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 Thai basil leaves.
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!
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 rice.
- 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
- 2 teaspoons sugar or honey
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce
- ⅓ cup low sodium chicken broth or water
- 1 bunch holy or Thai basil leaves
- 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.
Michele says
I made this last night and it was a hit! There were no leftovers and my boyfriend requested it again tonight. lol. I used dark soy sauce since I ran out of regular soy sauce but it worked! I also used only 2 thai chili vs 3 and my mouth was on fire. Then again, I’m not used to eating spicy food. Thanks for this easy and delicious recipe!
Patrick says
Great recipe, used 4 Thai chilies, sliced one thin seeds too and 3 with the seeds cleaned out, still pretty hot but dam tasty. Will definitely make this again…YUM!
Janet T. says
This is such a winner!! So fast and such great rich flavor. I took it to a potluck and everybody loved it. I had to make these changes. I changed to jalapenos because I didn’t know if there would be tender mouths in the group. I had to use regular basil because it’s too early in the season. It was still great. I suspect when Thai basil hits the farmers market we’re in for an even better treat. Seriously, thanks for a great recipe!!
Sarah says
You’re welcome, and thank you so much for your kind comment, Janet! So glad everyone at the potluck enjoyed it. :)
Leon says
Made this tonight and it was pretty good but mines didn’t come out reddish like in your photo, was it because I didn’t use the chilies perhaps..?
Sarah says
Hi Leon, the chilies can help color the dish a bit, but it was probably the fact that I used a darker soy sauce. If you have dark soy sauce in your pantry, add a teaspoon or so to your dish, and you’ll see the color of the dish change!
Anastasia says
Can you explain what you mean by “darker soy sauce”? This is a new concept to me. I generally buy Kikoman Reduced Sodium Soy Sauce — would you consider that brand to be “darker”? If not, can you recommend one in particular? Thanks. Looking forward to trying this recipe as it looks so simple and delicious! Just got to plant some Thai basil in the garden…
Sarah says
Hi Anastasia, dark soy sauce is a different variety of soy sauce that’s thicker and indeed darker than regular soy sauce. Here’s an explanation of what it is in our Ingredients Glossary: https://thewoksoflife.com/chinese-sauces-vinegars-oils/#dark-soy-sauce. You can find it at Chinese markets, but if you can’t find it, you can also omit it from the recipe. The dish just won’t have quite the same color. But it’ll still be tasty!
Edith Goldman says
This looks terrific and I plan to try it soon. Curious your thoughts on using small cubes of tofu instead of ground chicken?
Sarah says
Hey Edith, you could use tofu, but it would depend on the type of tofu you use. It has to be somewhat dry, so that it fries in the pan without sticking or breaking up. Check out our Kung Pao Tofu recipe: https://thewoksoflife.com/2019/02/kung-pao-tofu-vegan-vegetarian/. In that recipe, we take regular firm tofu and coat it/pan-fry it so that it can be stir-fried. You could apply the same method and then used the fried tofu in this dish!
Merri says
What a great recipe! Thanks for for helping us with a humorous and delicious quick dinner.
Sarah says
You’re welcome, Merri!
Kiley says
I make this all the time and I’m trying to find a way to turn this recipe into dumpling filling without losing what makes it delicious? Any ideas?
Sarah says
Hmm, you could chop the raw basil very small into the filling. You may also need more fish sauce, soy sauce, etc. to flavor it. Try experimenting with the filling, and then just make a couple dumplings and cook them so that you can taste-test and adjust seasoning as needed!