There are a select few really good meals in this world that take just 10 minutes to prepare from start to finish. This Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapow) is one of them.
And it isn’t one of those rush jobs either. This isn’t an episode of 30 Minute Meals, where Rachel Ray comes up with an ambitious 3-part menu and screeches into the finish line at the end, unceremoniously dumping all of her dishes into serving bowls and delivering her end-of-show sign-off with a sense of tired relief.
This is going to be a relaxed 10 minutes of cooking.
To prove it to you, I will proceed to outline how each one of those minutes is going to be spent.
Making Thai Basil Chicken in 10 Minutes
Minute 1: You’re going to walk leisurely over to your fridge and pull out a pack of ground chicken. Then you’re going to chop up 3 chilies. They don’t have to be pretty.
Minute 2: You’re going to peel and slice 3 shallots. My trick? Cutting off both ends, sweeping my knife lengthwise across the shallot, and peeling off the outside in one fell swoop before slicing. Oh, and if you can’t find shallots, a red onion will do just fine.
Minute 3: Following the same pattern from the previous step, you’re going to slice 5 cloves of garlic. Hint: smashing them with the side of your knife makes ’em a lot easier to peel. Yay garlic!
Minute 4: You’re going to heat a wok over high heat (not medium high. HIGH.), and then add a few tablespoons of oil, along with your prepared chilies, shallots, and garlic.
Minute 5: You will allow said oil, chilis, shallots, and garlic to do their work in said wok, stirring occasionally to help them along a bit.
Minute 6: You’ll add the ground chicken and start breaking it up.
Minute 7: You will continue cooking the ground chicken until browned. How is this happening so quickly? Answer: your stove is cranked up as high as it will go.
Minute 8: You’ll throw in some sugar, soy sauce and fish sauce, and stir-fry everything together. You are a kitchen genius.
Minute 9: You’ll deglaze the pan (which is just a fancy way of saying “scrape up all the brown bits”) with broth, and toss in a bunch of holy basil or Thai basil leaves. (YES, we know this dish is traditionally made with holy basil, but it can be difficult to access in the states, so Thai basil is fine to use!)
Minute 10: You’re almost home free. Just continue stir-frying over high heat until most of the liquid is cooked off and the basil is wilted.
And that, my friends, is dinner. 10 ingredients, 10 minutes. All you need is a bowl of rice to serve it with.
Read on for a much shorter version of the Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapow) recipe instructions, this time with visual aids!
(Note: Pad krapow is actually made with a specific type of basil called holy basil. If you can find it in your local Asian grocery store, by all means use it! It is hard to find, however, which is why we grow it in our garden or substitute store-bought Thai basil. Even regular Italian basil can work for this dish. At that point, it might not be a true pad krapow, but it will still be good!)
Thai Basil Chicken: Recipe Instructions
In a wok over high heat, add the oil, chilies, shallots and garlic, and fry for 1-2 minutes, until softened and just starting to brown at the edges.
Add the ground chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes, breaking up the chicken into small bits.
Add the sugar, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Stir-fry for another minute and deglaze the pan with the broth. Because your pan is over high heat, the liquid should cook off very quickly. Add the basil, and stir-fry until wilted.
Serve your Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapow) over white rice (or brown rice).
Thai Basil Chicken (Easy Gai Pad Krapow)
Ingredients
- 3 to 4 tablespoons oil
- 3 Thai bird chilies or holland chilies (de-seeded if desired and thinly sliced)
- 3 shallots (thinly sliced)
- 5 cloves garlic (sliced)
- 1 pound ground chicken (450g)
- 2 teaspoons sugar (or honey)
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- 1/3 cup low sodium chicken broth (or water)
- 1 bunch holy or Thai basil leaves
Instructions
- In a wok over high heat, add the oil, chilies, shallots and garlic, and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the ground chicken and stir-fry for 2 minutes, breaking up the chicken into small bits.
- Add the sugar, soy sauce, and fish sauce. Stir-fry for another minute and deglaze the pan with the broth. Because your pan is over high heat, the liquid should cook off very quickly.
- Add the basil, and stir-fry until wilted. Serve over rice.
nutrition facts
I would love to make this with ground beef instead. I was wondering if you still recommend to add the chicken stock with that or if water is better.
Thank you always for all the recipes you continue to share! I made gyudon the other day and it was amazing. Cannot wait to try this one.
Hi Maria, if you make this with ground beef, you could use chicken stock or water—both would be fine.
This was so easy and delicious! Thank you for sharing.
You’re welcome, Annie!
Wowwwww this turned out incredible!! 12 out of 10. I know I probably should have used holy basil but it tasted great with Thai sweet basil nonetheless!
Yay! So glad to hear that RC!
Double thank you! Firstly for your guidance how to cure a wok, I could rescue an abused carbon steel wok that was thrown out – it is beautifully cured! Then I tried out my “new” wok with this Thai Basil Chicken recipe. Lovely!! (And thank you a second time!)
You’re so welcome! It’s so great to be able to take something old/rusty and bring it back to life again!
Just made this and it’s so delicious!! So glad I found your site!
Thank you so much Lucy!
So good! This has been in regular rotation once a week for about a month now. I found a grocery store with thai basil just so I could make this right <3 Can't wait to try your other recipes.
Thank you, Dena! Hope you enjoy exploring some other recipes!
Your pictures show that you used standard Thai basil, NOT hoily basil. Your dish should be called Pad Horapha. By definition “Krapow” means HOLY BASIL. If you use standard Thai basil (horapha) you CAN’T call this dish Pad Krapow.
You mention in the list of ingredients “• 1 bunch holy or Thai basil leaves.” Perhaps you should have discussed the difference between the two. But you didn’t, so it would have been better to have left off the phrase Pad Krapow entirely and simply left the name as “Thai Basil Chicken”. That would have been fine.
The taste and smell of holy basil is different from standard Thai basil. Please don’t add to the flippancy of Western disregard for correctness regarding non-European dishes.
Hi, we’ve been over this issue with other commenters long before you, believe me. We’ve actually grown holy basil in our gardens every summer because we can’t find it in Asian grocery stores.
Then why not edit the body of your article to include some discussion of the issue? It would be informative and useful to your readership.
Yes, I have added a note.
Wow.
There is no need to be so rude.
Authentic recipe gate-keeping. Are you serious?
Think I’ll keep out of the comments section in future, as I’ve been left with a foul lingering taste.
I’ll stick to reading the recipes and trying to cook delicious dishes that both my family and I enjoy so much.
Cooking this “chicken and basil” dish tonight.
LOVE this recipe, so good and easy to make!
Thank you so much Krystal!