Pad Krapow Gai (Thai Holy Basil Chicken)
Overview
If a Thai person walks into any food court, market stall or office canteen and orders without thinking, this is what they order. Pad krapow gai is the country's default lunch, the thing you cook when your fridge has nothing in it but eggs and a packet of chicken mince. The dish takes 12 minutes start to finish. The technique is brutal: very high heat, no oil shortcuts, fresh chillies pounded with garlic in a mortar, holy basil torn in at the last second so the leaves wilt but do not blacken. Served over jasmine rice with a fried egg on top, fish sauce and sliced chilli on the side.
The Ingredients
- • 300g chicken mince
- • 2 eggs
- • 200g jasmine rice, cooked
- • 4 Green Hot Chillies (Crysp)
- • 30g Basil Genovese (Crysp), or holy basil
- • 30g Chives (Crysp), cut in 5cm lengths
- • 1 tbsp Peashoots (Crysp), to garnish
- • 5 garlic cloves
- • 2 tbsp oyster sauce
- • 1 tbsp fish sauce
- • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
- • 1 tsp dark soy sauce
- • 1 tsp sugar
- • 4 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying
Instructions
Pound the Garlic and Chillies
Use a mortar and pestle if you have one, otherwise mince finely with a knife. Pound the garlic cloves and 3 of the chillies (slice the fourth and reserve for garnish) into a rough paste, do not blend smooth. The texture is the point, you want gritty bits of garlic and visible chilli pieces in the finished dish. The mortar releases oils that a blender flattens.
Mix the Sauce
In a small bowl, combine the oyster sauce, fish sauce, light soy, dark soy and sugar. Stir until the sugar dissolves. Set within reach of the stove, you will not have time to measure once you start cooking.
Fry the Eggs Crispy
Heat 3 tbsp oil in a small frying pan over high heat until shimmering, almost smoking. Crack in the eggs one at a time, the oil will bubble violently around them, that is what makes the edges go crispy and lacy. Cook 90 seconds, the whites should be golden brown and bubbly at the edges, the yolks still runny. Lift onto paper towel.
Stir-Fry on High Heat
Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or wide pan over the highest heat your stove allows. When it smokes, throw in the garlic-chilli paste, stir-fry 15 seconds until fragrant, do not let it burn. Add the chicken mince. Break it up with the spatula, stir-fry 3 minutes pressing it against the hot pan to caramelise. The chicken should be deep golden in patches, no longer pink anywhere.
Sauce and Basil at the End
Pour the sauce mixture into the pan, stir-fry 30 seconds, the liquid will reduce and coat the chicken in a glossy dark glaze. Off the heat, throw in the chives and tear in all the basil leaves. Toss for 10 seconds only, the residual heat wilts the basil while keeping it green and aromatic. Cooking the basil too long turns it brown and bitter, this is the most common mistake.
Plate the Bangkok Way
Mound the jasmine rice on one side of a plate. Spoon the pad krapow next to it, not on top, the two should sit side by side so each can be tasted alone. Slide a crispy egg on top of the chicken. Scatter the sliced reserved chilli over the dish, pile peashoots in the centre. Serve with a small dish of fish sauce mixed with sliced chilli (prik nam pla) on the side, every Thai person adds it at the table.
The Tradition
Pad krapow is the most cooked Thai dish in the world, full stop. Walk into any street stall in Bangkok between 11am and 2pm and at least half the orders going out are pad krapow with rice and egg, locals call it krapow rad khao kai dao, "holy basil over rice with fried egg." The chicken (gai), pork (moo) and beef (neua) versions are all standard, you order based on what you feel like that day. The crispy fried egg is non-negotiable, a soft poached egg is wrong, the sound the runny yolk makes when it hits the salty meat is part of the eating experience.
💡 Pro Tip: Authentic pad krapow uses Thai holy basil (krapow), not Italian sweet basil. Holy basil has a peppery, almost clove-like heat that defines the dish. If you can find it at a Thai or Asian grocer in Dubai, swap it in 1:1. Genovese basil from Crysp is the closest fresh substitute, but the dish will read more "Thai-style stir-fry" than "real pad krapow." Worth searching out the real thing if you can.