This popular Thai dish has many English spellings: Pad Kra Pao, Pad Ka Prao, Pad Ka Pow, Pad Krapow...etc. "Pad gaprao" is the phonetically closest spelling, but it seems to be the least popular way because most Thai people mispronounce it to begin with!
Doesn't matter, because no matter how you spell it, they all point to this same delicious, rustic, spicy stir-fry featuring the aroma of holy basil. For a truly classic way to serve this dish, pour it over rice and top with a fried egg!
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Thai "Fast Food"
In Thailand, pad gaprao might be considered the equivalent of a sandwich or a burger. Something quick, easy, and ubiquitous that lots of people have for lunch. You can find pad gaprao at a simple street-side restaurant or in a food court, and many people have it for lunch. Sometimes vendors will make it fresh for you, other times, you can find it premade in a big tray and they just scoop it up and pour it over hot rice.
Frying an Egg Thai-Style
You can have this dish on its own with rice, but the most popular way is to have it with a fried egg. This classic combination is called "kao pad gaprao gai kai dao", which simply means rice with chicken holy basil stir-fry and a fried egg. Thai fried egg is fried in a LOT of oil because the key characteristic you want is that bubbly browned edges of the egg whites.
The creaminess of the slightly runny egg mellows out the strong, spicy flavour of the stir-fry, and that's why it's such a winning combo.
Changing Up the Chicken
Although this recipe is most popular with chicken, you can make it with just about every kind of protein imaginable. Pork, beef, seafood, or even vegetarian version made with tofu and/or mushrooms. So if chicken isn't your thing, feel free to change it up! I also have a post that will help guide you with making pad gaprao with protein of your choice, see how to Pad Kra Pao Anything.
I use ground meat in this recipe because it's the most classic and the most "street" way you'll find pad kra pao, but you can use thinly sliced pieces of meat instead. Although, I REALLY think it tastes better with ground meat, so give it a go!
What else can you use holy basil for?
If you've got some extra basil after trying this recipe, you must check out the other recipe that is a classic use of holy basil, and that is pad kee mao (drunken noodles) recipe. You can also add it into just about any kind of stir fry you want, or try adding it to boat noodles or jungle curry.
If the basil isn't gonna last, and you don't really need anymore food yet, here's my go-to way to save any wilting basil from going bad: I make an all-purpose Thai basil sauce which can be stored in the fridge for at least a week and even frozen. When you're ready to eat, simply pour it over any cooked protein, or use it as a stirfry sauce. It is truly delicious and versatile!
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Pad Kra Pao (Pad Gaprao) Chicken Stir-Fry with Holy Basil
- Yield: 2-3 Servings
Description
A dish that could be considered Thailand's national dish, this pad gaprao recipe is a simple stir fry of ground chicken with holy basil, served with rice and topped with crispy fried egg.
Ingredients
- 5-10 Thai chilies, or to taste
- 5 cloves garlic
- 1 spur chilies or another mild, red pepper, chopped
- ½ cup long beans, cut into short pieces
- ½ small onion, diced
- 300g chicken, coarsely ground (see video for how to grind your own chicken)
- 1 Tbsp oyster sauce
- 1 Tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tsp fish sauce
- 1½ tsp black soy sauce (or sub dark soy sauce and reduce regular soy sauce to 2 tsp)
- 2 Tbsp water
- 1 ½ tsp sugar
- 1 ½ cup holy basil leaves, loosely packed (see note)
- Vegetable oil, as needed
- 2-3 eggs (1 per person)
- Jasmine rice for serving
- Prik Nam Pla (condiment for seasoning the egg, optional): Mix together some fish sauce, a squeeze of lime juice, chopped Thai chilies, and chopped garlic.
Note: If you don't have holy basil, Thai basil will work fine; however, I have found that regular Italian basil actually has a more similar flavour to holy basil than Thai basil does, so that will work as well!
Tools needed: A wok or a large skillet for the stir-fry. For the fried egg you can use a wok or a small frying pan, and non-stick would be better so you don't have to worry about the egg sticking.
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Instructions
- Pound Thai chilies into a fine paste.
- Add garlic and spur chilies and pound into a rough paste.
- Combine oyster sauce, soy sauce, fish sauce, black soy sauce, water and sugar; stir to dissolve the sugar.
- In a wok or a large saute pan, saute the garlic-chili paste in a little vegetable oil over medium high heat until the garlic starts to turn golden.
- Add chicken and toss until they're no longer in big clumps. Add the sauce and continue tossing until the chicken is almost done.
- Add onions and long beans; toss until the chicken is done.
- Remove from heat and stir in the holy basil.
- Taste and adjust seasoning as needed.
For the fried egg:
- Heat about 1 cm of vegetable oil in a small non-stick pan or a wok over medium high heat.
- Once the oil is hot (you want the oil very hot, especially if you like runny yolk), crack the egg directly into the pan and let it fry until the edges are browned and bubbly.
Serve the stir-fry over rice and top it with the fried egg. Drizzle a little of the prik nam pla over the egg and enjoy!
Stephanie says
This came out so well! I just wish you specified in step 3 that the sauce ingredients get combined in a separate bowl. I put them in with the chili paste and had to start all over again 💀
Dan says
If I use either Dried Tulsi or Tulsi powder, what would be the approx conversion to holy basil?
Katey says
This is the best Gaprao recipe i've found (and I've tried a few!). I cook this at least once or twice a month.
Anonymous says
Please a tofu version of this recipe 🙏🏽
h says
300g of firm tofu crumbled up & follow the recipe as written
Luke5111 says
Tasted and smelled exactly liked I hoped it would. Excellent recipe, I'd be very happy to have this served in a Thai restaurant.
Sassy says
Love this recipe a fav for me sending to my fav bartender now 😻
Charles Pascual says
I just made this and served it with rice as Pailin's recipe and video indicate but this is so good I'll bet it will go well with any noodles.
GaelleG says
Would it work with fresh wheat noodles by any chance? Thanks 🙂
JAMR says
Lazy prik nam pla 😁
Garlic chili paste, fish sauce and lime. Mix and you're good to go 😉
Sandra says
I just made this for dinner and it was absolutely delicious. I made it with beef last week and my husband loved it and asked me to make it again but try chicken this time and both versions were a big hit. Thanks for your great recipes 😍
RonR says
Incredibly flavorful from such a (seemingly) simple combination of ingredients. I found the recipe easy to follow - particularly given the helpful hints re proteins and peppers - with outstanding results. The video supported my learning. I took the risk of making this dish for my wife on Mothers Day. Winner, winner chicken dinner! Thank you, Pai.
Mike says
Wonderul! Thank you so much for sharing an authentic version. The holy basil is a very unique flavor
Chris Gunn says
Best version of this recipe
Harmon says
this was incredibly good. i had leftovers so i just fried another egg to have with it the next day. genuinely one of the best things i've ever cooked! the flavour of the basil is so unique and delicious
Keith says
Thanks for all you do Pailin.
ขอบคุณคับไพลิน
ຊ່ວຍແບ່ງປັນສູດອາຫານລາວ ແລະ ເຕັກນິກການປຸງອາຫານໄດ້ບໍ່? ຂອບໃຈ
Amer says
Best Pad Grapao recipe and my go to recipe. Countless times making it and surely a simple and quick dish to cook. Something Thailand to bring home ☺️❤️
Sandy says
Best pad gaprao I have ever had! Especially with the prik ñam pla!!! My son wants it almost every week. It is better than any Thai restaurant around here. I use ground pork. I don’t put in long beans or mild peppers because my son doesn’t like them. Try this recipe. It’s amazing!
George Donner says
Following your recent Patreon video,
I have ordered a new mortar snd pestle from KROK.
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Amazing! I hope you enjoy it!!
Connor says
I eat this all the time, can use a variety of proteins, chicken, pork,(both sliced or minced) or pawns/shrimp. You will find it authentically has more chilli in than this recipe though, sometime up to 30 chillies haha. So you can add more it won't ruin the taste of the dish if you can handle it.
JAMR says
No one more beautiful than a Thai woman, and she cooks too!!!
I´ve made this recipe quite a few times, it´s simply awesome.
Out of couriocity I made it once with lean ground beef, everything else left the same. It s definitelly worth trying.
Thank you for your videos and beautiful smile...
simon williams says
I make a version of this with frozen Chinese roast duck. It's hard to get holy basil here in New Zealand, but Italian basil works here because of the anise flavour in the duck's 5-spice that kind of hints at the anise in holy basil. It's one of my favourite Thai-style dishes. 🙂
Lee Wilkinson says
Hi not tried this yet but will do! Is it similar to Pad kra tiem? If not do you have a recipe please?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
No, pad kra tiem is a basic stir fry with garlic, check out my garlic pepper chicken and see if that's what you're looking for?
Lee says
Oh yes I have had made that also and guessed it was similar to what I had from a Thai food stall here in England except it was made with beef and really saucey, but must say your recipe is much better! Thank you Pai much love
Michael St Pierre says
Make it with mince pork, mince chicken, sliced pork, sliced chicken, pork belly, shrimp...with or without the long beans. I've lived in Thailand for 25 years and I've seldom/never seen it with onions.
Ma says
I've made this a half dozen times and it's always good! Figured it was time to leave a comment. They always leave out the fried egg when I order it at Thai restaurants in the States!
Dave L says
I've tried this recipe with both regular basil and Thai basil (not yet holy basil). The Thai basil definitely tastes better to me, but regular basil is still a decent substitute when Thai basil is scarce/expensive.
The basil wilts away into almost nothing, so even when it looks like you're adding a lot, don't worry, it will shrink down (just like spinach would).
Home-prepared coarsely ground chicken makes a bigger difference than I thought, especially if using chicken thighs. You can use better cuts of meat versus what they use for machine-ground chicken, but also the texture is nicer too. Machine-ground meat works fairly well, but if you have the time and patience, I recommend doing it yourself.
Overall, an amazing recipe, one that I will keep coming back to.
Martin says
I tried this recipe for the first time yesterday. I have a good benchmark for the taste, as I buy this dish in a really good Thai restaurant near my workplace almost every week. Instead of chicken I used pork tenderloin and the volume vas 4 times of what this recipe states. I was not lucky buying holy basil and had to use the usual one. The final result was more than satisfactory. I reckon adding enough sauces and water to make it really juicy is imperative.
The whole family loved it and so did I. It is really easy when you have two sons assisting 🙂
Amer says
Love the recipe so much that i did a big batch for meal prep. My family favourite dish and it’s so aroy
Jamie says
Just made this tonight; substituted 1 tsp gochugaru for each thai chilie and 1tbsp of sweet turkish pepper paste for the spur chilie because I didn't have alternatives at home. It was still very awesome. Also doubled it. You don't want to miss out on the egg + topping, so good!
Yucca Pereira says
Love the recipe and make it often.
Joe Graff says
But to be clear, it's กะเพรา. That 'r' (raw-rua ร) is in the second syllable, not the first. So gaprao or kaprao, never gra/kra. I am shocked how often I see it misspelled in Thai script. This mistake really bugged my Thai language tutor, so she really beat it into me!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
You're absolutely right. I have to include both spellings because most people are used to seeing R in the first syllable and they don't necessarily recognize the correct version as being the same dish.
Massi says
Cretino
Pete Willis says
This has become my number 1 Thai recipe, love it..
Ruud says
Being married to a Thai Wife and the kids loving this but mom is working late sometimes... daddy needs to pick up the missing Thai links...
The kids loved it and everything was finished.
So thanks.
Sandy says
I didn’t put in spur Chilis and I didn’t put in beans but this is the best recipe for pad gaprao that I have ever found. My son asked if we can have it once a week. So delicious!
Carlin says
We made this tonight and it’s incredible!!! Better than the restaurants in our neighborhood. So crave worthy.
Summer says
I've been trying to recreate this dish for awhile. I'm so happy I've found an amazing recipe for it.
David says
If it's not minced pork, it's not authentic. Also not a fan of adding onion, it's very over powering and ruins the balance of all flavors.
adam says
I lived in Thailand for 20 years. Most of the pad krapow i had or seen were chicken mince.
Kristen says
Sawadee kha, Pai! Big fan! I work in Vientiane, Laos; used to make regular trips to Nong Khai and Udon Thani back before Covid. Krapow is my family's favorite dish, and I make it regularly. How do you wilt the basil without it turning black??? It is never the same as the ran-ahan. What am I doing wrong?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Hi! So exposed to too much heat basil will turn black. You're letting it linger too long in the hot pan is my guess. So I always turn the heat OFF then add the basil and fold it in using the residual heat and take it out of the pan asap. If you use electric stove you can move it off the element also.
Jerko says
This is a favorite of my family for years now. We grow the tulsi basil in an aerogarden. Love everything about it. We usually sub a thai chili paste instead of fresh and most of the time we just don't have the long beans. Love it every time.
SL says
Hi Pai!!! First of all, big fan! Love all your videos and recipes! In fact this one is one of my favorites! I've made this a few times! I just made this for dinner, got over confident and didn't measure the fish sauce right and now it's too salty!!! Do you have an recommendations how to adjust the saltiness? Help please! I made so much and don't want to waste so much. THANK YOU!!!
SL says
Sorry I didn't mean to reply to your post with my post! Now I can't delete it. Sorry!!!
Doug says
Hi For the Thai chilies just regular fresh bird’s eye or even serranos? And the Spur chili —I only have dried spur chilies, from Thailand but I can’t find them fresh. Would dry work here?
And if not is there a source where I can find fresh Prik ban chang chiles?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Any hot chilies will work in place of the Thai chilies, so yes serranos are fine. Dried spur isn't common, but I think it would be interesting and good and I've seen people used fresh+dried combo. I'd finely chop them so it's not leathery.
Terry says
Why don't you rehydrate the dried chili in hot water? Once it's softened up, it's ready to use!
Just an old pro trick for the rehydration of anything that has been dried...fruit, vegetables, meat...
Mark says
Fantastic flavor; heat yet not so overbearing that the sauce is overwhelmed. Love it! One comment: video link at the top of the recipe is not working.
Misa says
My husband and I LOVE this! Tastes just like Thailand!!
Tony Morris says
Thank you so much for this simply amazing recipe! I’ve cooked it twice now and it is fantastic. Everyone in our family loves it and it’s so easy to make. I use an electric wok and the eggs turn out perfectly!
mavee125 says
This Pad Kra Pao recipe is so delicious! I used Healthy Boy Brand Thin Soy Sauce which I bought at Karman Foods, as an alternative, and the taste was absolutely delightful! It's our family's new fave dish!
David Rowbottam (Rowdyman) says
Khun Pailin, alloy mak!
Really enjoyed the flavours, we lived in Thailand for four years before returning to Australia. We're fortunate that the ingredients are easy to get most of the year here in Perth.
I could almost hear the two-stroke motor bikes as we enjoyed this dish.
Adam from HTK says
Lol love it! 🙂
St says
Hi Pailin! Have been following your recipes for forever. This has become my go to as it’s my favourite lunch dish and even though I live in your country (Thailand) COVID has certainly deprived me of ordering often from the small local shops. So I bought a basil plant and now I eat kaprao kai almost every other day following your recipe. Thanks a lot. Btw I have one question can I pre mix the sauces and sugar and keep in my pantry to have on hand always?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Hi! That's so great to hear! Yes you can pre mix the sauce. The sugar will have a hard time dissolving in such a thick/salty sauce, so you might want to add that when cooking, or dissolve in in a little bit of hot water (make a thick syrup) and then add it in. Thanks for the review!
Eine says
I have tried this many times sooo good even though without holy basil cause my holy basil plant is dead. 🙁
Alison L. says
So good!
JAMR says
Can you use that store bought thai chili paste? Theres a garlic-chili paste and just the chili paste, which one is best?
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Thai chili paste is very different and cannot be used, the garlic chili paste (green lid?) doesn't have nearly the amount of garlic that you would want and also has vinegar added. I'd stick with making it fresh!
babyboby says
Judging the sauces and methods used i would say this is quite an authentic recipe. To make it even more phenomenal, add a dash of white pepper powder in the end.
Ralph says
Favorite Thai dish! My holy Basil dies in the winter though. Any thoughts on making this with dried holy basil or powder? Frozen basil? I guess a small indoor greenhouse might be in the works.
Olga says
If I omit the thai chilies entirely will I be missing a crucial piece to this dish? My kids are hyper sensitive to spicy food and those little chilies have some kick.
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Yes and no. The dish is supposed to be spicy, so you wouldn't be experiencing the dish as it should be. However, if you make sure you have enough of the non-spicy peppers, then you'll still get the pepper flavour, and you can always add more spicy chilies to yours at the table!
Pailin Chongchitnant says
I would recommend just making it work regular Italian basil. Dried or powdered just don't have good flavours.
Brett says
Is it possible to prepare this in advance without adding the basil and refrigerate or freeze for any time.
Pailin Chongchitnant says
Sure, you can certainly do that. It'll last a week in the fridge at least. Then add the basil when reheating.
Lyle says
This recipe is awesome! So easy to prepare and although very authentic, it is better than you find in Thailand at typical fast food shops. This is more like an elevated version you'd find in a proper restaurant. Now two things I've noted. The black soy sauce is very much the flavor of molasses. I never found this flavor prevalent in dishes in Thailand. Unless you really want a molasses flavor very prevalent I suggest reducing to 1/3rd and add more after tasting. Second is the recommendation of 5-10 chilies. I made this with 3 and it has some nice heat, which made my nose a bit sniffley. Unless you and yours like quite spicy 5 chilies may be too much. You can always add heat but you can't remove it, so be careful. Oh and lastly if you only have Thai basil, it's still amazing I'm sure even with normal basil it'd be great.
Brett says
My grand daughter asked me to make this dish for her12th birthday for 7 people and I had to break out the BIG wok.
I hav forwarded you recipe that least 5 of the parents at the party.
My daughter, son in law and grandkids had a vacation to Thailand 2 years ago to visit my sister and her new Thai husband and my grad daughters favourite dish on the trip was Pad Kra Pao. They spent 2 weeks in Hua Hin, where my sister lives and apparently she hat this dish several times.
Last week, my grad daughter graduated from elementary school and her request for dinner was the local Thai restaurant and she ordered Thai Basil Chicken.
The next day, she told me I should take my wok over to them and give some lessons.
GJ says
Sawasdee krub Pai! 🙏 Do you have other Thai recipes that use Holy Basil aside from Pad Kra Pao?
Adam from HTK says
Hi GJ! https://hot-thai-kitchen.com/?s=basil Have fun 🙂 Adam
Hannah says
I made this with Thai basil instead and it was absolutely delicious!!! It tasted like the ones you get at thai restaurants. Next time, ill make it with the holy basil and see if there's a difference.
Ed says
The difference is incredible, completely different dish and well worth doing!
Wendy says
Love this! and I make it with Gluten Free sauces.
I used Thai Basil as I couldn't find Fresh Holy Basil.
Mark says
I made this tonight. Really good, although i only put two chillies in. Thoroughly recomend the recipe.
Melissa says
I really want to make a vegetarian version of this, either using veggie beef crumbles or tofu and mushrooms. Could you advise how you would do it? Thank you!! All of your recipes look so good and I’m going to start making some of them soon.
Patrick says
Hi I make a version of this fairly often and use Textured Vegetable Protein (TVP) as a replacement. It works very well as a replacement for ground meat in general!
Aishvarya Arora says
I've also made this using crumbled firm tofu (or even extra firm depending on what brand) and it comes out SUPER well! I have personally preferred that to using a crumbled meat substitute, because when I have used those they tend to impart their own additional flavor, and don't hold up as well texture wise.
Julie says
Melissa, I made it with some steamed and chopped tempeh, and it was delicious! I also made it with crumbled extra firm tofu, and it wasn’t as good (that might have been my fault but it was mushy).
Bike says
I love this dish and made it several times now. It is fast easy and delicious. A slightly different dish is this one with black century eggs. Is the recipe still the same? Just add the century eggs add the end?
Marty says
I've made this recipe a few times now and it's always great. I never have the black soy sauce so I just use regular... can't find holy basil so use Italian... bell pepper instead of spur chili... chicken or pork doesn't matter - it's always awesome! If you're reading the recipe and don't have some of the ingredients, you can improvise and it will still taste great.
Brett says
The black soya sauce is readily available as Kecap Manis which is Indonesian sweet soya sauce in most western super markets.
Dana says
Instructions are clear, ingredients are easy to find at the grocery store, and it's DELICIOUS!!! It's healthy takeout you can make yourself!
Riane says
This recipe might be my favorite dish of all time, and it's at least in my top 3 dishes.
It's so tasty, and so unbelievably quick and simple to make! I hadn't even heard of it until I stumbled on your youtube channel, and now I make it almost every week!
Thanks so much for sharing this. I love making my roommates cough when I start frying, because no matter how high the fan is turned up or how open the windows are, it still gets everyone in the house. XD
Ian says
In Chicago I have only been able to find one store that semi-regularly stocks Kaprao, but man do I wish I could have it in my fridge all the time. If that was the case this would definitely be a weekly make. Also a great dish to teach yourself how to love spicy food.
Visoot says
This is the first time I have a comment on your website. But I have been following your posts and videos for years. They are very informative even for a Thai like me.
The recipe you post here is very much the standard Pad Gaprao as it is being cooked nowadays. But lately I have been having some misgivings with it. I find it too similar to 三杯鸡 (sān bēi jī) or 3-cup chicken, hence not Thai enough. I have been researching and experimenting with Pad Gaprao. One ingredient has stood out in my various experiments - ลูกกระวาน (Amomum kravanh). It gives my Pad Gaprao an unmistakeable Thai flavour profile. Khun Pai, as a professional chef, what is your take on adding ลูกกระวาน to the paste for Pad Gaprao?
Holly Salley says
This is one of the most simple and delicious recipes I have ever made. I love the egg on top. Take that extra step. I love this one.
Michael says
An easy to make Thai dish.
The basil tast makes it special. Everyone loves it.
I use minced pork meet because somtimes chicken could be dry a little.
Tabitha McIntyre says
I use this recipe almost once a week! It tastes great and is easy to prepare. Reminds me of the food I enjoyed non Thailand!!
The Holy Basil/Thai Basil makes the dish!
Kev says
Have used this recipe a few times thanks. I'm an Englishman who worked in Bangkok for years and cooking this takes me back. I add Maggi to the sauce and sprinkle liberally on the dish. The frozen basil you can get in supermarkets here works well.
Oanh says
Made this tonight and it was delicious. Thank you so much!
Adam The HTK Intern says
Excellent! 🙂