Thai Basil Chicken (Pad Krapow Gai)

Pad Krapow Gai (ผัดกระเพราไก่) literally translates to Fried Holy Basil Chicken and is one of my favorite dishes of all time. While there are countless reasons to love this dish, perhaps the most compelling is its incredibly good effort to taste ratio. Ten minutes is all it takes to put this dish together, and for your pittance of effort, you’ll be rewarded with a soul-satisfyingly delicious meal that’s cheap to boot.

Spicy, with a mouthwatering balance of savory and sweet, this quick stir fry will fill your kitchen with the hunger-inducing aromas of caramelized garlic and basil. Although the basil chicken is abundantly tasty on its own, the fried egg on top is what elevates this dish to an entirely new plane. The egg is literally deep fried, giving it a crisp golden brown crust on the outside, while the golden yolk remains runny, adding just a touch of velvety richness to this humble weeknight meal. Piled high on a plate of jasmine rice, and you have yourself perfection on a plate.

As the name implies the key component of Pad Krapow Gai is holy basil. Although it’s a member of the Ocimum genus, it’s of a different species than Italian Sweet Basil or Thai Basil. Unlike these more common types of basil which tend to smell of licorice and anise, holy basil has a distinct aroma closer to camphor, cloves and menthol. Unfortunately, holy basil can be a bit difficult to find, unless you happen to live near a Thai grocery store. If you can’t find it, you can certainly make a tasty dish using other types of basil, but it just won’t taste quite the same.

The other point I should mention is that Thai dark soy sauce is quite different from Japanese or Korean dark soy sauce. It’s thick, syrupy and almost black in color with molasses and caramel notes (though it’s not sweet). If you can find it, I’d highly recommend it, as it not only contributes to the rich color of the dish, it also adds a marvelous caramely flavor that’s the perfect compliment to the herbaceous basil.

Basil chicken is not a complicated dish to prepare, but it does go very quickly, which can make timing the egg and the chicken so that they finish simultaneously a bit tricky. That’s why it’s super important to have all your ingredients prepped and ready to go into the pan when needed. If you’re worried about juggling two pans at the same time, you can make the egg before the chicken and set it on a plate while you prepare the chicken.