{"id":42518,"title":"Thai Holy Basil Chicken Stir-Fry (Pad kapao)","modified":"2025-06-29T10:31:19+02:00","plain":"This Thai dish is wildly popular and is known in French under many names: Pad Kra Pao, Pad Ka Prao, Pad Ka Pow, Pad Krapow... etc. \n\n\n\n\"Pad gaprao\" is the closest phonetic spelling, yet it is the least common because even most Thais mispronounce it to begin with! \n\n\n\nWhatever you call it, the dish is the same delicious, rustic, mildly spicy stir-fry perfumed with holy basil. For a truly traditional serving, spoon it over rice and crown it with a fried egg!\n\n\n\nA Thai \"fast food\" dish\n\n\n\nIn Thailand, it's basically the local answer to a sandwich or burger. \n\n\n\nIt's quick, easy, and everywhere, making it a go-to lunch. \n\n\n\nThe basil leaves are stirred into the dish after cooking\n\n\n\nYou will spot Thai holy basil chicken everywhere, from roadside shacks to mall food courts, and as mentioned earlier, tons of people eat it for lunch. \n\n\n\nSometimes vendors make it fresh to order; other times it sits ready in a big buffet tray, waiting to be ladled over steaming jasmine rice.\n\n\n\nHow to fry an egg the Thai way?\n\n\n\nYou can certainly serve the stir-fry over rice by itself, but the crowd-favorite topping is a Thai-style fried egg. \n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nThe combo is called \"kao pad gaprao gai kai dao\", which literally means rice with holy basil chicken and a fried egg. \n\n\n\nA Thai fried egg is cooked in LOTS of oil so that the edges of the whites turn golden and bubbly \n\n\n\nThe creamy, slightly runny yolk tempers the dish's bold, spicy heat, which is exactly why the pairing is so beloved\n\n\n\nWhat if I'm not in the mood for chicken?\n\n\n\nAlthough chicken is the most common, you can make the dish with nearly any protein you can think of. \n\n\n\nTry pork, beef (see my pad gra prow recipe), seafood, or a vegetarian mix built on tofu, seitan, tempeh, and\/or mushrooms. If chicken is not your thing, swap away and experiment! You are, however, required to send me the results haha \n\n\n\nGround meat is used here because it is the most classic, street-style way to serve pad kapao, but you can certainly use thinly sliced meat instead. \n\n\n\nBuuut I TRULY think it tastes better with ground meat - do whatever you want with that info.\n\n\n\nThai beef with holy basil is another beloved classic\n\n\n\nIngredients for Thai holy basil chicken\n\n\n\nLight soy sauce: The classic salty soy sauce that is now stocked in virtually every supermarket. There is really no excuse not to pick some up!\n\n\n\nOyster sauce: It doesn't actually taste like oysters, but it is essential to the flavor of many Asian dishes. You can substitute it in a pinch, yet I strongly recommend picking some up.\n\n\n\nFish sauce: A dish simply isn't Thai without good fish sauce. Make the investment - you won't regret it. Seriously, it delivers an indescribable taste (well, umami) that provides a beautifully nuanced saltiness\n\n\n\nThe Thai holy basil: With its distinctive flavor, it is the real star of the dish. Unfortunately, it can be tricky to find, so at worst swap in regular basil from our neck of the woods\n\n\n\nDark soy sauce: The counterpart to light soy sauce and now available online or in Asian supermarkets. It lends depth and nuance to any dish it touches\n\n\n\nRecipe contributed by Toom Vincent on the site's official Facebook group\n\n\n\n\n\n\tThai Holy Basil Chicken Stir-Fry (Pad Krapao)\n\t\t\n\t\tA fast, foolproof recipe for spicy Thai holy basil chicken stir-fry.\t\n\t\n\t\tWokmortier\t\n\t\n\t\t300 g ground chicken5 Thai chilies5 garlic cloves0.5 onion, thinly sliced1 handful  holy basil leaves2 eggs, 1 per person2 servings cooked jasmine riceSauce1 tablespoon  oyster sauce1 tablespoon  light soy sauce2 teaspoons  fish sauce1.5 teaspoon  dark soy sauce2 tablespoons  water1.5 teaspoon  sugarPrik Nam Pla (optional, for seasoning the egg)1 tablespoon  fish sauce1 teaspoon  lime juice1 sliced Thai chili1 clove  minced garlic\t\n\t\n\t\tIn a small bowl, stir together all the sauce ingredients until the sugar dissolves.Using a mortar and pestle, pound the chilies and garlic into a rough paste.Heat a wok over medium-high heat, then stir-fry the chili\u2013garlic paste until fragrant and slightly darkened.Add the ground chicken and stir-fry, breaking up any clumps.Pour in the sauce and cook, stirring, for 3\u20134 minutes.Add the onion and continue stir-frying until the chicken is cooked through.Remove the wok from the heat and fold in the holy basil.For the eggsPour about 1 cm of oil into a clean wok or skillet and heat until shimmering.Crack the egg straight into the hot oil and fry until the edges are crispy and the yolk is cooked to your liking.Prik Nam PlaStir all the ingredients together in a small bowl or glass.PlatingSpoon the stir-fry over hot jasmine rice and crown each serving with a fried egg.Drizzle a little prik nam pla over the egg and dig in.\t\n\t\n\t\tYou can swap in any hot chili pepper if Thai chilies aren\u2019t available.\n\t\n\t\n\t\tPlat principalTha\u00eflandaisePoulet, Sauce huitre, Sauce poisson, Sauce soja dark, Sauce soja light","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42518","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42518"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42518\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3395"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42518"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42518"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/marcwiner.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42518"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}