Thai Basil Fried Rice Recipe (Khao Pad Bai Kraprow)
Thai Basil Fried Rice is one of the best fried rice recipes out there, all thanks to the fresh Thai basil, Thai chili pepper, and the mouthwatering sauce. Fish sauce, oyster sauce, honey, and chili paste create a deeply flavorful sauce that's savory, little sweet, and a little spicy!
Servings: 4
Calories: 481kcal
Ingredients
- 4 cups day-old/ cold cooked jasmine or another long grain rice
- 1 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs
- 2 tbsp peanut oil
- 1/2 yellow onion
- 1 small bell pepper
- 4 garlic cloves
- 1-2 Thai chili peppers depends how spicy you want it
- 2 eggs
- 1 cup fresh Thai basil
Sauce:
- 3 tbsp fish sauce
- 2 tbsp oyster sauce use gluten free if needed
- 1 tbsp honey
- 2 tsp Thai roasted red chili paste
- 1/8-1/4 tsp white pepper
- pinch salt to taste
Instructions
- Prepare your ingredients first because this is a fast recipe and you'll want to have all ingredients ready on hand. So dice chicken into small pieces, dice onion and pepper, mince garlic, seed and mince Thai chili pepper. Crack eggs into a separate bowl and add a sprinkle of salt. Separately, whisk together ingredients for the sauce.
- Preheat a large wok or a large non-stick cooking pan with tall sides over medium-high heat. Add oil and sauté chicken with a little bit of salt until almost done.
- Move chicken to the side and add diced onion and bell pepper. Sauté until softened and start mixing it in with the chicken.
- Move everything to the side and add in minced garlic and Thai chili pepper (add a little oil in needed). Sauté until garlic is fragrant and mix it in with chicken and veggies.
- Move everything aside once again, ad a little bit of oil if needed, and add the eggs. Let the eggs start to cook and you stir them slowly. Once eggs are mostly done, mix it in with veggies and chicken.
- Add in cold rice and break it up in the pan. Give the sauce another whisk and start pouring it over the rice as you mix it. Mix the rice well, until sauce, veggies, and chicken are evenly spread out.
- Stir in basil and let it cook just a few more seconds until basil is wilted. Take off heat and serve right away!
Notes
No leftover rice? Chill freshly cooked rice fast as a plan B: The main reason to use cold rice from the day before it because it has dried out some of the moisture, so the grain is more separate. What I do if I don't have any and forgot to make some the day before, is cook the rice first and as soon as it is done, I take it out of the pot and spread it in a thin layer on a rimmed baking sheet covered with parchment paper. Pop it into the refrigerator while you gather or prepare the rest of the ingredients. Really, it only needs about 20 minutes to cool down when it's spread in a thin layer.
Storing leftover: store your leftover basil fried rice in an air-tight food storage container, in the refrigerator. It should be good for 3-4 days.
Reheating: as you know cooked rice soaks up all liquid and then dried out when stored. So you can use microwave or stove-top to reheat it, you will just need to add more moisture. Add a splash of chicken broth when reheating the fried rice.
Nutrition
Calories: 481kcal | Carbohydrates: 56g | Protein: 31g | Fat: 14g | Saturated Fat: 3g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 6g | Trans Fat: 0.03g | Cholesterol: 190mg | Sodium: 1442mg | Potassium: 534mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 7g | Vitamin A: 1410IU | Vitamin C: 43mg | Calcium: 69mg | Iron: 2mg