Frango com manjericão tailandês (Pad Krapow Gai)
Pad krapow gai is Thailand's beloved street-stall stir-fry: hand-chopped chicken seared hard in a screaming-hot wok with pounded garlic and bird's eye chilies, glossed with a salty-sweet sauce, and finished with a huge handful of holy basil. Chopping thighs by hand instead of using pre-ground meat gives you craggy, uneven pieces that catch the sauce, and adding the basil off the heat keeps its peppery, anise-like perfume intact. Spooned over jasmine rice with a crispy fried egg, dinner is on the table in under half an hour.
Stir together 2 tbsp oyster sauce, 1 tbsp fish sauce, 1 tbsp light soy sauce, 2 tsp dark sweet soy sauce, 1 tsp sugar, and 2 tbsp water. Pound 5 garlic cloves, 4-6 bird's eye chilies, and 2 small shallots into a coarse paste. Hand-chop 500 g boneless chicken thighs into rough pea-size bits. Fry 4 eggs in shallow oil until the whites are crispy-edged; set aside. In the same wok over high heat, sizzle the paste in 2 tbsp oil for about 30 seconds, add the chicken and sear undisturbed for a minute before tossing until just cooked, then pour in the sauce and let it bubble down to a glaze, about 2 minutes. Kill the heat, fold in 2 packed cups of holy basil until barely wilted, and serve immediately over jasmine rice topped with the fried eggs.
- Hand-chop chicken thighs instead of buying ground chicken — the uneven, craggy pieces sear better and grip the glaze.
- Get the wok lightly smoking before the aromatics go in; pad krapow is a 4-minute fry, and high heat is what builds the charred street-stall flavor.
- Add the basil off the heat. Ten seconds of residual warmth wilts it perfectly; any longer and it turns black and loses its peppery aroma.
Equipment
- Wok or 30 cm (12-inch) heavy skillet
- Mortar and pestle (or a chef's knife for mincing)
- Wok spatula or wooden spoon
- Cutting board and sharp knife
- Small mixing bowl
- Rice cooker or saucepan for jasmine rice
Ingredientes
Stir-fry
- 500 g boneless, skinless chicken thighs, hand-chopped into rough pea-size pieces; ground chicken works in a pinch
- 30 ml neutral oil (such as canola or peanut)
- garlic cloves, peeled
- Thai bird's eye chilies, use fewer for a milder plate, or swap in 2 red Fresno chilies
- small shallots, peeled and roughly sliced
- 40 g holy basil leaves (bai krapow), Thai sweet basil is the best substitute if holy basil is unavailable
Sauce
- 30 ml oyster sauce
- 15 ml fish sauce
- 15 ml light soy sauce
- 10 ml dark sweet soy sauce, or 1 tsp dark soy sauce plus 1 tsp brown sugar
- 4 g white sugar
- 30 ml water or chicken stock
For serving
- 640 g cooked jasmine rice, hot, from about 300 g / 1.5 cups raw rice
- large eggs, for crispy Thai-style fried eggs (kai dao)
- 45 ml neutral oil, for frying the eggs
Modo de preparo
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In a small bowl, stir together the oyster sauce, fish sauce, light soy sauce, dark sweet soy sauce, sugar, and water until the sugar dissolves. Set it within arm's reach of the stove — once the wok is hot, everything moves fast.
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Pound the garlic, chilies, and shallots in a mortar and pestle to a coarse, rubbly paste — you want texture, not a puree. No mortar? Mince everything together finely on a cutting board, dragging the flat of the knife over the pile a few times to bruise it.
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Slice the chicken thighs into strips, then rock your knife through them until you have rough, pea-size bits with some irregular larger pieces. This hand-chopped texture is the signature of good pad krapow — coarser and juicier than store-ground meat.
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Heat the 45 ml (3 tbsp) oil in the wok over medium-high heat until shimmering. Crack in the eggs (in batches if needed) and fry, spooning hot oil over the whites, until the edges are lacy, browned, and crisp while the yolks stay runny, 1.5 to 2 minutes each. Transfer to a plate and pour off all but 30 ml (2 tbsp) of oil.
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Return the wok to high heat until the oil just begins to smoke. Add the garlic-chili-shallot paste and stir constantly until intensely fragrant and barely golden, 20 to 30 seconds. Don't let the garlic brown deeply or it will taste bitter.
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Add the chicken, spread it into a single layer, and leave it alone for a full minute to pick up color. Then toss and stir-fry, breaking up any clumps, until the chicken is just cooked through with no pink remaining, 2 to 3 minutes total.
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Pour the sauce down the side of the wok and toss. Let it bubble hard, tossing occasionally, until it reduces to a glossy glaze that clings to the chicken, about 2 minutes. The mixture should look saucy but not soupy.
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Turn off the heat, add all the basil at once, and fold it through until just wilted — about 10 seconds. Taste and adjust with a dash more fish sauce if needed. Spoon over hot jasmine rice, top each plate with a crispy fried egg, and eat immediately.
Make ahead
You can pound the garlic-chili-shallot paste and mix the sauce up to 2 days ahead; store both covered in the fridge. The chicken can be hand-chopped the day before and kept chilled. With those three done, the actual cooking takes under 10 minutes, so this is a genuine cook-to-order dish — resist fully cooking it in advance, since the basil's aroma fades within the hour.
Storage
Cool the stir-fry (without the egg) and refrigerate in an airtight container for up to 3 days; the basil will darken but the flavor holds. Reheat in a hot skillet with a splash of water until sizzling, or microwave in short bursts. Fry eggs fresh — they don't keep. Freezing is possible for up to 2 months, though the basil is best refreshed with a few new leaves after reheating.
Variations
Pad Krapow Moo (Pork)
Swap the chicken for 500 g hand-chopped or coarsely ground pork shoulder — arguably the most common version at Bangkok street stalls. Pork's extra fat makes the glaze even silkier; everything else stays the same.
Vegan Tofu and Mushroom Krapow
Replace the chicken with 400 g crumbled extra-firm tofu plus 150 g finely chopped shiitake mushrooms, and use vegetarian stir-fry sauce (mushroom-based) instead of oyster sauce and extra light soy in place of fish sauce. Skip the egg or top with a slab of pan-crisped tofu. Sear the crumbles hard so they brown before saucing.
Green Bean and Extra-Veg Version
Add a handful of green beans or long beans cut into 1 cm pieces along with the chicken, plus half a thinly sliced red bell pepper in the final minute. A common homestyle stretch that adds crunch and makes the dish a true one-pan meal.
Serve with
Nutrition per serving
Nutrition values are estimates based on the metric measurements. Adjust as needed.
Perguntas frequentes
What basil should I use for thai basil chicken?
Authentic pad krapow gai uses holy basil (bai krapow), which has a peppery, clove-like bite and slightly fuzzy leaves — look for it at Thai or Vietnamese markets. Most Western restaurants actually make thai basil chicken with Thai sweet basil (the purple-stemmed kind with anise notes), and it's a perfectly good substitute. Italian basil works in a pinch but tastes noticeably sweeter and softer; whichever you use, add it off the heat so it wilts without blackening.
Can I use chicken breast or store-bought ground chicken?
Yes to both, with small adjustments. Ground chicken is convenient but tends to clump, so press it flat in the wok, let it sear, then break it up. Chicken breast works if you chop it slightly larger and pull the wok off the heat the moment it's cooked through — it dries out faster than thigh. Hand-chopped thighs remain the gold standard because the fat keeps everything juicy through the hard sear.
How spicy is this, and how do I tone it down?
With 4 to 6 bird's eye chilies, this lands at a genuinely spicy, sweat-at-the-table level, which is how the dish is served in Thailand. For a family-friendly version, use 1 to 2 bird's eye chilies or swap in milder red Fresno or serrano chilies — you keep the fruity chili flavor with a fraction of the burn. The fried egg and jasmine rice also do a lot of work mellowing each bite.
Is thai basil chicken gluten-free?
Not as written — standard oyster sauce, light soy sauce, and dark sweet soy sauce all typically contain wheat. To make gluten-free thai basil chicken, use a certified gluten-free oyster sauce, tamari in place of both soy sauces, and add 1 teaspoon of brown sugar to stand in for the sweet soy. Fish sauce is naturally gluten-free, but check the label to be safe.
Why fry the egg in so much oil?
The topping is kai dao, a Thai-style fried egg that's shallow-fried in hot oil so the white puffs, bubbles, and crisps at the edges while the yolk stays molten. That crackly white against the runny yolk is half the pleasure of the dish — the yolk breaks over the rice and softens the chili heat. A gently cooked sunny-side-up egg tastes fine but misses the signature crispy lace.
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