A fast pad kra pao-style chicken skillet with sweet roasted onion and plenty of holy basil.
This skillet dinner is built on the same logic as pad kra pao, Thailand's ubiquitous stir-fried holy basil dish, but roasts the onion beforehand to bring out a deeper sweetness that balances the dish's heat and salt. Holy basil (bai kra pao) has a peppery, almost clove-like flavor that's distinct from sweet Italian basil, and it's what gives the dish its name and character. The stir-fry itself moves fast: garlic and chile are pounded or minced fine and fried hard at the very start, the chicken goes in over high heat to sear rather than stew, and the basil is folded in only at the very last moment so it wilts without turning bitter or black. Serve it the traditional way — over jasmine rice with a fried egg on top, the yolk broken into the rice to bind everything together.
Serves 4
Toss half the sliced onion with a little oil and roast at 200°C (400°F) for 20 minutes until soft and browned at the edges. Set aside.
Heat oil in a wok or large skillet over high heat. Add garlic and chile and stir-fry 20-30 seconds until fragrant, being careful not to burn the garlic.
Add ground chicken and the raw sliced onion. Stir-fry over high heat, breaking up the meat, for 5-6 minutes until browned and mostly cooked through.
Stir in fish sauce, oyster sauce, soy sauce and sugar. Cook 1-2 more minutes until well coated and glossy.
Fold in the roasted onion, then remove from heat and stir in the basil leaves — the residual heat will wilt them without turning them black.
Adding basil off the heat keeps its flavor bright instead of bitter.
Fry eggs sunny-side up with crispy edges in a separate pan. Serve the chicken over rice, each portion topped with a fried egg.
Use holy basil if you can find it at a Thai or Asian grocer — its peppery bite is what makes pad kra pao taste distinct from a basil stir-fry made with sweet basil.
Mince the chile and garlic together, almost to a paste, the way it's traditionally pounded in a mortar, for the most even heat distribution.
Fold the basil in off the heat — even a minute too long in the hot pan turns it bitter and dull-colored.
Use ground pork or beef instead of chicken for a heartier version.
Make it vegetarian with crumbled firm tofu and mushrooms, using soy sauce instead of fish sauce and oyster sauce.
Increase the chiles for a much spicier version, closer to how it's often made at Thai street stalls.
Refrigerate up to 3 days; the basil will darken but the flavor holds. Reheat in a hot skillet rather than the microwave to keep the texture from turning mushy. Fry a fresh egg for each reheated portion.
Pad kra pao is one of the most common everyday dishes in Thailand, sold at nearly every street stall and market, traditionally made with ground pork or chicken, generous garlic and chile, and holy basil folded in at the end — rarely written down formally since it's cooked from memory and taste rather than a fixed recipe.
Holy basil (bai kra pao) is peppery and slightly bitter with a clove-like note, while Thai basil is sweeter and more anise-like — holy basil is traditional here, but Thai basil is a common and acceptable substitute.
Traditionally quite spicy, but you control the heat entirely through the number of chiles — start with fewer and taste as you go if you're unsure.
You can, but the runny yolk is a core part of how this dish is traditionally eaten in Thailand, mixed into the rice to add richness — it's worth keeping if you can.
Per serving (380g / 13.4 oz) · 4 servings total
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