Thai Basil Chicken
This simple Thai dish, known as Pad Grapow, is insanely quick and inexpensive to make. It’s light, yet flavorful with lots of heat and tons of basil.
I recently got my hands on Chrissy Teigen’s new cookbook, Cravings (affil link). What a beautiful book, love the photography and food styling, with lots of interesting recipes. Although not exactly a low calorie book, I found some dishes in the book that can easily be made light. This simple chicken dish is a great example, I slightly modified it to make it lighter, and plan on adding some vegetables to the mix to make the portion a little more substantial the next time I make it. My husband loves Thai cuisine and basil, so this combination is a winner!
How To Make Thai Basil Chicken
More Thai recipes you may enjoy:
- Asian Peanut Noodles with Chicken
- Grilled Chicken Satay with Spicy Peanut Sauce
- Shrimp Pad Thai on the Lighter Side
- Thai Chicken Fried Rice
- Thai Chicken and Pineapple Stir Fry
Thai Basil Chicken
This simple Thai dish, known as Pad Grapow, is insanely quick and inexpensive to make. It’s light, yet flavorful with lots of heat and tons of basil.
Ingredients:
- 1 1/4 lbs boneless, skinless chicken breasts, sliced into thin strips
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce (Substitute for GF oyster sauce)
- 2 tbsp light soy sauce (Substitute for GF soy sauce)
- 5 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 serrano chile, seeded and minced (keep seeds for extra hot)
- 2 teaspoons vegetable or canola oil
- 3 cups fresh Thai or regular basil leaves
- cooked jasmine rice, optional for serving
Directions:
- In a bowl marinate the chicken with oyster sauce and soy sauce 10 minutes.
- Heat a large nonstick skillet or wok over medium-high heat, when hot add the oil, garlic and chili and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds.
- Increase the heat to high and add the chicken and cook, stirring until just cooked through, about 4 minutes. Add the basil and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
- Serve over rice.
Nutrition Information
Yield: 4, Serving Size: 4 oz chicken
- Amount Per Serving:
- Freestyle Points: 1
- Points +: 5
- Calories: 210 calories
- Total Fat: 6g
- Saturated Fat: g
- Cholesterol: 104mg
- Sodium: 571mg
- Carbohydrates: 4g
- Fiber: 1g
- Sugar: 0g
- Protein: 34g
I made this exactly as described and it was delish. Next time I’ll add some onions and bell peppers to give it a little more veggie goodness. Tastes just like the restaurant version!
Update! I made this again last night and added one medium yellow onion, one green bell pepper, and one red. I marinated the chicken with double the sauce to make up for the extra veggies that were going in, then I added one tablespoon oil to the hot pan, added the onions and peppers, and cooked till they looked right (10 mins?), then added garlic and serranos, and did everything else according to the instructions. It was awesome! Def will be making it this way in the future. It made more than enough sauce (could prob get away with just added an extra tablespoon of soy sauce and fish sauce (which I used instead of oyster because I had it) instead of doubling) but not too much. Hooray for another recipe to add to the rotation!
Love this recipe! I make it often. So simple and delicious.
Is there a substitute for Oyster sauce?
Tammy, there’s a vegetarian “shitake” oyster sauce. It’s AMAZING. I only use that as well, and it’s right where you might find the regular oyster sauce at a good Asian Market.
Absolutely delicious!
My husband said “isn’t it funny that we have been ordering this fish from restaurants when we could have been making it better at home?” He has never loved the idea of dieting, but when I told him it was from skinnytaste, he told me to tell you that you are brilliant. Thank you for making healthy eating possible at my house!
Lol, happy to hear 🙂
Loved it. My husband called it a keeper. I served it with a simple cucumber salad.
I made this tonight! Added an onion and used just a bit of chicken broth to give it more of a sauce! Turned out great. Will be adding this to the rotation.
So easy and yummy! I added some peanuts as well.
Tried this recipe tonight verbatim minus the serrano pepper which I could not find. So I substituted another type of hot pepper. It was easy to make and delicious! Great job!
Made tonight with fish sauce and regular basil. Used reduced sodium soy sauce. Didn’t want to use more veggies as we were having an orange sauced veggie stir fry from my local Ralph’s (Kroger’s) that had been marked down to 99 cents and had a best sell by date 3 days from now. Love my Ralph’s! The recipe as made was very tasty but way too salty for us. Will keep this but work on reducing salt. Very easy to make.
This recipe is amazing. Sooo tasty. I didn’t have light soy so I used regular and that made it too salty. Will make again and again.
I followed this recipe to a T and it turned out delicious! So yummy, I already want to make it again but have to wait til I have enough thai basil…
Made this tonight for my family with rave reviews! Thanks for another slam dunk winner! Substituted fish sauce for oyster sauce and added mushrooms & bell peppers. YUM!
I have made this more times than I can count! It’s FABULOUS!!! I marinte the BITE SIZE chicken longer, for more flavor. I also double and triple the amount for more! I use homegrown basil, and tear leaves to smaller pieces, instead of whole or knife-cut. (Rachel Ray says never put a knife to basil) I now use about 1 cup of basil. We serve this over jasmine rice, and zoodles! This time, I let the zoodles soak up the extra sauce! We are in LOVE! Gina is a Ginious! ?
About half my large family are vegetarians. Any suggestions on what vegetables I could sub out the chicken for, to make a thia basil veggie stir fry??
Justine, you could probably marinate firm Tofu, cut into bite sizes, for a good version!
Do you really use 3 whole cups of basil?? Seems like a lot!
Can you leave this marinating over night? Or only for the 10 minutes suggested? I made this last week and it was great, but would love to prep tonight for an even quicker meal tomorrow…
Overnight is fine.
I made this last night for 5:2 fast meal – served with steamed green beans and cauliflower steamed then panfried in a little peanut oil and it was perfect. Even my fussy partner thought it was great. Thank you for another yummy recipe Gina
I’ve seen it asked but haven’t found a reply yet…is there anything that can replace the oyster sauce that’s not fish sauce? I’m not a fan of any seafoods. Thanks!
I made this tonight with regular basil and sliced bell pepper instead of the hot pepper since I was serving it to people who can’t eat spicy food. Everyone said it was very tasty
Super good! Made with fresh basil we planted. Boyfriend and I both loved. I made some zucchini and mushrooms for side vegetable and we each had 1/2 cup of white rice. Delicious – lbs of my favorite recipes so far!
My basil (regular) was too chewy to eat. Did I not cook it long enough? Any tips? Otherwise I love it and will make it again!
I love this super simple recipe! I never measure my basil- I just throw in 2 little plastic containers’ worth (3/4 oz each), and it has a great flavor.
Overall, I found this recipe to be tasty, but a bit dry. I ended up heating up additional soy and oyster sauce. My husband had it over rice, and I used cauliflower rice on mine, but we both were wanting additional sauce.
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I’ve made this several times. love it. I actually sometimes use ground chicken to make it easier. It’s a great one that I have served for company too! Thank you!
This was fantastic! This is as close to the restaurants flavor as I have gotten ever!!! ☺️☺️☺️
I made this for my husband and he LOVED it. He’s asked for it a few times now. Thanks!
This is part of my weekly rotation. It’s so incredibly easy, pulls together quickly and has great flavor. I use any where from 2 to 3 Serranos! I also add vegetables and sometimes tofu to make sure there are leftovers for lunch. Thanks!
This is so easy and delicious. Thanks for the new family favorite.
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This was a super simple, easy to throw together meal for a quick dinner with veggies and jasmine rice. I will absolutely be making this again. I added an extra serrano pepper and left the seeds and membranes in. I also doubled the garlic and it was fantastic!
Could you use chili paste in the marinade if you do not have a chili pepper?
Does Oyster sauce have the same smell has fish sauce? The smell of fish sauce makes me feel sick!
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Yum! This was easy and delicious. Three cups of basil was a lot to find… I bought two basil plants and it still was not enough, but I added a cup of baby spinach.
We made this last night and it was SOOOOO good. I added yellow bell pepper, 1/2 white onion chopped, and mushrooms. I also upped the chicken to 2 lbs and double’ed the sauce so there would be enough for leftovers. It was really tasty.
I make this at least once a month! The flavors are so great!
Could I make this with shrimp?
Sure
Where do you buy Thai basil leaves? And do you have a substitution for oyster sauce?
We’re not fans of seafood and when I’ve cooked Thai dishes before I swear I can taste the oyster or fish taste (maybe all in my head) but would still like to know how I could substitute.
Can you just add more soy and oyster if you want a saucier dish?
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We cannot get enough of this recipe! Seriously! It’s on our weekly rotation & if we have someone over, we make it for them & then they love it too!! Thank you! So delicious!
Can this be made with shrimp? This looks delicious and I have all this fresh Thai basil!
I don’t see why not.
Made this for dinner tonight. It was too salty even though I used reduced sodium soy sauce. I used regular basil. Despite bring salty it was bland. If I try it again I would see if the Thai basil makes a difference as some of the other posters suggested.
This is an excellent recipe: no fail, quick, and delicious. The basil adds such nice flavor! I amp up the dish by adding minced ginger and sauteed sliced veggies such as a white onion, bell pepper, and mushrooms. The first time that I made this, I used a jalapeno pepper because my store was out of serranos; it was very good. The second time, I used 3/4 of a seeded serrano – I’ve never used one in cooking before, so was a bit wimpy. The heat was terrific for my taste buds, but a bit hot for my husband. Note: I’d never used oyster sauce in cooking before and was concerned it’d taste too “fishy,” but it didn’t taste fishy at all.
So glad I came across your website. I harvested my basil plant today and came across this recipe while looking for basil dishes. I was out of mushrooms, so I wound up going with jalapenos, sweet peppers, onions, and green beans. I also replaced the soy sauce with coconut aminos and ate it over cauliflower rice. It was AMAZING and so extremely simple. Thanks so much!! I can’t wait to try some of your other recipes.
Thanks Valerie!
You can get Thai basil at Whole Foods.
Made this tonight and I thought it was pretty delicious, but my husband had to stuff it down, he said it was too salty. I even used the low sodium soy sauce! Looks like all the left overs for me! Although I will say I do with there was a little sauce to go with it!
I double up the marinade so it is more saucy. I’m not counting points but doing that would increase the points I am sure.
I double the sauce and add onions and bell peppers and it is 4 SP.
Loves this so easy, made with basil and spinach will add more veggies next time
When you add the chicken, do you include the marinade as well or just the chicken?
everything!
Can you let this marinade for a few hours instead ?
That should be OK.
I make this once a week now….it is so easy and so good!
I made this tonight and it was SO good! In fact every recipe I have made of yours (many) have always turned out fabulous! Thank you for your inspiration for skinny tastes 🙂
Aww thank you Anna!
Loved this last night!! Added green beans, scallions and broccoli and served with egg fried cauliflower rice xx
Yum!
I’m excited to make this with everyones comments. Egg fried cauliflower rice sounds awesome with this.
Tried this out of the book, but swapped out a squirt of sriarcha for the chile and used a combo of thai basil and regular genovese basil from my AeroGarden. 5 out of 5 stars!
Would it be alright to use dried basil? I usually get my fresh basil at Farmers Marketing the summer but didn’t want to wait until then to try this recipe.. This sounds so good especially with the vegetables especially mushrooms.
That would be OK.
Hi! I’m hoping to make this tonight and trying to be as authentic as possible. Where do you get Thai basil? (I think I live near you – south shore LI – if that helps?) I’ve tried local large and small supermarkets but they don’t carry it around here! Thanks!
Its not easy to find this time of year. Any basil will be fine!
If you have an Asian market nearby, try that. I ran into same problem at all other stores, but found Thai basil and more at Asian market.
I have the same issue. It definitely makes a difference in taste when it comes to using Thai basil vs. traditional basil. I tried making this dish using traditional basil and it was blah. I wound up ordering Thai basil on Amazon! I was sooooo happy 🙂
I have an areo garden and grow my own thai basil. It has a great unique taste
I have bought it in Walmart and Home Depot garden center
I’m going to try this with b/s thighs. I have made this before and loved it.
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I made this tonight and it turned out way better than I expected! (Not that I expected anything bad, this is my go to site for recipes!) but I was blown away! I used minced basil which I felt really brought out the flavor in each bite.This one will be added to my favorites along with several other of your dishes!
Great! Thank you!
Is the calorie count with or without the rice?
without
Does the calorie count includes the rice?
I would think it doesn’t. I’m familiar with SPs and based on the serving size it would only be for the chicken and vegetables.
As much as I love rice, I am always concerned with calorie count, too. I’ve found pre-packaged containers of Uncle Ben’s that come in different flavors – jasmine, basmati, brown, wild rice, etc. Each pack is 100 calories. You just nuke it for 1 minute in the microwave. It’s not exactly as fulfilling as jasmine rice from a rice cooker, but it satiates you. You can find these packs in your local grocery store.
Be careful with the sodium content in those. Especially if you’re watching calories be aware of the sodium levels that’s can leading to bloating and still feeling hungry.
No chiles or even peppers in my house so I subbed for 2-3 Tbsp of Siracha and paired with a toasted almond pilaf…. DELICIOUS!!!
Hi, I’m not a fan of Oyster Sauce – otherwise these look delicious. Any recommendations for a replacement?
I’ve read that hoison or soy sauce make a good substitute but I personally haven’t tried them as a sub. Let me know if you do!
I used hoisin and it was still incredible!
I used fish sauce, turned out great.
There is a vegetarian oyster sauce you can get at most Asian grocers made out of mushrooms. It’s just as flavorful as oyster sauce.
Made this tonight and I didn’t have basil or serrano chilies on hand so I used green onions and sesame seeds instead and it still rocked! Delicious dinner.
Tried this recipe tonight, added in mushrooms and yellow peppers and it was delicious. The whole family loved it, including my picky 3 yr old. Will be adding this into our regular meals.