Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapao) is deliciously spicy and aromatic chicken served atop rice with an egg or as lettuce wraps.

Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapao)

By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime

Jump to Recipe

Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapao) is my recipe of the day with the blogging group Alphabet Recipe Challenge. We group together every other week to share a recipe connected with a consecutive letter of the alphabet. We will be working our way from A-Z throughout the year. This week we are sharing recipes for the letter “T”. Glad you could join us!

Print Recipe

This is an old favorite of mine, which is ever so simple to prepare. It is kind of a love child recipe based on different Thai basil chicken recipes I have used and enjoyed, along with that of Kasma-Loha Unchit. It includes a recipe for Thai chili sauce which I have been using for a long time.

This requires a few specialized ingredients, but these can be substituted easily if they are unavailable in your area.
Thai basil is preferred, but you can get by using sweet basil if that’s all you can get. These two herbs are actually different, but the sweet basil can make do.

Thai lime leaves are also preferred, but you can substitute lime zest- the fragrance will not be quite the same but it will be ok. I would avoid adding lime juice for this as it will unbalance the amount of sour in the flavors.

Thai Basil Chicken as Lettuce Wraps

For the Thai chilies I like the red ones, but late in the year I often only find green. Those are ok, if not quite as hot as the red ones. If further still you can’t get Thai chilies, you might substitute with fresh jalapenos, but I would probably go with something like sambal oelek chili paste or sriracha chili sauce if I needed.

This is because there is more to peppers than just the heat- they do actually have a certain kind of flavor. On that note, I would avoid using habanero or scotch bonnet peppers, even though they are hot, because the flavor is all wrong.

The other thing is the dark sweet soy sauce which you might be able to approximate by adding molasses or brown sugar to a low-sodium soy sauce. It isn’t quite as salty as regular soy sauce, and the dark is also a little bit thicker.

You can serve this on squares of iceberg lettuce and Boston lettuce is also a good choice. You don’t really need to roll them into a wrap but eat them on the lettuce kind of like a tostada. The iceberg is firmer and easier to pick up and the Boston is easier to fold (like a taco) so the choice is really yours.

Alphabet Recipe Challenge

“T” Recipes

• Faith, Hope, Love, & Luck Survive Despite a Whiskered Accomplice:Baked Chicken Tenders with Crushed Fritos
• A Messy Kitchen:Blackberry Tiramisu
• Karen’s Kitchen Stories:Chicken Teriyaki Rice Bowls
• Food Lust People Love: Stuffed Turkey Cutlets
• Jolene’s Recipe Journal: Taco Tater Skins
• Sneha’s Recipe:Tender Coconut Meat Cutlet / Shahlyachi Malai Cutlet
• Palatable Pastime:Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapao)
• Culinary Cam: Toasted Croutons
• Mayuri’s Jikoni:Tomato Onion Chutney
• A Day in the Life on the Farm:Tomato Tart
• Blogghetti: Turkey Cuban Sandwich Puffs

Palatable Pastime: Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapao)

Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapao)

You Might Also Like:

Crispy Tilapia with Spicy Thai Basil Sauce

Crispy tilapia with spicy Thai basil sauce can be easily made with any white fish and is topped with a hot, sweet and sour sauce with fragrant basil.

Thai Praram Tofu (Swimming Rama)

Thai Praram Tofu (Swimming Rama) is crispy fried tofu and broccoli pieces served with a satay type peanut sauce in this vegan recipe.

Pad Thai

Pad Thai is the definitive spicy Asian noodle dish with a foolproof cooking sauce from scratch, tender rice noodles and chicken or shrimp.

Thai Grilled Skirt Steak

Thai Grilled Skirt Steak adds spicy SE Asian flavor to your summertime steaks with the texture of fajitas.

Pad Kee Mao (Thai Drunken Noodles)

Pad Kee Mao stir-fries rice stick noodles with tender chicken, peppers, carrots and bamboo shoots with a spicy sauce flavored with fresh basil.

Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapao)

Click stars in the recipe card and comment to rate.

Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapow)

Sue Lau

Thai Basil Chicken (Gai Pad Krapao) is deliciously spicy and aromatic chicken served atop light lettuce wedges or wraps.

5 from 5 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Course Main Dish

Cuisine Asian, Thai

Servings 4

Calories 483 kcal

Equipment

• nonstick skillet

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Stir-Fry:

• 2 tbsp. peanut oil or coconut oil
• 2 tbsp. chopped garlic
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1 pound ground chicken or ground turkey
• 5 Thai chillies thinly sliced
• 2 Thai lime leaves finely minced
• 1 tbsp. dark sweet soy sauce or ketjap manis
• 2 tbsp. fish sauce
• 1 cup Thai basil
• sliced cucumber
• iceberg lettuce leaves or boston lettuce leaves

Thai chili sauce (nam prik):

• 5-6 Thai chili peppers sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic or garlic paste
• 1 3/4 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fish sauce
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Plating:

• 8 Boston lettuce leaves
• 4 large eggs
• 2 cups cooked Jasmine rice

Instructions

 

• Cook ground chicken, onion, garlic, sliced chilis and minced Thai lime leaves in oil until cooked through and crumbled.
• Stir in fish sauce, dark soy sauce and Thai basil; remove from heat.
• Stir together ingredients for nam prik sauce.
• Serve chicken on lettuce leaves along with slices of cucumber which you can dip into the nam prik sauce.
• Serve alongside steamed Jasmine rice.
• Fry 4 eggs sunny side up or to your preference and serve over rice.

Notes

From the kitchen of palatablepastime.com

Nutrition

Calories: 483kcalCarbohydrates: 43gProtein: 31gFat: 22gSaturated Fat: 5gPolyunsaturated Fat: 5gMonounsaturated Fat: 9gTrans Fat: 0.1gCholesterol: 261mgSodium: 967mgPotassium: 1241mgFiber: 3gSugar: 11gVitamin A: 3204IUVitamin C: 100mgCalcium: 117mgIron: 4mg

Keyword "T" recipes

Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!

Don’t Forget to Pin and Save the Recipe!

Above all, join my recipe group on Facebook for more recipes from blogger friends around the world!

Palatable Recipes

or scan the code to join

Disclaimer: This post may contain affiliate links which offer sources for ingredients and equipment, if needed. You can click the links with no charge to you. If you do purchase anything during your visit it helps pay the electric bill here and keep the blog lights on! Thanks for your support.