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
- 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.
I’ve made this recipe several times, thank you, we love it! Instead of buying pre-ground chicken I chop chicken breast finely per the recipe on your site for hand chopped ground chicken. When I made this recipe tonight I happened to have sliced shiitake mushrooms on hand that needed to be used so I threw those in as well, so good! Thanks to your detailed instructions and ingredient information, I’m finally able to make delicious Asian favorites at home, which has been a dinner game changer for me! Thank you for your inspiring and delicious recipes!
You’re very welcome, Hillary! So glad that you did the hand-chopping method for the chicken—it really does improve the texture of the dish.
I literally went shopping for a Wok today because I remembered having basil chicken at a Thai restaurant and loved it.! It’s been years since and unfortunately there aren’t any good restaurants where I relocated to.
It was my first time making it and all though disappointing that the exact ingredients could not be found in my area, I improvised and guess what! It was very delicious! So much so my family ate twice and there were no left overs 🍽🍽🍽🍽🍽
Thank you for this recipe was easy and I cant wait to obtain the exact ingredients to make this again!
You’re very welcome, Doris! :)
just wondering, why ground chicken versus breasts/dark meat cut into bite-sized pieces?
Hi Edward, it just easier! Your instincts are right though. This dish would taste even better with hand-chopped chicken using this method: https://thewoksoflife.com/how-to-grind-meat-without-a-grinder/. You can keep the pieces larger too if you like!
My local market didn’t have ground chicken, and my stand mixer w/ grinder attachment is off for repair, so I chopped chicken thighs by hand using your method. I almost like it BETTER than ground chicken! There’s more variety to the texture of the meat (maybe because I have bad technique, ha ha!). Anyway, this was a huge hit!!! Thanks!
Yes, for sure—that little bit of extra work can really change the character of the dish and make it even better. Amazing!
Amazing recipe. Do you think it freezes well? Thank you!
Hi Alex, generally, thai basil doesn’t do too well in the freezer. This dish is definitely best fresh!
This recipe is super good! We had to make some modifications based on what we have available at our store, but we really liked it.
Thank you Rachel! Glad you were able to adapt it to what you could find locally.
How much is “1 bunch” of basil in ounces?
Figure about 2.5 ounces with leaves and stems, but you only use the leaves!
This was so fast and so good! I’ll definitely make it again. I wasn’t sure how much of the Thai/holy basil was a ‘bunch’ so I just threw in all that I had (about 1 slightly packed up of plucked leaves)…next time I think I’ll add a bit more.
Thanks, Kari! Extra Thai basil doesn’t hurt. It’s so tasty!
Great recipe – will definitely become a staple in my house! Didn’t have the pepper so used crushed red pepper. Also added a red pepper and a bit of ginger for kicks. So easy – thanks agai!
You’re welcome, Holly!