the fish sauce? Or can I just leave it out? It’s not a huge amount, but I wanted to ask. 🙂
How about a tiny splash of soy sauce for that umami flavor?
Excellent. I added additional veggies otherwise I think it would be a bit tight for 4 servings ? Added sugar snap peas and fresh bean sprouts.
Thanks Carmen, appreciate the feedback!
This is so good, so good, so good! Followed recipe with add-in of broccoli chopped and sautéed to bright green. Lots of Thai Basil in the end was perfect
Awesome Lynne!
Quick Thai craving fix!
This recipe is delicious (although chicken thighs would be juicier). I only had about half the amount of shallots so used a little less garlic and added a zucchini. I definitely would use the full amount of shallots and garlic next time. I also doubled the soy (GF), fish sauce and sugar and loved how the favors mellowed together. I only used 1/2 a Fresno chili sliced and that was plenty of heat. I think 3-6 whole chilies would be too much, unless they are supposed to be thrown in whole and not sliced. I served with rice and a squeeze of lime and next time will add a bit more liquid (broth) to have more sauce.
So good 😊
Sounds great Diane, love that you are making it your own!
Winner, winner, Thai Basil Chicken dinner! Used boneless thighs, ordinary basil, and couldn’t find Fresno chilies, so a dash of sweet habanero sauce. This was quick, easy, and oh so delicious! Will be in our regular dinner rotation!
Glad you enjoyed this John!
Love this Thai basil chicken recipe! I used dark ground chicken instead and just cooked it a little longer and added pine nuts for some crunch.
Making it again tonight!
Great to hear Carol!
My husband and I both really loved this! I will definitely be making this again. It was fairly easy to make and very tasty.
We are so happy you enjoyed this Karon!
Very flavorful. I made sure my pan was searing hit to get brown bits on the peppers, and meat. Used serrano, a pinch of regular sugar and basil – what I had on hand. Easy, quick and flavorful!!
Perfect Sherilynn, glad you enjoyed!
We’re growing California Organic Jasmine as we speak can’t wait to try this in both white and brown rice versions!
What a fun endeavor!
Excellent!
Thanks Maria!
This looks incredible and also super quick and easy! Can’t wait to make it. Any suggestions for an easy veggie side that would pair nicely? Thank you for everything y’all do 🙂
How about Asian Cucumber Salad or Easy Roasted Asparagus or Easy Crunchy Asian Slaw