The last time I bought holy basil, I made this three days running. That is what happens with Pad Krapow Gai. It takes about 20 minutes, and once the basil is in the fridge on a countdown, you stop looking for other things to cook.
Ground chicken over high heat with garlic and Thai chilies, holy basil folded in at the end, all of it on jasmine rice under a fried egg with crisp edges and a soft yolk.
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Why You'll Love This Recipe
- 20 minutes, one pan. The stir-fry itself takes about five, and a pound of ground chicken feeds two or three. Most of the time is chopping garlic and chilies, and you can do that while the rice cooks.
- Holy basil is the whole point. It tastes peppery and clove-like, closer to mint than to sweet basil. It's what makes this dish taste like Thailand and not like a generic stir-fry.
- The heat is yours to set. One Thai chili is mild, three is medium, five or more is what you'd get on the street in Bangkok. Same recipe either way.
- Ground chicken, not sliced. No marinating, no velveting, no waiting. It browns in about two minutes and takes the sauce immediately.
- The fried egg does the work of a sauce. Break the yolk into the rice and it runs through everything. This is why Thai plates almost always come with one.
What is Holy Basil?
Holy basil (bai krapow) is what the dish is named after. Krapow means holy basil, so pad krapow literally means stir-fried holy basil, and the gai on the end just tells you it's chicken.
The flavor is peppery and clove-like, closer to mint than to sweet basil, with a slight numbing edge if you chew a raw leaf. That is why it holds up against garlic, chilies, and fish sauce instead of disappearing into them. The leaves are narrower and slightly fuzzy, sometimes with purple stems, and it smells nothing like the basil you'd put on pasta.
Look for it at Asian grocery stores, often labeled bai krapow or Thai holy basil. If you can't find it, Thai sweet basil is the usual substitute and the dish is still good, just softer and more anise-forward. Worth knowing what you're making. For the full breakdown, see holy basil vs Thai basil.
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Ground chicken: Cooks in about two minutes and takes the sauce immediately, no marinating. Ground pork is the more common street version if you want to swap.
- Garlic: A lot of it, roughly a whole head's worth of cloves for a small batch. Smashing it in a mortar and pestle releases more than mincing does, though minced works fine.
- Thai chilies: Bird's eye chilies. One is mild, three is medium, five or more is street-level heat. Seeds in for more, out for less.
- Fish sauce: The salt in the dish, plus the savory backbone. Use a Thai brand if you have one.
- Oyster sauce: Adds body and a rounder savory note. It's what keeps the sauce clinging to the meat rather than running off.
- Soy sauce: Depth and color.
- Sweet soy sauce: Thicker and molasses-like. A small amount balances the salt from the fish sauce and oyster sauce.
- Sugar: A pinch. Thai savory cooking almost always has a little, and without it the sauce reads flat and salty.
- Holy basil: Goes in last, off the heat. Peppery and clove-like, and the reason this is pad krapow rather than a generic stir-fry.
- Neutral oil: Vegetable, canola, or peanut. You need something that holds up to high heat.
- Egg, for frying: Not really optional in Thailand. Fried separately in a generous amount of oil so the edges go crisp and the yolk stays soft.
See recipe card for quantities.
Substitutions and Additions
- No holy basil? Thai sweet basil is the usual stand-in. The dish still works, it just comes out softer and more anise-forward. Italian basil is the last resort, and at that point you're making a basil stir-fry rather than pad krapow.
- No fish sauce? Soy sauce with a splash of lime covers the salt, though you lose the savory depth. There's no clean substitute for what fish sauce does here.
- No oyster sauce? Mushroom stir-fry sauce is the closest swap and keeps it vegetarian. Skipping it entirely leaves the sauce thinner and less clingy.
- No sweet soy sauce? Regular soy sauce plus an extra pinch of sugar gets you close.
- Gluten-free: Tamari for the soy sauce, and check your oyster sauce label since most contain wheat.
- Milder: Fewer chilies, or seeds removed. Red pepper flakes work but they're a different kind of heat, more of a background burn than the sharp front-of-mouth hit you get from bird's eye chilies.
How to Make Pad Krapow Gai
- Prep everything first. This cooks in about five minutes, so there is no time to chop mid-stir-fry. Mince the garlic and chilies, or smash them together in a mortar and pestle. Pick the holy basil leaves off the stems. Mix the fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl.
- Fry the egg first, not last. Heat a generous amount of oil in a small pan over medium-high. Crack in the egg and let the edges bubble and go lacy and crisp while the yolk stays soft. Set it aside. Doing this first means the stir-fry goes straight from wok to plate.
- Heat the wok. Get a wok or large skillet properly hot over high heat, then add the oil. High heat is what gives the dish its character. A cool pan steams the chicken instead of searing it.
- Garlic and chilies, 15 seconds. Add them to the hot oil and stir until fragrant. They burn fast at this temperature, so the chicken goes in almost immediately after.
- Brown the chicken. Add the ground chicken and break it up with your spatula. Stir-fry until it is no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Let it sit against the pan for a few seconds at a time rather than stirring constantly, so some of it browns instead of just cooking through.
- Add the sauce. Pour in the sauce mixture and stir to coat. Let it bubble for about a minute until it reduces and clings to the meat. If it looks dry, add a splash of water or chicken stock.
- Basil last, off the heat. Turn the heat off, add the holy basil, and fold it in gently just until it wilts, about 30 seconds. Do not keep stir-frying it. Basil that gets worked over high heat bruises and turns bitter, and you lose the aroma that the whole dish is named for.
- Serve immediately. Spoon over hot jasmine rice with the fried egg on top. Break the yolk into the rice, it runs through everything and works as a second sauce. Lime wedges and a small dish of fish sauce with sliced chilies on the side, if you want it the way it comes in Thailand.
Variations
- Pad Krapow Moo (pork). The most common version on the street in Thailand, and arguably the default. Ground pork has more fat than chicken, so it browns harder and carries the sauce better. Same method, same timing.
- Pad Krapow Neua (beef). Ground beef makes it heavier and a little richer. Worth an extra splash of fish sauce, since beef stands up to more salt than chicken does.
- Pad Krapow Talay (seafood). Shrimp or squid, cut small. Add it later than you would meat and pull it off fast, since both go rubbery in about a minute over that kind of heat.
- Vegetarian. Crumbled firm tofu, pressed first so it browns instead of steaming. Swap the fish sauce for extra soy plus a squeeze of lime, and use mushroom stir-fry sauce in place of the oyster sauce.
- With green beans. Thin-sliced long beans or green beans stirred in with the chicken is a common addition and adds some crunch against the soft ground meat.
What to Serve with Pad Krapow Gai
- Jasmine rice. Not a suggestion, it's the dish. Pad krapow is a rice plate, and the sauce is seasoned to be eaten with plain rice rather than on its own. Northern Thailand often serves it with sticky rice instead.
- A fried egg (kai dao). Fried in more oil than seems reasonable so the edges lace up and crisp. Break the yolk into the rice and it runs through everything as a second sauce. Skip it and you're eating half the dish.
- Nam pla prik. Fish sauce with sliced bird's eye chilies in a small dish on the side, plus lime wedges. This is what's on every Thai table with this meal, and it lets everyone dial their own salt and heat.
- Pomelo salad. Sharp, citrusy, and cold against a hot spicy stir-fry. The best contrast on this list.
- Korean cucumber salad. Not Thai, but the vinegar and crunch do the same job when you want something that takes five minutes.
- Thai chicken satay. If you're building a spread rather than a weeknight plate, satay with peanut sauce turns this into a proper Thai table.
- Thai tea ice cream. Cold, sweet, and milky, which is exactly what you want after five chilies.
How to Store and Reheat
Pad krapow is best straight from the wok, mostly because of the basil. It goes dark and loses its aroma within a few hours, so leftovers taste flatter than the first plate no matter how carefully you store them. That's the dish, not something you did wrong.
Fridge. Airtight container for 3 to 4 days. Store the rice separately if you can, since rice under a wet stir-fry goes soft overnight. Don't save the fried egg, cook a new one when you reheat.
Reheat. A hot pan is better than the microwave here. A minute or two over medium-high with a splash of water brings the sauce back rather than drying it out. If you have a few fresh holy basil leaves left, fold them in off the heat at the end and it tastes much closer to new.
Freezer. Up to 2 months without the basil. If you know you're freezing half, pull that portion out before the basil goes in, then add fresh leaves when you reheat. Basil that has been frozen and thawed turns black and slimy and adds nothing.
Cooked rice. Refrigerate within an hour of cooking rather than leaving it on the counter. Cooked rice left at room temperature for long stretches can grow bacteria that reheating won't fix, so it's worth being quicker with rice than you'd be with the stir-fry.
Rose's Tips
- Get the pan hotter than feels right. This dish lives on high heat. If the chicken releases liquid and sits in it, the pan wasn't hot enough and you're steaming instead of stir-frying. You want to hear it the moment it hits.
- Everything chopped before the oil goes in. The whole cook is about five minutes and the garlic burns in under thirty seconds. There is no point in the process where you can stop and mince something.
- Basil off the heat, folded not stirred. Turn the burner off first, then fold it in for about 30 seconds. Basil worked over high heat bruises and turns bitter, and the aroma is the entire reason the dish is named after it.
- Don't crowd the wok. Doubling the recipe in one pan drops the temperature and everything steams. Cook it in two batches instead, it's five minutes either way.
- Fry the egg first. It holds fine for a few minutes and the stir-fry doesn't. Doing it in the other order means the basil sits and wilts while you're watching an egg.
- Taste before it hits the plate. Fish sauce brands vary a lot in saltiness. If it reads flat, it usually wants a pinch more sugar rather than more salt.
Recipe FAQs
Savory and salty from the fish sauce and oyster sauce, with a little sweetness underneath and as much heat as you put chilies in. The holy basil is what you notice most, peppery and slightly clove-like, closer to mint than to the basil you'd use on pasta.
Krapow is holy basil in Thai, so pad krapow means stir-fried holy basil. The gai on the end tells you it's chicken. Pork is pad krapow moo and beef is pad krapow neua.
You can, and the dish will still be good, but it won't taste like pad krapow. Thai sweet basil is the usual substitute and comes out softer and more anise-forward. Italian basil is a further step away. Holy basil is worth seeking out at an Asian grocery store if you can.
It was cooked too long or too hard. Holy basil goes in with the heat off and gets folded in for about 30 seconds, not stir-fried. Working it over high heat bruises the leaves, turns them bitter, and drives off the aroma the dish is named for.
Asian grocery stores, usually labeled bai krapow or Thai holy basil, sometimes in the refrigerated herb section rather than with the produce. It has narrower, slightly fuzzy leaves and sometimes purple stems. Dried holy basil exists but doesn't work here.
As spicy as you want, but it's built around bird's eye chilies. One is mild, three is medium, five or more is roughly what you'd get on the street in Thailand. Removing the seeds takes some heat out without losing the flavor.
No, but in Thailand it's standard rather than optional. The egg is fried separately in a generous amount of oil so the edges crisp and the yolk stays soft, then broken into the rice where it works as a second sauce.
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Pad Krapow Gai (Chicken and Holy Basil Stir Fry)
Equipment
- 1 wok
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons neutral oil such as vegetable or canola, divided
- 1 tablespoons garlic cloves, minced
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 pound ground chicken
- 3 pieces Thai chile peppers
- 2 tablespoons oyster sauce
- 2 tablespoons fish sauce
- 1 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis) (optional)
- 1 tablespoons sugar
- ½ cup holy basil leaves
- 4 eggs optional
- cooked jasmine rice
Instructions
- Mix the sauce. Combine the fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce, sweet soy sauce, and sugar in a small bowl. Set aside.2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis), 1 tablespoons sugar
- Prep the aromatics. Mince the garlic and Thai chilies, or smash them together in a mortar and pestle. Pick the holy basil leaves off the stems.1 tablespoons garlic cloves, minced, 3 pieces Thai chile peppers, ½ cup holy basil leaves
- Fry the egg. Heat a generous amount of oil in a small pan over medium-high. Crack in the egg and fry until the edges are lacy and crisp and the yolk is still soft. Set aside.4 eggs
- Heat the wok. Get a wok or large skillet hot over high heat, then add the oil.3 tablespoons neutral oil
- Aromatics, 15 seconds. Add the garlic, onion and chilies and stir until fragrant. Move quickly, they burn fast.1 tablespoons garlic cloves, minced, 3 pieces Thai chile peppers, 1 small onion, diced
- Brown the chicken. Add the ground chicken and break it up. Stir-fry until no longer pink, about 2 minutes. Let it sit against the pan between stirs so some of it browns.1 pound ground chicken
- Add the sauce. Pour it in and stir to coat. Cook about 1 minute until it reduces and clings. Add a splash of water or stock if it looks dry.2 tablespoons oyster sauce, 2 tablespoons fish sauce, 1 tablespoons sweet soy sauce (Kecap Manis), 1 tablespoons sugar
- Basil off the heat. Turn the burner off. Add the holy basil and fold it in gently, about 30 seconds, until just wilted. Do not stir-fry it.½ cup holy basil leaves
- Serve. Spoon over hot jasmine rice with the fried egg on top.cooked jasmine rice
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